Once you find that “right fit” franchise and sign on the dotted line, that’s when the work begins. One of the most important tasks you take on as a franchisee is building your team. What follows is an excerpt from chapter 3 of my book So, you bought a franchise, NOW WHAT?

Unless you bought yourself a job, you will never grow your business without surrounding yourself with great people and building a team.  I like to use sports analogies because I think they have great relevance in business, so here is the first of many you will see in this book. If you think about it, no successful person in any sport has done it alone. Even athletes in individual sports such as tennis, golf, swimming, or track have a team around them. They have a coach, a trainer, nutritionists, and family and friends to support them. Golfers have a caddy who does much more than just carry the clubs. In short, to be successful at anything, you need a team of people who believe in you and your cause.

Some might argue that building a great team is the most essential aspect of a successful business. While their argument certainly has merit, I would ask them how they plan to attract the type of people they need without being able to explain where they are going, why they are going there, and what success looks like. The people you want around you are people who want to be a part of something and are not just in it for the paycheck.

When I was a young manager running a 24/7 business, I thought hiring people with specific skills and experience was the way to go. I had a lot on my plate, and training new people took time and effort. I learned that my approach led to high turnover, which took more time than if I hired people who cared about customers and had the right attitude and trained them well. Those people stayed a lot longer and were instrumental in growing the business.

You have likely heard the phrase “attitude is everything,” and you probably think it’s true. My experience has taught me that it is. To illustrate and communicate this belief to my teams over the years, I have used this example. Take the letters in the word attitude and write down its corresponding number in the alphabet like this:

A           T             T          I           T            U         D          E

1          20        20       9         20        21       4         5

When you add up the numbers, the total is 100. Attitude is everything

As a leader, it is your responsibility to learn about what drives people in general and your people in specific. Then it is your job to provide them what they need to be successful as part of your team. If you want to create a successful company that will allow you to achieve your WHY, it is completely on your shoulders to set the vision that attracts great people and give those people

the tools to succeed, which includes creating the environment in which their needs are met, and they feel part of something larger than themselves. Think of it this way; your team members are your customers. To you, they must be your number one priority. Take care of them and they will take care of the paying customers who in turn will fuel the success of your business helping you achieve your WHY. It is the business life cycle depicted in Figure 3.1.

Another way I like to describe this diagram is this:

Giving people the tools and setting them up for success is essential to you and them. Customers don’t understand when someone is poorly trained and cannot execute their job. They just think the person is stupid or incompetent, and the team member feels that way. When I encounter this, I always ask if the team member is new and tell them it’s OK. I don’t blame them; I blame the leader for not properly protecting his or her team member with proper training.

Don’t just take it from me, though. Here is what Lynn Given, a ComForCare franchisee in Orlando, FL, had to say about training her team:

“Training is the key to the success of the business. Without well-trained staff, we have unhappy customers, which then becomes a cycle of uncertainty. We start with four days of training in the field and then ongoing training each week in the office with reminders of our policies and techniques. We find that repetition is key. We coach and train on the go, daily. Then reward the team and share the joys.”

I have told many leaders and business owners over the years that if
they are not willing to spend at least 25 percent of each day in some form
of training, put the “for sale” sign on the door today because the value of
your business will only go down from here. I believe that statement with
my entire being. A leader’s number one responsibility is to train, coach,
and give feedback to his or her team. Everything else comes second.

Providing feedback is the key to developing your team but that topic will require another article so stay tuned.

Dave Roemer is a consultant at The Franchise Consulting company and an almost 40-year veteran of the franchise industry. Dave’s book So, you bought a franchise, NOW WHAT? Is a collection of stories, best practices, and tools collected over the years. It includes quotes from several successful franchisees interviewed for the project. It is available online at amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com.

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