One of the biggest advantages of buying a franchise is not having to figure out business ownership entirely on your own. There is a playbook, training, technology and a network of other owners who have faced many of the same challenges.
At Strategic Franchising Systems, someone also helps franchisees make sense of it all: a dedicated business coach.
“This is a really critical aspect of SFS,” said Peter Eberly, vice president of brand development. “The whole support model gives you the tools, templates and everything you need to run a business successfully. But you also have a dedicated coach who will pick up the phone, answer questions, hold you accountable and really help at every stage of the process.”
That relationship gives franchisees more than another person to call when something goes wrong. Because coaches work with multiple owners, they develop a broad view of what is happening across the system. They can see which strategies are producing results, recognize common mistakes and help an individual franchisee understand how their performance compares with what is possible within the model.
Every franchisee operates in a different territory, but many of the challenges they encounter are surprisingly similar. For example, a new owner may worry that leads aren't coming in quickly enough. From inside that individual business, it can be difficult to determine whether the problem is the market, the marketing strategy, the amount being invested or how leads are being handled.
“Coaches are valuable because many franchise struggles are predictable,” Eberly said. “For example, you may not be spending enough marketing money early on. Coaches are very well equipped to identify why something is or isn’t working. They help hold franchisees accountable to hitting the numbers.”
That perspective can shorten the troubleshooting process. Rather than experimenting blindly, an owner can work with someone who understands the business model and knows which questions to ask.
The same principle can apply to staffing, sales, customer acquisition and other parts of the operation. What feels like a unique problem to one franchisee may be a familiar stage in the business's development.
Business coaching at Strategic Franchising Systems is not simply a series of motivational conversations.
“There is communication in a few ways,” Eberly said. “They are always available to answer questions, and they do regular check-in calls with the owners to review KPIs, review the numbers and talk about roadblocks. It can be pretty number- or KPI-driven as well. Let’s look at the numbers, the P&L and what is actually happening in the business.”
Those conversations can help owners move beyond gut instinct. A franchisee might feel marketing isn't working, for example, while the numbers show leads are healthy but conversion is lagging. Another owner may think they need more customers when the bigger issue is the revenue generated from each job. Looking closely at the data gives the coach and franchisee a common starting point.
It also creates accountability. Owners can establish goals, identify the activities required to reach them and revisit those metrics during future coaching conversations.
Franchisees already have access to a valuable source of knowledge in their fellow owners. Business coaches add another layer to that knowledge-sharing process.
“Our coaches will work with lots of different locations, so in addition to a franchisee being able to pick up a phone and call another franchisee, they can also call business coaches,” Eberly said. “It’s a really good way to leverage the expertise throughout the system. They see what the top performers are doing and can bring that to other franchisees.”
A single franchisee primarily sees their own market and operation. A coach sees patterns across many businesses.
If several high-performing owners are approaching recruiting, lead follow-up or local marketing in a particularly effective way, coaches can identify those habits and help other franchisees understand how they might apply them within their own businesses.
New franchisees naturally require substantial support as they prepare to launch. They are learning systems, developing marketing plans, building teams and adjusting to the realities of entrepreneurship.
But the questions do not disappear once the business is open. They change. “It’s not just help at launch,” Eberly said. “There are coaches in the network who are focused on scaling exclusively. It’s really trying to help throughout.”
An established owner may no longer need help understanding the basics of the model, but they could be working through a completely different set of decisions. When is it time to hire another employee? How can the owner remove themselves from certain day-to-day responsibilities? What is preventing the business from moving beyond its current revenue level?
As the franchisee develops, the coaching relationship can develop with them. That long-term structure is particularly important because growth can create its own blind spots. The strategies that helped an owner get through the first year may not be the same ones required to build a larger organization.
Ultimately, a franchise system can provide a franchisee with an enormous amount of information: operating manuals, technology, marketing resources, training programs, performance benchmarks and the experiences of other owners.
A coach can ask why a number is moving in the wrong direction, remind an owner of the practices that have worked elsewhere in the system and push the franchisee to follow through on the goals they have established. Just as importantly, they can provide perspective when an owner encounters a challenge that feels bigger from inside the business than it does from across the network.
Sometimes the most useful person in an owner’s corner is the one who can see both the individual business and the bigger picture.
For more information on franchise opportunities with Strategic Franchising Systems, please visit https://1851franchise.com/strategicfranchising.
