Whether you are courting the love of your life, or trying to join with one of the top franchises in NY, communication is key! Healthy romantic relationships have this in common with healthy franchise relationships. Without proper communication, new franchisees may be left without help for their beginner questions and allowed to make costly mistakes. Without proper communication, there is no way to make suggestions or voice concerns about ineffective franchise strategies. Simply put, communication is a cornerstone of every one of the top franchises in NY.
If you are looking to improve the communication channels in your own franchise, or would like a better criteria to use in your search for the right franchise fit, then the following 10 communication tips used by the top franchises in NY will be tremendously helpful! Read on to learn more from the FranNet NY NJ team.
- Take the initiative to communicate important messages to your franchise network.If you are a franchise owner, do not sit back and rely on franchisees to share policy messages to their peers. This is not their job, and because they often have conflicting interests, policy messages may be communicated through your network in an inconsistent or incomplete way.
- Do not call for franchisee meetings without ensuring that a competent facilitator has been contacted.Human nature is calibrated so that the angriest, least happy, and therefore loudest people will invariably be able to pull the mood of the group down. Without a mediator in place, franchise meetings are a mess. The top franchises in NY do not let their meetings devolve into unproductive argument forums; they know how to set up a constructive communication process so that everyone’s voice is heard.
- Remain calm when franchisees voice their concerns (even if they don’t!). Franchisees should be able to express their concerns, and may even become aggravated while doing so. However, you need to stay calm and non-defensive, even if you feel that your integrity or competence is being called into question. Listen carefully, and respond factually. Getting angry or defensive only gives the impression that you are hiding something.
- Do not use a “town hall meeting” style to resolve gripes.Giving an angry and opinionated person a microphone and allowing them to sound-off creates a tense political atmosphere of point-scoring, rather than the open and earnest dialogue needed to resolve issues.
- Coordinate your franchisee communications using a single channel.Franchise ownership can be time-consuming, and the last thing a busy business owner needs is a daily obligation to comb through a mass of random and long-winded emails from different departments. Keep your communications interesting, relevant, and concise, and keep them coming from a single source.
- Minimize your lecturing time during regional meetings.Regional franchise meetings should be rife with interactive discussions, workshops, and symposiums to help share techniques that drive sales and improve your profitability. These messages are shared and absorbed best when the franchisees are involved in the dialogue, not when they are being talked at.
- Make use of webinars to keep your franchisees in the loop.We are in the internet era, and failing to take advantage of this multifaceted resource is a mistake. Email blasts are great, but hosting interactive webinars that connect franchisees to CEOs helps everyone feel connected, in the loop on new strategic decisions, and involved with the future of the franchise. Some of the top franchises in NY make use of webinars, and the FranNet team has leaned on this communication medium to share important franchise information throughout the years.
- Set an example for your franchisees with constructive participation.If franchisees catch franchisers wandering in and out of meetings, chit chatting at the back of the room, or endlessly refreshing their Facebook feed instead of paying attention to what is being said, then there is a problem. In doing so, the franchiser is making a statement that says that this meeting is unimportant. Even if you have heard these messages before, looking bored can come across as a serious lack of personal investment.