It’s a fact: franchises are far more resilient than non-franchise start-ups. Compared with the 58% failure rate of non-franchise businesses in their first five years, 82% of franchises thrive way beyond that time. However, despite this impressive performance, many franchises still fail to get off the ground and flourish into long-term, income-generating businesses.
Not Just Travel and The Travel Franchise Co-Founder Steve Witt outlines some of the reasons why:
- You’re not taking the right actions
One of the comforts of joining a franchise is that much of the work behind the scenes is already done for you. You’ve got the company’s generic website all there; much of the marketing is done for you and the brand is in place. This is when you can easily fall into the trap of sitting back and waiting for the sales to magically come flooding in. You procrastinate and spend time decorating your office, designing your business cards, tidying up your spreadsheets.
None of this is going to build your business. When it comes to getting your business up and running you need to get out there and generate sales. You need to network, create opportunities, spread the word and chase leads. It’s easy to create justifications for why you aren’t going to pick up the phone and call that lead – it’s not the right time to call? Perhaps they’re on lunch? You’ll never know if you don’t make the phone call. Do it now.
2. You’re not following instructions
The benefit of buying into a franchise is that there’s a well-trodden path, lined with proven strategies and tactics to follow. Many people have taken that path to success before you and know what works and what doesn’t. The trouble starts when you veer off and do your own thing. Or you don’t follow it at all. At Not Just Travel we teach a proven tactic to build your network. We’ve created a business management tool that makes procedures and processes run smoothly. We devise marketing and social media material for our franchisees. It’s important they use them and follow our recommendations.
3. You’re not tracking results for ROI
Albert Einstein famously said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. How many of us do exactly that when running our business? How many of us go to the same networking event over and over again, never making a sale, but hoping next time will be different? Once you start tracking what works and what doesn’t and recognising that your time is one of your most valuable resources, you’ll see that it’s essential to track an ROI (return on investment) on your efforts and how you spend each hour.
4. You don’t know the value of your own time
Leading on from the point above, by doing a simple calculation, you can not only recognise that time is money, but that time has an exact cost. That will help you work out how many networking evens to go to, versus how much desk-bound time to dedicate to making those sales calls. Here’s how to do it:
Work out how much you want to earn in a year, then divide that by 52 weeks. Next work out how many hours you’re willing to work per week. Divide 52 by that number, and that is your hourly rate.
5. You undervalue your business potential
Believe it or not, we all unknowingly place limits on ourselves – or, in other words, their lack of self-belief. It’s similar to the scientific experiment with fleas in a jar. Scientists put a group of fleas in a jar and then sealed the jar for three days. After that time the lid was removed but the fleas had conditioned themselves to the level set by the lid and so none of them jumped out. This shows how we similarly condition our mindsets to the perceived, yet non-existent, limits we place on ourselves.
What happens to you in your business when there is no jar or lid and you recognise that unlimited income is something that you deserve and can achieve?
For example, if someone earned £35k in their previous role, their goal is to replace that through their franchise income I. But why not £135k? After all, a franchise is an opportunity to earn unlimited income. Who is placing the limit on what you can achieve? You.
6. You don’t take your franchise business seriously
For some, especially a franchise in travel, their business is a hobby, not a career. It’s something they do as a side-line to their day job, or in their spare time.
While weaning your way into the business and testing the water is an attractive – and less risky – proposition that appeals to many, there is a danger that your new business can easily fall by the wayside if you don’t take it seriously. For any venture to succeed it takes time and energy. Set yourself strict sales goals and work hard to attain them. And once you’ve done that, push yourself and move those targets higher. The time that you have got needs to be fully invested in your new project to succeed. Do this and you’ll soon find that your hobby has become your career.
7. You feel too safe
Another issue is when people have a good, strong safety net. Perhaps they have come into money; maybe they are backed by a wealthy partner or have sold a property to live off the earnings. They are the people who potentially aren’t hungry enough to make it fully work. It’s the people who have sleepless nights over their mortgage, kids’ future and incoming bills who make damn sure they are profitable – and fast.
8. You have a lack of focus
Some people are like magpies and are distracted by the next shiny object: another way of making money; a new project or a new job. If they don’t get instant gratification they move onto the next thing – an expensive attitude to have. Building your own business is a marathon, not a sprint. It takes hard slog before you reap the rewards. Those people who commit to the long-term are the ones who succeed.
9. You’re not willing to step outside your comfort zone
If you’re going to run a profitable business then you will need to step outside your comfort zone. Believe Co-Founder of The Travel Franchise Steve Witt – “I’ve had to do it countless times. As a shy person who had a speech impediment when I was younger, standing up in front of a room full of people was a terrifying experience in the early days.
Accept it – you’re going to have to do some uncomfortable things. For some that means picking up the phone. For others it means attending networking events or public speaking. For many that means closing a sale – so many people avoid it because…what if they say no?
Acknowledge your fears and dive in head first to quash them. It’s the way to success. Trust me”.
