7 Strategies to Support Mature Franchisees

Have you ever wondered why longer tenured franchisees can be wary of new franchisor executives bearing great ideas? Read our latest Franchising Fact below and you'll understand. In this Positive Franchising Update you'll learn:

• 7 strategies for supporting mature franchisees
• An important implication of franchisee and franchisor tenure
• How to ensure your support team are adding value to franchisees

BEST PRACTICE INSIGHTS: 7 strategies for supporting mature franchisees

These tips are from the article, 7 ways to fire a spark in long-term franchisees, by FRI's Founder, Greg Nathan.

#1. Revisit their motivations and goals. A franchisee’s personal and business goals will change over time. What motivates them now is likely to be different to when they started.

#2. Draw on their knowledge and experience. Involve seasoned franchisees on panels at conferences; task forces; in the pilot testing of new initiatives; and as mentors.

#3. Acknowledge and recognise their contributions. One of the most consistent sources of frustration we hear from franchisees, especially mature franchisees, is a lack of appreciation from their franchisor for their loyalty to the brand.

#4. Provide advanced professional development opportunities. Participation in courses with outside experts, senior executives or other seasoned franchisees, can challenge and expand their thinking.

#5. Conduct a detailed business review. There is no correlation between tenure and a tendency to work ON one’s business. A structured review can help mature franchisees to gain a fresh perspective on their business.

#6. Provide opportunities to expand into additional units. If properly managed, a multi-unit program can help existing franchisees to improve their financial performance and their life balance, as well as helping you to grow with people you know.

#7. Help them to develop an exit or succession plan. Sometimes the best solution is to help them prepare their business for sale so they can move on. Ironically, this renewed focus sometimes causes them to fall back in love with the business and want to stay! To see the full article, click here.

FRANCHISING FACT: The average tenure of franchisees and franchisors

Franchisee tenure can vary significantly between franchise networks and we have recently surveyed groups that have average tenures under 2 years to over 20 years. However, the average tenure of a franchisee is currently 6 years 4 months. On the other hand, the average tenure of franchisor staff is 3 years 6 months.

This means most franchisees will have seen off at least two generations of franchisor staff! Little wonder, existing franchisees can be wary of new franchisor executives and field managers. From their perspective, they are probably thinking, "Here we go again, I need to educate these people about my business all over again and make sure they don’t do anything to mess up what I’ve built over the years."

This longer tenure of most franchisees also means much of the cultural history of a brand lives more with them than the franchisor. We think this is a good reason to consult your longer-tenured franchisees when considering new initiatives. By the way, many clients find our ACE Franchisee Satisfaction Survey to be a useful way to gain fresh insights into how to better support their mature franchisees.