The best franchisees will enhance your business opportunity

With franchisees the opportunity needs to be taken to maintain strong lines of communication between them and the franchisor's business. Finding good franchisees is difficult; keeping them is a lot easier.

The best franchisees need special nurturing so that a strong relationship can be cultivated with the franchisor. If the franchisor follows basic & simple rules, it will be fairly easy to maintain the franchise relationship and keep lines of communication open.

The key qualities that we look for when recruiting franchisees are:

1) Strong people skills - this is the number one quality to look for. All franchisees will be dealing with staff, customers and suppliers. There are many standard questionnaires that the franchisor can use to analyse potential franchisees.

2) Ability to work hard - this is the second most important business quality that any franchisee needs. If they are prepared to work hard almost any problem can be overcome.

3) Basic computer skills - if the franchisee understands and knows how to use basic software programmes, they are far easier to integrate with your own technology and systems.

4) Planning and Goal setting skills - basic skills in analysing and creating realistic goals are required. The worst franchisees are the ones who are far too ambitious for their own good.

5) Ability to work under set guidelines - the best franchisees will work within set guidelines. If a franchisee likes to do things his own way then he is unlikely to be able to work within structured and proven formulae.

The best ways to cultivate and maintain the relationship between franchisee & franchisor are:

1) Keeping lines of communication open - The franchisee should know who to call when any aspect of his business franchise is struggling. A structured and well defined plan which handles all aspects of communication between franchisee and franchisor is vital. This aspect is absolutely critical for any relationship to work.

2) Meeting on a regular basis - nothing achieves more than face to face meetings. This helps to build relationships and often you can deal with problems early on before they become serious.

3) Cultivating relationships between one franchisee and another - this creates a mastermind team where the franchisees can discuss and debate the skills and ideas for improving their business franchise.

4) Continuously improve the company's products - this will help to motivate the franchises as they realise that you are fully committed to their success.

5) Become a friend to the franchisee - I can not stress this too highly. The franchisee should be able to discuss all their problems with the franchisor. In many cases the franchisee fails in his business due to personal problems if you can advice them and assist them with their personal problems not only will they be grateful but are far more likely to succeed in their business.

6) Be consistent with your dealings with all franchisees - This is very important. You should try and have equal relationships with all franchisees. This is often not possible due to the fact that you will have successful franchisees that will need special treatment to take the opportunity to expand their territories.

To sum up - find the right franchisee and cultivate and maintain the relationships to build your franchise network.