10 pearls of wisdom to improve the value of field visits

Last month FRI's Founder, Greg Nathan, spoke with 60 franchise executives from the New England Franchise Association on how to improve the effectiveness of field visits. As part of the session, people shared a pearl of wisdom they'd love to pass on to a new field manager. Here are 10 pretty powerful ones.

#1: First focus on building trust by showing you care. Listen with interest and compassion to their story. Investing time in building a genuine connection will pay big dividends later on.

#2: When you first walk into someone's business, don't start looking around. Smile and make eye contact with the franchisee and their team. Ignore what's wrong in the business. You can deal with that later.

#3: People like to know who they are dealing with. Stay comfortable in your own skin and share a little about yourself. If you can find a common interest with the franchisee, this also builds trust.

#4: You might think you need to prove what you know, but you don't. Your initial focus needs to be on understanding the franchisee, not on showcasing yourself.

#5: Ask thoughtful questions such as "Tell me about your journey with the brand?" and listen carefully to the answers. Let them know you understand what they are saying by paraphrasing back important points.

#6: Always maintain a solution-focused and helpful mindset. While you'll often feel the need to criticise, you'll get the best results through encouragement and positive feedback.

#7: At the end of your visit, ask what they got from your time together and if there's anything you can do to make your time together even better next time.

#8: When trying to solve difficult problems that are frustrating someone, first work with emotions and clear these out of the way. Then move into data and information.

#9: Look after your energy and maintain yourself in good shape so you can better support others. How you turn up is as important as what you say.

#10: You may think that this role is 80% business and 20% personal. But you'll soon learn it's the opposite. For franchisees, it's 80% personal.

World class professional development for your franchisor team

We understand that franchisor teams have different learning needs depending on their roles. So we have three core training programs to meet the needs of the following groups:

• The Franchisor Excellence Masterclass develops franchise-specific leadership skills for C-Level Franchise Executives.
• The Culture of Franchising Workshop helps Support Office teams who interact with franchisees to understand the franchisee mindset.
• The Field Manager Bootcamp equips Field Consultants with tools, techniques and strategies to improve their effectiveness in supporting franchisees.

All courses are highly practical, include quality resource materials, and are delivered live online by Greg Nathan and his team. Participants love the energy and interactivity, and consistently give these courses NPS ratings of over +90. For more information on public programs click here or contact us if you would like to discuss having us conduct these courses in-house for your teams.