Systems, Policies, Procedures (S.P.P.)

I can see your eyes glaze over as you look at this title. Perhaps you will not even get this far into this article because all you looked at was the title and moved on. I’m used to that and it’s too bad. I’ve been fighting the good fight for a long time and it does not get any easier. The good fight is to get people who profess that they want change, say they want to get better at what they do and when you start the learning process, shut you down cold.

Let’s use the franchise organizations that I owned as the perfect example. Follow me here

Step One
I would put an ad in the paper saying we had franchises for sale.

Step Two
The ad would say we had a successful franchise opportunity for them; we said part of the franchise fee, $20,000 or more, would go towards training them in how to run the franchise.

Step Three
They would come and meet us, we would interview them, do the paperwork, check them out; they in turn would want to call franchises already in the organization to check us out. At this meeting, they would start what would be an ongoing dialogue where they would question us on the support and training that we provided to new and existing franchisees. We would explain in detail the support, training, the Systems, Policies, and Procedures that all successful franchisees received and should follow. The prospective franchisees also asked the existing franchisees if the support and training was provided, they were assured that it was.

Step Four
This process would last for weeks, sometimes months, the prospective franchisees waffling on whether to buy or not. Would we support them? Did the franchise really work? Back and forth, meetings and questions. The investment was $100,000.00, more for a larger area; a big decision that required due diligence.

Step Five
The lawyers got involved, the lawyers reviewed the contract and yes, right in the contract it said we would support and train them in how to run a successful franchise in our organization. We also stated we had an operations manual that outlined our Systems, Policies and Procedures. We called it their Blueprint for Success. We then had to haggle with their lawyers to make them happy, if there is such a thing as a happy lawyer, that we would fulfill our obligations to train and support their clients.

Step Six
More meetings, phone calls and more phone calls and meetings with the existing franchisees checking again that there was training, there was support and yes the franchise would work.

Step Seven
At my expense, would hold a meeting where existing franchisees would be available to meet with new prospective franchisees to discuss, in person, what they had been discussing over the phone for the last weeks or months. The meeting was held at a hotel room, with no one from my office in attendance so everyone would feel at ease and ask whatever questions they wanted in private.

Step Eight
Finally a decision was made to buy the franchise, contracts were signed, money changed hands, everyone shook hands and I took everyone out to dinner to celebrate. It was a time to rejoice, a new beginning for the franchisee.

Now something really strange takes place.

Remember how concerned the new perspective franchisees were about whether we would help, support and train them in a brand new venture they had absolutely no experience in, a venture they had just given us, $100,000.00 or more for, remember those people?

Those very same people, when told of the next training session, set up especially for the new people to attend, a meeting held for them, where they would get the help, support, training that they wanted so badly, that we promised we would give, what do you think they said, when told of this meeting? Think really, really hard.

"I’m busy, can I come another time."

The truth, I swear. More than half of ALL of the franchisees that I have ever dealt with, either didn’t show up for this meeting, wanted it moved so it would not interfere with something really important they were doing, came but left early or sent someone in their place to take “notes“. If this sounds bizarre to you, it gets even stranger, if that is possible.

The meeting starts, this is the day they get all of the things that they have said they wanted; training, support , help, the operations manual that contains the Systems, Policies and procedures, their own personal Blue print for Success. Remember they paid over $100,000.00 or more for this. I always held the first meeting, I was the franchisor, I sold them the franchise, I was the one that made all the promises to them, and it was right that I should be the one to properly introduce them into the organization. This is when the most bizarre thing always happened, without fail.

I would hand out the manuals and everyone would start to read through them and point out things to their spouses or the people beside them, and then it would happen. This would be what we referred to as “the beginning of the end “question. The question was this:

“Do we have to do it this way?"

What does all this have to do with you? Two things:

Are you going to believe, as I have, that unless you start to build / incorporate / accept into your daily operations some Systems, Policies and Procedures you will not fully realize your full potential? Secondly, once you have chosen your Systems, Policies and Procedures, will you have faith in their ability to help you reach your full potential?

Life is full of choices