What to look for when you’re choosing a franchise – communication
If you’re reading this, you might well be researching franchises before you choose one to commit to. That’s great to hear – we love it when someone new joins the Get Ahead family, but more importantly, we want you to find the franchise that’s the best fit for you.
One of the key advantages to buying a franchise is that you get to “work for yourself but not by yourself.” Get Ahead can back up that mantra with great results and franchisee feedback, but sadly, not all businesses can. When you’re researching franchises, it’s a good idea to look at what that means in practice. This means delving into how communication works at the business you’re considering, weighing up its effectiveness and deciding whether it would suit you.
In this blog, we look at how Get Ahead builds a strong communication network across the team of franchisees.
Why is good communication important for franchisees?
Whatever business you’re in, good communication between franchisees, and between franchisee and business founder, is essential. Communication covers anything from initial training to monthly meetings – even a supportive text message!
Good communication matters. Why? Because everyone needs to share best practice to ensure that the whole business maintains its reputation – this will help everyone from the top down.
You also need to know what’s going on, whether it’s the launch of a new service or a change to the marketing strategy. A good franchisor will support franchisees, inviting them to share ideas and keeping them up to speed with developments.
Whatever business franchise you’re considering, remember to take a close look at their communication and support. Without good communication, you’re effectively working by yourself – the very problem franchising is supposed to solve.
What does communication look like at Get Ahead?
Since we took on our first franchisee in 2018, we’ve been refining our communication to make it as effective as possible.
Our initial training is tailored to your experience. For example, if your skills gap is finance, we will strengthen the finance element of our training to bring you to the same level as the other franchisees.
Monthly franchise meetings are a chance for all the franchisees to meet with each other and Get Ahead’s founder, Rebecca Newenham. This is a great opportunity to ask questions, discuss forthcoming campaigns and share advice, all in a safe space where there is no such thing as a stupid question! Get Ahead’s supportive ethos is fully embedded across our business, and every franchisee has their own geographical area so there is no competition. This means that when you talk to other franchisees, all they want to do is share their own experience and offer you their support.
Get Ahead also uses an online communication platform called Circle. Circle allows franchisees to communicate with the team of virtual experts about upcoming jobs, and also to ask questions and advice, and bond as a team (it’s great for birthday messages too!).
Above all, Get Ahead has an open-door culture, where Rebecca Newenham and the regional directors are all ready and willing to provide practical advice or even just a sounding board.
Buy a Get Ahead franchise
If you like the idea of joining Get Ahead, we’d love to hear from you – get in touch on 01483 332 220. And if you’re still gathering information, you might like to check out some of our other resources before you take the plunge:
