IMPROVE FRANCHISEE RELATIONS: Become a Physician!
Franchisors often ask, “Why do franchisees invest in a franchise and then fail to follow the system”. I think it comes down to the culture which the franchisor develops within the franchise system itself. We teach people how to treat us. Franchisors teach franchisees how to treat them.
Some franchisors, try to establish a culture of “family”, they have “re-unions” instead of conventions. Other franchisors try to maintain a strong dictatorial relationship with their franchisees, trying to maintain control over every aspect of the relationship. I believe that the most successful franchise organizations have a culture which falls somewhere in between these two extremes.
With the family approach comes the old saying “Familiarity breeds Contempt” which roughly translates into “The better we know people, the more likely we are to find fault with them”. As we find fault we begin to quit listening and following the advice. We begin to think we know as much or more than the other person. The franchisee has a need to believe that the franchisor has the answers to the problems which arise and the medicine to prevent issues from becoming problems in the future.
The Dictatorial approach fails because you simply can not MAKE anyone do anything. When you stop and think about it, you can’t make a subordinate do anything, because they’ll just get made and quit. You can’t make a peer do anything because they are your equal. Obviously you can’t make your superior do anything. As a franchisor you must create a desire in your franchisee and an environment within your system that causes franchisees to want to do what it is that you want them to do, which is FOLLOW THE SYSTEM. You must continuously be building the confidence that franchisees have in the system. You must constantly remind them to turn to the system for help and guidance. They must believe that by doing so, they will find the solutions which will allow them to accomplish their desired objectives.
This type of confidence is best developed in a relationship which closely resembles that of the Physician/Patient relationship. Your physician is a trusted, knowledgeable confidant who provides the right advice, at the right time. Your physician is a partner in your health and well being, who genuinely cares about you. This relationship remains friendly, without the need to become friends. As a Franchisor you must be friendly, without becoming such a good friend that your franchisee no longer feels compelled to listen to you and follow your advice or to feel comfortable in sharing personal and private information. You must care about your franchisee. The old saying “They don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care”, has never been more true than it is in the Franchisor/Franchisee relationship. You must remain the authority, who has or can provide the answers which will insure the health and well being of each and every franchisee in your system. The advice and directions provided to franchisees by way of your training, your system, your support, must be accurate, and relevant. It must provide for their health and well being, while never causing harm.
So if you’re serious about building strong relationships with your franchisees and having them look to you for solutions and preventative medicine become a Physician to your franchisees. Provide them with the medicine that will make them better when they’re ill, and advice which will prevent them from becoming ill. Build their confidence, so that they believe in turning to you for advice, and that by following your advice everything will be okay!
Believe & Succeed,
FranSynergy
Synergizing Franchising One Franchisee at a time!
www.fransynergy.com
- Franchise topic:
FRANCHISOR: an entity which receives more than their share of blame when things go wrong; and less than their share of the credit when things go right!
Believe & Succeed,
FranSynergy
Synergizing Franchising 1 Franchisee at a time!
www.fransynergy.com
Believe & Succeed,
Dale
FranSynergy, Inc.
Synergizing Franchising!
www.fransynergy.com
A franchise sytsem makes sense precisely in those cases in which local management knows and executes better as an operator than corporate employees would.
The operators puts up his or her capital in return for surrendering a certain amount of control.
But since the franchisor corporation is has the right to spend the operator's capital, agency problems develop similar to the well known agency problems in firms.
There are of course agency problems going the other way: the franchisor corporation has lent its intellectual property to the operator, which engages a whole new set of agency problems.
A proper governance model must address both types of agency problems.
Michael Webster PhD LLB Psychology of Compliance and Due Diligence Law www.bizop.ca
Michael Webster, a franchisee attorney in Toronto, Ontario, publishes a website on business opportunities and franchises called "The BizOp News"
Michael:
Perhaps I did not make my point clear or perhaps I'm not understanding yours. So in an effort to clarify:
Some franchisors become so close to their franchisees that the franchisee no longer listens to the franchisor because of familiarity. An example of this, I once had a client with whom I provided consulting services, who later became my employer. When I had to travel by plane, show up in my best suit with briefcase in hand and they paid me mid-four figures per day, they listened and acted on my advice without question. After about 6 months as an employee it was like pulling teeth to get them to do anything I suggested.
Other Franchisors put such distance between themselves and their franchisees that the franchisee no longer cares about the advice from the franchisor because they do not believe that the franchisor cares about them.
When we go to a physician we expect them to know what they are talking about. We are all familiar with the old saying "Don't go to the doctor, if you're not going to take the doctors advice". We also believe that when we take medicine prescribed by the doctor that we will begin to improve.
My point is simply that Franchisors must develop a culture within the organization whereby they hold themselves out to be the expert, while developing a genuine interest in helping the franchisee.
Your points provide sound logic in WHY a business owner may choose franchising as a methodology for expansion, but I do not believe that it disproves my suggestion. Your key point was "local management knows and executes better as an operator than corporate employees would". Of course this logic is based on an employee of the franchisor and forgets that the franchisor is an entity in and of itself. Your "local management" is a vested owner who performs better than employee of the entity, by becoming and extension of the entity.
To use your verbiage the capital surrendered by the franchisee is not to "give up control" but to gain the opportunity to control the brand within pre-defined guidelines in a designated market area for specified period of time.
The franchisor is not spending the operator's capital, but their capital that was raised by the sale of a licensing agreement and through royalties received as a result of such an agreement. The capital is now the franchisors revenue stream, which like any business will be used for the advancement of the business and to achieve profitability.
Believe & Succeed,FranSynergy
Synergizing Franchising 1 Franchisee at a time!
Believe & Succeed,
Dale
FranSynergy, Inc.
Synergizing Franchising!
www.fransynergy.com