Franchisor; Ongoing Support and Ideas

Ongoing support for a franchise system is omnipotent. A major part of any family relationship is communication. A large franchise system is similar to a giant family; it needs constant communication. By providing on going support for your franchisees, we will guarantee both success and open communication lines will strengthen you company and team in the market place. Some things, which many franchisors do not do or do not do enough are little things which are really low cost and simple. For instance sending out sales tapes.

Sales tapes (cassettes) should be mailed out once per month to franchisees on the 25th of each month; this is a motivator. The 26th through the 29th are the slowest cash days because people live paycheck to paycheck and are the most broke on those dates, meaning sales are slow those days and these tapes will motivate. This is good to know because it gives the customers an excuse to use their credit cards. Your franchisees will look forward to these tapes each month. Motivation is the key to personal selling. More sales means more money for the franchisees, which means happier franchisees.

Another tool you can mail out are videos of how to use products; many of these videos are free from suppliers, so ask vendors for such free promotional materials. Franchisees who are knowledgeable about products and techniques express confidence in their voice and body language. Confident people who believe they have a great service and superior products have higher sales volumes.

Franchisors are constantly updating manuals. I remember when I finished writing my original manuals for my franchise in 1994, little did I know I would by the year 2000 completely revised every single page. Updates in operations manuals occur often and you should send out the changes two times per month along with a hand written note to thank the franchisees on something; perhaps a standout figure in one of the daily or weekly reports or share with them a compliment from a customer which came into head quarters. Also asking for reciprocal thoughts on new techniques, products, marketing procedures, equipment, etc. I cannot tell you as a franchisor founder how often the best ideas came from franchisees who may not have even told me, had we not asked them first. Along with the changes in the manuals perhaps you might send possible sales leads and bidder's list contacts. Franchisors would also be advised to keep track of contacts in the franchisees trading area or exclusive territory and burn a CD ROM of those new business listings. In addition smart franchisors should keep updated with cross-reference directories, etc. and mail copies or CD ROM of that information once per month to give them an edge on their local competition.

Just because the rest of the pack or industry is not savvy enough to think and innovate or come up with ways to improve communication does not mean your company should not press on. Think about it.

"Lance Winslow" - If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs