Daily Support from Your Franchisor

This blog will focus on General Support for your everyday needs as a franchisee.

As you move through your day, you'll have many questions, especially as a new franchisee, in various categories of the business. Those of you who have been in your own business know that multiple things can be thrown at you at any given moment, and you need support as well. This is why it is so important that you have help – even if you think it may be a silly question!

This could include things such as:

My delivery arrived today but I only received three quarters of what I ordered. Can you help me with getting the rest of my order to me today?

My Pepsi machine just caught on fire! Who do I call to fix it or get a new machine? (Yes, this really did happen and it happened to me!)

We had a new promotion that started this morning. When I received my marketing kit, it looked like it had been trampled by Gorillas. Can you please ship me another kit?

I have a TV Reporter that is standing at my front desk wanting to get my opinion on”X”. What should I say?

When arriving at my business this morning, my back door was wide open and all of my computers are gone. Can you help me get back up and running?

I just received a shipment of workbooks and the binding fell apart on half of them. Can you please ship more to me?

I just had a customer slip and fall outside my front door. Can someone help me with what I should say and do?

I have an idea on how we can sell more of ”XYZ”. Is there someone I can talk to about this?

It looks like when you pulled royalty payments, you pulled them twice. Can you please help me? I have another bill coming in today and now that payment will bounce.

Can I please get the details about our upcoming meeting? For some reason, my email crashed and I don't have the details.

As you can tell, these are just some of the questions that have actually been asked on a regular basis. A franchisor needs to provide a main point of contact to help their franchisees navigate their daily routines. Over time, new franchisees we'll have fewer and fewer of these questions where they need help, however, the majority of these will continue to exist on a daily basis.

The value of having an individual or team of individuals that can take these calls and respond in a timely fashion can make the difference between a happy franchisee and an unhappy franchisee. Many times, you hear people complaining that they can't get any answers and don’t know what's going on. Through the best efforts of the franchisor, while they think they communicate and many of them do, these questions continue to rise and the franchisees must have reliable support.

When looking at a franchise , ask the current franchisees if the franchisor has someone to help them on a daily basis with any questions that may arise. Ask them who they talk to and how quickly they respond.

No matter what franchise system you are exploring, don't be afraid to ask questions. The inquisitive minds tend to be more successful.