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Building your network: insights for effective franchisee engagement

17 June 2016

The level of personal engagement and commitment of franchisees to your banner has an immediate effect on customer experience, as well as on the individual performance of your franchisees and on the overall performance of your network. While engagement is not something you can force upon anyone, here are several tips to help you inspire your franchisees.

 

“If it’s to be, it’s up to me.”

Dr. Robert Schuller, motivational speaker

 

ARE YOUR FRANCHISEES HAPPY?

According to a study by the Franchise Relationships Institute, 49% of franchisees say that their business drains them emotionally, and 43% do not have a balanced life. The impact of such dissatisfaction has a devastating effect on the wellbeing of their network. They are likely to be pessimistic, focus on issues rather than solutions, and have a negative effect on customers and other franchisees. In addition, they will be unreceptive to new ideas, do little to develop their own business or the network, and so on. In short, they would negatively impact everyone. Psychology studies identify three key components of employee satisfaction and happiness: 1) feeling competent, 2) feeling accomplished, and 3) having satisfying human relationships.

 

Also, the latest research in Neuroleadership, a fascinating branch of neuroscience, shows that, depending on whether the reality is consistent with our needs, our brain reacts in one of the two ways when exposed to situations or stimuli: engaging or disengaging. A disengaged franchisee feels anxiety, is on defensive, lacks constructive attitude, has low energy and little interest in his business, tends to doubt his franchisor, and is less likely to take risks. On the other hand, by meeting the needs of your franchisees, you boost their emotional and cognitive capacity. Just imagine the effects on your network!

 

5 Primary Needs According to Neuroleadership:

 

Status or relative importance to others

Certainty or security to be able to predict the future, to adapt

Autonomy to control your environment and to have choices

Relatedness to a group, the sense of safety with others

Fairness and justice or a perception of fair exchanges between people

 

TIPS AND INSIGHTS TO SATISFY THE 5 PRIMARY NEEDS

• Make sure your own needs are met, otherwise you will be toxic to your network.
• Choose the right franchisees for your network. Their skills, values and aspirations must be consistent with your vision. Favor quality over quantity, leverage the good ones by helping them grow and become multi-unit franchisees.
• Implement communication strategies that are in line with the network DNA, promote and celebrate success, formulate what is of value for the network and put your message across, but without infringing on their need for autonomy.
• Make sure that the training you offer is consistent with the actual needs of the franchisees and makes them more effective and autonomous in the management of their business.
• Draw a motivational map of your network to understand what drives your franchisees in order to match rewards with their expectations rather than with your idea of what is good for them or your own preferences.
• Map out franchisee experience across your network, similar to customer experience, and improve on it. Boosting franchisee experience (internal branding) will motivate their employees to work harder and increase their loyalty to the company, which in its turn will improve customer experience.
• Define your role as a franchisor and make sure you excel in what adds the most value to your network. Delegate or eliminate the rest! Do the same for your franchisees.
• Develop your confidence-inspiring leadership skills. Focus on what you can do for the network, not the other way around.
• Be forward-thinking. A stagnating network does not stimulate its franchisees, instead they become idle.
• Take the financial success of your franchisees close to heart, not just your own success.
• Document your franchise “formula”. The clearer it is, the easier it will be for your franchisees to focus on value-added tasks, which will translate in better performance and a higher level of satisfaction.
• Provide your franchisees with the necessary tools and training so that they could in turn engage their employees. Your network will be even stronger.

 

By applying these tips, you will improve your network’s engagement and commitment to your banner, but also you will create true brand ambassadors. Using an analysis tool, we can help you identify improvement priorities to boost your network engagement and loyalty level based on your particular business context and challenges.

 

Sylvie Grégoire, MBA, CRHA

President, Totem Performance organisationnelle

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