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	Franchisors Managing the Comfort Zone
In a nutshell, the “Comfort Zone” is when the franchisee says – “That’ll do now – Job done!” and if this is how they really feel, how do you deal with it? Like any challenge, understanding the cause will make the world of difference. For many franchisees, after the excitement and challenge of becoming a franchisee has worn off and they master the business, it all gets a bit samey. Boredom creeps in and the very “daily grind” they sought to escape when they went into business with you has suddenly crept back into their life – albeit in a different form. Maybe they are getting ready to retire and are simply back peddling or maybe they simply have energy that could be better employed elsewhere. Key to this – recognise every franchisee as an individual – there will be no “one size fits all” solution. Secondly, keep at the very forefront of your mind that franchisees will not respond well to motivational effort if they think you just want to make more service fees. Always separate motivational effort from daily support, otherwise the message will get lost amongst the usual deluge of compliance, service and new product issues. What’s the cause? – Do they crave more success but just can’t see how they’ll ever get there? Do they fail to see the value of their contribution so can’t be bothered? Do they think that although they have their own business, they aren’t really in control due to system rules and constraints? Is it just like having a job? To keep motivation away from normal operational issues and support, get other support staff to step in making regular calls to get to the root-cause. These people have no axe to grind over compliance or performance issues and so can be genuinely interested in the franchisee and what motivates them. Get your top performing franchisees to invest a little time mentoring and acting as a personal trainer. Buy in third party resources such as professional business coaches – this must prove your intent to help them improve their business and that you don’t just want to earn more off them. Make sure you run regular and varied incentives and recognition programmes. A well-motivated network will stay on track much longer and some of them may never even get to the comfort zone. One word of caution though – remember the old adage “Praise in public – Rebuke in private” and combine this with the wisdom that says many incentive schemes will motivate the top 10%, have little or no effect on the next 80% and only serve to de-motivate the bottom 10%. League tables should only ever show the top five or ten and you must have several tables to recognise a broader range of franchisees. Top revenue, increased sales year on year, new product line successes, new customer wins, any other key performance indicators that you already monitor – all great to show very public praise. Make sure the leagues drive other success recognition activities such as conference awards and presentations, highlighting successes in your newsletters or on your intranet. Get the PR machine to get some local or even national coverage. Get the MD to make a personal call or visit or send a handwritten note thanking the franchisee for their contribution. This article is too brief to do real justice to this topic but I hope it has provoked thought. At Howarth Franchising, we are often called in to brainstorm this very issue and we always find it’s never too early to do so. The franchising community is now broad enough that many of the support functions and services to support motivational efforts can be sourced from people who are franchisees themselves. Don’t leave it too late or it might just be you find yourself in the “Franchisor Comfort Zone”.

For further information on this subject, you can contact Howard Williams using the contact form below.

Franchisors: Managing the Comfort Zone UK - Howarth Franchising Franchise Resources