The Power of the Personal Factor

For a franchisee, business and personal life often blend together. While there are downsides to this, the upside is the commitment they bring to looking after their staff and their customers.

Yet recent data we have been collecting highlights a need for franchisor support office teams to be more tuned in to this personal factor. See our latest Franchising Fact below for more on this.

Speaking of franchising's personal side, our Founder, Greg Nathan, was recently interviewed about his personal journey in franchising by Colin Pearce for the Be So Good podcast. Greg also shares several insights into the franchisee's personal journey, as well as some useful tips for franchisor leaders. You can check it out here.

In this Positive Franchising Update you'll also find:

• A personal profile on FRI’s longest tenured team member.
• 10 tips for connecting with franchisees at the personal level.
• A Franchising Fact on how franchisor teams rate on the care factor.
• Some upcoming professional development workshops for your franchisor team.

MEET Ree-Anna, Psychologist and Client Relationships Manager

If we have worked with you in some way over the past 17 years, you have probably met the amazing Ree-Anna Chatman, as this is how long she's been looking after our clients. Ree has a big heart and a curious mind. She asks great questions and cares deeply about our clients. For Ree, business is personal. In addition to her knowledge of what drives healthy franchise relationships, she has an interest in sports psychology and has been a State Level softball coach. Ree is also the loving mum of two beautiful young boys. Thanks Ree for all you do for our team and our clients!

BEST PRACTICE INSIGHTS: 10 tips to support franchisees at the personal level

These tips on how to support franchisees at the personal level have been collected from discussions by franchisor executives in our various training workshops.

• Encourage them to invest time building a support network of people and to show gratitude to their family for their ongoing support.
• Encourage them to have meetings with a mentor or coach for support with business and personal challenges.
• Ensure you respond promptly to their requests for help when they need you.
• Have senior executives meet with them for quality discussions on where they are at in their lives and how you can support them.
• Provide opportunities to bring them together in face to face and virtual meetings to share their challenges.
• Ensure they are kept informed of issues impacting on their business to create more certainty.
• Show them how to delegate more effectively so they can achieve a better work/life balance.
• Get to know them as people including their family situation and their history with the network.
• Acknowledge the fact that longer tenure franchisees probably know more about the history of your organisation than most of the franchisor team.

Use round table discussions and franchisee panels so they can share their experiences and be recognised for their expertise.

FRANCHISING FACT: How franchisor teams are performing in the care dimension

Many clients use our ACE Survey to measure the factors that drive franchisee satisfaction. Recently, we have also been measuring important behaviours by franchisor support office teams linked to franchisee satisfaction.

The area where franchisor teams are rating themselves the lowest is in connecting with franchisees as people. For instance, knowing their names and their history with the network, or taking an interest in their personal well-being. Recruitment, Operations and Property/Leasing teams tend to rate themselves stronger in these areas than those who work in Finance and (surprisingly) HR. Our research tells us that taking an interest in franchisees as people has a big impact on their overall satisfaction. This is why we particularly focus on this in our Culture of Franchising workshops. Feedback from these convenient virtual programs is extremely positive with franchisor teams from all departments consistently reporting high levels of satisfaction and value from their involvement.