Now you're walking!

Remember when your offspring took those first hesitant steps? That memorable moment when your heir first staggered across the floor. What exactly did you do as the child tumbled to the ground?

Did you pick her up and drop-kick her back into her cot?

'Okay kiddo. You just had your big chance to walk; and you blew it. Forget it; you're stuck there forever.'

That's probably not what you would say or do. What would probably happen is that words of encouragement would pour from your lips. Arms would be wide to persuade your toddler to toddle. Advice would be offered on where to go.

If every day that followed you had bothered to set a target - once round the sofa, twice round the room, thrice round the park - you would eventually have a child capable of entering Olympic track and field.

So what exactly would you expect when you take your first faltering steps into franchising?

You enter the franchise training nursery at head office. For the second time in your life you are moving into a strange environment, leaving those near and dear at home.

Activity is going on all around. The grown-ups sitting at their desks appear to have a sense of purpose. No sign of the dreaded OFSTED inspectors or Key Stage Skills for you. About ten days of specialised training in the skills of running your franchise.

Whenever you join a franchise someone always makes the same dumb comment. 'But you don't have any practical experience for franchising. Your answer should be: 'If I need practical experience, would that mean I have to die to become an good undertaker?'

Let's get one thing clear. You are not there to learn such practical tasks as preparing a beef patty or spinning a pizza base. Your objective is not to gain the skills of removing dents or re-wiring homes.

You are there to discover how to make money and create a lifestyle for yourself by controlling the operation of your franchise. The skills of delivery, marketing, promoting, and managing are the real reasons behind your franchise training.

Good training operates by taking the learner from what is known, to what is unknown. Most prospective franchisees will have already had some experience of the world of work, and you may well find yourself resenting the simplistic approach taken by the franchisor. However, it is better they assume you know nothing, and cover all aspects, rather than omit one essential skill.

Tempting as it may be to offer your twopenneth of input during the training, learn to button your lip. If you do interrupt, expect to hear 'thank you for telling us how you managed with Exxon, but we are not an oil company, and in this franchise you will do it our way. Thank you, and have a nice day.'

When I began my first franchise training session over twenty years ago, you couldn't get a bus ticket between the cheeks of my bum. All I could think was 'what if they realise I have never done this before, ask a technical question, or disagree.'

No one did and I soon discovered that trainees assume that if you are confident enough to stand upright, you must know more than them. Franchise training is never a round table discussion, but a forum where communication flows from the trainer to the trainee. Franchising, with its highly structured operation, lends itself well to this approach.

During training expect to hear more telling than selling. Speaking and showing more than talking and listening. When sessions are completed, you will be expected to put into practice your newly learnt skills.

Be aware that your franchisor will monitor your progress throughout the training. You will work long hours in your hotel completing 'home tasks' before the following day's training session. Some may forward pre-training information to be studied before you attend the initial course. Unlike your previous experience of company conferences and training events, there will be no time for nights out with the lads. The objective of this hard work is for you to develop the essential winning habits. Practice not only makes perfect, but makes habits permanent.

You may find yourself being 'taken out' from formal training if it is felt that further remedial work is needed. Tutoring will be conducted by a top franchisee, who may or may not not be the top performer on sales or income targets. It is more likely to be the one who complies with all the standards set by the franchise. It will be the one who provides information on time, supports all promotions, and happily attends conferences and training events. Franchisors much prefer those who conform, rather than perform.

Training is so important to your life with the franchise that I would refuse to join any franchise that is unable to provide a sight of their formal training programme. Learning by 'sitting next to Nellie' is not an acceptable option. Spending three days with a nearby franchise is a second-rate learning experience. You may be lucky and pick up a few practical hints and tips, but you will also pick up on the operator's many bad habits.

I dislike the word 'consultant'. A 'consultant' is someone who borrows your watch to tell you the time, walks off with the watch, then sends through the bill for a new one.

Called in as a consultant to assist a franchisee in trouble, I know that it is usually the result of a major disagreement between the franchisee and the franchisor. Someone in head office had the idea of appointing an independent advisor to read the riot act and stop the rot.

Consulting adds nothing to franchisee skills and merely offers a temporary solution, rather than addressing your real problems. It is a fast fix crafted by the franchisor in the full expectation that you will execute the solution. You will be offered the techniques to resolve any breakdown in the vague hope that you will learn from the experience and gain a clearer understanding of how the business operates.

Drafted in to resolve problems relating to shoplifting, I ran through the solutions and methods guaranteed to reduce losses. Three months later came another request from the franchisee for repeat session. Was my consultation ineffective, or was it that the franchisee was unable to stir into action?

Using a 'get out of jail free' card from head office, I spent thirty minutes shoplifting prior to my visit. Piling my loot onto the franchisee's desk, I was rewarded by the comment 'these are only small things'. Those things accounted for a continuing reduction in his annual gross profit of three per cent. His failure to control staff fraud accounted for a further two per cent.

When all else fails we try coaching as a training skill. Faced with franchisee inactivity, the coaching discovers why - despite the franchisee knowing how - the problems are failing to be solved.

It is the task of coaching to hold the franchisee accountable for their failure. The franchisee will not be offered solutions, but through questioning encouraged to diagnose their own problem-solving techniques. Goals will be set and action plans designed. The assumption must be that the franchisee has the ability to succeed within themselves.

Training, consulting and coaching cannot succeed if the back-up information is not available. The franchise model must operate through a series of workable systems provided by the franchisor. Check that your operation manual is a true reference point for solving problems. Knowledge from the operation manual, sales manual, or marketing manual will unfortunately never provide the skills you need to win.

You could read about the Tour de France, watch DVD's of the Tour, and study the winner's techniques, but not until you finally push off on that ancient boneshaker to pedal faster than any other competitor will you be able to rightfully wear the yellow jersey. All the knowledge, training and practice will never take the place of one day in the saddle at the front of the pack.

Ask around on what is the most difficult part of franchising, and the answer will be selling. Having spent two days coaching a franchisee in the sales skills with no apparent result, she finally managed to whisper 'I am congenitally unable to make a cold call on the telephone, and all the advice from you will never alter that'.

The solution? 'Don't do it', I explained. 'Employ a part-time canvasser to work from home, then you follow the leads up because that's what managing your franchise is all about.'

After your training and some time after the launch you will begin to develop good and bad habits. The tendency is to spend time busily doing the tasks you enjoy most, and because of that produce less positive results. Take time to quantify how you spend your time, and the actual return on your efforts, be it by the amount of sales turnover or accumulated profits.

Avoiding a difficult area because of your perceived lack of skills is not the answer. Finding excuses is easy. Take the task you find most difficult and commit yourself to achieving one targeted opportunity. If my telephobic franchisee had made one call each week, she would have managed fifty contacts in the first year. However badly the task was managed she would have acquired a set of skills, and contacts, which would have lasted throughout her franchise life.