Franchising your business – it’s not just for Colonels and Kings.
Being a franchiser can actually be a smart and progressive way to ensure the growth and future of your company, regardless of size. With good delegation to your franchisees, it requires surprisingly little work. You’ll be happy, avoiding the trials of daily existence. They’ll be happy, having been spared the treacherous start-up phrase.But it all hinges on the franchise manual.
The Franchise manual is a vital tool in managing the franchiser-franchisee relationship. It will be the franchisee’s ‘bible’, as they pick up the reigns of the business. It needs to be a complete and thorough document, with explanations and instructions for all aspects of the franchise, and what makes the brand a success. These manuals can be incredibly valuable, with major franchises investing millions in non-disclosure agreements to protect their company secrets. But how do you write one?
Write It Well
This slightly obtuse piece of advice isn’t a joke. I’m not referring to the actual details of the content within the manual, I’m referring to the use of language in the document. Written communication of this sort, when there is so much at stake and clarity is absolutely key, can be extremely difficult. Any mistakes in grammar, spelling or syntax can throw the whole thing off the rails. This delicate area will be helped by a few of these sites:
- ViaWriting and MyWriting – Helpful copywriting guides.
- Academized and Oxessays – Two tools for checking your grammar throughout.
- Australian Help – Proofreading tool for catching small slips, mentioned here.
- SimpleGrad and LetsGoAndLearn – For generation of subtitles, headings and keywords.
- PaperFellows and BigAssignments – Pair of formatting tools for getting the layout right.
Find your Purpose
You have to head into the process of producing your franchise manual with a real sense of justified purpose. You want to know what you are trying to get across to your franchisee ahead of time, since the document will be complex by nature.
Get Technical
A franchise manual is a completely unique piece of communication. Normally when people at companies communicate with one another there is always a subtle sense in which they are trying to ingratiate themselves or persuade other parties of something. This is a technical, instructional document that needs to be devoid of anything like this. It should be direct, disciplined and clear.
The Legal Balance
Franchise manual creation necessarily involves a legal aspect. You have to make sure that each of the chapters of your manual has been combed through by a professional. The flipside of this is that you ought to try and avoid outsourcing the manual creation entirely to some legal company. Partly it will be expensive
but mostly it needs to be you, the people with the most thorough understanding of the company, the franchise and the parties involved, who is formulating it, at least initially. The business has made it this far thanks to you – your wisdom needs to be passed on.
Get the Franchisee Involved
It’s a delicate balance but you can show some of the manual to the future franchisee ahead of time, to inform their purchase. “Providing presumptive franchisees with a copy is fine, as long as a non-disclosure agreement has been signed in advance”, explains Paul Howard, business writer at Elite Assignment Help and State Of Writing.
Developing Content
A franchise manual is the meat of a franchise agreement. The bulk of the responsibility that the manual holds, is to be the document that guides a franchisee through all of the elements agreed on in the franchise agreement they will sign. So if they agree to do something, the manual shows them how and why.
The structuring of a franchise manual will vary depending on the nature of the company. However, a good general approach is three tiered:
- The franchise-wide standards of quality.
- The responsibilities that fall on the franchisee and how they can meet them.
- Your franchisor responsibilities, relating to the franchisee.
Because the nature of a franchisee is someone who takes on the day to day part of a franchise, it’s important that the manual reflects this. Procedural elements like hiring, training, safety, equipment instructions and more are vital.
If in doubt – include it. No franchisee is going to have a problem with too much help. If you’re not sure if it’s necessarily worth including something, just put it in for safety.
Put the Work In
A franchise manual is key in the transitional stage of a franchising opportunity. The franchisee, at the very least in the early days, will rely a great deal on the manual for guidance in a host of areas. Don’t skimp on this whole process, or it will bite you later..
