Are you finding that some of your franchisees simply don’t listen to your advice, or push back on your suggestion? Or maybe they see the “rules” of your franchise as restricting them as business owners?

Perhaps it always feels like they don’t believe you are working with everyone’s best interests at heart?

It’s a very common issue among growing franchises, but also one which is deeply frustrating. It can even feel like the business partner relationship you had at the start has devolved into some kind of toxic “boss-employee” dynamic where you are constantly pushing against each other.

Why has this happened? After all, you’re just trying to help by sharing your experience and expertise to help grow both your businesses. Joining a franchise is all about being part of something bigger, but now they’re pushing back against it. For example, you might be sharing some ideas for them to improve sales and they become defensive, or maybe you see the consequences of their acting in a certain way that they just perceive as you trying to control them.

You can be doing absolutely everything right as a franchisor, but still run into resistance for no good reason. I’ve given a great deal of thought to the psychology that might lie behind all this, but that’s a conversation for another day. What I want to focus on now is:

What can you do about it?

If a “them and us” dynamic has developed – and it always does with at least a few franchisees as a network grows – almost anything you do could be seen as escalating conflict or having a hidden agenda. Hopefully, it’s just a small number of problem people, but doing nothing can set a dangerous precedent for others, or have unforeseen consequences for the performance and reputation of your brand.

So, if both action and inaction are off the table, what do you do?

How about a 3rd option: bringing in a professional to act as the bridge between you and your franchisees?

As part of our Franchise Operations & Support Service, we can assign an experienced consultant and business coach to be your voice in the franchise network. By using someone who is not officially part of the business, you can:

• remove any concern about personal feelings being involved in the process
• foster a better sense of professionalism and impartiality in your dealings with franchisees
• improve communications, as franchisees are more likely to be open and honest with an outsider
• help franchisees understand exactly what you’re saying and why it’s important to them
• reduce conflict and improve compliance by ensuring your comms as seen as balanced and fair

Perhaps, most important of all, this process can both improve the performance of your franchise, and free up more of your time to focus on what’s most important.

Sound interesting?

Then, we should definitely have a chat! You can tell us all about the issues you’re facing, and we can make some suggestions about how we could help.

Click this link to schedule a call.