Questions To Ask About Support

What support will you get as a franchisee? Here’s how to find out

One of the benefits of buying a franchise is that you should receive ongoing guidance to help you succeed and get the best possible return for your efforts. That’s why it’s important to have good support from your franchisor, both from a distance and in your own area. So if you’re looking at an opportunity, what questions should you ask to make sure you’ll get the right support? Ask the franchisor:

• Where is your franchise support office based? What does it consist of? How many people are employed by the franchisor? What do they do? How many are in direct support roles, rather than in administrative roles? Can I meet some of your staff? Many franchises in their early stages have very few employees – however, as a franchise grows it requires additional support staff to ensure existing franchisees continue to receive service.

• Exactly what level of support can I expect? In what areas? Is there any technical support, or on-going research and development? Do you have specialists in individual functions as well as generalists who understand the overall business?

• What support would I receive during the opening period of my business? What on-going support services do you provide? Do you have a programme of online calls and meetings to monitor progress and advise on improvements? How often would a field support person visit me in person and for how long? What can I expect us to cover and achieve through your field visits? How are the visits structured? Are they results-focussed?

• What specific business planning tools and guidance can I expect throughout our relationship from start-up to exit? What would happen if I had operational or business problems that I was unable to solve? What help would I get? Ask to see examples.

• What systems do you have in place to support key processes – eg. accounting, lead generation and management, benchmarking? How will I know how well I’m doing? Are comparisons of performance across key areas available to all franchisees? Is there help in analysing areas for improvement? This should be a key advantage of franchises over independent businesses. Technology makes benchmarking easy and is part of most good franchise systems.

• Is there any formal support system between franchisees? (eg. mentoring, a buddy system, franchise advisory council, intranet). Other franchisees can be a valuable source of help and support.

• Is there clear guidance for local marketing? What tools do you provide? All franchises require the franchisee to be able to grow their business locally, so this is a critical area.

• And finally: What support did you provide your franchisees during Covid-19? How did this help? See When Support Really Matters at www.franchise.co.nz/articles/3192

Don’t be shy to ask these questions – support should be a major advantage of buying a franchise, and it’s one of the things your fees will pay for, so you want to be certain you will get what you need.