The pandemic has been a game-changer for restaurants, but what we’ve learned is that one of the biggest factors why some food franchises succeeded and why others failed during COVID has been largely ignored.
Franchise suppliers weigh in on the 20 biggest mistakes franchisors make when it comes to franchise operations, from training & support to franchisee relations, to field visits.
After more than a year of remote work, operations teams found alternative ways to support their franchisees. Now, as we return to in-person visits, franchise ops teams are tasked with deciding what support changes are worth keeping and how they can continue to find new ways to increase value to their franchisee network.
In this conversation with Kitchen Solvers' Zach Nolte he explains how they use FBR’s survey to put quantifiable metrics around franchisee satisfaction, and use the survey data to show their franchisees that they are listening and making changes based on their feedback.
Franchise operations leaders are facing new and different challenges as we emerge from the pandemic. It's no surprise that labor issues top the list for many, but that's not the only one. FBR held a recent roundtable event where operations execs shared some of the things that keep them up at night - and what they're doing about them.
Many franchise brands are experiencing full pipelines that led to faster growth in 2020 and 2021, but others are struggling to find candidates to continue growing the brand. Here are the strategies to generate growth that franchise development leaders shared at FBR's recent roundtable event.
Tim Courtney, VP of franchise development for PuroClean sat down with FBR to talk about the opportunity he saw when he first joined the team to capture the enthusiasm of PuroClean’s owners and turn that into an advantage on both the development and operations sides.
Randy Shacka, president of Two Men and a Truck talked with FBR about how they deliver on satisfaction, trust, and values by being intentional and building strong relationships.
Creating an impactful social presence is very often tucked into the “nice to have” category, when in actuality, it should be a must for any franchise that wants to grow. Learn how to instantly improve your outcomes by implementing these three easy, innovative social media strategies.
How - and where - can you make the biggest impact on overall franchise performance? Our latest research identified the 5 key areas that have the most significant impact.
The travel sector took a major hit during the pandemic, but that’s not stopping Cruise Planners. Founder & CEO Michelle Fee shares how pent-up demand for travel combined with innovative support strategies are creating opportunity.
Visiting Angels Vice President David Ritterling talks with FBR about why building a system of people who love people translates into a winning business model.
Franchisee satisfaction is a primary leading indicator of current system health and a predictor of future performance and long-term system growth. If the brand you’re investing in doesn’t provide you with recent, detailed, third-party research on their franchisees’ satisfaction, it could be a red flag.
Co-founder and president Shannon Wilburn recalls the “a-ha” moment when she realized she was missing out on the goldmine of data in her FBR survey.
As part of our ongoing series highlighting our Top Franchises, FBR asked Pet Supplies Plus Franchise Development Specialist Christine Schultz some questions to uncover what it is that makes Pet Supplies Plus a best-in-category brand.
Dennis Maple, president and CEO of Goddard Systems, Inc., explains how they use their annual FBR franchisee satisfaction survey to baseline against competitors as well as their own goals for success.
Christian Brothers Automotive president Donnie Carr shares how their FBR survey results inform strategic planning throughout the organization from operations to development to franchisee support and franchise culture.
If you cut your franchise development marketing budget last year, it’s time to pump it back up to pre-pandemic levels. If you have franchise candidates stuck in the pipeline, here are five proven tactics to nurture those leads.
We talk with Maddi Park of MaidPro as part of our ongoing series highlighting the 2021 Franchisee Satisfaction Award winners. Maddi discusses how they make franchisee satisfaction data an integral part of their franchise marketing strategy.
What can franchise leaders do to keep employees engaged while the workplace and workspace continue to evolve through the pandemic? Learn the four things franchise franchise organizations should be doing for their employees to increase engagement in the COVID-19 world.
Justin Bredeman, CEO of Soccer Shots, talks with FBR about why they were committed to surveying franchisees amidst the challenges of the pandemic, how they used the survey data to identify areas for improvement and measure performance, and the post-pandemic outlook.
As part of FBR’s ongoing series spotlighting 2021 Franchisee Satisfaction Award Winners, FBR talked with Team Logic IT’s president Dan Shapero about strengthening franchisee relationships, adapting franchisee support during the pandemic, and how they have continued to generate demand for the brand in terms of new store sales, new store awards, and territory expansion.
In our continuing series spotlighting our 2021 Best-in-Category Franchisee Satisfaction Award Winners, Payroll Vault president & CEO Sean Manning talks with Nicole Dudley, Director of Client Relations at Franchise Business Review, about the “hypertransformation” in business over the past year, as well as how they use their survey data to drive goal-setting and measure success.
