The best thing about franchise is that you can talk with all the other franchisees.
The worst thing about a franchise is that you can talk with all the other franchisees.
Yes, it is a double edged sword.
Talking with other franchisees and learning from them is one of the most beneficial things you can do when you are a franchisee. They are all running a similar business to you, they understand what you need to do and can give you amazing insights that no one else on the planet is capable of doing.
The challenge occurs if you are talking with a franchisee that gives you bad information or the incorrect information for you.
I was once coaching for a franchise group and I was helping them with their new franchisees. They had to come back to head office about a month after they started their business for further training. In this instance, one franchisee from the previous training group came back for this training with the group after his training as he’d had to attend a funeral when his training was on. Over lunch that day, he convinced the other 4 franchisees that networking didn’t work for their business. It was a waste of time and money and not to do it.
Well…… Networking was their number 1 marketing strategy and this was going to cost the other four franchisees their business. They all spoke to me and told me that ‘networking doesn’t work’. They had no reason why, no person experience, just what this other franchisee had told them.
The real story…. The franchisee that said it didn’t work, had only been to two networking events. He didn’t speak to anyone, he didn’t make appointments to catch up with anyone, he basically didn’t follow the system and didn’t even make an attempt at the events. Now he was nervous and scared, but instead of admitting this, he instead decided to blame the networking and take some other franchisees with him down this path to prove to himself he didn’t need to do it.
Luckily for the other four franchisees, I was able to coach them around and they went on to build successful businesses. I even got the guy who hated networking to make it work, but this was a real example of why talking to another franchisee was the worst thing they could do.
All franchisees are human beings and sometimes the advice they are giving is well meaning, but not right for you in your situation or it is simply an indicator of what is happening for them. Maybe their area is different or maybe they are telling another franchisee to do something that just doesn’t fit their budget or family situation.
Just remember this. If you are unsure, then speak to the franchisor or the head office team. Sometimes they know something you don’t know about the franchisee giving or receiving the information. They will also know if the information is incorrect or correct for you. If in doubt, ask!
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