Starting a Franchise Best Practices: How Branding and Consistency Will Aid Expansion

Do you have a great idea for a business? How about a consumer goods retailer? Or a food truck? These great business ideas have led to thousands of entrepreneurs building successful, family run businesses to pass from generation to generation. But what happens when the next generation is not as interested in the family business? Or even better, what if you’re seeing so much success you want to expand the reach of an existing business idea?

The expansion of small businesses has led to some of the most successful companies today including Anytime Fitness, Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwiches and H&R Block. So, what do all three of these companies have in common? They are all franchised businesses that have found immense success using that business model. When starting a franchise, branding and consistency become key factors for success.

As franchises expand and become more well known, return customers may wish to try new locations. This is where consistency and branding come into play. Say a customer visits your first franchised sandwich shop and find none of their favorites are on the menu, the place looks different and the only similarity seems to be the name of the business. You can imagine what a confusing experience this may be. The beauty of franchising is that the structure is very standard, giving guests, clients and customers the comfortable feeling of familiarity and expectations that can be met each time they visit a different location. Maintaining the quality control and consistency across a franchise network can be a challenge, but it is a necessary one when it comes to the customer experience.

The same can be said for branding. Whether it’s something as small as to-go cups, bags for purchased merchandise or the signs in the window, recognizable logos and colors can help to differentiate your business from the competition and build brand awareness and loyalty. In a franchise situation, this branding is generally handled by the franchisor or parent company and disseminated to all franchisees and locations. A great example of successful franchise branding is McDonald’s. Each location has the same “golden arches”, red and gold cups and Ronald’s smiling face. These recognizable features are types of branding a new franchise should focus design and marketing efforts on perfecting.

Deciding to franchise can be a big step toward the long term success of your business, but don’t let your original values, goals and mission get lost in the growth. The beauty of this business model is the individual control maintained by the franchisor in choosing who to franchise to and how the arrangement will be built. This means that missions and core values can be preserved through each franchisee in the network through screening, training and communication throughout the professional relationship.

At the Sunbelt Network, we have worked tirelessly to preserve our core values and missions and to provide the necessary support to each of our over 200 franchised locations. We are proud to announce that for the 15th consecutive year, the Sunbelt Network has made the Entrepreneur Top 500 List. Each year this list names the top franchises, regardless of size, based on objective and quantifiable measures of a franchise operation including financial strength, growth rate, stability and size of the company. “As only one of two business brokerage firms to make the list, we are proud to receive this honor in response to our low-cost opportunity and innovative support services to our franchisees,” stated Kelci Cotter, Senior Brand Manager for Sunbelt Business Brokers. “In our opinion, Sunbelt’s brokers are among the best in the world; without their hard work, devotion to the brand and expertise, we wouldn’t be where we are today…We’re looking forward to an exciting and prosperous year!”

To see the complete Entrepreneur 500 list visit Entrepreneur.com.

About Sunbelt

Sunbelt® is the premiere network of franchised business brokerage offices in the world. On any given day, we have 5,000 small and medium-sized businesses listed for sale across our network. The asking prices for these businesses typically range from $50,000 USD to $10,000,000 USD, with an average of $600,000 USD. With more than 200 locations in North America, Europe, Asia, South Africa and Australia, no other business brokerage can match Sunbelt’s geographic coverage, visibility to buyers and business sales experience. Because each office is independently owned and operated, the global reach of the Sunbelt network is balanced with intensive local knowledge and involvement in the business communities in which we operate. Simply put, Sunbelt is the place to go to buy or sell a business®. To learn more, visit www.sunbeltnetwork.com.

For more information on the Sunbelt franchise, visit our website.

For access to the Sunbelt Network press release, click here.