Franchise Manuals – Importance and Types of

Written by Sparkleminds

Franchise manuals is an important document between the franchisor and the newly hired franchisee. Franchise manual refers to all the details of the franchise brand that needs to be followed. The details could range from marketing activities of the franchise to workflow of all the employees, the ground staff. It also gives out the responsibility of very individual in the franchise business.

The franchise manual is further divided into 3 main types of manuals in the franchising world.

I) Franchise Operations Manual

II) Franchise Training Manual

III) Franchise Marketing Manual

Let understand what each one stands for and its importance:

I) Franchise Operations Manual

The franchise operations manuals is the first and the foremost important manual document between both the parties. The manuals will have the complete details on what are the roles and responsibility of the franchisor and the franchisee. The operations manual will contain the duties of the franchisee towards you (franchisor) and the brand.

It will contain the steps or the procedure to be followed to fulfill the defined duties in the operational manual. Which is by the franchisor towards the brand. It is an important document as it plays a part as a local manual. The manual will contain the steps and the procedure to create a uniformity in the business and how to go about achieving it.

The few main aspects of the operation manual are:

  • The aims of the franchise system.
  • Steps and the process of achieving uniformity in the franchise brand, towards the customers and the brand.
  • Details on customer handling and addressing their issues/queries.

It is also important, here, to understand that the operations manual will vary from industry to industry. For e.g. the operations manual will differ for a restaurant business and hotel business, though they fall in close categories.

From the above, it is important for the franchisor to understand the importance of having an operational manual in place. Inducing better working of the franchise and also build a strong relationship between both the parties.

There have been instances where entrepreneurs working in the fast food industry have referred, Mc Donald’s franchise operations manual, subway franchise operations manual pdf and built their own. They have failed to understand that they are international brands and have an altogether different configuration of their own. We as Indian brand cannot adopt those work on the same lines.

Here, there is a need for an expert who can help them with calking out the right operations manual. We Sparkleminds pitch in and help brand with working closely with them and building the best operating manual for them. This manual will be in sync of both the franchisor and the franchisee.

II) Franchise Training Manual

Like the franchise operations manual the franchise training manual too plays a critical role in the franchise business. The franchise training manual also works in building a healthy relationship between the franchisor and the franchisee.

It is very important for the franchisee to work in line with the franchise business. The franchise training manual will consist of rules/regulations, and steps to achieve and work towards a consistence delivery of services which is promised to the customers by the brand.

Any change in the delivery of service by the brand can hamper the image of the original franchise and may bring the downfall of all the other franchisees of the brand, regardless of other franchisees doing great in the given location.

Usually, the franchise training manual will consist of the details of the person who is to be trained, the training duration, training location, contents of the training etc. The training document that is the franchisee receives from the franchisor will have all the details of who is to receive the training, what is the training that will be received, how long will the training go on i.e. one week or 1 month etc. it is very specifically mentioned.

The training is generally provided before 3-4 weeks of the franchisee commencing operations, but in a few cases, it begins immediately after the agreement is signed between both the parties. The franchisee here should also understand that the training imparted is not only for him/her but must also include all the employees and the workforce to be included. The reason they too are included is there are specific modules in the training manual that are a target at the employees who will be in the business fulltime. They may have to manage things during the absence of the franchisee and how to go about running the business successful at the absence of the franchisee.

The training manual not only plays an important part for a brand of Indian origin but is very crucial for international brands too that looking at setting up base in India. Brands of international presence have to really work on their training manuals as per Indian specifications. There is a vast difference in the types of training given for a brand of international presence and a brand of an only national presence.

There are a few successful brands of international presence who have been able to make changes in their training manual as per the country they target. For e.g. Mc Donald’s, Pizza Hut, Dominos, Subway and more. Due to their success entrepreneurs are often searing for Mc Donald’s and Subway franchise manuals and try implementing it in their own business.

With the above, it is understood the importance of having the right training manual in place and how it plays a role between the brand, franchisor and the franchisee. Providing the right type of training imparted to the franchisee can do wonders for the franchise and vice-versa. With the experienced team of experts at Sparkleminds, we have chalked out training manuals for brands of Indian and foreign origin and helped set base in India.

III) Franchise Marketing Manual

The 3rd most important part of the franchise manual is the marketing manual for the brand. The marketing manual is also equally important from the above 2 mentioned manuals in franchising.

The marketing manual consists of all the details of marketing activities that the franchisor will do. This will be on behalf of the franchisee for the brand. It also contains details and plans of all marketing related activities which the franchisee has to do. To create a presence in the local market and start building popularity in the local market.

In today’s competitive market it is really important for the franchisee to look at creating a brand marketing strategy. On both online and offline marketing platforms for better reach.

In the offline technics, the franchisee can use marketing strategies like – Newspaper ad, banners, pamphlets, word-of-mouth marketing, publicity activities etc. They can also look at setting up stalls at shows relating to their industry. Setting up stalls at common shows will also work for the brand.

In the online marketing technique, the best way to create awareness is to have a presence on social media platforms. The franchisee should not only have a presence in all social media platforms but should also timely keep on posting. Doing this keeps the audience engaged with their brand. Some of the best social media platforms to be used are – Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram and more.

From the overall blog it is now understood that having the right type franchise manual for the brand is important not only for the franchisor but to the franchisee as well. We have also understood how having different manuals contribute differently in keeping the brand alive in the market. At Sparkleminds we understand the importance of different franchise manuals and how they play different roles to the franchisor and the franchisee. With over 20+ years of experience and having worked with 500+ companies with brands ranging from beverage to clothing to education and more. We have chalked out the best franchise manuals for them to work in sync and have been doing great till date.

Visit us and we will build the perfect franchise manual for your brand too!

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