What Franchisees Are Saying About You

By Greg Nathan posted March 17, 2015

Over the past few months we’ve been asking franchisees for feedback on the quality of operational support and whether they would recommend their field manager to other franchisees. This research is adapted from the Net Promoter Score question, where customers are asked to rate how likely they are to recommend a particular business. The results so far indicate some important shifts in expectations of field support.

What the top performers are doing

First let’s look at a few typical comments as to why some franchisees would strongly recommend their field manager:

  • She is a straight shooter, a no nonsense person who is very easy to communicate with.
  • He provides ongoing analysis of the business and comparisons to other businesses in the network.
  • She is fantastic in motivating my team and me to perform at our best.
  • She shares other franchisees’ good practices and discusses openly with me how to improve my business.
  • He genuinely cares about the performance of the business and gets excited about developing new opportunities.

In summary, straight talking, providing useful feedback on business performance, being positive, sharing best practice ideas and conveying genuine care for the franchisee’s success are emerging as vital trends.

How field managers can add more value

We also asked franchisees who would not recommend their field manager, what the field manager could do to add more value. While there were frequent references to the themes above, here are some other typical suggestions:

  • Give more local marketing ideas and support.
  • Assist with things that will help me grow the business rather than just compliance.
  • Stay in regular contact and follow-up on items we have discussed.
  • Be more encouraging and give more constructive feedback on how I can improve my business.
  • Be able to share the overall strategies and directions of the group.

The messages here relate to providing ideas to grow local market share, maintain regular contact on issues important to the franchisee, deliver constructive feedback and be able to discuss the bigger picture of what’s happening in the network.

Field managers who are applying these and other forward thinking ideas can make an enormous difference to the performance of their franchisees. I was just this week talking with an attendee from one of our Field Manager Bootcamps who has taken his franchisees from the second bottom performing sales region to top performing region in less than 12 months.

Let’s ensure we are giving these people the support they need to stay on top of their game. The Franchisor’s Guide to Improving Field Visits is a good place to start. Hundreds of franchisors around the world provide this to their field managers as one of their standard tools of trade.

Subscribe to Greg's Tips

Since 1990, thousands of franchise executives around the world have enjoyed receiving a regular email tip from FRI’s Founder, Greg Nathan.

These short stories on the psychology of business and everyday life have been likened to “mind brightening pills” as they open our thinking to fresh insights for improving wellbeing, business performance and franchise relationships.

Sign up now to receive your regular free tip from one of the leading thinkers in the world of franchising.

Start typing and press enter to search

Search