Dave Williams is Director of Franchising at RBS. He is a banking franchise expert and knows the 
industry inside out – he works with both Franchisors and Franchisees. Below he offers some useful tips to those Franchisors that are looking to make their business a bigger success.
“At RBS we specialise in looking after the financial needs of SMEs and mid to large corporate businesses. The bank’s Franchise team have a wealth of knowledge and experience and aim to provide bespoke solutions to both franchisors and franchisees.
As the franchisor, you face many demands. From recruiting new franchisees to liaising with stake holders, from managing operations to maintaining a competitive edge. Here are some top tips I can offer to take your franchise to the next level are:
- Keep your operations manual up-to-date
- Ensure your projections are based on recent franchise data
- Maintain a great relationship with your franchise bank
- Manage your cash flow and plan for expansion
- Assess how your business is performing and analyse this regularly
- Offer training tools for new employees to create first-class customer service
- Utilise the ‘cloned’ model that is there to help you avoid failure
If you think there’s a ceiling to how much money you can make in franchising, you’re wrong. For most of us, if we want to “hit the big time,” we’re going to need to grow to that point rather than start there. It may take a little longer that way, but the advantage is that you have learned everything you need to know along the way.
Remember, you are part of a bigger franchise picture, with thousands of new business start-ups forming every year, so make your franchise stand out for the right reasons and run your business with the aim to making it profitable.”