10 Tips to Support Franchisees at the Personal Level

For a franchisee, business and personal life often blend together. While there are downsides to this, the upside is the commitment they bring to looking after their staff and their customers.

According to the world’s leading franchise business psychologist Greg Nathan at the Franchise Relationships Institute (FRI), data recently collected highlights a need for franchisor support office teams to be more tuned in to this personal factor.

Recently FRI has been measuring important behaviors by franchisor support office teams linked to franchisee satisfaction. The area where franchisor teams are rating themselves the lowest is in connecting with franchisees as people.

Here are some best practice insights that were collected from discussions by franchisor executives during various training workshops conducted by FRI.

10 Tips to Support Franchisees at the Personal Level

  • Encourage them to invest time building a support network of people and to show gratitude to their family for their ongoing support.
  • Encourage them to have meetings with a mentor or coach for support with business and personal challenges.
  • Ensure you respond promptly to their requests for help when they need you.
  • Have senior executives meet with them for quality discussions on where they are at in their lives and how you can support them.
  • Provide opportunities to bring them together in face to face and virtual meetings to share their challenges.
  • Ensure they are kept informed of issues impacting on their business to create more certainty.
  • Show them how to delegate more effectively so they can achieve a better work/life balance.
  • Get to know them as people including their family situation and their history with the network.
  • Acknowledge the fact that longer tenure franchisees probably know more about the history of your organization than most of the franchisor team.

FRI’s research tells us that taking an interest in franchisees as people has a big impact on their overall satisfaction. Interested in helping your support staff hone their skills?

Join Greg and his team for an upcoming  Culture of Franchising Workshop.

Give your support office team the skills to create happy franchisees.
Register today for the next Culture of Franchising Workshop presented by FRI.

Greg Nathan Headshot
  • Having personally attended Franchise Relations BootCamp and the outstanding session my team had with Greg Nathan, I've benefited tremendously from those experiences. Obviously, there are many management practices that work in any business situation but working with your company enabled us to focus specifically on the franchisee/franchisor arena and how to effectively manage the relationship to the benefit of both parties. I think every franchise system needs this training!

    Gary Yancik, Director of Operations Taco John's
  • We had Greg Nathan recently deliver a custom, 2-day Franchise Relations Boot Camp to 4 of our brands and to our International team. WOW! - what an amazing experience! I continue to get comments from participants saying that they feel much better equipped to help support their Franchise Partners in the field as a result of Greg’s session. His process of teaching the team a new tool or technique, allowing them to develop the concept in small groups and then helping them understand the psychology behind the process and the actual methodology itself was amazing. From our newest Franchise Business Consultant to our Brand Presidents the takeaway value was extremely high. I’ve never experienced any other workshop or presenter who so effectively layers the building blocks of learning. This is an investment that I think every franchise system should make!

    Russ Umphenour, CEO FOCUS Brands
  • You are quite frankly the best in your field.

    David Acheson, Ex-Chairman British Franchising Association
  • Greg Nathan is the master of the dynamics of the franchise relationship, which lies at the core of successful franchising.

    Professor Andrew Terry Centre for Franchise Studies, University of New South Wales
  • Greg Nathan translates pointed headed organisational psychological theory into excellent commercial practice.

    Chris Bothams, National Franchisee of the Year Franchise Council of Australia and Dymocks Franchisee
  • The ‘buzz’ was that your program was terrific. It seemed that all who attended liked the idea that you extended the boundaries of the Forum programming in a unique and very beneficial way.

    Andy Scott, Program Convener American Bar Association Franchising Forum
  • Your presentation was one of the highlights of the Conference. Everyone found it extremely relevant and useful for their business.

    Simon Lord, President Franchise Association of New Zealand
  • Great job at the Franchise Appreciation Day. Your sessions were fantastic.

    Richard Evans, Chief Executive Franchise Council of Australia and Dymocks Franchisee
  • We received an overwhelming response from your presentation.

    Jason Gehrke, Director Franchise Council of Australia, Queensland
  • Greg Nathan presented before the Southeast Franchise Forum in Atlanta and received stupendous reviews.

    Rupert Barkoff, Partner Kilpatrick Stockton
  • We will continue to use your ideas, thoughts and recommendations far into the future. We have used consultants in the past but none has been as helpful as you. You have a very down to earth approach. We couldn't be more impressed.

    Gary Lombard, VP Operations Woodcraft
  • It was truly a pleasure having you come to our conference. Your presentation was fantastic and the feedback from our clients was excellent.

    Dan Martin, President IFX Intranet
  • Superb!! I know everyone got a lot out of the session and I would highly recommend Greg for future speaking engagements.

    Adele Vespa In-House Counsel, Huddle House, USA
  • If you are looking to ensure that your field team and it's leadership are clear on the best ways to maximise the outcomes from the Franchisor/Franchisee relationship, then this workshop is an absolute must.

    Jo Stagg, National Operations Manager Fernwood Women's Health Clubs
  • Our operations team said this was the best group session they have ever experienced.

    Jo Kirchner, President Primrose Schools, USA
  • We were really pleased with the course. It couldn’t have gone any better.

    Michael Chick, Franchise Consultant Coordinator The Coffee Club
  • On behalf of the entire Signs By Tomorrow system, I would like to thank you for your superb presentation and workshops during our National Meeting.

    Joe McGuinness, Founder and President Signs by Tomorrow
  • I have received great feedback, all reinforcing how motivational your presentations were. Your unique appreciation of franchisees’ needs provided both a practical and insightful perspective to all attending. Thank you once again for not just meeting, but surpassing our expectations.

    Andrew Bunn, National Business Development Manager Kumon Insitute of Education
  • Thank you for an informative, professional and humorous presentation. The environment you created from the start greatly assisted in getting franchisees and ourselves working together.

    Graham Bennett, General Manager Liquorland
  • Thank you for helping our franchisees grow. Another great interactive talk. You inspired many.

    Sonia Hunt, Operations Manager Cold Rock
  • We are all absolutely thrilled with your participation with our team. We are continuing to reap the rewards of your work with us.

    Christi Stapleton, VP Marketing UbuildIt
  • I found your method of delivery fantastic and hope to see more of you assisting in the driving of our culture and market share. Thanks very much for your inspiring input to our conference.

    Larry Langdon, Franchisee Narellan Pools
  • My thanks for running a great session at our recent Conference. After speaking to most of the group they believe it was the highlight of their time spent at the Conference and very worthwhile for their businesses.

    Mark Pedder, Managing Director Pedders Suspension
  • The underlying message regarding the responsibility of the franchisee to themselves for their success was refreshing. All the feedback we received from our franchisees was extremely positive.

    Peter Fox, CEO Autobarn
  • For the second year in a row we have brought Greg Nathan in to work with our support center and field teams. Once again, he knocked it out of the park and we’ve heard nothing but positives from our attendees. He created a fun and engaging environment for our very diverse audience which included HR, Training, Field Operations, Legal, Franchise Administration, Field Marketing for all brands and Real Estate Development – every single participant felt they received great value from attending. His interactive sessions created so much opportunity for practical learning that he literally had us all on the edge of our seats! The remarkable thing about working with Greg is his gift for making you feel as though he is one of our organization’s leaders – he wasn’t just a guy who took a few notes on the company and then went out to present. He internalized our culture and spoke right to US, giving practical, immediately usable information. Every facilitator should do that – but they don’t! Greg has a unique talent, and we love continuing to learn from him and look forward to our next level of Franchise Relationships 2.0!

    Heather Lane, VP of Training and Development FOCUS Brands

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