How is ongoing support delivered by most franchisors?

The type and level of support offered by franchisors varies greatly between systems, as do the methods by which they are delivered.It is not unreasonable to expect that the various support mechanisms in place in a well-established network will be of a greater variety and depth than they are in a relatively new, developing one. That’s not to say that more sophisticated systems, often involving the gathering of financial and operational information by electronic means and automatic churning out of reports that nobody looks at, are necessarily better than paper-based systems that are individually and personally reviewed, but they do provide consistency of data. The trick is to do something with that data and then provide bespoke help for the franchisee based on the results.The point of any support is to help franchisees operate their businesses better. That could be better marketing, better selling, better delivery of the service or better management of finance and administration. Gathering information and comparing it with the network as a whole will identify the areas that need to be improved and, therefore, training needs will be established. That training may be delivered in a variety of ways, such as re-reading the manual, attending a training course or getting some one-to-one coaching or mentoring, and it may be delivered by the franchisor’s own staff or be outsourced to specialists.There is no ‘right way’, but there will be a right way for each network.