Anyone in franchise development knows how true the statement, “Your best customer may be your next franchisee,” can be. Many franchise owners first become interested in a franchise concept as customers—using the service, eating the food, or shopping in the store.
Every franchisor wants to attract a “certain type” of franchisee, and lately, the type of franchisee every franchisor seems to want is a multi-unit franchisee. But attracting multi-unit franchisees and keeping them happy isn’t as easy as just changing your franchise agreement.
It doesn’t matter if your concept is a soccer camp or a sandwich shop, franchisees spend countless hours “selling” themselves at family functions, after church, even in line at the grocery store. Here's a quick and dirty trick to find out how natural networking is for your franchisees-to-be.
A common complaint from franchisees is that their franchisor doesn’t listen, the corporate office is out of touch, and they don’t feel part of the larger brand. There are a lot of big picture things you can do to change this, but there’s also one seemingly small thing that can make all the difference: A handwritten note.
In running, it’s not about what sneakers do for you in those first few miles. The first 5k isn’t nearly as important as Mile 25 of a marathon. The ultimate question is will the shoes get me through the long haul? The same is true in franchising.
There’s no doubt we’ve all worked with a complainer or two—that person who spends all his time griping about a situation rather than doing something to improve it. Complainers may hurt your brand in more ways than you know.
Ten years ago, franchisors spent more time looking at their bottom line than that of their franchisees—thinking as long as their numbers looked good, individual units would follow. Today, we know that’s not true.
What do your pictures say about your business?
We hear it time and time again: Franchisees learn better from each other. So, when a franchisor has a best practice to share, an improvement to make, or a new process to implement, they get better results when the news is delivered by franchisees.
Being a runner from Boston, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what I’d have done if I’d been crossing the finish line at 2:50 p.m. on 4/15/13.
Our team spent most of last week in New Orleans at the IFA Convention, so I asked them to dig out from their beads and give me the best tip they took away from being there. Just like the conference itself, there’s something for everyone in their responses.
You may be able to come up with lots of excuses not to include an Item 19 in your FDD, but the reality is your competitors include it and so should you.
The best conference tip I’ve ever gotten was from Susan Black-Beth at the IFA Leadership Luncheon in February. I always walk away from conferences with a few (soon-to-be-forgotten) great ideas, but Susan’s hit home and I’ve been thinking about it—and working on it—ever since.
A few months ago, I wrote about complainers and their negative effect on a franchise brand. Since then, I’ve been [...]
