10 Steps to Making Your Franchise the Next McDonald's

10. Erect barriers to entry, and plan for change. Lastly, you must anticipate and adapt to changes in the competitive landscape over time. When McDonald's first started franchising, it had a much more limited menu. It did not have Big Macs, Filet o' Fish or salads. It did not have Ronald McDonald. It did not have drive-thru windows. But it continued to adapt and thrive.

The more successful your company is, the more certain you can be that knockoffs will follow you into both the consumer and franchise marketplace. You must anticipate these newcomers and do everything you can early in the process to erect barriers to entry, to adapt to the new marketplace and to stay one step ahead of the competition.

Establishing barriers to entry can be as simple as being first to market and establishing a dominant brand position. Or it can be as complex as obtaining a business process patent. It can be a recipe, a product or an attitude.

But if you have an undifferentiated product or service with low barriers to entry, your business will quickly become commodified. And if this happens, you will have a difficult time maintaining a leadership position -- let alone the kind of growth that will help you achieve industry prominence.

Finally, as an aspiring mega-franchiser, you must remember that even McDonald's did not become McDonald's overnight. They did it by overcoming their competitors day after day, year after year, and continuing to evolve to meet the changing consumer -- and franchise -- marketplace.

Of course, there are a thousand hurdles to overcome on the road to success, but with the right planning and enough time, your company could be the business that everyone emulates years from now.