By Colt Florence
Building a great home services business is a team effort. In addition to dedicated technicians with skill, experience and expertise, it takes visionary leadership, effective management and a committed operations staff to take care of day-to-day tasks such as customer support, dispatch, sales, marketing and accounting.
Franchising is a proven way to streamline and expedite that teamwork. The time-tested franchise model is designed to optimize scalability and efficiency by providing standardized, repeatable systems and processes that help franchise owners focus on sales instead of the daily administrative work that can slow growth.
With office management, training, human resources and other mundane work shared across the brand, franchise owners are free to pursue their personal and financial goals. The network of experienced fellow franchise owners serves as an ongoing source of learning and mentorship. Tapping into the existing brand awareness and consumer trust that a home service franchise brings is one of the value-rich marketing investments any owner can make.
Furthermore, the franchise model maximizes opportunities for financial rewards while mitigating the risks associated with independent business ownership. In short, the franchise model is an ideal approach for home service providers who want to take their business to the next level.
But what about successful home service franchise owners who want to continue elevating their company? What’s the next step for them to accelerate growth, scale, expand, and get closer to achieving their dreams of financial independence?
A home service franchise platform can exponentially enhance the advantages inherent to the basic franchise model. Through a platform, for example, plumbing, electrical or HVAC franchise owners can expand the portfolio of services they offer, better serving their communities and boosting opportunities for their companies.
A franchise platform amplifies the rewards of shared resources and economies of scale while offering convenient added value in the form of easy to implement bonus services. Franchise owners may have multiple options for enhancing their company’s service offerings with pest control, bath remodeling, cleaning and restoration services and more – all requiring less time, effort and money to launch and operate (and coming with far less risk) than they would for an independent business.
Here are just a few of the advantages home service franchise owners can see with a franchise platform, and how franchise brands benefit from the platform model:
- Shared culture and values: A franchise platform can leverage individual brands and its own mission and values to build a comprehensive, resilient company culture shared across brands by all stakeholders, from franchise employees and owners to the platform team and leadership. The shared sense of purpose that results can guide leaders and their teams as they respond to challenges and opportunities. Ultimately, the power of a common vision and culture will unlock value across brands and throughout the stakeholder chain. The energy, inspiration and discipline that result from a strong culture are amplified when the platform and individual brands are aligned.
- Buying power: The depth and breadth of many franchise platforms is an immediate advantage when it comes to strategic and vendor partnerships. The platform model brings together hundreds of franchise owners across multiple brands, offering a range of unique services. This combined buying power allows platforms to create value by establishing lasting relationships with preferred vendors. As a result, platforms can negotiate competitive pricing, access to exclusive products and services, and profit-driving opportunities such as rebates that aren’t available to independent franchisors. The ultimate value may be the time and effort franchise owners can save with a platform’s combined buying power. Connecting to a platform’s network of preferred vendors means owners don’t have to find their own solutions. They can focus on growing their business.
- Shared services: In a shared service model, the platform takes on operational processes such as human resources, accounting, legal and IT for the individual brands. The efficiencies created through shared service allow individual brands to focus on helping new and established owners grow their business. Shared service supports brand leaders and their teams in their mission to empower owners and drive growth for their brand.
- Shared data: Platform companies have a deeper set of data and more powerful analytics tools available than independent franchisors. With better data and analytics, franchise platforms can identify trends in business and the economy and adapt quickly. Insights can be filtered by industry, vertical, geography and more to drive precise decision-making. Sharing data across brands allows platform companies to scale insights and best practices quickly and effectively, enhancing customer experience and distinguishing themselves in their market. For franchise businesses, a platform can leverage data from one brand to streamline conversions through internal referrals. With complementary services, leads can be retargeted for other brands with the goal of lowering the cost of customer acquisition.
- Unique growth opportunities: Franchise platforms are able to provide a diversity of service offerings – and more paths for growth than independent franchisors. Franchise platforms attract candidates from a variety of backgrounds. They bring a wide range of skill sets and experience. Each candidate has their own goals, whether that’s owning a single territory, owning multiple territories from the same brand or multiple territories across multiple brands. Platforms can identify these owners and align their goals with the right opportunities. With a platform, owners are in a position to expand a single brand across multiple territories or to diversify the services they offer in their community across multiple brands. Individual growth goals may evolve based on an owner’s success in the industry or life changes.
When properly organized and implemented, the franchise platform fulfills the industry’s mission to serve all stakeholders across brands, from customers and vendor partners to franchise owners and team members to brand- and platform-level leadership.
By absorbing operational functions such as human resources, accounting, and IT, and distributing shared support for marketing, staffing and other processes, platforms create new levels of efficiency. Shared service supports brand leaders and their teams in their mission to empower owners and drive growth for their brand.
Building on the foundation of its people and brands, a franchise platform can see impactful results that few business models offer. When all levels of a franchise platform are aligned, there’s a cascading effect. Shared resources and efficiencies, supported by a common mission, will open new growth opportunities that in turn strengthen the company culture, drive new efficiencies and opportunities, and energize sustained accelerated growth.
The true impact of a successful franchise platform is felt when the franchisor and owners are in sync. When the franchise system is dialed in to empower franchise owners and owners trust the platform’s processes, the benefits begin to compound and multiply. The company’s culture becomes stronger, its buying power increases, further efficiencies are uncovered, and, most importantly, new opportunities for growth emerge.
Colt Florence is senior vice president of franchise development for Five Star Franchising, an innovative, growing platform of home service brands, including Five Star Bath Solutions, Gotcha Covered, Bio-One, 1-800-Packouts, Card My Yard, and Mosquito Shield. He has more than a decade of experience in franchise development and sales, including leadership positions with successful franchise brand platforms.