I had used the perfect word to express my feelings, as well as its causes! That word ‘disillusioned’ was the key.

The dictionary defines ‘disillusion’ as ‘to free or deprive of illusion’. And, I definitely had been under a self-created illusion.  I believed that because the franchise relationship is based on the win-win principle, the parties involved must care ‘first’ about the other party; and, must always seek the win of the other party because it is in the other party’s win that they can find their own.

When the veil of illusion was lifted, I could see that I had created standards impossible to achieve. The problem was in the absolute nature of my belief. The use of the words “must,” “first” and “always” tainted an otherwise true statement.

People in most cases care more about themselves than they do about others. We even see it in the closest of families; so, why on earth would I think that a business relationship would be exempt of this human trait? The franchise relation is dictated by a legal and operational structure that invites more cooperation and more dependency than other business relationships. In more than one way the franchise relation resembles a family. Yet, although it invites cooperation, it cannot make an entrepreneur care more or less about others; nor can it make a franchisee be a better team player. People who are drawn to franchising their businesses, in most cases, feel the pull because of the economic and ego rewards it offers. Very rarely have I heard people express that their main reason for franchising was to help others. That has been my trip, my blind spot, and the cause of my disillusionment. I had created a belief to match my own preferences; and thus, when reality did not match my expectations I felt a sense of discontent and disappointment.

When illusions are lifted one can see, accept, and even appreciate, things as they are. There is nothing wrong with the franchise relationship. There is nothing wrong with franchisors seeking their own gain and franchisees doing the same. That’s just the way it is; these parties are human. The structure of the relationship makes franchisors aware that it’s to their best interest to support franchisees and likewise encourages franchisees to protect their brand and team.

Now that the illusion is gone, I can appreciate the franchise relationship even more for what it is and for what it’s not. In franchising we are dealing with people with their strengths and their weaknesses, and with their humanness. Yet, in franchising people are encouraged to bring their best qualities to the forefront; they have an economic incentive to do so; and when they don’t, they suffer the consequences. Franchisors who don’t support and/or abuse their franchisees experience a shrinking of their network of locations. Franchisees who decide not to follow the franchisor’s system or not to be part of the team have a harder time achieving the success they seek.

Last year’s debate triggered by the CNBC report “Behind the Counter: the Untold Story about Franchising,” in my opinion, resulted in the best of franchising coming forward as franchisees joined the franchisor of Cold Stone Creamery to defend their brand. This is what franchising is all about: the team, the single objective, the win-win. Franchisees and franchisors may have differences; but, like in many families, when an outsider attacks the system or the family, its members unite.

The recent economic downturn definitely has taken its toll and this time franchising was not able to escape it. As many franchisors were not able to respond quickly enough to the economic changes, their franchisees experienced drastic consequences and in many cases failure. Yet, overall, I bet that franchised businesses still have done better than most small independently owned ones.

So, yes, Franchising is not perfect. But, what is?

Related posts:

1. Franchising: the Beauty and the Beast
2. Franchising: a Love Affair by Lizette Pirtle
3. Are franchise relationships dependent or interdependent?

Gratitude is a positive emotion and a way of looking at the world that engenders a sense of well being. Studies have suggested that grateful people are happier, less stressed, and more satisfied with their lives and relationships. They are able to cope with difficulties in a more positive way, hence experience a sense of more control over their lives. So, what does all of this have to do with franchising? A lot!

Gratitude is a choice. We either choose to complain about what we have or don’t have or choose to see the beauty in what we do have and the blessings that come when something is not be present in our lives. It is in that choice that we find the control over our environment. We all have heard the adage that says: “we may not be able to control our circumstances, but we can control how we feel about and react to them.” So, what does all of this have to do with franchising? A lot!

Gratitude is a habit that we create by repeating our choice for the positive frequently. The more often we make this choice, the more ingrained this habit will be. So, what does all of this have to do with franchising? A lot!

If you are a franchisor, you can’t change the way franchisees behave, but you can certainly choose how you will react. Similarly, franchisees have no control over their franchisors’ actions, but they surely can choose whether or not they affect them negatively. It is all about what we choose to see. When either party is upset at the other they have the choice to remain dwelling in the negatives which only creates more discord, or choose to be grateful for the positives such as:

If you are the franchisee:

• The franchisor started a business, took the risk, and created systems.
• The franchisor shares his or her experience with me so I don’t have to make the same mistakes.
• The franchisor is thinking of ways for me to improve my bottom line.
• The franchisor has trained me and continues to train me.
• The franchisor invests in staff to support me.
• The franchisor spends a lot of money in R & D to ensure that my business has a future.

If you are the franchisor:

• Franchisees believed in my concept and in me.
• Franchisees trusted me and invested their life savings in my business idea.
• Franchisees paid me and continue to pay me money.
• Franchisees represent me every single day in their communities.
• Franchisees have stepped out of their comfort zone to implement my system.
• Franchisees share their ideas with me and they also help each other.

Did you hear a ‘but’ as you read the statements above? If so, you need a little bit of work on being truly grateful. Gratitude is all about shifting our perspective. It is not about denying the negative; it is about focusing on the positive that is always there, regardless of the situation or person. So, what does all of this have to do with franchising?

• Grateful franchisees are happier, better performers and validators.
• Grateful franchisors create a productive company culture.
• Gratefulness engenders good franchise relations.
• Gratefulness is contagious.
• Gratefulness produces a positive environment that invites communication.

Gratitude is not just for those ‘tree hugging’ folks, as some may say.  It is for all smart franchisors and franchisees who want success.

So, when was the last time you said ‘thank you’ to your franchisees or to your franchisor?

Related posts:

1. 3 Simple Ways to Create Strong Relationships with your Franchisees
2. 3 Things Your Franchisees Expect From You
3. Franchisees, Franchisors: Do You Need a Surety Bond?

So, what can you do? In the case of employees, a business can reprimand and even fire a disgruntle employee who has taken matters to a public forum thus damaging the reputation of a business. On the other hand, the franchise agreement identifies specific breaches that can result in the franchisor terminating the agreement but simply expressing a complaint, even in a public forum, is not one of them.

The key is PREVENTION not punishment. It’s imperative for franchisors to be vigilant of the morale of franchisees and act immediately when it drops beyond a certain level. Franchisees are the customers of franchisors. Just as a business can’t keep every customer happy all of the time, franchisors won’t be able to keep all franchisees happy all of the time. Yet, this does not free the franchisor from the responsibility to address the unhappiness or frustration of franchisees as soon as they arise.

A franchisor that constantly keeps on eye on the spirits of the franchisees will never have to deal with a franchisee posting a negative comment in a Social Media forum. It just doesn’t get to this level when a franchisor is watchful and caring about the relationships and perceptions of the franchisees. Of course in any system there are problem franchisees but they will be silenced by the great majority if a franchisor makes good franchise relationships the number one priority. There are some processes that need to be in place to prevent the escalation of any frustration felt by franchisees. In order to establish the necessary processes to prevent the escalation of any frustration felt by franchisees ask yourself the following questions:

1.  Are all of your employees engaged in serving and supporting your franchisees?

• Do they understand that franchisees are their customers and treat them appropriately?
• Do you have franchisee communication protocols, and are all of your employees aware of them and follow them?
• Do you train proper franchisee communications and your customer value philosophy to all your employees and others who communicate with your franchisees on your behalf?
• Can you quickly identify if an employee has a bad attitude towards your franchisees?

2.  How often and effectively do you communicate with your franchisees?

•  Are you using only one way communications where you are doing all the talking?
• Do you regularly call your franchisees to check how they are doing?
• Do you have an effective way of dealing with franchisees who are chronic complainers?
• Do you have a process that allows your franchisees to openly express their thoughts and feelings?
• Are you successful at soliciting feedback from your franchisees?

3.  Do you have a way of measuring franchisee morale?

• Are you proactive at determining the spirits of your franchisees at any given time?
• Do your employees know what to do when they learn that a franchisee is unhappy?
• Do you regularly ask your franchisees to rate their level of satisfaction?
• Have you considered having a staff position solely dedicated to communicate and liaise with your franchisees? or
• Do have the function of communicating and liaising with franchisees as a measurable task of most of your employees?

4.  Do you have a process to address the complaints of your franchisees?

• Do all of your employees know the process?
• Do your franchisees know what to do if they are dissatisfied?
• Do your franchisees know what to do if they hear another franchisee complaining?
• Do you measure how well franchisee complaints are addressed?

5.  Do you have a Social Media policy?

• Do your franchisees understand what they can and can’t do?
• Do you explicitly describe what a franchisee can and can’t share using a Social Media forum?
• Have you trained your franchisees on how to use Social Media for their businesses as a franchisee?

What happens when a good dose of prevention of franchisee dissatisfaction doesn’t exist?

If you have not been paying attention to the morale of your franchisees and find yourself in a situation where their frustration has escalated to a public outcry in Twitter or Facebook, you need to act immediately. Following is a suggested method of handling these types of situations:

• Call each franchisee who has expressed their frustration.
• Make sure that the call is made by a senior manager who is a good communicator. A hot headed person shouldn’t be making these calls.
• DO NOT go on the defensive, even if you believe that what they are saying has no basis.
• Inform them that you have read their comments and that you would like to take the discussion to a more private forum.
• DO NOT make them wrong.
• Seek to understand the cause for their displeasure. It’s likely you already know what this is, yet let them vent without you getting defensive.
• If you don’t agree with their position and feel they are wrong, tell them that you are sorry that their feelings have escalated to this proportion.
• Ask them what you could do to remedy the situation. Most likely it something you can’t change; however, now isn’t the time to tell them that. Instead offer to consider their suggestion and to bring it up to the rest of the management team.
• Thank them for sharing with you and ask them to keep the conversation going with you and stop taking it publicly.
• After your conversations with each party, make sure to develop a strategy to deal with the issue. What can you do? Can you reach a compromise? How can you bring the morale up without giving in to unacceptable requests from your franchisees? How can you help franchisees experience that you’ve heard them?
• Immediately create a plan to answer the five previous questions. At the very least make sure you create a Social Media policy and communicate it to all franchisees.

