Global Franchise 9.1

revenue and interaction, something which could be replicated with other franchisees. Franchisees may even compete against one another to see who can find the most efficiencies in a healthy manner. “There’s always a friendly competition within our ownership group, our franchisees, and I think that’s how we harvest best practice,” said Tietz. “The reason being is because there are so many good best practices, so we work collaboratively as much as we can.” This creates a flatter system, in which franchisees can look to each other for support, as well as to the franchisor. While franchisors are expected to invest in their franchisee support systems and cannot offset their responsibility to franchisee ambassadors, creating a self-reliant franchise system is inherently more resilient. When once-in-a-lifetime events like the COVID-19 pandemic strike, well-knitted systems can share information to relieve pressure. “We are competitive. I think the most successful owners are competitive, because you allow the performance of other franchisees to drive you to higher levels,” said Steve. “I think that is important, it was for us then and I think it’s important for potential franchisees today.” How this aids recruitment Many potential franchise candidates are first-timers. The majority of franchise systems are relatively small and don’t solely target multi-brand and multi-unit operators because they tend to opt for steadier franchises. “With potential owners they [the franchisor] do weekly validation calls, where they will invite anybody who is interested in the Christian Brothers opportunity to jump on a Zoom call. I happened to be on one with another owner last week,” said Steve. Attracting those candidates who are considering owning their own business, or want to leave a previous corporate life behind, can be done effectively with effective peer-to-peer support. Existing franchisees should serve as an example of what is possible to achieve with the brand. Why isn’t every brand doing this? It seems a no-brainer to utilize the wealth of knowledge that franchisees have at hand to support fledgling or failing franchisees. “In organizations, you run into the idea of mentorship. And it’s such a great programme. But then getting it going and getting people to actually do it, somebody’s got to do the work,” said Andrea. “If there are franchise organizations that aren’t doing it, they’ve probably run up against the fact that they don’t have the right people to step up and do it.” For global brands, this American method of stitching a franchise system together with the intention of sharing best practice should be the standard by which they operate. As long as the brand has willing and enthusiastic franchisees at its disposal, and is willing to cover costs, there is no reason why it shouldn’t run a franchise ambassador program. If a franchise owner in Colorado can learn from another owner in New York, there may be even more learnings to be made in locations abroad. Sharing best practice and creating a healthy, competitive environment is most efficient and profitable way for a franchise system to arrange itself, no matter where it is in the world. “Franchisee-franchisor relationships are essential to maintain and keep healthy, but forming bonds amongst franchisees can create a wider and stronger support network” THE AUTHOR Raghav Patel is a digital content writer for Global Franchise INS IGHT 62 GLOBAL FRANCHISE | ISSUE 9.1