The pandemic disrupted many businesses - some struggled to survive while others were able to drive innovation. So where does that leave franchise CEOs who are committed to the health of their system? Implementing these three strategies with a critical focus on people is crucial for success.
FASTSIGNS' Mark Jameson talks with FBR about why franchisee satisfaction is one of the four key pillars of FASTSIGNS mission, how they use FBR’s data to bring in high quality candidates who are aligned with their culture, and how the pandemic drove rapid innovation in their business.
Getting franchisees to their "point of clarity" can turn around underperforming franchisees and drive greater system performance overall. Scott Greenberg, author of The Wealthy Franchisee, shares how to get franchisees into the right mindset to boost performance, increase satisfaction and grow your brand.
Peloton’s “Together we go far” slogan encapsulates a culture and strategic growth that most franchise systems (and all businesses) strive for. Community isn’t something you can force to happen, but Peloton seems to have fostered something special, and a lot of that could be applied to our own organizations.
Employee engagement is important to the success (or survival) of an organization, and while it’s become increasingly hard to foster engagement when some (or all) of your team is remote, it’s also more important than ever in helping to retain your top talent.
James Dwiggins, CEO of NextHome, talks with FBR about how their focus on caring and support enables them to maintain franchisee satisfaction amidst explosive growth, how their company culture guides strategic decisions, and the outlook for the real estate industry during COVID.
What does the future hold for franchising? We asked some of the thought leaders in franchising to look into their crystal balls and reveal their predictions for 2021.
Learn how Streamline Brands uses FBR’s survey to build trust, drive strategic planning, and attract investors in this Q&A with co-founder and COO Paul Gerrard.
Franchisees typically tend to disengage somewhere around five years into the business. Follow these 10 tips to keep your franchisees satisfied and engaged long term, and drive growth for your system.
All franchise buyers do varying degrees of due diligence before investing in a brand. The difference is that today more and more prospective franchisees are looking at franchisee satisfaction data in addition to financial benefits, lifestyle, and the training and support they’ll receive. See what current franchisees have to say about franchisee satisfaction as a key factor in choosing a franchise.
New franchisees discuss their franchise research process, what they looked for in a franchise and how Franchise Business Review’s satisfaction reports led them to Wild Birds Unlimited.
Why Emerging Brands Need to Make Building a Positive Culture a Top Priority We have spent the last 15 years [...]
Virtual onboarding and training may be here to stay post-COVID. Here's a look at the 4 major challenges that poses for franchisors and recommendations for overcoming them.
Working parents are essentially juggling being the teacher, principal, custodian and lunch lady - in addition to their full-time jobs. Franchisors may not be able to alleviate the anxiety working parents are experiencing as the pandemic continues to wreak havoc on schedules and child care responsibilities, but here's what they can do to support them.
Social Joey's Jack Monson offers 5 tips to help franchise marketers maximize their social media strategy to grow their brands as we close out 2020.
Michelle Rowan, president & COO of Franchise Business Review, is part of this year’s planning task force and the emcee for the Operations program at the IFA's Marketing, Operations & Development (MOD) Virtual Conference. She talked recently about the highlights of the event and what franchisors will take away.
While some franchise brands were able to continue to thrive through the events of 2020, many have had to lay off or furlough employees and/or had franchisees whose businesses didn’t survive - all of which can also take a toll on franchise culture. It’s more important now than ever before to assess your company culture and take steps to fix the parts that are broken. These 12 steps can help you get started
Listen to inspiring stories from two of franchising's most inspiring female leaders in the Her Success podcast series from the Women's Franchise Committee.
Michelle Rowan, president & COO of FBR, recently sat down with Michael Arrowsmith, Chief Development Officer of Pinch A Penny, a pool retail, service and repair franchise, to talk about their culture, what candidates are looking for when researching potential franchise investments, the recession, growth outlook, and training and support for franchisees.
What’s always been common practice in food franchising—requiring franchisees to commit to opening multiple units as part of their franchise agreement—is now becoming common outside of food. But attracting multi-unit franchisees and keeping them happy isn’t as easy as just changing your franchise agreement. Here are six tips for attracting multi-unit franchisees and ensuring your system is set up for success.
With protests continuing across the country, it’s clear we need systemic change to end racism. Franchising is positioned to lead the way by supporting franchisees and employees. Here are five ideas we’re sharing from what we’re reading and hearing from people in our industry.
