The annual Franchisee Satisfaction Study by franchising research house 10 Thousand Feet has revealed that the franchising industry has held steady through a rough 2009, with growth in the number of satisfied franchisees.
The survey of more than 550 franchisees found franchiseess increasingly willing to renew their agreements and greater attention given by franchise companies to franchisee satisfaction. Yet according to head of intelligence at 10 Thousand Feet, Ian Krawitz, there is still plenty of work to be done to improve the experience of AustraliaÕs franchisees.
Krawitz said “The main areas franchise systems need to work on remains to be the support of their franchisees.”
He identified the greatest gaps and opportunities to be in the areas of financial guidance and franchisees human resource skills. “Franchisors have historically taken a hands-off approach on financial guidance which has come into the spotlight in the current economic times. The better franchise systems are taking franchisee profitability very seriously and have got more hands-on prescribing better financial record keeping systems and guiding their franchisees to manage their cash flows more effectively.”
The challenge of staffing is another area with significant room for improvement, with franchisees lacking the appropriate skills for hiring, management and delegation.
“Franchisees are traditionally very good with their customers, but donÕt necessarily have the human resources skills to hire and manage people effectively. The better franchise systems are coaching their franchisees on the value of holding on to their staff and what role they as a franchisee should take within in their business whether managing staff, servicing customers or operating behind the scenes,” Krawitz explained.
The satisfaction study fed in to 10 Thousand Feet’s topfranchise awards which saw Smartline Personal Mortgage Advisers take out the 2009 topfranchise award as the company with AustraliaÕs most satisfied franchisees in 2009.
“Key to SmartlineÕs achievement was their double win in placing number one in the critical categories of franchise support and number one in the financial and social rewards their franchisees receive.”
New entrants to the top10 were sign making company Signwave which has AustraliaÕs most passionate franchisees and AustraliaÕs largest bakery chain Bakers Delight, placed at number five and six respectively.
The most improved award in an area went to bedding company Snooze who saw a 58 percent increase in its franchisees willingness to recommend the business. Click here to see the full rankings.
The 10 THOUSAND FEET Franchisee Satisfaction Study was sponsored by Franchising Magazine, Gadens Lawyers, Fordham Wealth Advisers and Business Connect.