Remember:

 Unhappy franchisees = Poor validations = Decrease in franchise sales

Related posts:

1. Are you rewarding your franchisees for building your brand in Twitter?
2. My franchisees are using Social Media already. What do I do?
3. Social Media: Too much to learn…How do I keep up?

• Communicate often:

In this world of electronic communication where emails prevail, grabbing the phone at least every 6 weeks for no other reason than to communicate with your franchisees can be very powerful. The bigger the organization, the harder this program is to implement, however making this “reaching out”  activity a priority will make a big difference in your relationship with your franchisees and your internal organization. Make sure everyone in your company is involved in this activity. No one is that busy that they can’t make one or two calls a day. The idea is to keep these calls light. For example: “Hi Joe, this is Mary Ann from the mail room. I just wanted to say hi. We met when you were here at training and that’s been a long time. How are you doing?” It’s that simple. Let them know you care!

• Remember your franchisees’ birthdays:

Remembering a person’s birthday is also a way of letting them know that you care about them and that they’re important to you. Today, with electronic calendar reminders, this is so simple that there’s no reason why it can’t be done. Additionally, there’re many electronic cards services available at very little cost making it even easier for us to make franchisees’ special days a bit brighter. It’s important that the cards come from a senior level manager, preferably the CEO. An assistant can email the cards on behalf of the manager, BUT he or she should take the time to read the list of cards that go out every day. This simple step will make your franchisees feel more like people to you and less like numbers; and over time, it will strengthen your relationship with them.

• Celebrate their life successes:

Most franchisors are very good at celebrating the performance achievements of franchisees. This is positive, but it’s even better when you celebrate other wins as well. Your franchisees are people with lives that are rich and full, so celebrate their entire lives not just a portion of them. Congratulate them for the birth of a child, the graduation of their children, a marathon in which they participated. Anything that contributes to your franchisees’ happiness is reason to celebrate and to share with others.  This outlook requires open and constant communication with your franchisees and also among your staff so that this type of news gets to the person in your organization responsible for formal communications to get included in your electronic newsletters and other more formal media to share with the entire network.

Your thoughts? Please share other simple ideas franchisors can implement to strengthen franchisee relations.

Related posts:

1. Are franchise relationships dependent or interdependent?
2. Franchisors, Franchisees: Are You Grateful?
3. 10 Tips to create great Franchisee-Franchisor Relations

Although I initially didn’t see it, I came to understand that when you franchise a business you create a family. Some families are dream families while others are totally dysfunctional; most, however, fall right in the middle, and like most ‘normal’ families they have some good qualities and some pretty bad ones. The principles of love, friendship, interdependence, camaraderie, protectiveness and loyalty present in most families also permeate most franchise relationships. Those principles and how they manifest in franchising keep me hooked and don’t let me go too far. They form what to me is the Beauty of franchising.

The relationships that are formed between franchisor (founder and employees) and franchisees, and among all the franchisees can be very strong. There’s support going both ways. For example, it’s the responsibility of the franchisor to train and support franchisees as their businesses grow and mature. And, for the relationship to flourish, franchisees also have to support franchisors by paying their dues and by being open to accept the franchisor’s decisions with which they may or may not agree. It ‘s all about the give and take… the dance of franchising can be a beautiful one when all parties are giving and all are receiving.

Yet, the Beauty of franchising transforms quickly into a Beast when these win-win principles are not respected. Dysfunction is quickly evidenced when the “Us” versus “Them” attitude appears. Typical comments from franchisors and their staff that define this attitude include:

• Franchisees never follow the system.
• They just don’t listen.
• All they do is complain.

Typical comments from franchisees in an “Us” versus “Them” culture include:

• They (meaning the franchisor and the staff) don’t know what the real world is like.
• They never listen to us.
• All they do is refer us back to the Operations Manual; they never support us.

Unfortunately what starts as miscommunication and rash statements made in a moment of frustration or anger, when repeated over a period of time, can become a habitual way of communication, albeit impaired. This style of relating with each other rapidly becomes part of the culture. Thus, it’s critical that franchisors and franchisees remain vigilant at all times of what they say about each other.

There’s only one truth about all of the sample statements above: THEY ARE ALL UNTRUE. They are broad generalizations, interpretations, and imply a finality that’s very unlikely true.

When we use the words “always” and ” never” or any other words that convey such finality, the statements are usually not true. There may be an instance or even many examples when the statement may apply, but there are not as many truisms as we tend to use. The problem with using these exaggerations is that we use them to prove that we are right. They place us in an inflexible frame of mind where understanding and openness are hard to come by. They move us to a world of right and wrong, where “we” are right and “they” are wrong prevails.  Over time this attitude erodes the relationship until it is too late… the Beauty becomes the Beast.

Related posts:

1. Disillusioned about Franchising?
2. Franchisors, Franchisees: Are You Grateful?
3. Are franchise relationships dependent or interdependent?