When you survey your franchisees, it's critical to share it with your entire executive team if you want to truly cultivate a data-driven mindset in your organization. The insights we collect on our surveys can help every team in your organization identify priorities, track their progress and meet their goals. Find out how each of your teams can benefit from having FBR walk them through your data together.
Most of us are aware that communicating - and communicating quickly and often - is critical in times of crisis. But while most of us are focused on outbound communication to employees, franchisees and customers, it’s important not to lose sight of the fact that communication is a two-way street. Learn how to ensure you have a plan for franchisees and employees to communicate their needs and concerns to you.
Franchisee satisfaction is a primary indicator of long-term system growth and success in measuring the health of any franchise system, but if you're wondering what the ROI of franchisee satisfaction surveys is, read on for 8 ways you'll get a return on your investment of time and money - and drive franchise system growth.
FBR's president Michelle Rowan shares her three personal takeaways from Brené Brown on vulnerability, as well as how they apply to franchising.
Like other businesses across the country and the world, franchises have had to get creative in how they deliver their products and services - from implementing curbside pick-up to going entirely digital to completely changing priorities - basically overnight. We asked them to share their Smart Ideas for getting it done and here's what they told us.
Franchisors frequently implement new programs with the intention of adding value for all (or most) of their franchisees, but oftentimes, it’s hard to create programs that impact the more experienced, high-achiever franchisees in your system who have already figured out how to be successful. Franchise peer groups, however, can inspire and motivate all franchisees, including those already successful and mature franchisees, and give them the tools to take their businesses to an even higher level.
Many leaders are trying to adapt to running teams and their businesses remotely. How can you maintain, or create a remote culture while everyone is online instead of in-person? And how do we rebuild culture when remote workers return to the office? Consider these ideas for creating or maintaining company culture while working remotely during COVID-19 and how to rebuild culture after returning to the workplace.
Here at Franchise Business Review, we talk about ways we can contribute to supporting the franchise industry during COVID-19. With our Smart Ideas Project, we want to collect and share more ideas that are working in this crazy time - I hope you’ll share yours. We plan to share these ideas that might help support or inspire others as we look for ways to protect or pivot our businesses.
Within days of COVID-19 becoming a health and economic crisis, numerous organizations and companies made resources available to provide assistance and forums to connect us and guide us through this. To make them easier to access, we’ve compiled a list of the COVID-19 franchise resources we’ve come across. The list is not exhaustive and we are updating as more resources become available.
Learn three steps you can take to build in transparency to keep existing franchisees satisfied and engaged, and attract new franchisees to your brand.
Social media expert Karen Spaeder of Rallio shares four proactive strategies for recruiting franchise employees using social media to fill open positions more quickly with the best job candidates.
Where are food franchises headed? We take a look at the data and trends affecting the success of the food franchise sector and how it compares to other sectors. Here are the food franchise stats you need to know.
Franchise Update's Leadership and Development Conference is a must-attend event. In case you missed it, FBR president Michelle Rowan shares the four major takeaways from the event on how to create a culture of growth in your organization.
What are the biggest challenges facing franchise operations teams? FBR's president Michelle Rowan joined over 175 operations leaders and had a unique opportunity to facilitate two days of discussion around where their focus is and the best practices they're using to overcome obstacles.
Learn how to get franchisees on board with your social media strategy - and increase satisfaction and support - using these tips from social media guru, Karen Spaeder of Rallio.
One of the biggest challenges of the franchisee lifecycle is keeping tenured franchisees engaged. Join us at the IFA's Franchise Operations Conference this fall to learn how successful franchisors are using franchisee satisfaction data to make continuous improvements to their training and support to break franchisees out of their performance plateaus.
There is no metric that better predicts success or foreshadows issues within a system than the sentiment of its franchise owners. Measuring and managing franchisee satisfaction is the best way to build a system in which everyone wins.
Do your franchisees feel supported during compliance checks? Most franchisors will say “no”. But it doesn't have to be that way! FranchiseBlast has collected 357 franchise audit questions from top franchisors to help you "audit your audit" and elevate the compliance check from an exercise in “catching” franchisees doing something wrong, to “coaching” them to make the business be its best.
Social media has become an indispensable tool in franchise recruiting, with more and more franchise organizations using social platforms to attract new franchisees. With the ability to hone in on the exact type of operators they want to bring on board, franchise organizations are able to save time looking for the right qualified candidates. Meanwhile, prospective franchisees are using social media to research brands. Learn best practices for using social media not just to build brand awareness, but to attract and qualify franchisees.
