Making Franchise Relationships Work

3. Visit Your Teams One-On-One

As a franchisee: Technology is great, and phones, email and even web-conferencing have improved communication in many ways, but a one-on-one visit to your corporate office is a great way to improve your business.

Your accomplishments depend on a successful execution of your model, and the franchisor wants to help you. Take the time and spend the money to fly or drive to their headquarters and schedule time with everyone -- from the customer service and support to the president, CEO, and owner/s -- if possible.

Let them know how you're doing, your future goals and what they can do to help you achieve the success you desire. It's not uncommon at times to feel isolated or disconnected from the organization. Seeing the big picture or the strategic nature to the operation can be difficult.

If you own a retail or food service franchise, you're so busy that simply running day-to-day operations can be overwhelming. Remember that franchising offers support, templates and a relationship that drives performance and a unified sense of purpose: You fail together, and you succeed together.

As a franchisor: Most solid franchise systems have field sales visits, an annual convention or even regional meetings scheduled throughout the year. These are great for communicating, but you should take the time to be at these events, and strongly convey your vision for the franchise company.

Your presence demonstrates this to your prospective and current franchisees, and shows them how serious you are about their business succeeding. Telling them that you want their advice is a tremendous exhibition of your willingness to do what it takes to learn from them and expand your business.

Make time to listen to them, and assist in developing their game plan, or how they can utilize the resources within the system to succeed.

Successful relations between franchisor and franchisee are paramount to long-term growth. Both in good and bad economic times, utilizing the benefits and nature of the franchise relationship will help overcome many obstacles, while giving you the best chance at success.