Communicating the Key to Success!
By Daniel P. Martin - President, IFX International Inc.

You'd think combining exclusive territories, comprehensive training and ongoing support with a unique system and recognized name virtually guarantees success. Not necessarily. It's not the elements themselves, but rather the way in which they are brought together. The glue?... "communication".

When you purchase a franchise, you are purchasing the experience of the franchisor. That experience must be communicated to you. If communication breaks down, your chances for success are significantly reduced. Many franchise companies offer their franchisees access to ongoing support. They often offer toll-free access to support personnel during normal business hours. Sometimes they offer access to support personnel after hours and on weekends. Sometimes they do not. And yet, with all of the support out there that franchisees can access when they need help, many franchisees continue to fail.

Franchisors often throw up their hands in dismay wondering why a failed franchisee never picked up the phone and called for help. "Why didn't our franchisee ask questions prior to closing their business?" Well, in most cases, it all boils down to the fact that most franchisees don't know what questions to ask.

It's important to remember that, more often than not, a franchisee has never been a franchisee before. They do not magically teach themselves how to implement the concept that was originally developed by the franchisor. They are completely reliant on the franchisor to tell them what to do and when to do it. That is fine. The franchisor is there to answer questions. When I was a franchisee in the fast food business, I ran regular reports on my sales by product category. One of the things that I was most proud of was our sandwiches. In fact, I felt that our Roast Beef sandwich was better than any other franchisees' in our chain. In fact, with 18% of sales attributed to a single sandwich, I was confident that I was well ahead of every other franchise owner in our chain. It wasn't until I shared my numbers with other franchise owners at the annual convention that I found out that the average store was doing 22% to 28%. Once I found this out, I immediately implemented a series of promotional campaigns aimed at increasing Roast Beef sandwich sales at my restaurant. However, if I hadn't boasted about my numbers at the convention, I never would have known that my sales were actually on the low end of the spectrum. I would normally never have thought to call the franchisor's toll-free support line to ask "Are my Roast Beef sandwich sales low?" Never having operated the business before, I felt that 18% was tops. It was not.

The irony is that no matter how much "access" to support you have, if you have no point of reference, or if you are not aware of a problem that needs correcting, you will not feel the need to ask for help. In essence, I don't need a life jacket if I'm not even aware I'm drowning. And yet, the franchisor stands on the dock with a pile of life jackets, ultimately throwing up their hands in disgust when no one asks for one.

The key point for franchisors to remember is that franchisees don't always know what questions to ask. In addition, some franchisees may not ask questions because they feel they are "stupid" questions or too embarrassing to leave on someone's voice mail. The solution calls for the franchisor to answer the questions that the franchisee has not actually asked yet.

Issuing a regular "Frequently Asked Questions" feature in the company newsletter is a great way to pose questions along with their corresponding answers in a format that all franchisee see. Not many franchise companies compile their most frequently asked questions and subsequent answers and publish them for all franchisees to benefit from on a regular basis. They simply don't have the communications structure to accommodate regular and timely publishing of FAQs. What makes things even more complicated is that many of the questions that need to be answered relate to third party services provided by suppliers. In these cases, franchisors often spend their time relaying questions that come in from franchisees to suppliers and then turn around and relay the answers back to the franchisees. These third party-related questions would make a great "FAQ" summary that franchisors could use to head off supplier questions even before the questions are asked. Given the time involved in relaying questions, franchisors often find that communication between franchisor and franchisee suffers.

Some franchise companies have utilized the Internet to improve communication among their organization, their franchisees and their suppliers. Today's Intranet technology makes "posting" a daily or weekly FAQ summary that can be read by all franchise owners simultaneously a reality. Moreover, it's more cost effective than sending out FAQ summaries via regular mail or fax. If communications can be enhanced by placing questions and answers in front of franchisees on a regular basis, an Intranet "bulletin board" is the ticket.

Bulletin boards are really nothing new. However, multiple "focused" bulletin boards are. In fact, these days, most people prefer the term "Discussion Forums" instead of bulletin boards. These private websites that franchisees can access to share information and view helpful tips posted by the franchisor are growing by leaps and bounds. Smart companies are creating Discussion Forums that can be accessed by specific groups. For example, a "New Advertising Campaign Ideas" Discussion Forum may be best suited for the advertising council. No other franchisees need access this forum. Along the same lines, you could create a "Vendor Q&A" Discussion Forum that provides a place where franchisees can go to ask a specific vendor questions or just view the questions and answers that involve other franchisees. The great thing about online Discussion Forums is that you do not necessarily have to participate in order to benefit from the information that's being shared, you can simply learn from what others are saying about things like how many Roast Beef sandwiches they're selling.

In the end, success is ultimately tied to communication. Successful communication requires franchisors to anticipate what a franchisee needs to know even before they ask. The introduction of the Internet, and most specifically, Intranets, has dramatically revolutionized communication between franchisor and franchisee. Perhaps, as a result, there will be fewer failures. Let's hope so.