One of the keys to making smart business decisions is to have a good grasp of the current situation, and some reasonably grounded expectation of the future.  There are lots of ways to go about doing this, from talking to customers, vendors, or others in your industry, to following national statistics such as unemployment rates, jobless claims, or growth in GDP.

There are also various indexes that one can follow, such as the business confidence index, the consumer confidence index, the small business optimism index, or the housing market index. While useful to some extent, none of these methods or metrics speak directly to franchising, and to correct for that we’ve created a “Franchise Confidence Index.”

Franchising is a unique business model with its own set of challenges and the Franchise Confidence Index ought to help franchisors, franchisees, and suppliers quickly assess broad trends on business conditions from a franchising perspective. Additionally, since the franchise industry extends across multiple industries and is utilized by companies in different stages of growth and varying in size, the Franchise Confidence Index ought to be a leading indicator of the economy.

The Franchise Confidence Index is a short, online survey that measures current and future business conditions from franchisors, franchisees, and suppliers. The survey is totally anonymous and the results will be randomized to provide statistical reliability.

The Index will be conducted monthly and summary results and discussion provided in a timely fashion.

To participate in the Index click the link below:

Birkeland Blue MauMau Franchise Confidence Index, a Metric of the economy for the franchise industry