Franchisor Responsibilities or What Your Franchisees Expect

Franchise business is unique, different than any other type of business. Almost all of the aspects of franchise business must be looked at from a slightly different angle. Along with all specific diversity, there is also a significant difference between the expectations of franchisors customers (the franchisees) and the customers of any regular business. Meeting the expectations of your customers is of paramount importance to any business owner.

There are many guidelines that one can follow in order to perfect their company’s customer service. Yet again a franchisor’s responsibilities towards their franchisees often go beyond standard customer service. What a franchisee expects from a franchisor is definitely not what a regular customer expects from a service or a product provider.
Good relationships between franchisors and franchisees are one of the keys to success for any franchise business. Often the reasons for problems in this aspect are connected with the franchisor failing to meet franchisees’ expectations or failing to be responsible for the things they must be.

Franchisor responsibilities guide & tips

• Any franchisor is ultimately responsible for setting good business foundations. As a franchisor you must make sure the system you have established will be profitable for your franchisees as well as for you. If you fail at this initial state, it is very likely that your franchisees will fail too.
• Franchisors are responsible for the development and execution of national and/or local marketing strategy and communicating them to their franchisees. Although your company policy may include or allow advertising campaigns to be initiated by your franchisees, it is up to you to take care of the overall marketing plan and advertising campaigns.
• Brand management is another responsibility a franchisor has. How the brand will be developed, what trademarks will be used, maintaining and protecting the company identity is ultimately a responsibility of the franchisor.
• Territory protection may be or may not be part of your franchise policy. Whatever the case, make sure your franchisees are well informed prior to signing the agreement. Many franchisees expect territory protection and assume the franchisor would take care of this. Since territory protection is not part of any franchise business strategy you must clear this issue well in advance in order to avoid misunderstandings later.
• Make your potential franchisees well aware what type of training and support will be available to them. Be specific and describe in details when and how initial or any ongoing training activities will take place; what training materials will be provided to the franchisee and so on.
• One of the common reasons for disappointments is not because the franchisor is not being responsible for the things they should be, but because the franchisee expectations are unrealistic. Avoiding such situations is easy provided that the franchisor make sure every is well explained and incorporated in the company documents. Take the time and go over each point with a potential franchisee. Make sure their expectations are set to the correct level prior to signing the agreement.