As we celebrate this fourth of July, FBR's president Michelle Rowan reflects on the freedoms we enjoy and the value of listening to and carefully considering the opinions of others in our communities, families, even our franchise systems, in order to drive positive change.
FBR sat down with Any Lab Test Now to talk about how they have seized a unique position in the healthcare consumerism sector and their approach to innovation in franchising, particularly when it comes to franchisee support.
Even before franchisees commit to buying into your system, they need to have an exit plan in place. This article explains what franchisees need to consider when transferring a franchise business and the steps they should take when building a succession plan.
In this Interview with Jeff Huber, President & CEO of Home Instead Senior Care, he talks with FBR about the deeply personal experience that led to the inception of Home Instead and continues to guide their business philosophy.
FBR’s newly released Franchising at Work study found that franchise salaries for women are lower than men, especially at the mid-level management and C-Suite levels. The question is why? FBR’s president Michelle Rowan explores some theories that may be contributing factors.
Wouldn’t it be nice if your training sessions were available whenever you had the time to listen – maybe when you’re stuck in traffic or working on mundane tasks? Welcome to the age of podcasts. Learn how Office Pride Commercial Cleaning is using podcasts to help franchisees be more successful by providing training and support - when and where it fits their schedule.
FBR’s CEO Eric Stites provides an inside look at employee satisfaction in the franchise sector in the latest issue of Franchising World. Find out which employees are least satisfied, where the biggest pay gaps exist, and the risks posed by Gen Z.
Celebrate International Women's Day with three simple, yet profound ideas gleaned from the legendary Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Franchise Business Review's President and COO, Michelle Rowan, explores lessons learned from the feminist icon, the value of women in her personal life and their role in the industry.
2018 may be in the rearview mirror, but there was a lot happening. We rounded up the hot topics that everyone was talking about and take a look ahead at what's to come in 2019.
It’s the season of giving, and while a partridge in a pear tree would be nice, we thought a list of our 12 favorite books would be a tad more practical. The team at FBR compiled this list of the most inspiring and motivating books they’ve read this year so we could share them with you.
Each year, Franchise Update invites franchise brands to compete in the Star Awards, which recognize franchising’s top sales teams at the annual Franchise Leadership and Development Conference. Find out which of the winning brands excelled in franchisee satisfaction and what the research revealed.
It’s clear that content marketing works. You know you need it to be relevant, but executing is another story. No matter the size of the system, franchisors share the same challenges when it comes to implementing and maintaining an effective content marketing strategy. This list of helpful resources and tips can help you get over the content marketing hump.
Despite it's critical importance, culture is frequently overlooked by leadership. This eBook examines the three foundational components of a positive franchise culture—and provides practical advice for franchise leadership teams for creating and maintaining a culture that leads to greater productivity and profitability.
Everyone's talking about organizational culture these days, but it can be squishy topic - hard to define and even harder to shape. To help understand what makes for a positive culture, we asked 10 franchise leaders at top-performing franchise companies how they would describe their brand’s culture. See what they told us.
While customer service is a mainstay within any business - and especially franchising - so is communications. And like customer service, excelling at communications is often nothing more than getting back to the basics. Learn six basic tips for ensuring effective franchisee communications that lead to stronger franchisee relationships.
We're surveying EVERYONE that works in the franchise industry to find out what they think of their job, team, and company. Share your experience with us and help us identify the best places to work in franchising!
We’ve pulled together this list of the top 5 must-have resources for emerging brands, full of the best practices we’ve collected over a decade from franchisors who are growing their brands strategically while maintaining a system of highly satisfied (and profitable) franchisees.
There’s so much to know and learn as a new franchisee – and so much ‘paper work’ coming down from HQ, that franchisees often get lost in a barrage of paper, rather than focusing on the big picture. That can lead to your franchisees unknowingly sabotaging your brand and their customer satisfaction. Nancy Friedman, President of Telephone Doctor Customer Service Training, outlines five common phrases that can sabotage a business and how to mitigate them.
We see so many brands that grow quickly but don’t have the operations support in place to sustain it. Join us in Tampa on September 12 for the IFA's Operations Seminar, where top ranking brands in franchisee satisfaction will share techniques and insight on how to achieve grow your brand strategically through operational best practices.