Strategic Franchising
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Peter Eberly, VP of brand development for Strategic Franchising Systems, explains how business coaches use network data and experience to help franchise owners identify problems and drive growth.
One of the biggest advantages of buying a franchise is not having to figure out business ownership entirely on your own. There is a playbook, training, technology and a network of other owners who have faced many of the same challenges.
At Strategic Franchising Systems, someone also helps franchisees make sense of it all: a dedicated business coach.
“This is a really critical aspect of SFS,” said Peter Eberly, vice president of brand development. “The whole support model gives you the tools, templates and everything you need to run a business successfully. But you also have a dedicated coach who will pick up the phone, answer questions, hold you accountable and really help at every stage of the process.”
That relationship gives franchisees more than another person to call when something goes wrong. Because coaches work with multiple owners, they develop a broad view of what is happening across the system. They can see which strategies are producing results, recognize common mistakes and help an individual franchisee understand how their performance compares with what is possible within the model.
Every franchisee operates in a different territory, but many of the challenges they encounter are surprisingly similar. For example, a new owner may worry that leads aren't coming in quickly enough. From inside that individual business, it can be difficult to determine whether the problem is the market, the marketing strategy, the amount being invested or how leads are being handled.
“Coaches are valuable because many franchise struggles are predictable,” Eberly said. “For example, you may not be spending enough marketing money early on. Coaches are very well equipped to identify why something is or isn’t working. They help hold franchisees accountable to hitting the numbers.”
That perspective can shorten the troubleshooting process. Rather than experimenting blindly, an owner can work with someone who understands the business model and knows which questions to ask.
The same principle can apply to staffing, sales, customer acquisition and other parts of the operation. What feels like a unique problem to one franchisee may be a familiar stage in the business's development.
Business coaching at Strategic Franchising Systems is not simply a series of motivational conversations.
“There is communication in a few ways,” Eberly said. “They are always available to answer questions, and they do regular check-in calls with the owners to review KPIs, review the numbers and talk about roadblocks. It can be pretty number- or KPI-driven as well. Let’s look at the numbers, the P&L and what is actually happening in the business.”
Those conversations can help owners move beyond gut instinct. A franchisee might feel marketing isn't working, for example, while the numbers show leads are healthy but conversion is lagging. Another owner may think they need more customers when the bigger issue is the revenue generated from each job. Looking closely at the data gives the coach and franchisee a common starting point.
It also creates accountability. Owners can establish goals, identify the activities required to reach them and revisit those metrics during future coaching conversations.
Franchisees already have access to a valuable source of knowledge in their fellow owners. Business coaches add another layer to that knowledge-sharing process.
“Our coaches will work with lots of different locations, so in addition to a franchisee being able to pick up a phone and call another franchisee, they can also call business coaches,” Eberly said. “It’s a really good way to leverage the expertise throughout the system. They see what the top performers are doing and can bring that to other franchisees.”
A single franchisee primarily sees their own market and operation. A coach sees patterns across many businesses.
If several high-performing owners are approaching recruiting, lead follow-up or local marketing in a particularly effective way, coaches can identify those habits and help other franchisees understand how they might apply them within their own businesses.
New franchisees naturally require substantial support as they prepare to launch. They are learning systems, developing marketing plans, building teams and adjusting to the realities of entrepreneurship.
But the questions do not disappear once the business is open. They change. “It’s not just help at launch,” Eberly said. “There are coaches in the network who are focused on scaling exclusively. It’s really trying to help throughout.”
An established owner may no longer need help understanding the basics of the model, but they could be working through a completely different set of decisions. When is it time to hire another employee? How can the owner remove themselves from certain day-to-day responsibilities? What is preventing the business from moving beyond its current revenue level?
As the franchisee develops, the coaching relationship can develop with them. That long-term structure is particularly important because growth can create its own blind spots. The strategies that helped an owner get through the first year may not be the same ones required to build a larger organization.
Ultimately, a franchise system can provide a franchisee with an enormous amount of information: operating manuals, technology, marketing resources, training programs, performance benchmarks and the experiences of other owners.
A coach can ask why a number is moving in the wrong direction, remind an owner of the practices that have worked elsewhere in the system and push the franchisee to follow through on the goals they have established. Just as importantly, they can provide perspective when an owner encounters a challenge that feels bigger from inside the business than it does from across the network.
Sometimes the most useful person in an owner’s corner is the one who can see both the individual business and the bigger picture.
For more information on franchise opportunities with Strategic Franchising Systems, please visit https://1851franchise.com/strategicfranchising.
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