7 Ways to Mentor Franchisees

One of FRI’s most significant tools for franchisors is the Franchisor Wheel of Excellence with its five pieces, including Mentor franchisees for performance.

Here are 7 strategies for franchisors drawn from Greg Nathan’s keynote address to the recent FANZ Conference in New Zealand. (See more about this below)

#1: Conduct regular conferences and meetings that educate, inform and inspire. Aim to have franchisees doing at least 50% of the talking through round tables, panels and open forums.

#2: Facilitate small group peer support discussions. Franchisees gain enormous value from sharing their metrics, goals and challenges, and holding each other accountable.

#3: Maintain systems and checklists that improve efficiency and productivity. These should be the foundation of your business model, and need to be constantly reviewed for relevance, and reinforced.

#4: Deliver ongoing training and diagnostic tools that enhance knowledge and skills. These should cater to different levels of experience. For instance, Multi-Unit Capability assessments are useful for preparing experienced franchisees for growth.

#5: Provide coaching that focuses on goal-setting and accountability. Our research consistently shows that franchisees rate coaching and follow up by field consultants as particularly useful.

#6: Conduct NEMO conversations that encourage constructive participation. Most franchisees will go through stages of disappointment or frustration. NEMO stands for Name the issue with Empathy and Move On by focusing on solutions.

#7: Provide KPI benchmarking that enhances a metrics mindset. Mature franchisees particularly value data that compares their performance with the rest of the group.

By the way, FRI has tools and processes to help franchisors with many of these. Contact us if you’d like to discuss this further.