Ex franchisees fit to be perfect franchisors

During the past few years it has been noticed that successful franchisees become business owners at later stages. This may be due to the fact that franchisees having worked with their franchisors for years develop a better empathy and understanding of the relationship between the franchisees and the franchisors and their mind set. Moreover, there is little difference between both the roles. As franchisees it is essential to be always service-minded towards clients/customers whereas as a franchisor one has to be more service-oriented towards franchisees. Here we discuss some reasons for why and how an ex franchisee can prove to be a successful franchisors.

Ex franchisees turn successful franchisors

Having noticed the upcoming trend of franchisees becoming successful franchisors, everyone seems curious to know the reasons and factors fueling this transformation. These are:

Personal experience

Having worked in a franchise system, the franchisee understands the needs and loopholes of the business. He can understand the prejudices of his franchisees in a better way. For example if an ex-franchisee had worked with a franchisor who never heeded to franchisees advice then he would surely give his franchisees space to speak out their ideas. This would make him a better franchise owner.

Established network and connections

Franchisees with time develop good network connections with franchisees and franchisors. It becomes easy for them to start their own brand with all the experience they have gathered by working with a successful franchisor.

Targets long term benefits

The franchisor would know that sometimes it is more important to see the bigger picture rather than to bend to the whims of his franchisees, if they show resistance to his ideas. It is often seen that it is the franchisor who is more far-sighted than franchisees. The latter just focuses on short term gains while it is the franchisor’s duty to see long term profits. A franchisor has to be willing to take necessary actions to protect the brand when needed. He has to take care of the whole franchise network rather than one or two franchisees.

Avoid playing favourites

It is human nature to prefer someone more than the others. This favoritism followed by the ex franchisees’ franchisors must have had a detrimental effect on the whole franchise network. After being a franchisor ex-franchisee can avoid favoritism to avoid resentments, pushback and general lack of mutual respect between both the parties.

Treat franchisees rightly

An ex-franchisee surely adopts the fundamental goal to treat his franchisees the way he always wanted to be treated by his franchisors. He always acts fair, up-front and as a true-partner in the shared goal of the franchise system. Few franchisees have seen fellow franchisees facing bankruptcy because of a clause in their franchise agreement that allowed the franchisor to collect royalties on future or failed stores. Therefore as new franchisors, they always do things better than their franchisors. Such franchisors feel the need to develop more cooperation between his franchisees and himself.

Handling strong franchisees

As a franchisee, an entrepreneur comes in contact with many other franchisees. Some of them may have been rogues, strong and uncontrollable partners. Therefore wearing the hat of the franchisor, they can be well-prepared of handling them as they had seen their franchisors controlling them.

Relationship of mutual respect

Experienced franchisees know that although franchisee’s interests must be a priority for any franchisor but the franchisor's role also must be respected always. Franchisees have to pay royalties to the franchisor but they should also listen to the franchisor’s rules and regulations.  Therefore as franchisors they know how to maintain the mutual respect for both the parties.

Continuous learning

It can be said that there are many similarities in the leadership styles required for both franchisees and franchisors. As franchisees a lot of training sessions of the franchisor have to be attended. Moreover networking has to be good with other fellow franchisees to learn from them. This same procedure has to be followed as a franchisor. Franchisors also have to attend leadership training programs; they have to meet their peers from different industries to improve their business models to support franchisees at high-quality level. Both franchisors and franchisees require integrity, hard work and quality of team and relationships building.

To conclude it can be said that being an ex-franchisee, franchisor can look and understand the risks and hopes that a franchisees make by investing in his franchise. Therefore such franchisors can be more willing to work harder to make the franchise more successful for his franchisees.