Relationships And Franchising

As a franchisee, you must invest in relationships. Building relationships is the core of any successful life and business. It doesn’t matter if you’re building a rcih and rewarding life, a successful business or awareness for a cause you care deeply about – relationships are everything.

Yes, your products and services are important. However, when someone is deciding which product or service to purchase, having a great relationship with you works out in your favor 9 times out of 10. 

Franchisor and Franchisee 

It’s imperative that you keep open communications and work with your franchisor in the way they’ve outlined.

For example, the way that many franchisors figure royalty payments is by entering your accounting system remotely using technology and looking at the numbers themselves, then sending you an invoice for that amount. In some cases, they do auto bank drafts for the amount. 

This may seem intrusive, but often this is how it’s done. If you challenge the system after you’ve agreed to it, it could cause serious problems.

The best way to form a great working relationship with your franchisor is to stick to your agreements and to work hard to become profitable. The more profitable you are, the more your franchisor will want to work with you.

Employees and Franchisee

If your franchise has employees, then you’ll need to build relationships with your employees too. This can be tricky, especially if you’ve never been a boss.

It may be tempting to hire a lot of family and friends, but the best thing you can do for the health of your business and your personal relationships is to limit that as much as possible.

And if you do hire friends and family, make sure you have clear boundaries at work. If you set up a system that’s fair for everyone, you won’t have any problems. 

Customers and Franchisee

Your customers are the lifeblood of your business. You need to build strong, solid, friendly relationships with them.

Train your employees to provide top-notch customer service and don’t accept anything less.

Ask your customers for their feedback. Put out comment cards so that your customers can say what they think about your place, products, service, and anything else that’s important to them. Greet them personally whenever you have the opportunity to do so. Make it a habit of making yourself known so that they know you’re there and ready to serve them. 

Vendors and Franchisee

You’ll likely have various vendors delivering products and supplies off and on during the day.

Try to develop a good relationship with these folks because often they have new products they’re willing to roll-out to their best customers first.

Sometimes extra discounts or promotional pricing is available for their best clients.

If you have a food establishment and the vendor has time, sit down for coffee or have a meal with them. 

City and Franchisee

When you open a business, you become part of the city’s business landscape. You should join the chamber of commerce and participate.

If you have the type of business with some space, offer to host a business after hours’ event. Go to chamber events, sponsor chamber events, and patronize other chamber member businesses. Be interested and be involved.

Community and Franchisee

As a business owner, you’re now part of the business community and the entire community at large as a leader.

Get involved with community-wide fundraising events, parades, memorials and more. Show that you’re more than just someone doing business in the community — you are part of the community and you care about it.

Some Final Things To Think About

There are many ways to build relationships. You’ll need to give some thought about how you want to be known and viewed by each of these groups of people as a business leader in the community. As the old saying goes, your net worth depends on the success of your relationships within your network.

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