Dear Kumar Ardhnarishwar,
Greetings from Shemrock & Shemford Group of Schools – Chhota Bheem’s Favourite Schools. Hope you are doing well and have got our exciting Franchise proposal from my manager for Bihar regarding for opening your dream SHEMROCK school in Patna
Values are Important !
As you are planning to setup your school on your own or join hands with a reputed brand – you must be comparing the various terms and conditions of different organization. Most people tend to take the decision based on rational factors – such as Initial Franchise Fee, Ongoing royalties, term of the agreement, renewal charges (if any) and the support levels offered. Of course, that is the way to decide –but there is one more factor that most people tend to ignore, which is VERY important – and that is the values of the organization.
Values Create the Brand
Every organization has its own ethics and by joining any brand your school will also follow the same values in your school. For example – when you make a choice about a private bank for your banking– apart from the interest rates offered – you look at your past experiences with the bank- how quickly were your issues resolved? Did people go out of the way to accommodate special requests? Were there any hidden charges? – I am sure you have had such experience and on those basis an impression of each of the different private banks.
Short Term vs Long Term Gains
Similarly- when you choose a franchise the values of the Franchisor (brand) are very important. If the company is driven by short-term profitability it will try and fleece you for every rupee through a number of “side” incomes and you would be asked to do that with the parents enrolled. An ethical franchisor on the other hand would not try and extract every rupee from the franchisee and the parents. Being Ethical is not the same as “bad business” – it just means that the franchisor is willing to let go of short term profits as by leaving more money for the franchisee and giving parents “value for money” – this results in higher satisfaction levels among the franchisees and the parents resulting in robust long term growth.
A Long Term Vision
This is the strategy we follow – consultants often ask me “why do you charge some of the lowest royalties in the industry while offering the best support in the industry?!” “why don’t you try and make more money from each location”- I say its simple – by ensuring the profitability of each franchisee I ensure that they stay on with the brand. Our first franchisee we signed 22 years knows how to run a school- it is just that the value we give for the ongoing royalties makes them believe that they should stick with us. That is the reason you see school chains come and go…. They showed promises which they couldn’t live upto! We’ve all heard of the story of the goose who lay the gold egg.. it is similar to our situation- we are willing to be patient and do the right things.
Match your values !
If you sign up with a brand whose values don’t match yours – you make get short-term profits but you will not get a sound sleep. For example – you can be asked to overcharge parents for uniforms, books, annual functions, picnics, birthday celebrations, sports days- all this will result in short term profits but parents would grumble and pay. Similarly you may be forced to pay for trainings, workshops, software, and over charged for uniforms, books, supplies, school setup vendors & equipment, furniture, renewal of the agreement and other types of support.
Our Values
We, at Shemrock & Shemford take values very seriously and have made teaching of values very integral to our curriculum. After all it is our responsibility to teach values to our children. No parent asks for it- they ask for marks, all round development, confidence in speaking in public, English conversation skills. Don’t get me wrong – we do all this but ALL of them are in a framework of value education. Infact since we well known for our value education programme last week’s speaking tree newspaper from the Times of India had my quote.
Here is a link to the article:
http://www.speakingtree.in/spiritual-articles/new-age/learning-right/192134
Those of our franchisees whose values call for short term greed get frustrated when we take action on hidden charges they try and extract from parents. If you are one of them – then we would definitely not be the right choice for you. If you are looking at this project for getting a decent return on your capital & time invested while earning “social profit” for the good work you have done – then I can confidently say that the Shemrock & Shemford Schools Franchise Offer (coupled with the brand power of Chhota Bheem !) is miles ahead of everything else you may be considering!
So hope you make the right decision when it you choose the right brand for your school- find the one that matches your own ethics.
If you have further questions – then do let me know and I shall ask my manager for Bihar to speak to you on your mobile-
Look forward to hearing from you and hopefully welcoming you to the ever growing Shemrock & Shemford Family !
