Franchisor/franchisee Relationships Are Dependent On "Real" Communication

(Friday, October 15, 1999) - As we cross the threshold into the year 2000, we all seem compelled to examine and re-examine the ways we conduct all aspects of business. Fax, voice mail, e-mail, internet, intranet are all late 20th century inventions that seemed to be pointing us in the right direction towards that threshold - but are they?


Certainly these types of technologies are designed to make our lives easier, but is easier necessarily better so far as relationships and communications are concerned? Are these conveniences creating alienation in terms of Franchisor/Franchisee relationships? They certainly have the potential to do just that.


How many of us have struggled to "navigate" a complicated voice mail system that offers several options, none of which fit our specific pressing need, only to be steered back to the original inadequate menu? How many of us have experienced technical glitches, at the most inopportune time, when utilizing e-mail, internet or intranet? Who hasn’t been foiled and frustrated by a competent "gatekeeper", whose job it is to keep us from the only person who can answer our vital question in a timely fashion? The solution is simple!


At Maid to Perfection®, we’ve built a reputation as one of the world’s top franchise systems by understanding when to use new technology and when to depend on simpler means for communicating with our franchise "team partners". We feel strongly that open communication is the major reason that we’ve never been named as a defendant in a lawsuit by a franchisee in ten years of franchising.


We may use various forms of technology to attract, screen and sell our system to franchise candidates, but once they’ve been awarded a franchise and "jot on the dot", we encourage all "team partners" to call us on the phone Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm with any and all inquiries or concerns. What’s more, we never turn on the voice mail until closing time. Our franchisees know it and depend on it.


Everyone on staff is fully aware of the other staff members’ areas of expertise, so that each incoming call can be quickly forwarded to the person best suited to provide the help needed in a timely way. We make it a point to know each owner by name so that when he or she calls, there is an immediate sense of recognition and familiarity. We begin this process during candidate visits and cement it throughout the full week of classroom training which each new "team partner" goes through at headquarters. The process is reinforced by our field trainers, who will subsequently spend a week with our new franchisees in their home territories.


We encourage all franchisees, especially those just out of training, to call us whenever they need assistance, or at least once a week the first year. Most of them seem pleasantly surprised that we know them by name and that anyone whose line is open might answer, including our CEO Mike Katzenberger. Mike set a goal to make each and every franchisee, regardless of their sales volume, feel that they are the only one in the system. This is a very ambitious goal for a system with 175 units (through the 3rd quarter of 1999), but one that has paid off with steady growth.


Although the answers to most franchisees’ questions are contained in our 2-volume operations manuals (in hard copy or CD-ROM), we never dismiss our "team partners" with a condescending, "look it up in the manual". Our time is their time! This commitment to "old fashioned" communications methods has helped Maid to Perfection® distinguish itself in the rankings in various publications, including the April 1999 issue of Success Magazine, that rated Maid to Perfection® #1 for franchisee support and satisfaction, based on independent researchers calling franchisees from the 100 top systems in North America.


It is important to understand that this world of mergers, downsizing and disconnection has created a new group of franchise prospects, who are wisely looking to franchising to extricate themselves from unstable work situations. While they are entrepreneurs they don’t want or need to be pioneers who depend completely on their wits and drive. That’s why franchising is the greatest business concept ever! But, if we award them franchises and keep them at arms length through detached methods of communications, franchisors will be no better than the boss, whose poor decision-making created their downsized status or job insecurity in the first place.

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