The biggest reason why district managers fail is that instead of doing the job of a district manager, they become glorified general managers, or what we at The American Franchise Academy call “Super GMs”. 

It all starts with the lack of knowledge and understanding of what their job really is, which creates a tremendous challenge for the organization. 

Not only that. You are wasting time and investment on this critical resource because they are not performing as they should and delivering the expected financial results.

What do these leaders look like? Why is having them a bad thing for your organization? And how can they correct the path to be successful and achieve the business goals? 

That’s what we’ll review in this blog post, so you can identify this problem, be aware of its consequences, and what they should be doing to have better district performance.

General managers vs. District managers

A general manager...

The number of multi-unit franchisees is growing across the global franchising industry. And these business owners require a great district manager as their right hand to help them be successful. 

Why is this position key? Because then franchisees can delegate operations to get the time freedom that the model promises. But beware: to truly enjoy this benefit, the district manager has to be great at their job and meet certain criteria to ensure excellence.

The American Franchise Academy has identified the five most important qualities of district managers. Take them into consideration when hiring your next district manager. 

A piece of advice before we start: look at candidates within your current workforce of unit managers. See who of them has or shows these qualities and use this information as a radar to detect the next leaders of your organization.

1. A leader that inspires 

You need to hire a leader that inspires people. The district manager's job is not...

AFA 6th Anniversary Celebration

July 18 marked our sixth anniversary. Six years of great achievements not only for The American Franchise Academy (AFA) but also for the clients that have trusted us during this time to help them become successful franchise business owners. (Thank you for that!)

It's amazing how what started as a deviation from my sabbatical came to be this organization that for the last six years, has been serving franchisees and their leaders, giving them knowledge and information so that they can thrive with their businesses, reach financial and time freedom, and fulfill their dreams.

To commemorate this joyous occasion, I invited Curtis Moore, an ex-Dunkin Donuts franchisee, expert district manager, and also one of our AFA’s instructors, to a live broadcast on my YouTube Channel.

During this special session, Curtis and I shared some insights that have helped the Academy and its clients reach their goals. Here are six insights of success that we came up with...

Franchisees who want to grow their organization from a one-unit job into a multi-unit enterprise require the help of a district manager to accomplish the business and financial results they expect. 

But this multi-unit leader often gets frustrated because there’s a lack of clarity in the industry as to what is their role. So much so, that this is the first reason why these particular leaders struggle to be successful.

Why is this? The position usually gets promoted from a single unit manager into a district manager and ends up becoming super general managers, instead of true multi-unit leaders that focus on the things that actually impact and make a difference in the organization. 

To prevent this confusion, we at The American Franchise Academy have identified three specific roles that these fantastic and hardworking team members have to play. 

1. The protector of their people

Protecting their staff is the first thing they have to focus their time and...

There are seven critical responsibilities that the district manager has to command to achieve the business and financial results that the franchisee business owner expects.

In past blog posts, we covered leading, planning, staffing, execution of brand and business systems, maintenance, and marketing. Last, but not least, we’ll analyze the results responsibility, which ultimately sums up why these leaders do their job every day. 

If you want to see all prior responsibilities, subscribe to our YouTube Channel to review the rest of the District Manager’s playlist!

If the district manager does what he needs to do in all the other responsibilities, he’ll be able to accomplish this one. That’s why this position has to be clear on what are the duties and routines they have to perform to achieve the desired results. 

That’s not all. Aside from that, they need to develop these specific five skills:

1. Understanding financials

The district...

The district managers require a multi-unit vision to supervise the operations of several stores and deal with the variety of challenges, environments, opportunities, and people that come with overseeing a large organization. 

But those skills and abilities have to be developed with the tools and the knowledge that’ll help them overcome the difficulties of that multi-unit leadership and do the job successfully. The American Franchise Academy has identified seven critical responsibilities of a district manager, and in this blog post, we’ll be discussing the sixth responsibility: market. 

Did you miss the prior responsibilities? Subscribe to our YouTube Channel to review the rest of the District Manager’s playlist!

This responsibility has to do with all the local store marketing that happens in the units of their district. Among the activities the district managers have to perform, they must support and execute the franchisor-driven marketing campaigns in...

 The district manager job is the most challenging position in the retail and franchise industry. They require a multi-unit vision to be able to oversee units as a whole but also under their particular situations, challenges, team dynamics, results, and opportunities. 

To deal with these demands and have a high level of excellence, the district manager also needs certain skills to perform better and manage, lead, supervise, identify opportunities, cause change, and inspire people, all within the same amount of a regular hour workweek. 

The American Franchise Academy has detected seven critical responsibilities that district managers must execute to be effective and successful at their job. In this session, we'll cover #5: maintain.

Did you miss the four prior responsibilities? Subscribe to our YouTube Channel to review the rest of the District Manager’s playlist!

Why is this a critical responsibility for district managers?

This duty has to do with...

One of the things that multi-unit growing organizations require is to have properly trained and skillful district managers. This position is critical for the success of the company but, as I have explained in a previous blog post, it is also the most difficult one in the retail and franchise industries. 

To add to that, there’s very little clarity of what this role does and it is the one with the least amount of training and support.

Perhaps because of the investment companies have to make to train the people in that position, not only in terms of money but also in time. But believe me, if this investment is not done, it can cost you greatly.

Why should you train your district managers? 

What makes these leaders so crucial for your organization? There are several reasons.

The first one is that people that are promoted to this position don't naturally know what to do or how to execute the job correctly. That’s because their previous leadership position,...

(Part 4 of the District Manager Responsibilities series) 

In a multi-unit franchise organization, the district manager’s job is quite complex because the several units they oversee are very different from each other. Even though they are all from a single franchise brand, each acts as a business on its own, with its people, teams, needs, goals, and challenges.

To respond to this complexity these leaders have to develop a set of skills to be successful. In this blog post, we’ll review the abilities they should have regarding the task of execution, which is the fourth critical responsibility of a district manager.

Don’t miss the whole District Manager’s video series to learn what are the 7 core responsibilities these leaders must fulfill and how we can help them. Subscribe to our YouTube Channel to view our live sessions!

Executing a franchise business model correctly, with all the business and brand systems, in all of the units, and with a high...

 (Part 3 of the District Manager Responsibilities series) 

Although the district manager role is the most difficult one in the retail and franchise industry, it is also the least formally trained. Yet, training is necessary so that these leaders can develop certain skills and abilities to solve the various challenges, situations, and problems they face in their day-to-day operations.

As we have reviewed in the past weeks as part of our district managers series, this position has seven key responsibilities they need to fulfill so that they can be successful, reach their district goals, and, in turn, help your business thrive. In this blog post, we’ll dig into the third responsibility: staff.  

Don’t miss the whole District Manager’s video series to learn what are the 7 core responsibilities these leaders must fulfill and how we can help them. Subscribe to our YouTube Channel to view our live sessions!

First, I have to clarify that the district...