Let’s try to shed some light on what a franchise consultant does for one’s client by trying to explore the different fields of operation and expertise.
“The real strength of an entrepreneur are the people who are at his side, employees or consultants”.
An entrepreneur often struggles with his demons: “The myth of the self-made man,” is too strong and can lead him to make counterproductive choices, thinking he is enough for himself.
Similar discussion, can also be made with managers who caught up in the desire to turn themselves into “problem solvers for everything” and look good to the boss, think they are self-sufficient and go out on their own in fields where it is easy to fall and get hurt, especially in a franchise project.
One solution might be to build a team where they meet the various skills needed in a franchise (from legal, to marketing, corporate, and business aspects), but as you can imagine, the costs for such a top team would be very high.
Therefore, another avenue looms, that of relying on consultants, but which ones, and how many, does a franchise need?
Taking care of the legal aspects is essential in a franchise project. The “legal packaging,” which includes the contract, operations manual and brand manual, must be made watertight to avoid ending up in court and throwing money to the wind.
Therefore, a legal adviser who has gained experience in franchise contracting (which has its own peculiarities) is one of the professionals you need to look for in the market.
More vertical and professional his franchise experience is, the less danger you will have of ending up in disputes with your franchisees. Following a maxim of Terence: “True wisdom consists not only in seeing what is in front of our noses, but also in foreseeing what might happen to us”.
But beware, even the franchise lawyer is often unable to be able to complete a franchise “legal pack” since he or she is unable to map the business processes underlying the fomat. In fact, the creation of the operations manual would require special business skills to be able to identify the value chain of the business model and then proceed to formalize standardized procedures.
Another necessary figure is a franchise consultant experienced in marketing, just in the field of franchising. This professional should be in charge of developing strategies that serve 1) to position the brand in the market; 2) to develop promotional activities capable of attracting franchisees with super magnets, creating the best possible “funnel.” The best digital advertising campaigns with good content. Do you think you have on your team with the necessary skills to develop such a strategy?
In the book “Let’s Franchise,” one part is devoted precisely to marketing, and in particular Chapter 7 (read it to learn more).
Let’s move on in our journey to find the 4 souls of franchise consultants: this one we now tell you about is the soul of selling. That is, that of the franchise consultant who can manage the entire process of selling a format, from finding the contact, to closing the deal. The format seller, a professional skilled in the art of negotiation and with a full agenda à la “Gianni Minà,” recalling a famous Massimo Troisi sketch.
And last, but not least in the order of importance (the souls we have told you about have equal importance on a scale of 1 to 10) is the corporate consultant, that is, the person who with his experience is able to identify franchise processes that can be standardized and replicated, and to create business plan of the network’s development over time and facilitate the entrepreneur to technically concretize his vision.
One ring to tame them all
We conclude this article, with a famous phrase from the movie “Lord of the Rings,” “One ring to tame them all.”
A franchise development agency like ours is able to encapsulate all these souls, these specializations, offering you a unique tool to control and develop each of the areas we have told you about: legal, marketing, commercial and corporate.
Discover the experience and soft skills of our consultants
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