Why is Franchise onboarding and inductions important?

"Welcome to the team, here's your area and here is your training manual. Best of luck with your new franchise"

The above is an approach for handling new franchisees which has thankfully been consigned to the past. However, franchises can't take onboarding and induction to your family for granted. Ensuring that your new franchise owner represents the brand with the right information and guidance will give them the right grounding to make them and you grow together.

The opposite of this, with your franchisees managing through trial and error, can lead to costly mistakes, accidents and inevitable brand damage. On average an individual will likely spend around £42,000 on establishing a franchise ,it's only the right thing to do to ensure they have knowledge and access to experience at their fingertips.

What should you include in your franchise onboarding and induction?

Getting your induction and onboarding right will vary based on what you do, no company is the same and neither will your onboarding and induction. However, there will be components that will feature in most franchise onboarding and induction programs:

• A mentor or appointed franchise representative – There is no substitute for experience, having someone who has been there and done it is a vital resource. When a franchisee comes against a problem, having someone to act as a soundboard will result in better results and a reduction in time to overcome the challenge. Look internally and set aside the time to introduce your new franchisee to their appointed representative.
• The history of the brand – To know where you are heading, you should know where you have been. When was the company set up? What were the company's founding values? What was the point of expansion? Integrating your new franchisee into the company generates a sense of community and further franchisee commitment. Get your milestones and historical achievements onto paper and make sure your new franchisee knows how great you are.

"When you share the ideals of the franchisor, you are more likely to perform better. When your culture is in alignment with the franchisor's, you both succeed."

Forbes - Company Culture Matters

The organisational structure and key staff – As your brand grows so will the number of key staff in your company, how do your franchisees keep on top of who is the "go-to" person for the specific aspects of their location and company? Legal, Finance, Marketing, and Lead Generation, all of which will have fantastic team members which your franchisees should be aware of. Keep an updated organisational chart and get it to franchisees on their start and as things change.

Product & Service Training – Your aspiration is to have your franchisee spending their time providing their product or service.

After all, doing so will mean that trade is good, and revenue will be coming in for both parties. So, you need to get them up to speed on how to fulfil the orders you both generate. Most franchise owners will have a period of face-to-face interaction, however, what happens when they are left to their own devices? Having an LMS or learning management system can provide a great safety net and a backup into how to operate a piece of equipment or meet a service enquiry. Getting your knowledge into an easily accessible place will be a support option not just for the franchisee owner, but also for their staff. Support the trickledown of training by investing in an LMS and getting all staff access.

So what are my next steps?

Get your franchise onboarding and induction planned and organised. Review what you would want your new franchisee to know and set up your program to reflect this. You may find it useful to design a franchise onboarding and induction checklist. A checklist can help you track your progress with your new franchisee's onboarding. Also investigate what tools, technology and innovations you can use to help you with the task.

Easy Induction – Build your franchisee's inductions and Learning management system.

One great way to help digitise your franchise onboarding and inductions is to work with Easy induction. Easy Induction allows you to create, manage and assign vital training, information, and courses to your franchisees. The online platform gives you control over your content, creating text, image and video-based content that is easily accessible by your network.

If you have ever-improving techniques, news to share, or documents to distribute, then simply record, upload and send to everyone one of your franchisees at the click of a button. If you have existing training content, our team can even assist with uploading and creating your franchisee's path.

Get control of your mandatory training with real-time reports on completion rates and know who has undertaken your latest course on your newest piece of equipment to be used in the field. Give yourself peace of mind with Easy Induction and avoid accidents which affect your name. Explore the possibilities of providing your additional training to franchisees as part of the cost of their franchise, giving you a low-risk and cost LMS.

Get in touch for a free trial and demonstration of Easy induction , let us show you how easy it can make your franchisee onboarding and inductions.