Building a strong community with your franchise owners is just as important as having a unique brand, a memorable image and loyal customers. By Dawn Abbamondi
Franchisors bring franchise owners together even when far away.
Build Your Brand Community
Building a strong community with your franchise owners is just as important as having a unique brand, a memorable image and loyal customers.
Start from the very beginning and create a culture of collaboration and a sense of community. Bring franchise owners together with multiple groups for pre-opening training. Each cohort of “fellow franchisees” becomes friends and are truly excited to help each other achieve success faster.
Reinforce those relationships with regular monthly coaching calls with expanded peer groups – allowing your leadership team to continue to guide them. Ask them to share recent experiences with products, services or marketing techniques to help them take advantage of everything the brand has to offer. They will all learn together and form a lasting bond as they grow. Then, at least once a year, gather everyone together at your annual conference. Give them time to meet, mingle and reconnect.
This simple but effective process builds stronger franchise brands from day one – a solid community of franchise owners who are ready to help each other and, in turn, help themselves.
A Community Outside of Your Area
If you have been thinking of owning your own business, choose franchising. It is more than just a way to be in business “for yourself but not by yourself.” It is more than just having a step-by-step process to open and ramp up sales faster. It is a way to become a part of a community far greater than the town in which you operate.
Franchise brands are a community of owners who all have been there and done that. From the founder(s) who started it all, to the others who – like you – followed in their footsteps. As a franchisee, you have the opportunity to learn from the past and impact brand growth with others who understand exactly what you’re experiencing.
Whether it is the operator in the town or territory next to yours or franchisees all the way across the country, you all have common ground. Together, you have the power to help the brand grow into a household name and a valuable asset you can pass on to the next generation or sell to an incoming owner.
You are not alone; you are part of a like-minded community all working to create something bigger. Enjoy the sense of belonging and knowing you have help building your future.
Franchise founders and franchisees become leaders for each other, helping everyone in the brand community to achieve more together.
Dawn Abbamondi
Dawn Abbamondi, vice president of marketing and brand development at SMB Franchise Advisors, has over 20 years of extensive franchising experience in the coffee, food, convenience, gift and floral industries. Abbamondi leads the areas of marketing, social media, public relations, web development and lead generation. SMBFranchising.com, 215-370-7998, Dawn@SMBFranchising.com