What really motivates a franchisee you ask? As the Franchisor it’s your job to keep your franchise organisation motivated and raring to go!
You want them to develop over time and be as successful as possible. Here we have listed some of our franchisee’s motivations and how we try to push these via incentives and support and enable you to help them reach their full potential.
In order to know what motivates franchisees, you have to ask them!
Ask them why they are doing what they are doing, and what are they doing it for.
Money
Franchisees have made the move over to this industry to work for themselves and run a successful organisation as they no longer want to work for others. They want to take the lion’s share and with that they understand the more pressure and responsibility. This is worth the risk as the financial reward should be greater. Money is a key motivator for franchisees and gaining a good return on investment. Award Leisure, our Outdoor Luxury Leisure retail business offers ROI within the first 3 years and high profit margins of 40%. However, we have found that majority of our franchisees are not motivated by money itself but what money can bring to their lifestyle. Living the dream lifestyle, they wished for with partners and their families. Providing a better well-being and lifestyle.
We offer personal incentives to our franchisees who meet and exceed targets. Giving them a free product (Pizza Oven, Hot Tub should they sell so many) This allows them to not only sell these luxury leisure lifestyle products but live them to. They can share these experiences and lifestyle products with their loved ones.
Reward systems for franchisees aim to ensure the system supports company goals and breeds healthy competition instead of rivalry. For example, offer monetary discounts to high achieving franchisees that are consistently hitting targets. Competition breeds commitment!
Family
At Award Leisure we understand the importance to support our franchisee’s and their families. Family is a major key indicator to motivate our franchisees. The time required to set up a new business is a long and hard one, which families sometimes take the brunt of. The long nights, hard work affects the people closest to our franchisees. Award Leisure feel it is important to encourage them and appreciate their 3rd party commitment also. This being a family voucher to a restaurant, outdoor leisure passes, bottle of wine etc. Although not a great expensive, it is the thoughtful gestures which acknowledges the hard work put in by everyone.
End Goal!
Direction, Expectation and Setting Goals
Another motivational factor you need to manage driving towards the end goal? What is this end goal? Selling the franchise, handing it down to family members, setting up multiple franchise outlets and managing them?
Managing Expectation can be achieved once you know the direction and ultimate end goal. This is based on the franchisees overall purpose to franchise.
By taking the time and communicating with your franchisees about precisely what timeframe they should be working within and what short term goals they should set themselves gives them a constant reminder of what they are working towards, the end goal! Make it a priority to constantly stay in communication and talk about what needs to be done in order to complete these goals.
Lead by Example
To really relate to your franchisees and be a constant source of motivation is to Lead by Example. The easiest way to do this is to share your success stories with your franchisees, no matter how small or big they are! This is a constant reminder of what your franchisees can achieve themselves if they put in the hard work and dedication over time. Another channel you can pursue is to Encourage your “star” leading performing franchisees to speak at your group meetings and to share their tips on what works for them. Everyone loves hearing success stories.
“You won’t get much done if you only grind on the days you feel good” – Grant Cardone
As the Franchisor, its your job to evaluate how beneficial you are as a mentor towards franchisees! An effective way to motivate your franchisees it to evaluate your leadership style and to tailor it accordingly to different franchisees. Sounds easy enough am I right? This is very common in the franchise industry because often your franchisees are at different stages and require being supported in different ways.
For example, an experienced franchisee may require support in a more complex area such as running a seasonal campaign or promotion and a new franchisee may need support on something trivial such as product information. It’s your duty as the Franchisor to recognise that….these are both equally as important!
Motivating franchisees is a very popular topic and was discussed in the July 2019 BFA (British Franchise Association) workshop. Here at Award Leisure we try our best to stay up to date with relevant topics that can help our franchisees.
