The 8 Hats of a Great Field Manager

We’ve been researching field managers for over 30 years, and have enormous respect for the positive impact they can have on franchisee satisfaction and success.

But it’s far from an easy role as field managers often work with people who are stressed, negative or complacent.

Fortunately, it’s also varied and rewarding. In many ways, it’s similar to a doctor, requiring a broad range of skills to understand what’s going on in a business, and how to gain the trust and commitment of franchisees so they’ll take action to improve its health!

To achieve this, field managers need to perform eight functions.

Here’s a summary, taken from Greg Nathan’s best-selling book, The Franchisor’s Guide to Improving Field Visits, often referred to as the Field Manager’s bible. It’s a veritable treasure of tips and strategies to help field managers boost the positive impact they have on their franchisees.

#1 Inspector: Provide constructive feedback on adherence to standards, so everything associated with the brand is aligned.

#2 Operations Expert: Provide practical advice to improve the efficient day-to-day running of the business. Newer franchisees, in particular, value this hands-on support.

#3 Business Consultant: Help them work on their business by analysing financial and other metrics that correlate with financial success.

#4 Marketer: Help franchisees maximise their local market share and sales opportunities through sales and promotional activities in and around their business.

#5 Ambassador: Foster trust and commitment to try new initiatives by explaining the “why” and the benefits to them in clear, simple language.

#6 Coach: Ask powerful questions to help them generate their own goals and action plans. This process is particularly useful for more experienced franchisees.

#7 Trainer: Help franchisees and their teams to master the technical, operational and business skills that drive performance and customer satisfaction.

#8 Facilitator: Organise and run constructive meetings that promote networking and collaboration.

You may have noticed that the first four functions are more technical, while the last four are more interpersonal.

Some fascinating research trends

Because of the growing financial pressures franchisees have been facing, we have just completed an analysis of over 1,200 field managers and how they rated themselves in the Business Consultant function.

This function comprises nine specific competencies, including breakeven and KPI analyses and understanding the difference between profit and cash flow.

And we have some good news. Data from the past six years shows a consistent and significant improvement, as shown in the chart below. We believe this has been driven by improved access to financial data and better education of field consultants in this vital area.