How To Make Your Brand Pro Franchise Here are ways you can ensure your franchise business thrives and does not duck in again

If you have failed once, doesn't mean it will happen again. Here is a list of things that might have gone wrong and how to not repeat them.

Was the prototype working?

Many times a franchisor has a brilliant idea and that it will be great to add in more stakeholders or franchisee. But not all ideas make it to the day and may not be replicable after all. Mark Siebert, a franchise consultant suggests, "In order to franchise a business, the business model must first be proven. For this, you need to ensure in the first place that a successful operating prototype exists and can be easily replicated." This is the one thing which leads to failure for a franchise to take off and most die the death even before they are born properly.

Was it sellable?

For any product to thrive, it has to have a buyer; even if it a franchise that you are offering as the end product to potential stakeholders. If your model was not attractive enough to hook franchisees in the first place, you should avoid the same mistake the next time you are investing your heart, soul, and ambition in a franchise business model. For this, it is important to note that the franchise itself should be an attractive, doable and understandable idea which anyone can run and make profits with.

Did you lend support?

Mentoring is an important part of getting a successful franchise business going because the franchise business model actually works best on strong relationships that you build with your fellow franchisees. Therefore, if you were not giving the support advertising support, up-to-date training programs and technology enhancement training capsules to your stakeholders, then chances are they will feel let down and handicapped to handle inevitable competition that does eventually crop-up around.

Did you have what it takes?

If you didn't have the capital to run the prototype or means to finance yourself, you couldn't possibly have won a confidence vote from franchisees. Also, the business model has to show that it can gain profitability and mint money, because that is what any franchise investor is looking for, apart from winning accolades for being associated with a respected and well-known brand that has a market standing. It is worth remembering that if a franchise idea cannot guarantee a decent return on investments, it is never going to work.

Was the idea worth being replicated?

If you had a service or idea to sell but that could not be improvised, altered or tailor-made to suit the need of the target audience, then you were in for trouble. Any franchise business must be a model that can be replicated and remain yet sellable in the diverse demography it is targeting. If a product or service cannot survive moving from maiden city to outside, then it is best you avoid franchising your business in the first place.

This article was originally published on Franchise India by Uttara J. Malhotra.