Insight into how franchisors should bring their systems together during this critical time.
By Jania Bailey, FranNet
The last month has impacted families and businesses in nearly every category — and the future remains uncertain. Because the franchise business model inherently spreads a brand’s footprint across the United States, as well as globally, many franchise brands have been impacted by the fallout of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic nationwide.
Some brands have been slow to act, wasting precious time that could have been spent helping their franchise systems respond, strategize and adjust as a result of this pandemic. Other brands have risen to the challenge and acted quickly to provide much-needed support to their franchisees, stakeholders and communities.
Now is the time for franchisors to be nimble and act quickly to create plans to weather this crisis and come out stronger on the other side.
Keep Your System Engaged
During this time, communication with your franchise system is critical. Our annual conference was scheduled for the week of March 23, and instead of canceling it outright like others have, the FranNet executive team decided to move forward with making it a virtual system wide meeting. At FranNet, we knew that communicating with our franchise owners about not only how this pandemic affects our brand, but the industry at large, was the right step. We used this time to open up the discussion, provide insight into how we can shift our business strategies on the corporate and franchisee level, and share best practices across the system.
Harness Your Creativity
We’ve seen brands come together to provide consistent communications with their franchisees, ranging from daily video calls to webinars to podcasts and more. Some brands have even changed their business models to adapt to the current time to capture important revenue. Others have focused on giving back to their local communities to provide resources and services to those in need.
Focus on the Community
The DNA of franchising lies in the business owners on the local level. There is no better time to engage with other businesses, charitable organizations and groups in your community, stay informed, stay in touch and offer local support as best as you are able.
Focus on Improving Operations
For some brands, closing their doors was the only option at this point, but this is no time to rest on your laurels. Now is a great time to evaluate your current business. What operational challenges have you talked about for a long time but never had the time or motivation to tackle them? Roll up your sleeves, put your thinking cap on and get to work.
This unexpected interruption to our daily lives is no easy time for any brand, but the best innovations typically come during challenging times. Now is the time to stand up as a leader and provide strategic insight and actionable guidance to your systems on how they can do the same in their local markets.
Jania Bailey is the CEO of FranNet. Find out more about FranNet here.