Franchising is a great way to start your own business and take advantage of a well-established brand. However, some industries are better suited for franchising than others.
For example, franchises thrive in the fast food and retail industry because people want consistency in products and services. Few entrepreneurs are willing to move out of the comfort zone and try their luck in different industries. If you want to establish yourself in the hardware industry, here are some tips that can help:
#1 Focus on Branding First
Franchises will only succeed if they have good brand value. Before you start selling your product, develop a solid plan for branding. Consider your target audience carefully, create a buyer persona, hire a professional graphic designer to create your logos and brand colours, and take similar steps to establish a good brand. This will bring you more franchisees and help you connect with your prospective customers.
#2 Establish Good Reputation with Presales
Once you have established your brand, you need to establish the quality of your products. You need to do this before you launch the products into the market officially. You can pre-sell your products to specific target audiences to get them out in the market. These audiences will not only provide feedback on quality and efficiency, but also help you establish a good reputation in the industry. By the time your product is launched, your brand name will be attached to good quality products and that would help you establish a successful franchise.
#3 Create a System that Focuses on Consistency
People like franchises because they want consistency from products and services. Whether you intend to sell hardware products or provide hardware servicing, you need to focus on consistency and develop a system around it. Make sure your operations system can be replicated easily in different branches all over the country. You should also ensure your products are easy to order and will reach the franchise branches on time. This consistency will draw more customers and potential franchisees and help your company expand to new territories.
#4 Develop a Training Model
When you have a working formula, you want to see it replicated in all of your franchise branches. That can only happen if you provide adequate training to your franchisees. Franchise owners that operate outside of the service industry often neglect this because they assume selling and promoting the brand doesn’t require much training. As mentioned in the previous point, consistency is important. If you don’t train your franchisees, they won’t be able to represent your brand or sell your products well and that will have an impact on the franchise value. It’s important to have a proper training model in place before you launch the franchise.
#5 Have a Solid Marketing Campaign
You can’t succeed in this highly competitive industry without good marketing strategies. You will have to spend most of your time and effort in promoting your brand, especially during the first few months of the franchise. A combination of traditional and digital marketing will help you establish a solid foothold in the market. SEO, PPC, and content marketing are a good place to start. You should also train your franchisees in marketing to make sure they promote their local branches without disrupting the brand message.
If you want to know more about establishing a successful hardware franchise or want some advice, feel free to get in touch with us at The Franchise Institute. You can call us on 1300 855 435 or fill in this contact us form and we’ll reply as soon as we can.
Thanks for reading,
The Franchise Institute Team
1300 855 435