Hire Who Can Do the Job, Not Who You Like – One of the best franchise tips for success you’ll ever get is to identify your own weaknesses and build a team that can make up for them. For example, say you can’t stand sales, you love talking with people and telling them about the work, but you don’t like putting on that ‘closer’ attitude to turn a maybe into a firm commitment. There’s no point in hiring a point person who’s going to be just like you. You need someone who relishes getting people over the line and bringing in the leads. That’s not to say you should have a team of people you can’t stand, but at least be aware of what people’s skills are and how they can round out your business’ overall skillset.

Trust the System

Being a franchise means you get access to and training in all the brand’s business processes and suppliers. These are systems that have been worked out over the years and across the experiences of many different franchise locations. It might seem obvious, but one of the most important franchise tips for success is to follow the system that the franchisor and the other franchise businesses work with. Not only are you most likely contractually obligated to do so, but it’s also what works everywhere else.

Strive for Healthy Financials

It can never be underestimated how important good cash flow and a healthy balance sheet are for your business’ success. This should also be a focus for having a successful start for your franchise by doing research on your franchisor and making sure that they themselves are in a healthy financial position. Unlike other business models, you and your franchisor have a nearly symbiotic relationship. If they do poorly, so do you, and the last thing you want is to be doing well, keeping up your end of the business but getting problems coming down the line from their end.

Under-Promise, Over-Deliver

Success can snowball once it gets rolling, and a big part of the reason why is how word spreads about good work done. A customer feeling happy with doing business with you can come down to how you have set their expectations and how you match up to them. This can be a fine line to tread, as to market yourself and get their business in the first place, you want to sound good, but then too high expectations can lead to disappointment even if you’ve done an objectively good job. The key to achieving the right balance is having a strong feedback process and being honest with how you present your business, using actual feedback from customers.