Striking the right balance between independent franchisees and the maintenance of a company-wide culture is key to a successful franchise.
When you offer individual franchise owners the opportunity to promote and represent your business, mutual trust is a vital factor in success for both parties.
At The HR Dept, which started franchising in 2005, we have always prioritised a constructive and open two-way relationship between us, the franchisor, and our franchisees (we call them our Licensees).
There are many benefits to such an approach: immediately, comprehensive support from the central office to our new Licensees from day one; an ongoing ethos among a network which can share knowledge, expertise and experiences with others; and more widely a culture in which individuals recognise that they are responsible for the reputation not only of their own businesses but also, by association, the other franchises and the brand nationwide.
Our trust in our Licensees and, we hope, their trust in return manifests itself in several ways. I hope my suggestions below may be relevant for your franchise operation, too.
Support for our network
It is important to remember that, as a franchisor, your franchisees are your customers. As such, the relationships between the two parties are vital to the success of the business and should be nurtured just as any business would do so with its buyers.
Our central department is always on hand to help Licensees with marketing, business development and practical advice on the various products and services we provide. And we have open and transparent pricing based not on profit but on fixed fees, leaving the onus on the Licensee to make a success of their business without us profiting directly from their hard work.
As I mentioned before, a crucial part of our success is our Licensees’ ability to share and benefit from each other’s expertise, through open communications. None of our HR professionals would ever claim exhaustive knowledge about the theory or practice of human resources, so they regularly circulate enquiries about situations they’ve not come up with before. That way, their own clients and customers benefit from the knowledge of more than 60 HR experts from across the UK and Ireland.
Two-way conversations
We also value the constructive feedback our Licensees provide us, particularly from the coal face of the small business community we serve with our products and services. Just as each Licensee benefits from HR conversations with their counterparts across the UK and Ireland, so we at central operations value our network’s ideas and suggestions. Of course the feedback varies and there are differences of opinion, so the decisions ultimately lie with us. But one of our most important exercises is an annual customer survey, which shows our network that they and their own business communities are being listened to. It helps us develop and grow as a business, while also generating trust in our relationships. We also have an elected Licensee forum to help us gather input from across the network.
Mutual brand reputation
Particularly in these days of social media, where hard-won reputations can so easily be damaged, we encourage all our Licensees to recognise the impact that their activity can have on the brand across our territories.
Even though our Licensees operate independently and exclusively within their own geographic areas, social media knows no such boundaries and negative comments towards one Licensee can easily be taken as a reflection on the values of the company as a whole.
So while we would never dictate what our Licensees can and cannot say, or stipulate what is company policy or opinion, we do ask them to be mindful of the impact that social media can have on the businesses of their counterparts. And we react quickly in case anything gets out of control – it makes business sense for us to do so.
Success breeds success
Having franchised our business to cover the majority of the UK and Ireland over the past 15 years, we know that we are doing something right. So while we choose our Licensees carefully to ensure firstly that our brand is in good hands, secondly that our investment of time and resources is spent wisely, we know that every new venture is working from a viable business model.
We are constantly adapting our services to meet changing demands but part of our success is based on acceptance from new Licensees that, if they follow our suggestions and work hard, they will make the business work. That’s a great basis to start from and, while it doesn’t always work out, a history of success gives our franchisees confidence that the potential for their own business is likely to be realised.
