Callum Floyd is a Franchising & Licensing Expert

This best practice centres around the field manager’s attention on the particular franchisee and their business unit during the actual field visit. In today’s environment there are clearly many opportunities for distraction, principally via the field managers smart phone, tablet and/or laptop. It is an obvious point to make that the field manager should be …

A recent meeting with a franchisor highlighted the sometimes-huge differences we see in leadership commitment to understanding the franchisee perspective.  At one end of the spectrum, there are many franchisor leaders that will actively [and sometimes bravely] solicit franchisee feedback, no matter how confronting. At the other end (and a smaller pool, we’d suggest), some …

Franchisors will typically closely monitor total systemwide sales as, for most, their primary income source (that is, a royalty based on sales) depends upon it. A less frequently measured and monitored, but equally important, key performance indicator, is comparable sales. While total systemwide sales reflects all sales to customers (by franchised and company units), comparable …

Field managers are increasingly taking on more of a business advisory role in their support of franchisees. Related, other best practices in this series speak of the importance of franchisee business planning, having a franchisee business planning template, the need for field managers to take on a business advisory role, and focusing on franchisee profit …

This best practice speaks to the need for senior franchise executives to be involved in a Franchise Advisory Council (FAC). A FAC’s purpose will often include the objective of taking both franchisor and franchisee businesses forward which, in turn, encompasses the whole franchise system. It therefore follows that a FAC should include franchisor representatives that …

Board meeting duration is an important governance dimension. Previous best practices have covered franchise governance structure fit, governance focus on the future and board meeting regularity. Key here is ensuring adequate time and focus is afforded to the many elements of governance in a regular board meeting. The governance role includes compliance, monitoring and controls, …

History has demonstrated the importance of having an active Crisis Management Plan. This should be regarded as a core franchisor responsibility. While some companies will clearly be more susceptible to potential crises, there are a myriad of situations that could impact any franchise organisation.  Crises could be generated from customer interactions (e.g., food poisoning, poor …