Franchisor Stories
It’s about more than an annual survey. Conducting regular, personalized check-ins and keeping an eye on other unspoken indicators can help franchisors identify trends and opportunities earlier.
Franchisee satisfaction is crucial to the health and success of the system, and franchisors who just “check the box” of measuring franchisee satisfaction are often missing out on key data and opportunities. Rather than just sending out a survey or conducting a brief, templated check-in on a set schedule, franchisors need to be proactive. Move from a retrospective data approach to one that prioritizes the real, current story of the franchise system.
Matt Crist, senior director of franchise development at Stronger Youth Brands, shares how franchisors can take a step beyond just collecting the data to truly understand it and consider the human indicators that a survey can’t always capture.
"I think surveys are great, and we’ve certainly done those over the years, but I think it needs to be more than that,” he said. “The collection of ongoing feedback needs to be a priority with any franchise system, so every franchisor should be figuring out a way to do that and then somehow benchmarking that."
Surveys are a great starting point, but they shouldn't be the finish line. Crist emphasized that ongoing feedback, not just a once-annual snapshot, is critical to establishing accurate metrics.
The real magic happens when you layer formal tools like annual surveys and pulse check-ins with genuine human interaction. A survey can only go so far as it captures a single moment in time. And, for many franchisees, sentiment can change quickly depending on what’s going on in their market and how they are (or aren’t) being supported.
"[The human aspect] gives us that real-time feedback instead of just the retrospective opinions of franchisees within a moment of time because that could certainly change,” he said. “What was relevant when they took the survey two or three months ago might not be the reality now.”
With surveys and personalized check-ins as a baseline, Crist says there are still more ways to evaluate franchisee satisfaction. An owner may say they’re satisfied with the experience, but there are clear ways they see it, too. For Crist, reinvestment — whether that’s additional marketing spend or another territory — is a great sign.
"I think happy franchisees don't just say they're satisfied. They double down,” he said. “Opening additional territories, reinvesting in marketing, hiring teams ahead of growth curves… Those are all things that show commitment. No one buys a second or third territory because they ‘kind of like’ the brand. To me, that’s a vote of confidence.”
When owners are willing to put more skin in the game, you know the system is working.
Another massive indicator is franchise validation. When your current owners become the primary "recruiters" for the brand during calls with candidates, you’ve reached a level of satisfaction that can truly propel the system’s growth.
As you keep an eye out for the positive signs, it’s key that you also watch for negative ones, too. And these may take careful attention to catch.
“Dissatisfaction doesn’t happen all at once,” Crist said. “I think it kind of leaks out in a few different ways. If we can keep a pulse on a franchisee’s reduced engagement… If they’re skipping calls, not attending meetings and go quiet, that’s certainly a concern for us. Slower response times or less productive communication are certainly things we want to look into. Those are all things that can show up on our radar and make us ask, ‘What’s going on with that individual?’”
While signs of dissatisfaction may show up in a few different ways, Crist pointed out that a shift away from collaboration and toward a more transactional feel is a concern. Having a strong franchisee support team who can keep an eye on these things and flag potential indicators early on can be invaluable in the long term.
For many leaders, the hardest but most important part of measuring franchisee satisfaction is the follow-through. If franchisees feel like their feedback isn’t being heard, trust can erode quickly.
"What are we going to do about it? How are we going to implement the suggestions that come from those data points? That to me is the critical aspect of franchisee satisfaction and the most important thing to the relational and management side of what we do as a franchisor,” Crist said.
Even when you can't meet every demand or find a solution that everyone is completely on board with, simply "closing the loop" by establishing a list of fixable issues and taking real action builds immense trust.
"Most of the time, at least they’re feeling heard, right?" he said. "There is so much value in [franchisees] being brought into that discussion for their opinions and their pain points to feel heard by a leadership team.”
Growing and selling franchises is difficult. Want to learn more about how 1851 helps franchisors grow their franchises with confidence? Visit www.1851growthclub.com and see what we can do for you.
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