Franchising can be a wonderful business model for delivery of fitness products and services to the customer, who, of course, is the end user. In a perfect franchising world, the customer will never know, at first, that the business is an independently owned and operated entity. In this ideal scenario, the look and feeling of the brand is experienced as ubiquitous in all locations no matter where the member of the fitness studio goes. When the customer comes to develop a relationship with their home location, though, they will soon get to know the owners and the staff of the franchise and will come to understand at some point that it is a franchise owned location of the national, or international brand.
The way it works best is when the franchisor and the franchisee know and accept that they are in a partnership to deliver the highest level of experience possible for the workouts, the concept and the customer service. In this partnership arrangement, based on a franchise agreement, the most effective way to look at it is the franchisor as the “coach” responsible for the business concept and the workouts playbook with the “plays” (much like that of a football game) executed by the franchisee as the “player” bringing superior customer service to the field of operations. This coach/player franchise paradigm works very well in the context of teamwork to deliver awesomeness to the customer.
In many franchise organizations the franchisor sells products and equipment to the franchisee, and, as is the case with the HOTWORX franchise, this is done to maintain integrity of the brand with respect to patents and trademarks, to streamline the supply chain, and to ensure uniformity in the partnership from the franchisor to the franchisee. This is also done, as in the HOTWORX case, to reduce the monthly royalty fees that the franchisee pays to the franchisor for the right to use the trademark and the system, or “playbook” if you will. That is how the “partnership” works between the franchisor and franchisee. Of course the franchisor needs to make money and so does the franchisee, but it has to be accomplished with the understanding that nothing works without the needs and wants of the end user being met at the highest possible level on a continual basis!
That said, it must be recognized in franchising that there is only one true customer, and she is the end user, period.
The franchisor and the franchisees together constitute the franchise company. They must remain united together to deliver the goods to the customer. All efforts by the franchisor and the franchisee must be made to understand the customer. The franchise brand must represent who the customer is and the organization must know her so well that the company delivers what she wants before she even knows she wants it!
This requires brand teamwork.
Teamwork is vital to the success of any fitness franchise location. Again, in franchising it is 100% essential to understand that there is only one customer and she is the end user of the products and services. The franchisor and the franchisee must accept that this has to be the focus point for everything. They can never lose sight of this. When the end user is delighted, then everything else falls into place. Nothing is more important than great results for the END USER who is THE CUSTOMER in a fitness business.
