Support through mentoring and guidance

Mentoring and guidance is one of the major elements of importance to other potential franchisees. In franchise opportunities it is critical to understand the support you will receive, because no matter how experienced you are in business, when you buy a franchise you will go from being involved in managing some parts of a business, to executing or managing all parts of a business - a big shift for most people. The first 12 months are crucial. This is the time when you will need franchisor support to get your skills and knowledge up to speed. Some systems offer stronger support than others, so spend time researching the offering.

In this category, when examining franchise opportunities we look at the support provided by the franchise company to its franchisees. The questions franchisees were asked cover a variety of situations and issues they face on a day to day basis. The questions gauge how well the communication, support and mentoring systems implemented by the franchise company are viewed.

For a franchise company to perform well in this area is a great testimonial not only for their support system but also to their support staff.

Mentoring rather than managing franchisees is crucial, and the mentoring skill is something that takes time to develop. Franchise companies that perform well are likely to not only train their franchisees but also their support staff regularly. They are also likely to have good systems in place to ensure that franchisees know how they are performing and that communication between all parties is clear and consistent. A high level of trust between franchisor and franchisees as well as the franchisee' s feeling of belonging to the franchise company can play an important role in this category, too.

Our congratulations go to all the franchisors that made the top 10 in the Support category for franchise opportunities and particularly to the top 3 of Smartline Personal Mortgage Advisers, Mister Minit and Mrs. Fields.

#1 Congratulations Smartline Personal Mortgage Advisers franchise

Smartline excelled in all areas of support and performed very well in mentoring and guiding their franchisees. One of the reasons for their exceptional performance in this area is that all frontline support staff are required to either have a business coaching background or go through a formal course once they become part of the Smartline support team. Having this mentoring skill enables the Smartline support team to also judge what skills need improving for an individual franchisee and enables them to provide relevant training opportunities to develop franchisees personal skills set.

Click here to find out more about Smartline franchise opportunities and to read into the details of what makes Smartline so good at mentoring and support

#2 Congratulations Mister Minit Franchise

Mister Minit is a market leader in the key cutting, engraving and shoe and watch repair business with over 80 franchisees in Australia and New Zealand out of 215 shops. Mister Minit have a unique model in that franchisees come from existing Mister Minit staff. This ensures a good matching of franchisee and franchisor as both parties get to experience each others qualities and characteristics before committing to an even more aligned working relationship.

Every Minit employee goes through rigorous training to become efficient at every technical aspect of their day to day job. Once they become a franchisee, the training expands to business skills equipping franchisees to be effective at managing their stock, marketing and profitability. Beyond training, dedicated regional managers help guide franchisees to success through in-store mentoring and emphasising the importance of the 10 key performance indicators that are the engine to driving a successful Mister Minit operation.

Click here to find out more about Mister Minit franchise opportunities and to read into the details of what makes Mister Minit so good at mentoring and support

#3 Congratulations Mrs. Fields franchise

Mrs Fields have had a history of high performance in the area of support and mentoring ever since the new Australian owners came on board. The Managing Director and owner of the Australian franchise comes from a professional business coaching background. This understanding of what it takes to mentor and guide a business owner to success has flowed throughout the Mrs Fields support team. The franchise support team are quick to respond to enquiries enabling the whole team put a strong emphasis on supporting and mentoring their franchisees. The franchisees also said that the Mrs. Fields support office communicate clearly with them, which is very important to performing well in the Support Category.

Click here to find out more about Mrs.Fields franchise opportunities and to read into the details of what makes Mrs.Fields so good at mentoring and support