Franchise culture NEEDS to be an operational priority - starting with leadership, but really for everyone in your organization. The challenge is knowing where to start. Join FBR at the IFA Operations Seminar in Tampa this fall to learn the secrets of creating a winning culture from leading franchisors.
Today’s franchise candidates are coming into the development process more educated than ever before, and savvy franchisors understand that the importance of an effective first call with a candidate has never been greater. The good news is that advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI)– specifically phone call speech-to-text and natural language processing – can unlock opportunity from these conversations to improve results in first-call conversion, and carve out a bigger piece of the shrinking pie of qualified candidates.
Perhaps no other franchising sector is as competitive and battle-tested as food. Every year, we release our annual report on the top food franchises based on franchisee satisfaction. The brands in this report have maintained double-digit growth and high franchisee satisfaction through some of the toughest years in franchising history. Franchisors from all types of sectors can learn a lot from what these brands do (and don’t do) to be successful.
With the proliferation of franchises, it can make it even more difficult for a brand to differentiate itself to potential buyers. Franchisee satisfaction is what can set your brand apart. Candidates want to know what it’s like to be part of your system, and when you can show that your franchisees are happy and would do it all over again, you send a powerful message that your brand is committed to their success. Learn six ways to use franchisee satisfaction data to capture more leads and close more deals.
If you didn't get a chance to catch the closing session at the 2018 IFA Convention, you missed out. Luckily, we have the video. Dale Carnegie's Joe Hart shared how seeing FBR's survey data made regaining franchisees' trust his #1 priority.
FBR’s CEO, Eric Stites, recently talked with Crunch’s CEO and Founding Partner, Ben Midgeley, about fanchisee-franchisor relationships, being “unamazonable”, and creating a culture of listening.
Nike made a mistake that cost them billions when they lost their endorsement contract with Golden State Warriors superstar Stephen Curry to Under Armour. Don't make the same mistake Nike did when it comes to your franchisees.
Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park Camp Resorts was named one of Franchise Business Review’s top 200 franchises of 2018. We recently sat down to chat with Jim Westover, VP of Operations, to talk about the franchise’s growth over the past 50 years and how their focus on brand differentiation and franchisee education has been a critical factor in becoming a top choice for franchise buyers.
Discovery days are an integral part of every brand’s development process. They are a way to set appropriate expectations and expose candidates to what it’s like to be a part of your franchise brand. Here are five ideas to make your discovery day more effective and make sure the candidates you choose will turn out to be successful franchisees.
Business intelligence is all about using data to make informed decisions for your organization. It applies data analysis to glean actionable insights, identify risks and opportunities, and guide strategic plans. If you’re not collecting franchisee satisfaction data, you’re missing a critical piece of business intelligence. And that means you’re putting your entire system at risk.
We all know the adage that “content is king,” but not everyone takes it to heart. Learn three ways you can use franchisee satisfaction data as part of a solid content marketing strategy to bring in more candidates and close deals more quickly.
Successful franchisors make growing their franchise brand look easy, but it rarely is. How do they do it? For a little inspiration, read advice shared by franchisors at leading brands.
The energy behind small, but growing franchise brands is often fueled by the passion, culture, and core values of its founders, staff, and franchisees. As a brand grows, those things tend to get diluted or take a back seat to other priorities. Pulse surveys can help you keep your franchise on track and keep franchisees and corporate staff from disengaging.
Franchise executives from leading brands share how they have successfully incorporated video into their communications with franchisees to boost participation in their annual franchisee satisfaction surveys.
Franchise trade shows continue to prove to be the #1 approach to engaging and establishing relationships with qualified prospects in the franchise industry. They offer franchisors the opportunity to meet face-to-face with thousands of qualified prospects in one location. And now more than ever, prospective franchisees want, and need, to look someone in the eye and discuss their investment options. Learn how to make the most of franchise trade shows and close more deals.
When was the last time you did a communications audit? Probably too long ago. Strategic communication is a critical component in your organization's ability to reach and exceed business objectives. And just as you would with other key areas of your organization like operations, marketing, and finance, communication must be reviewed, directed, adjusted, and monitored to ensure the best possible outcomes.
Learn some of the ways EmployBridge has successfully used their annual conference as part of an overall effort to improve and foster franchisee engagement.
If you can commit to focusing on one area to work on each month and embedding it into your corporate culture, you may find that a step-by-step approach to change can end up making a big difference. This eBook lay out 12 best practices you can implement over the course of a year to increase satisfaction and improve productivity.
