STAGE 7: Evaluate and Scale Up the Network

Objective: In this Stage you will monitor the quality of franchisee operations, collect impact data, and assess franchisee performance through a ranking exercise. You will then address challenges and correct issues for under performing franchisees. Once the network has been operating for one complete year, and on a regular basis thereafter, you will continually assess, iterate and strengthen the franchise network, revisiting the strategy and overall sustainability of the network through a plan for next steps, expanding to reach more communities, if appropriate.

Suggested time-frame: The frequency of individual activities in Stage 7 are suggested in the steps below but may vary based on the typical duration of franchise agreements of between one to three years. Annual franchise fees allow for an opportunity for franchisees to essentially renew their status each year, which may precipitate some of the below activities.

Recommended Roles and Responsibilities:

  • Program staff / Franchise Project Manager: Coordinate data collection and franchisee quality assessment visit and stay in constant communication with franchisees to provide feedback. Lead on the ranking exercise, decision making for next steps for the franchise network, and developing the plan to incorporate prioritized improvements, scale and sustain.
  • Monitoring and Evaluation Team: Carry out monitoring and evaluation of franchisees.
  • Executive Director: Lead on the ranking exercise, decision making for next steps for the franchise network, developing the plan to incorporate prioritized improvements, scale and sustain.
Please follow these seven Steps to complete Stage 7:

Once your franchise network has been operating for one full month, you will begin to implement your monitoring and evaluation plan. The first step is to request that franchisees begin to complete the monthly impact reporting template, found in Stage 3, each month to record and report on their monthly services provided. Collect this data from franchisees each month to aggregate into your enabled services data.

Once you have been operating for three months, you will begin to request that franchisees complete the quarterly quality self-assessment template, also found in Stage 3, each quarter to keep on file and manage their own ongoing operations. Collect information from the franchisee only as needed, depending on purpose.

Once your franchise network has been in operation for one full year, you will begin to conduct in-person quality assurance visits to franchisee sites, recommended annually, during which you evaluate the quality of staff skills, attitudes, and services, and assess the need for improvements or retraining. At this time, you will also conduct a client satisfaction survey of patients from each site. Use the quality monitoring checklist, bi-annual quality assurance visit tool and patient satisfaction survey from Stage 3 to carry out the quality assurance visits. Record and internally discuss challenges, corrections that need to be made, and lessons learned for future franchise network improvements. Give feedback from the results of the quality assurance visit and patient satisfaction surveys to the franchisees.

Once you have completed your first round of quality assurance visit, it is recommended that you carry out a franchisee ranking exercise at this specific point in time, and at regular one to three-year intervals thereafter. Use the guidelines for Franchisee Ranking and Actions, found in the toolbox in this Stage, for guidance on how to perform the ranking exercise and carry out the necessary actions based on the ranking. The ranking exercise will enable you to determine the direction for each individual franchisee and, by extension, the entire franchise network, categorizing franchisees into four main groups:

  • Graduation: Acknowledge and reward franchisees that have succeeded to the point of mentoring or managing multiple franchisees by “graduating” them;
  • No-Action: Continue to support sites that are meeting expectations;
  • Improvement: Provide ongoing technical support and mentoring to franchisees that are under-performing, but on track to improve, such as: retraining, coaching, and monthly calls;
  • De-franchise: For those sites that consistently do not meet quality or other franchise requirements.

Each year continue to improve the franchise network. Provide new opportunities for franchisees to stay engaged, for instance by setting up a franchisee-to-franchisee mentorship network, if not already established in Stage 6. In this way, you can reward successful franchisees and leverage their best practices to help the entire network. Prioritize a list of improvements to be made to the franchise package, franchisor processes, and other aspects of the franchise model. These should be based in part on the challenges, corrections, lessons learned gathered during Step 3 in this Stage.

Each year, consider your plan for scale and sustainability. Refer back to your expansion targets outlined in the social franchise strategy presentation, and consider if you are ready to expand in light of this list of criteria:

  • Current reach of franchise network against longer term goals for impact
  • Market need
  • Market saturation
  • Overall quality of network
  • Adequate level of standardization across network
  • Systematized processes to capture economies of scale
  • Adequate financial and human resources available

Depending on the results of this analysis, you will then develop a strategy and implementation plan for next steps needed to scale and maintain sustainability at scale. The plan should include:

  • Incorporation of prioritized improvements into franchising model before taking the model to further scale. Assess possible economies of scale;
  • Audit the sustainability of the franchise strategy developed in Stage 2;
  • Revisit the budget template and funding plan for sustained operations and/or expansion.

Repeat the steps in Stage 7 on an ongoing basis. Return to earlier stages in this process to continue improving the franchising model as needed.