Franchise Market Poised for Growth in 2018

Make sure your business is ready to benefit

According to the latest report from the International Franchise Association, 2018 will be a good year to own or open a franchise. Tax reform, regulatory relief, and other factors are expected to create an economic environment where franchises can thrive. The Franchise Business Outlook Report for 2018 actually predicts that the franchise sector will outpace the rest of the American economy in terms of growth.

Here are some notable projections from the report:

• With many new franchises opening in 2018, the number of franchises will grow 1.9 percent in 2018
• Employment in the franchise sector will grow 3.7 percent—more than in the US economy at large
• The GDP of the franchise sector will increase by 6.1 percent to $451 billion, leaving franchises accounting for 3 percent of the US GDP in nominal dollars
• Franchise business output will hit $757 billion, an increase of 6.2 percent

Is Your Franchise Business Ready?

With the franchise sector poised for growth, it is an exciting time for franchise owners. However, there could be growing pains if you’re not careful to manage your brand and ensure new and old franchise locations continue to uphold key standards and implement processes correctly. After all, if any of your franchise locations fail to do this, the entire brand will be compromised in the customers’ eyes.

Site Visits are a Must—Use a Digital Tool

When tracking franchise performance for the purposes of brand consistency (as well as for the purposes of rating location performance), multiple areas must be considered. This includes the product or services, customer service, operations, marketing, and quality control.

In many cases, the best way to check on individual franchise location performance—and then compare franchise locations to one another—is with site audits and checklists. These may be completed by staff at each location or by a corporate representative.

No matter who is doing the auditing, a digital tool is going to give you the best results. Going digital will save time and money because the auditor will be able to complete the job faster. They can input information quickly and even use photos to replace lengthy descriptions. And when the auditing tool is connected to your analytics software, there’s no need for any duplicate data entry.

Digital auditing can also help ensure consistency in how audits are conducted. Because the questions and criteria can be automatically pushed from the system to each individual auditor’s smartphone or tablet, it’s not possible for auditors to use outdated questionnaires.

Why Choose MyFieldAudits

MyFieldAudits is an example of a digital auditing and analytics tool that is ideal for franchise management. It can be used to evaluate individual locations as well as the brand as a whole. MyFieldAudits supports digital auditing with pictures and thumbs up/thumbs down ratings, as well as robust analytics functions that produce digital reports that can be shared with staff at different locations and at different levels of the company.

To learn more about MyFieldAudits or request a free demo, contact us at info@MyFieldAudits.com.