Franchisees play a critical role in the success of your franchise. Therefore, it is essential to collaborate with your franchisees so your business can continue to grow. Additionally, having people you can trust who work for you will ensure your franchise system operates smoothly. Therefore, it is just as essential to maintain a solid franchisor-franchisee relationship. This article will take you through seven tips on maintaining a good relationship with your franchisees to continue growing your business.
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Build Trust
Like any business relationship, there must be trust between you and your franchisees. At the core of your professional relationship is honesty. You must have trust in your franchisees and their ability to operate their business per your:
- brand;
- guidelines; and
- broader goals.
In turn, your franchises trust you to provide them with the tools and resources that help them grow.
Define and Manage Expectations
It is crucial that you set up expectations with your franchisees. This includes expectations relating to their performance, as well as yours.
In your initial meetings with prospective franchisees, you should explicitly outline their duties and your own and how you will measure this success. For example, from your end, you must ensure your franchisees know what to expect from you about providing training and support systems.
Continue reading this article below the formEncourage Communication
Perhaps the most important thing for maintaining a good relationship with your franchisees is encouraging communication with yourself and across the network. Furthermore, it would help if you remained open and approachable to your franchisees. This will ensure franchisees feel comfortable raising any issues with you and do not get stuck in disagreements.
Additionally, it might be a good idea to:
- hold meetings with your franchisees;
- host webinars; or
- disseminate regular communications via an online portal or a regular newsletter to encourage communication.
If your franchisees feel you are adequately communicating with them, they will feel more comfortable bringing issues to your attention.
Ask Questions and Seek Feedback
Similar to emphasising open communication, you should ask franchisees questions that will generate feedback. These questions should cover a range of topics, including:
- how they are finding the current training and systems available to them;
- any issues they are having with the business; and
- what they think is going well.
You should then use the responses to these questions to inform your decisions. After all, your franchisees should have some input on matters that impact them. Moreover, this will help build trust and confidence and allow for a long-lasting and fruitful business relationship.
Be Receptive
You should also ensure that you are open to suggestions and the needs of your franchisees. For example, if your franchisees identify issues or needs of their location, you should listen to them and take action appropriately.
Franchisees operate on a much more localised scale than you as a franchisor. This gives them unique insights into daily operations and smaller-scale issues. Listening to what your franchisees have to say will make them feel their needs are being listened to while also addressing issues within your business.
Provide Resources
It will help if you give your franchisees the proper tools they need to succeed. This includes providing adequate training and resources that will allow them to thrive. You should provide adequate training materials when new franchisees join your franchise. However, this support and training should be ongoing, allowing your franchisees to use skills and have consistent access to free guidance on all matters relating to your business activities. Not only does this benefit your franchisees; but it will also foster a long-lasting relationship between you.
Make Their Value Known
Finally, your franchisees should know that you value their commitment to your business’ mission and vision. Although your franchisees should primarily run autonomously, you should not underestimate the power of showing appreciation.
A bit of effort will go a long way in making your franchisees feel valued and respected.
Key Takeaways
An essential aspect of fostering franchise growth is having a robust franchisor-franchisee relationship. Some key ways that you can foster a good relationship with your franchisees are through:
- building trust;
- defining and managing expectations of all parties;
- encouraging communication; asking questions;
- being receptive to feedback;
- providing resources; and
- making your franchisees feel valued.
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Frequently Asked Questions
The franchisor-franchisee relationship is mutually beneficial, making it essential to look after. Each party cannot succeed without the other, so collaborating is essential to your franchise’s success.
Some key ways you can foster a good relationship with your franchisees are by building trust and defining and managing the expectations of all parties. It would help if you also encouraged communication, asked questions and were receptive to feedback from your franchisees. Finally, you should ensure that your franchisees feel valued and prepared, including providing relevant training and resources.
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