Chairwoman: IFA Listens to Both Franchisees and Franchisors

Posted Wed, 2009/11/18 - 09:57 by Don Sniegowski

WACO, Texas – In this second of a two-part interview, the chairwoman of the International Franchise Association discusses diverse topics such as keeping tax cuts that were implemented during the Bush presidency and the Association’s relationship with its franchisees.

Ms. Dina Dwyer-Owens is chairwoman and CEO of The Dwyer Group, positions she has held since 1999. The company has six franchise brands servicing residences and businesses, including Aire Serv and Mr. Electric. She is also this year’s chairwoman of the International Franchise Association, a trade organization that lobbies on franchise issues. This year the group celebrates its 50th anniversary, making it one of the oldest franchise associations.

BMM: [Besides the legislative initiatives already discussed in the first of this two-part series; namely, stopping the current health care reform bills, having Congress approve of President Obama’s initiatives to open up access to credit, and preventing Card-Check from being enacted] Are there other initiatives out there that you think franchisees should be watching?

Dwyer-Owens: The whole idea of tax increases. We all need to continue to write, call and have meetings with our representatives to let them know that this is not the time to raise taxes.

We are struggling enough as small business owners, and to raise our taxes is not going to help any of us. So I think we have to keep pounding those messages from health care to credit to taxes. And again, card check is a piece of all of that. But I think we need to just continue to make sure that our voices are heard loud and clear.

The IFA has a wonderful grass roots site. I don’t know if you are familiar with it, but I have really utilized that tool here at Dwyer. For example, with all of the stuff going on with health care lately, the IFA sending messages to us [franchisors] saying push this out to your system so that franchisees understand what is going on.

If they’d like to take action, it is so simple to go to the grass roots site and click in. And get messages to your representatives in letters by mail or email. It takes five minutes. So we are making this as easy as possible through the IFA for franchisees to make their voices heard. If they can’t take the time to go to D.C. and be face to face with representatives, they can at least get online and get their messages to their representative.

That’s been a huge tool for us. It’s so easy.

BMM: There are franchisees, independent franchisee associations and some franchisee advocates who say the IFA will never act on issues that work against their 1,300 paying franchisor members. They say where franchisee associations support The Fair Arbitration Act, the IFA opposes it. Where franchisee associations have successfully lobbied for the new Rhode Island Fair Dealership Act to protect franchisee interests, the IFA lobbied to oppose it. What is your take on this?

Dwyer-Owens: That’s not front and center for me at all. I have not heard of those complaints by franchisees.

I think franchisors get that if we aren’t in this to help franchisees be successful, that it’s not good for any of us. I could have a whole 'nother segment on this [issue]. I haven’t heard this negativity.

We certainly have more franchisor members at the IFA paying than we have franchisee members. That’s just a fact. We want more franchisee members. We want to protect what is good for franchising in general. But again I have not heard any negativity or pushback on this specifically, so I really have a hard time speaking to it.

BMM: That’s part and parcel of the criticism of whether franchisee voices are being heard by the IFA. Tell me how franchisees participate in what the IFA decides to lobby for.

Dwyer-Owens: The IFA has the franchisee forum and they have a big influence on the decisions that we make. The chairs of the franchisee forum do sit on the board. In addition, we have other franchisees who sit on the board.

So we talk about the franchisee perspective a lot. And they're not afraid. You know that. They’re not afraid to come to the table and let us know when they are dissatisfied with something.

We have healthy discussions. But they are healthy discussions, and they are fair discussions. And then we come to a conclusion that we think is good for everybody.

Again, maybe I’m naïve, but I have a good feel for the relationships we have with the franchisees who are involved with the IFA and they are working hard to do what is good for franchising, especially for the franchisees because that is really the key role that they play. But I think there is a very healthy relationship there.

BMM: It sounds like the IFA has a mechanism to help them act on issues in which there is a consensus of both groups — franchisee and franchisor.

Dwyer-Owens: We work hard to do that.

There’s no perfect organization. There’s no perfect franchisor. There’s no perfect franchisee. It’s a matter of let’s come to the table with the issues and let’s have a healthy discussion to make some good decisions.

Read Part One of this two-part series, IFA Chairwoman: Health Care Bill No Help

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