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Communicating with Peers in the Franchise System

Written by: Sebastien Page

Article Overview: One of the best things you do to help yourself and your business, after becoming part of a franchise system, is to maintain communication as regularly as possible with your peers in the franchise network.

Communicating with Peers in the Franchise System

One of the best things you do to help yourself and your business, after becoming part of a franchise system, is to maintain communication as regularly as possible with your peers in the franchise network. Especially those within the same region. Simply call them up and have a little chat. As fellow franchisees, it’s more than likely that you’ll find a long list of things to talk about.

You can help each others’ business by :
- Learning from each others experiences.
- Learning about any particular pitfalls, the other may have been exposed to..
- Getting better leads.
- Acquiring new tactics to deal with employees or customers.

There’s also the wonderful benefit of feeling that you’re not alone in your hectic business world, by talking with someone else who knows exactly what you’re going through. If you’ve just had and awful experience with a particularly difficult customer, who better to complain to than someone who’s likely to have had an equally awful experience at some point in their business life? Exchanging stories and anecdotes about the franchising worlds with your peers will not only give you all a few laughs, but will also break the ice between you, which will enable you all to be of help to each other in the future.

Get to know fellow franchisees. Staying up-to-date with the latest news about other franchisees may prove to be beneficial in more ways than one. Important things to learn about them include :
- Knowing who their biggest clients are.
- Knowing whether any of their services have been taken up by the government.
- The number of employees at their disposal.
- Who assumes the leading positions in their businesses.
- The amount of work they are handling
- Any vacation plans coming up soon.
- The names of their family members, friends, etc.

Having knowledge of such matters is important for you and your business. This is because you never know when you might be placed in a situation where you have to seem in the know regarding other franchisees in the eyes of your customers.

Also, using major names and accounts in your business can always help you fulfill the time-honored tradition of name-dropping! After all, it has become an accepted part of business discussions.
This knowledge may eventually help you boost your sales by entering into joint accounts, if you know exactly with whom this may be a possibility and which possibility is the best for you and your business. If you value your part as a member of a bigger team, then you will end up reaping benefits together with the other members of this team. After all, nobody ever said franchising was simply about a brand name.

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Article Tags: anecdotes, benefit, business life, difficult customer, experiences, family members, franchise network, franchise system, franchisees, hectic business world, important things, laughs, peers, pitfalls



Related Forum Posts
Re: Enticing Franchises - Top 9 List - All Franchise listed above are in millions of dollars. Do you have the list of Franchise in thousands
Re: Info for would be franchisers... - [quote="Sebastien":1d29sdv1]Like Franchise Times, Franchise Update is a very practical magazine. There is no blah blah, just straight facts that anyone in the franchise community can relate to. I just want to mention that all these magazines are NOT franchisee oriented. I mean these magazines are for franchise professionals. If you're looking to buy a franchise, you won't find much information in there. To answer your question, getting published in Franchise Times was fairly easy. I don't want to brag too much but I think I am known in the franchise industry. I was the marketing guy at Franchise.com for a few years before joining my new company, the World Franchising Network. So people know me and I have a very good relationship with Nancy Weingartner, the Managing Editor at Franchise Times. I was talking with her at the last Franchise Expo South in Miami and she mentioned she'd like me to be profiled. I was like "ok, sure!". I like this franchise executive profile thing in Franchise Times as it is rarely BS. People are usually really natural in there.[/quote:1d29sdv1] Thanks for the follow up Sebastien! And I can't say that I'm surprised that networking with the right people and managing your relationships with them properly are the keys to being published. I guess the old adage holds true of "it's not who you know, but who knows you" that's important.
how much for a franchise fee? - Dear Colleague There is no easy answer to this question. Things to consider: [list=] The sizeof the Franchise Clent base Expected Turnover Intellectual Property costs (recoup) Number of Franchises Number of employees Original Set up costs Franchise admin costs An example: A franchise that I was involved in setting was to a simple "lawn mowing/home repair" franchise. The Franchise included national/local advertising - preparation of client lists - general admin - central accounting etc The Franchise involved 300-500 clients - and an annual turnover of about $300,000 . The annual franchise fee was $30,000. Hope that this gives you some idea Take care Ian[/list]
Re: Franchise Surveys - Another good tool to researching a franchise is to speak with their existing franchisees. This contact information is included in most Franchise Disclosure Documents. In order to get a Franchise Disclosure Document or FDD as it is often referred to, you will have to complete a basic franchise application. The franchisor will then usually provide you with the FDD at that time. Included in that book of information is a list of the existing franchisees, the contract, the investment information etc... This information is required by Federal Law to be disclosed to your prior to making a purchase. So be sure to do your research and start with the Franchise Documents to get the initial information.
Book: The System - [quote:3e8ncw28]What was the name of that book -- the high finance murder mystery?[/quote:3e8ncw28] Sorry for the delay in answering this question. The book is: The System: A Story of Intrigue and Market Domination Terry Waghorn Perseus Piblishing 2002 Jacket description: In a world where competitive advantage is temporary at best - and illusory at worst - there is nothing more important to the business enterprise than creating a robust strategy and executing it with Steve. In The System, Terry WAghorn illustrates this universal theme through an action-packed adventure.


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