by Rudolf Kotek
Now that you have invested your time, energy and money in buying or establishing a franchise, how do work within the system? How do you take advantage of all your Franchisor has to offer? How do you deal with other Franchisees?
In any franchise organization, it’s important to maintain open communications lines. A franchise is like a marriage and communication is the key. Communication in a franchise relationship occurs in numerous ways. You should remember to keep communication friendly, helpful, upbeat and honest. Too many times a Franchisors/Franchisee relationship will become adversarial, hostile and aggressive. If this happens, communications lines tend to go down and everyone suffers. The Franchisee has the power to keep communications on a positive note. There are many things that can be done to help your Franchisor communicate with you.
Try not to be a chronic complainer. If you have a legitimate complaint, perhaps you could offer some praise first. Something that being done right and how happy you are. Then mention the little something that’s caused a stress for you at your business. If you think you might have a solution-offer it or brainstorm. Offer to meet them at your store, your point of power so you can negotiate from a stronger position. Be friendly. Try to meet when you’re having peak hours.
Show the Franchisor or their representative how efficient you are, how clean your place is and how you are following standards. Treat it like a military inspection. Then explain the problem. Tell them your suggestions and ask what should you do? All Franchisors are not the same. Some have a very corporate attitude and some are very down to earth and almost folksy. No matter what type you belong to, communication is still the key.
With a small Franchisor, you may be able to call the president or founder directly. A Franchisor with fewer than thirty units needs your input at the top level. He or she will still be working out administrative and organization bugs in the system. Your success is a very serious issue with them. They can’t afford very many Franchisee failures this early in the game. Your problems and suggestions take precedence over all other aspects of their business. If you fail, it will affect future sales.
It is important for the Founder to know how the franchised model performs in different locations, demographics and local economic environments. If they can solve these problems at a unit level now, it will insure the success of the future units one hundred fold.
In medium sized franchises, you may not have the opportunity to be on a first name basis with the Founder or President. However, you will certainly get the chance to meet them. You must likely mirror the attitude of the Founder or President.
A large Franchisor will have layers of corporate management and Managers assigned to different areas. Some large Franchisors may not have a Founder any more.
The original Founder may have sold most of their stake in the company and no longer oversees any part of the actual Franchisor’ operation. Some large Franchisors may be publicly traded companies that may also own other franchise systems and may during your franchise term either buy more Franchisors out.
Rudolf Kotik is the founder of RK Franchise Consultancy Inc, which developed more than 350 Filipino Companies into Franchise Systems. Email: rk@rkfranchise.com; Websites: www.rkfranchise.com, www.franchise.ph
