If you’re an entrepreneur at heart and you’d like to run your own business one of the best, least risky ways to do so is to purchase a franchise. The reason is simple to understand; a franchise brings with it a structure and process that has already been researched and perfected. Like a ‘plug & play’ electronic device, when you purchase a franchise you get a business that is already known to the public and ready to start serving them right out-of-the-box. (Ray Kroc was a brilliant guy, you gotta’ admit.) (He was the founder of McDonald’s, btw.)
With that in mind and with franchising on the rise again according to Entrepreneur magazine, we decided to put together a blog about the Top 5 franchises for 2013. Frankly, most of you reading this blog won’t have the financial ability to purchase into any of these franchise opportunities. That being said, we believe that the examples that they set as far as their marketing schemes, customer service and franchisee / franchisor relationships are well worth reading about. No matter what type of franchise or business you decide to open, these examples will help you and guide you. Enjoy.
Hampton Hotels
If you drive down any major highway in the United States you’re bound to see a Hampton Hotel. They take the top spot because of something that they call ‘Hamptonality’, a word they used to describe their unique culture and obsession with customer service. Indeed, for a mid-level hotel they have service that borders on four star and aren’t ashamed to let people know about it either using YouTube, Facebook and their own website. Throw in their money-back guest satisfaction guarantee and you can see why they are the envy of many other hotel chains.
Subway
Once the butt of jokes on a par with the Starbucks coffee chain, Subway comes in at number 2 because of their ability to figure out the most unconventional locations to place their sandwich shops including hospitals, truck stops and sports stadiums. Amazingly, subway has been in business for 47 years and the franchise continues to offer customers something new. Leaving the revenue-doubling charge is their new breakfast menu, a huge success since its 2010 launch. The fact that the American Heart Association also awarded them their ‘heart check’ for a healthy menu is only icing on the cake for a franchise that opened 2500 units in 2012 and expects to beat that number this year.
Jiffy Lube
How did Jiffy Lube make the list? By using an old marketing standard; television. When this car maintenance franchise began its first franchisee funded national television advertising campaign in more than 20 years in 2012 they increased awareness for the brand across the United States and specifically in many small-market areas. One of the major reasons that Jiffy Lube continues to grow is that, unlike many franchises, they have no franchise fee. That has been the impetus for many maintenance centers to switch flags and help increase their growth, a fact that should soon make Jiffy Lube the largest quick-lube franchise in the United States and Canada.
7-Eleven
If you notice that your local 7-Eleven owner seems to perpetually have a smile on his face the reason is that last year more than 2000 of these ubiquitous mini markets had extensive makeovers on the company’s dime. That’s right, 7-Eleven itself picked up the tab and in 2012 began offering upgraded system technology that won’t cost the franchisee a penny. They also offered internal financing for their franchise fee and began offering multi-unit deals as well, something practically unheard of in the franchise world. Add that to the 10% increase in their private label 7-Select line and it’s easy to see why their franchisees are always happy.
Supercuts
With a 65 billion domestic industry to fall back on making it as a hair salon franchise would seem to be relatively easy. The fact is however that it’s not and many budget salons fail. Supercuts hair salons, owned by Regis Corporation, are the lucky recipient of quite a bit of attention since a management change was made in 2011. Improving their candidate selection process is one of the reasons that 65 new Supercuts were opened in 2012, bringing the total unit number in the United States to 2268. With the aforementioned $65 billion opportunity in front of them, this aggressive change is paying off in a big way and the chain should continue to do well, well into the future.
We hope that these five examples have given you, as an entrepreneur, some insight and information that is of value. No matter what type of franchise you ultimately choose make sure to do your due diligence and research. If you can find one that looks and acts similar to the five excellent examples above you probably have found a winner. Good luck no matter which franchise you choose and we’ll see you back here soon.
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