I am giving a talk tomorrow morning to a bunch of smart people that are interested in starting their own business. The talk is on figuring out which business they want to start. As I put the finishing touches on the speech, I realize a few things.
The first thing is that Madison, Wisconsin is a great town. The opportunity to speak alone is great. The fact that Madison has the audience for a presentation like this speaks volumes about just how great of a place it is.
Then I realize that I am going to be asked about franchises. Franchises can be a powerful tool to grow your business or they can be a drain that takes away a big chunk of your bottom line for little in return. I have worked with business owners on both ends. It doesn’t take much to discover that some franchise models leave much to be desired. You just need to observe human behavior to discover this for yourself.
One of the things that I was confronted with when starting my business coaching practice was whether to buy into a franchise business coaching model or to start my own. From my experience and conversations with hundreds of business owners in all manner of businesses, there are just some businesses where the franchise model is not the best fit. That is not to say that it could not be. It just seems that many of the current business coaching franchises offered a lot of information, a little guidance and very little in terms of qualifying their business coaches or adapting the coaching model to the individual clients.
They were taking something psychological and trying to make it purely logical.
Much like the flourishing fast food businesses, the business coaching franchises were designed to get any mirror fogging lackey to follow the outlined steps to get you what you needed to get back on the road. Give or take a few positive results for your business. Like a quick fast food lunch, they left you feeling a little guilty and wondering if you made a mistake.
They did this by trying to squeeze all of their clients into processed categories or pumping you through an algorithm, whether that fit you well or not. These franchise models seemed to be taking the fast food franchise model and applying it to human endeavors. You, being human, know that emotions and issues exist that do not fit in a neat little box. Especially if you have your own business.
I wanted to take the time to let you know that, although I am certain some people are totally fine being fit into a Styrofoam container and sent down the line to the heat lamps, I will not treat you like just another cheeseburger.
You see, the psychology of business is much more important than the numbers in business. Because without the right mindset, you are building a business that may be successful in the short term and collapse in spectacular fashion in the following months or years. Have the right mindset and you will have a lasting business. This takes evaluation and adaptation. Have you ever seen anyone evaluate a fast food lunch and be impressed?
These franchise models do serve a purpose. That purpose just happens to not be the client as an individual in many cases. The purpose is typical of most franchise models, take care of as many people as you can, as fast as you can. That works well enough for fast food, carpet cleaning and all manner of other businesses. It fails as a model when human excellence is involved. That is because this model expects some clients to not have great experiences but to make up for those issues by dealing with client volume.
How many times have you gone to order a cheeseburger and the order taker asked you, “Are you sure that is the best decision for you right now?” instead of, “Is that it?”
You know that the question, “Is that it?” means pay me and get out of the way, there is a line of people behind you. It also clearly defines how much respect that company has for you as an individual.
A business coaching session with a great business coach will not include seeing if you are in need of an extra patty, or if you need to be super-sized. Categories are out the window. Like the home style, local competition to the fast food giants, what you may need for business coaching is made from scratch quality with the ideals and experience to make your business flourish in a manner that is good for you and will not leave a bad taste in your mouth.
James is a Business Coach for Draw In Customers Business Coaching in Madison, Wisconsin. When he isn’t telling people to avoid fast food, he helps them achieve success in business and beyond. He blogs successfully to the world at www.drawincustomers.com. If you are considering hiring a business coach, take a moment to call James at (608)210-2221. Smile, your business loves you.
