America’s Leading Franchise Consultant Shares Wisdom for Franchise Owners . . .
By Evan Hackel
If you have been asked to join your franchise’s advisory council, congratulations on your new opportunity. You are about to enjoy some significant benefits.
One of the most important advantages is that you will have a more direct line to your franchise’s upper management. You will be able to communicate your suggestions, ideas, discoveries – and maybe even your problems – directly to the top executives of your franchising company. You will also be able to form closer ties with other franchisees who will be only a phone call or text message away when you need them. You have been tapped to be a leader. Another advantage is that you will probably enjoy traveling to attend meetings.
Getting the Most from Being a Member
I have supervised franchise advisory councils. I have been a member too. Here is some advice on how you can get the most from your membership and give your very best to your franchise.
Remember that Collaboration Wins the Day
We all have goals and lists of things we would like to achieve by joining a council. But I have seen it time and again that the people who get the most from council membership are those who focus first on asking other members what they would like to achieve. People who talk only about their own goals, or who push too hard for them, can alienate others and fail to get what they most want.
Empower and Nominate Other People
If another franchisee you met over dinner last night would be a great addition to a new task force that will investigate a particular issue, nominate that person to take part. Perhaps that council member is too modest to put up a hand and volunteer, but that doesn’t prevent you from making a nomination.
The more you can shed a positive light on other people and help them shine, the more you build your own profile as a contributor – and the likelihood that other council members will listen to you and support your needs and opinions.
Do Share Some Hard Truths with Management
Some people who join franchise councils believe that the way to get the most from their membership is to approve everything that the franchise company wants to do. They think that if they smile and pretend, management will return the favor and give them what they want.
In my experience, that approach doesn’t work. The franchisees who earn respect from franchise leaders are those who have the guts to be truthful when other people are not. It is the person who says, “I think that ad is completely wrong” or, “our competitor has a better product” who gets noticed. So my advice is, speak up and stand out.
Listen, Listen . . . and Listen Some More
In my experience, the people who try to listen and understand other people are the people who stand the best chance of being heard. Again, putting other people first is a practical way to achieve the most. It is funny it works that way, but it does.
Stay Away from the Negative Team
Chances are that other franchisees on the Council have gotten there because they are positive. But I have also seen times when that is not the case. I have, in fact, seen Councils where certain groups of negative people have bonded together. They don’t want to support upper management, they want to undermine it. They don’t want to try to develop great new ideas, they want to complain about what isn’t working.
Stay away from them. Their negative way of viewing issues can infect you and make you negative in the way you frame ideas and express your views. And being seen as a negative person will never win you recognition from the people who run your franchise.
Know How You Will Stay in Touch with the People You Meet
I have noticed that sometimes, people only think about this critical step when they are leaving a hotel or getting into a cab at the end of a meeting. They then ask each other, “How can I contact you” and start to write their contact info on a scrap of paper or start texting each other.
One of the greatest benefits of being on your franchise council will be making contacts, so treat this critical activity with the care it deserves. Take a stack of fresh business cards with you to your meeting and give them to people when you meet them – not when you are saying goodbye.
And then when you get back home, email the people you have met. Let them know how much it meant to you to meet them. Comment on one of the issues you discussed. And say how much you are looking forward to being in touch in the days, weeks and months ahead.
Your new contacts are worth their weight in gold, so treat them like golden valuables.