Maintaining Brand Standards in a Franchised Network
Maintaining Brand Standards in a Franchised Network
One of the key differences between business format franchising and other methods that can be used to help individuals start businesses is the provision of ongoing support and guidance by the franchisor. There is also an ongoing commitment from the franchisee to operate under the franchisor’s brand in accordance with standards laid down in the franchise agreement and operations manual.
However it cannot be assumed that simply because franchisees have signed such an agreement that they will always fulfil their obligations outlined in it. Indeed they may sometimes think they know a better way of doing something and may choose to implement that without going through the recognised channels for approval.
There is, therefore, a clear need for the franchisor to continually monitor the franchisees’ performance in maintaining brand standards and to feedback the results to the franchisee.
If a franchisee has a good idea, explain how this can best be tested, either by themselves under supervision, or by the franchisor in a company-owned outlet. Only then can it officially be adopted as a change or addition to the operations manual.
When a franchisee is found to be transgressing from the operational manual/agreement, the correct procedures should be explained to them and they must be encouraged to conform.
Why Monitor?
The main reasons for doing so come under the heading of “protection”. The franchisor needs to protect his brand, his income, his customers and his franchisees – the latter from themselves and from each other! Any failure to maintain standards, be they quantitative or qualitative, will cause problems for someone somewhere in the network. Persistent failure needs to be dealt with firmly, but fairly.
As a franchisor, your brand is one of your most important assets. It is effectively your promise to your customers. It tells them about everything you stand for and what you do. It is after all what has attracted your franchisees to you and it is what they have paid to share. It is important therefore that your franchisees are powerful proponents of your brand values and demonstrate complete commitment to them.
Brand Values
Each business will have a different set of brand values but it is important that everyone involved with the business is committed to operating by those values.
So what might damage your brand? Clearly it will depend upon what your brand promise implies. For example, for any restaurant or other provider of food products any instance of poor hygiene or association with food-related illnesses will potentially damage the brand; for any franchise that involves the care of vulnerable people, whether they be the young, the old or the sick, any instance where the level of care is seen to be below the level demanded will potentially damage the brand; for any franchise where the service is one of cleaning or restoration of a customer’s property and due care is not taken of that property or the property is in some way damaged or lost, could again damage the brand.
What to Monitor
Every franchisor will have specific matters that need to be measured in their business, and an article such as this can only generalise, but they will typically include: appearance of premises, vehicles and staff ; marketing and promotional materials and methods ; product or service sales and delivery standards ; financial management and reporting ; and compliance with relevant regulations.
How to Monitor
Monitoring starts with having clearly defined standards against which monitoring will take place. These standards will often appear in the franchise agreement, the operations manual and the franchisee’s business plan – and they must be clearly defined, otherwise it is not easy to show that they are not being attained.
Performance can then be measured in a variety of ways including:
• reporting systems
• field visits and audits
• customer satisfaction surveys
• levels of customer complaints
• levels of customer retention and repeat business
• referrals and recommendations
• mystery shopper activities
• spot-checks on stocks
Who Monitors?
It is important to establish clearly and unequivocally who, within the franchisor’s business, has the responsibility for monitoring performance. It is a key part of the franchise support function since it identifies those areas where a franchisee may be failing to deliver and therefore where they may need more guidance, support or direction. It is preferable therefore that the support manager allocated to any individual franchisee is responsible for the whole monitoring process even if data for that process is generated by other sections within the franchisor’s business.
For example the accounts department may collect and summarise financial data, the marketing department may receive copies of adverts, and the technical department may arrange mystery shoppers, but all the data should be passed to the relevant support manager for analysis and subsequent communication to the franchisee. This ensures that the information obtained from one monitoring process can be considered in the light of all the other information known about the franchisee and prioritised for action.
