It’s always good to have someone in your corner. Particularly when you’re opening a business.

That’s exactly why people turn to the franchise model. They get to be their own boss, but they also have some support and guidance with the business from a corporate office.

But exactly how much support — and what kind of support — should you, as a potential franchisee, expect from the home office?

1851 Franchise asked Kay Ainsley, the managing director of MSA Worldwide, a firm that advises franchise businesses, to help us understand what franchisees should expect from their franchisor’s corporate headquarters.

1851 Franchise: What is the franchisor’s role and responsibility for a new franchisee?

Kay Ainsley: I think that the franchisor’s primary responsibility is to protect the brand. Therefore, they need to provide their franchisees with the tools necessary for the franchisee to operate the business to the standard set by the franchisor. 

1851: And the franchisee?

Ainsley: The franchisee is ultimately responsible for the day to day decisions, who to hire, who to have on their staff and financial management. The franchisee is ultimately responsible to manage that business’s bottom line.

1851: Should a franchisee expect to have an on-site visit with the corporate office before they start?

Ainsley: I think that bringing trainees into a corporate location is beneficial because the trainee gets to see the corporate culture as well as the nuts and bolts of managing the business. I think good training programs incorporate classroom as well as on-the-job training. It's one thing to have somebody explain to you how to do something, and it's another thing to get your hands dirty doing it.

1851: Is the training usually enough to get ready to open?

Ainsley: When a franchisee goes to training, in some cases, it's like drinking from a firehose. There's a ton of information that’s provided in a short period of time, then when they actually go to open their business, it's like, “What do I do next?”

1851: What is a typical opening-day concern?

Ainsley: I always say, a franchisee’s first panic, is “What if I, what if I open my doors and nobody comes?” The second one is, “What if I open my doors and everybody comes!” Franchisors will often send somebody to help with those first few days of getting open and settled. And I think that's a good thing for a franchise to do.

1851: What sort of marketing support is typical at first?

Ainsley: I think the franchisor should provide the initial plan. In our firm, we call it “a market introduction,” rather than a “grand opening.”  We try to make sure the franchisee has thought about advertising plans and budgeted enough money to get them through the first several months of getting their business open, rather than just the week of the grand opening.

1851: After that first week, that first month, should franchisees expect to have somebody to call if something goes awry?

Ainsley: It may depend on what goes awry, but I think in most cases franchisors want to get somebody off to a good start. If you ignore somebody or their questions in the early stages, it's not gonna get any better. It's easier to train them well to give them opening support to get them not only walking but running by themselves. It eliminates headaches down the road.

1851: What about having business coaches available to work with franchisees? Is that a reasonable expectation to have?

Ainsley: I think that's a competitive advantage in some systems. Certainly, if a franchisor were going to provide that, you would highlight it during the franchise sales process. And again, all of this depends on the concept and the industry.

I wouldn't say there's ever a one size fits all

1851: What’s a reasonable level of training?

Ainsley: If you were franchising a pharmacy, you're not going to teach somebody to be a pharmacist or a chiropractor. You're going to give them the brand to operate under, the marketing plan and maybe some business guidance, but they have to have those skills.

1851: What should a franchisee not expect from the corporate office?

Ainsley: They can't make you successful. They can give you the tools they can show you how to use the tools, but they cannot manage your business for you. They give you the tools, but you've got to work the business and you've got to take responsibility for it.