FEATURE hasn’t budged in decades; currently residing anywhere from five per cent to 25 per cent, depending on where you practice. Unfortunately, Joe Public will see the most average physiotherapist first before the best chiropractor. Practitioners control the image, and business branding is a time-tested, proven successful model in which to do this. Practitioners control the vision, not government, or associations, or regulators. Working together to pro-mote the right message that connects with the public, and executing it in an organized fashion produces results – the results you want. A PRIMER ON FRANCHISING RESULTS-DRIVEN SOLUTIONS Why franchising? Changing chiropractic through teamwork: The franchise model F BY ERIK KLEIN ranchising as a chiropractor is beginning to make more and more sense every year. Franchise models have ex-ploded in the United States (the Joint, 1000+ units; Healthsource 250+ units) and are emerging in Canada as a model to consider. The future of chiropractic, a constant discussion point in this mag-azine and others, need to center on how we can improve the lives of our young docs and veteran practitioners alike. Young docs as associates earn an aver-age of $25,000 in their first year, which is unacceptable. Older docs are working harder and making less, subsequently delaying retirement, and abandoning practices when they can’t sell them. We need new practitioners to have good jobs coming out of school, and an opportunity to spread their wings. We also need to care more about those trailblazers and their retirement. Franchising can be a way to provide solutions to many of these issues. Cur-rent political strategies, while helpful, are slow. Our associations are bogged down in constant internal philosoph-ical dialogue, and our educational in-stitutions like CMCC have produced excellent research. However, this takes years to resonate with practitioners and the public. Remember, utilization A franchise is where you buy a license to utilize a particular brand, its busi-ness systems, web strategies, SEO, so-cial media support, supply chains, business and clinical training, intellec-tual property material, management support, and collaboration with other franchisees and the franchisor as a team. You also gain access to the organ-ization’s reputation and those affiliated with the organization. The financial requirements usually involve three to four consistent compo-nents across the industry. There is an initial franchise fee, which frequently runs between $10,000-$50,000. (A monthly royalty of between four to seven per cent on gross monthly reve-nues, and an expectation that a clinic will utilize between 1.5 to three per cent of gross revenues on promotions. At the start, there can be build-out costs depending on a location, meeting de-sign requirements (colours), and pur-chasing equipment. This last part is consistent with however you’re opening your clinic. WHY WOULD SOMEONE PARTICIPATE IN A FRANCHISE? DR. ERIK KLEIN is the CEO of Town Health Solutions, an Atlantic Canadian Network of corporate owned and franchised clinics, establishing a new model to rapidly scale chiropractic practice and businesses for new grads and established docs alike. Visit townhealthsolutions.com/franchising or email [email protected]. 24 Canadian Chiropractor October 2019 Strategically, practitioners in a fran-chise system control the narrative of what chiropractic is within their com-munity. By working with like-minded DCs and allied health practitioners for the same goal, the messaging is consist-ent, and the results are ongoing. Fran-chised-based branding has a solid track record of achieving this goal. While there are many unique benefits to par-ticipating in a franchise, such as busi-ness systems, management support www.canadianchiropractor.ca Photo: istock
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