there was a fellow who made brass cupcakes, the best and brassiest cupcakes ever.Overwhelmed by orders, he made them night and day.In the third year of business, he built a second store.Soon a dozen more emporiums opened around the region, and people came from far and wide within the quad state area just to get their hands around his brass cupcakes.
This man had a lot of brass.In fact, people said he had more brass than a Chinese gong factory, and one day, he decided to go into franchising.His plan was to expand rapidly and to sell brass cupcakes throughout the entire land.Franchising would allow him to produce and distribute his product, bring entrepreneurs together to build small businesses in cities, towns, and neighborhoods, and create jobs.Hard working individuals would become his franchisees, earning a good living for themselves and their families.North America was his market place today, but global development was imminent.His franchisee investors would make him the international brass cupcake king of the world, and the planet would become a very brassy place.
Brass cupcakes he knew, but his franchising experience was nil.Couldn’t be much to it; after all, hamburger joints had been expanding their systems around the globe for years, and their products were no where near the quality or value of his brass cupcakes.His dictum was just keep making and selling what the customer wanted, the absolute best brass cupcakes money could buy.The whole franchising thing was simply something he was willing to tolerate while he built his brand, reached his consumer, and, of course, amassed his personal wealth, fame, and glory.
Unfortunately, his learning curve for franchising was straight up.Slowly, he was understanding there was more to it than just throwing a sizable number of dollars at attorneys to produce legal documents, contracts, etc.After all, he knew how to make brass cupcakes with his eyes closed.How difficult could it be to teach others to do the same?He had all the answers.Operations manuals would be so simple, he contemplated, and he could do it with pictures; it was that easy.
This was a learning experience for all except that some of the new franchisees did not seem to want to learn to do it the way he did it.Sure, they had said his way was the best way during training and grand openings, yet once their shops were opened and operating, they did it their way.Oh, dear.
Our fellow was finding that building a franchise system infrastructure was very, very expensive and extremely time consuming.He often likened the experience to building a state of the art fire station, with 24 hours day shifts in place, scores of employees on the payroll. These highly trained people could use all the equipment, work though any problems, and coach others to do the same.All this, as he frequently reminded himself, had to be accomplished before the neighborhood streets, and shops, near the fire station, were constructed.The process was exceedingly costly, labor intensive, and nearly sucked the energy out of this celebrated brass cupcake giant.
Our fellow was realizing that this franchising thing encompassed far more than he had anticipated.In fact, this franchising thing was a distinctly different business, a discrete entity apart from his brass cupcake manufacturing and sales company.Somehow he had underestimated the franchising process as an uncomplicated route to rapid growth and development.How could he have made such an error?After all, he was the brass cupcake emperor.
His newly found knowledge was not cheap or easily comprehended.Now, he admitted that he required pearls of wisdom from a business consultant, a valuable part of the franchising business planning process he had so foolishly refused to accept those many short years ago.It was expensive for him to discover that emerging franchisors seemed to be incapable of making small mistakes as they gravitated toward the more grandiose errors of judgment.Then, his first ulcer materialized, that unkissed imagination taking its revenge for having been jilted.
Finally, he experienced a moment of clarity; what he needed was a franchise administrator, someone to watch over the growth and development of his new franchise company.What does an experienced franchise individual look like?How little can I pay to get one, he asked rhetorically. A search led to the hiring of a person who didn’t work out mostly because his top candidate had only five years of experience inside the franchise development business.Wisely, our magnate decided to attend a franchise association convention where he met some real franchising natives.With the ease of experience, they told him what was required to run his franchise organization, now and forever.
Armed with a higher salary offer, the title of Franchise Division Operating Officer, and a protracted job description, the king of brass sought out the best business franchise executive his corporate economics could buy.Our brass cupcake maker had learned his lesson well.New franchise business expansion brought him much success:the big house in the city, the one on the shore, the yacht, the fast, low slung sports car, and, well, lots of stuff.In his defense, there were no gold chains, and the napkins he dined on were cloth now, never paper.
Soon, a few franchisees started coming up with shortcuts in the manufacturing process and offering quick fixes that would allow them to bring the product to the market and the consumer faster, even better, on occasion.Some franchisees were actually pestering him with letters from their lawyers complaining about this and that, and commented in rather unflattering terms about his business methods, his secrets, and his records of sales success.Skillfully, his chief operating officer worked out the kinks, and all was saved from litigation, arbitration, and mediation.
About this time, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum from the Land of Nod saw a chance to make hay.They also made brass cupcakes.With their noses to the grindstone, they watched how well and how fast our gent’s product was selling.Dee and Dum’s brass cupcake plant was part of a multi-national business brand; they had the money to compete and an inclination to succeed.It was becoming a genuine contest.Compete hell, they had the revenue to buy out other brass cupcake business people in major markets, and they had a franchising development plan.But, that’s another story.
How much did our champion brass cupcake maker have to pay for a top franchise executive?Answer: more than he anticipated, but only as much as he could afford.
Jerry Wilkerson is the founder and president of Franchise Recruiters Ltd. ®, an international franchise management executive search corporation with offices in Toronto and Chicago.He is a former president and executive director of the International Franchise Association in Washington, D.C.Wilkerson recently completed his 25th year in the business of franchising.
Franchise Recruiters is a strategic alliance partner with the iFranchise Group.
