Franchises Can Learn From Software Startups - Part 2: Trends

This article is the second of a three-part series related to technology in the franchise world. It discusses current trends in both the software and franchise worlds which are relevant, given the similarities illustrated in Part 1. Part 3 discusses what franchisors should be doing to react to this change in business context.

Fact: The world is changing. Technology is the catalyst.

The impact of technology on the way we do business is undeniable, and franchising is no exception. More often than not, franchise success stories list technology as one of the key elements to the franchise's growth. Five to ten years ago, most franchise systems recognized the value of a franchise intranet/extranet as a centralized franchise collaboration tool. More recently, the rise in franchise systems which allow absentee/semi-absentee franchisees has increased the need for software tooling that facilitates remote franchise management. 

Start thinking about who will be buying franchises in the next decade or two. These people have grown up with the Internet and do not know life without it. A very insightful read on this subject is Diana G. Oblinger's recent publication Growing up with Google: What it means to education as many of the concepts can be projected from current day challenges in education to tomorrow's franchise sales situation. The Net Generation (born after 1982) is now entering the workforce with university degrees. It won't take long for them to look at purchasing a franchise. Thanks to the Internet, the Net Generation has access to vast amounts of information which doesn't always work in the franchisor's favor. A single individual can report scams which rapidly make their way through the Internet. There are even blogs dedicated to reporting fraudulent business opportunities. This generation has learned to question authority and to go the Internet to prove their claims.

The widespread availability of high-speed Internet has not only impacted franchise operations: it has deeply changed our society. The latest trends in software have been user-empowerment (blogs), online collaboration (wikis), and social networking (for business or for fun). In case you didn't know, over a quarter of all Canadians have a Facebook account. If you're thinking that this is a fad for kids and teens, think again as over half of these users are over 30. Reacting today to these social and technological changes does not only help prepare yourself for the future, it also helps you understand your current operating environment because the facts of life for the Net Generation are also true for many older individuals which are no longer marginal.

A few trends in the software world...

Starting a software company on a shoestring has never been easier for a number of reasons. First, high quality open source tools, powerful software frameworks, and the availability of free web services allows competent software engineers to solve problems faster than ever. Second, infrastructure costs are negligible. Everyone already has a computer and an Internet connection... and working from home is an option for MicroISVs. Once you outgrow your basement or garage, co-working environments provide an affordable way to grow your company to the next level.  Even if you operate from home, you can still reach a very wide potential client-base thanks to the Internet and the same logic applies to any kind of business, not only software.

Another trend in the software world is that many cities (examples: Ottawa, Montreal) offer a vibrant software startup community which most people aren't even aware of. Founders are connecting and publicly sharing lessons learned. Funders are even connecting with founders at informal social events focused on growing the community. Twenty years ago, it would have been hard not only to meet startup founders but also to sit them down to hear about their experiences. Today, you can read about it on blogs and join up at local events... and if you're feeling old school, you can still buy books to learn the stories of other founders. As we all know, the Internet makes it easy to contact other people and collaborate online but it does also make it easier for people to meet offline for both business and social events. 

Finding and retaining good people is the single hardest task in a software company, even if you've got money to burn. Money is an incentive, but is far from being the most significant one for software engineers. Indeed, just take a look at Maslow's hierarchy of needs to discover esteem and self-actualization are higher in the pyramid yet cannot be purchased with money. What developers are looking for are interesting challenges in a great work environment and most large organizations are unable to take advantage of this fact, which push the best software engineers to work at smaller startups or even start their own company. The best talent have plenty of opportunities to pursue and consequently don't often look for jobs on sites such as Monster whereas bad employees always end up unemployed and pollute the system. The solution in the software world is to be active in the software community and utilize niche-specific job sites such as the Joel On Software job board.

... That are also present in the franchise world

In the franchise world where we are seeing lots of concepts, such as home-based franchises, growing rapidly because of their low start-up costs. Many people dream of being their own boss while doing something they love and it now easier than ever for them to start their own business. Striking gold is (and always will be) hard, but one can make a decent living with a MicroISV (thanks to niche markets on the Internet) or home-based franchises (thanks to franchisors who know what it takes to make the concept work). We're also seeing an increasing number of new franchise concepts, partially because the Internet has made it easier to contact experts in franchising (and vice-versa... which is not always a good thing).

I would love to say there is a vibrant startup franchise community on the Internet, but that is simply not the case. There are a few disparate local associations but the web is polluted with franchise opportunity websites, given the high commissions related to franchise sales. However, if you look hard enough, you can find a few good websites which unite franchisees and franchisors under one roof for discussion and collaboration. Furthermore, younger franchisors are turning to blogs and are openly discussion various lessons learned. It would be superficial and discriminatory to claim age is the only factor at play to explain the slower growth of a good online franchise communities, but it is a contributing factor given the fact that franchisors require a substantial amount of capital to launch a franchise. Few, if any, current franchisors are part of the Net Generation.  However, I am optimistic that a number of excellent franchise-related websites such as Blue Mau Mau, focusing on everything other than sales, will help grow the franchise startup community over the next decade thanks to collaboration between franchisors and various franchise service providers.

Finding and retaining good franchisees is an obvious challenge in the franchise industry. Many new franchise prospects are surprised that they are being screened for quality and are unaware that, for new/small franchisors, their individual success can have a strong impact on the success or failure of the whole system. Most franchisors complain about the decreasing quality of leads via franchise websites and this poor quality is surprising given the parallel which can be made with online recruiting systems such as Monster. As more people look for franchise opportunities on the Internet,  it becomes increasingly important for franchisors to be able to efficiently filter through a larger volume of requests but also for them to be proactive about sales and marketing. This can be achieved by participating in online communities dedicated to their niche. Of course, time & effort is a valuable commodity and lower quality leads are to be expected when a franchisor doesn't proactively work on solutions on a daily basis. 

Summary

After discussing changes in our society, this article covered three core trends:

• Younger people are starting businesses on a shoestring budget.
• It is easier than ever to connect with other people and learn from their mistakes.
• The big sites are saturated with people you don't want to hire or have as franchisees. 

Part 3 will talk about what you should be doing to make the best of this changing environment. Your homework for the next week is to participate in a few online communities of your choice (Franchise, Startup, or Local). Also, take a look at Franchise NewsBlast, which we are launching today.

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Jason Kealey is a founder of LavaBlast Software, a company that develops Franchise Software to simplify day-to-day franchise operations.   This article was originally published on the LavaBlast Software Blog.

Related reading:

Franchises Can Learn from Software Startups, Part 1