Newer, smaller franchise brands typically don’t have a ton of capital, so investment in powerful software platforms can be extremely difficult to finance. At the same time, steady, sustainable growth of the brand depends on franchisees being successful and validating well for interested candidates. So do you invest beyond your means to streamline unit-level and brand growth, or do you stick with inefficient systems until there’s enough capital to spend on better technology?

As a franchisor, it can be especially difficult to maintain the highest level of customer service at all your locations since your franchisees have a great deal of autonomy. Here are five key things you can do to protect your brand.

Depending on a particular brand’s needs, “free” can actually carry a much, much larger cost than one of the price-tagged alternatives.

As local business owners, your franchisees are often buried in the day-to-day details of running their businesses—hiring, payroll, sales, customer service—meaning they typically have time to pay attention to customer satisfaction. Make it easy for them by providing them with customer satisfaction data that relates specifically to their location.

In June 2015, over 100 franchisors learned how to run their brand more successfully via Franchise Business Review’s 2015 Ops Webinar Series. They benefitted from the insight of 15 respected franchise industry leaders who shared their experiences, expertise, and favorite resources during five online sessions. Throughout the series, one idea kept that regardless of the session topic was...