Michael Gerber's Franchise Prototype Rule to Win #3: Place of Order

Michael Gerber gives his third rule on p. 102:

3. The model will Stand Out as a Place of Impeccable Order.

It's very simple, really. As he says, "at the core of Rule #3 is the irrepressible fact that in a world of chaos, most people crave order."

If the world was in chaos when he wrote this words, what about now? The pace of change doubles every for or five years. Your business, a world in itself, says to them, "Come on in and take off your shoes."

He quotes Alvin Toffler from The Third Wave, (New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1980) pp. 389,390, that in a world of chaos, people need fixed points of reference. Starbucks provides this. MacDonald's provides this. Toffler says that in a world that is broken down, structure provides these fixed points of reference.

I remember a sales trip to Pittsburgh, PA, back in the 1980s. I couldn't figure my way around. The streets weren't marked. There was a gridlock of traffic. I couldn't orient myself. I knew where I wanted to go, but I couldn't get there from where I was. I was getting irritated and frustrated. Until I saw a McDonald's. I went in, got a soda, and chilled out. It provided what Toffler calls this fixed point of reference.

It's also about communicating credibility to customers in an unspoken way that's far more powerful than if you shouted it from the rooftops. It speaks credibility such that your customers come to their own conclusion, not hear something you said.

He goes on to say this in words better than mine on p. 103:

A business that looks orderly says to your customer that your people know what you're doing.

A business that looks orderly says that while the world may not work, some things can.

A business that looks orderly says to your customer that he can trust in the result delivered and assures your people that they can trust in their future with you.

A business that looks orderly says that the structure is in place.

What do you think of this? The goal is to produce more skilled entrepreneurs. Does this help? Tell me. Post a comment. I'd like to know.

Entrepreneurship informs all of my professional activities. Entrepreneurial ideas are their life's blood. For my ideas on entrepreneurial real estate go to www.yourstopforrealestate.com/blog and for my ideas on writing and publishing, go to www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com.