What are these people talking about?
- “takes all your money, sues you for more, and leaves you homeless and penniless”
- “a narcissistic dictatorship that is chasing the almighty dollar into purgatory”
- “They don’t want to consider anything on your behalf!!! NOT A TINY LITTLE BIT!!!”
It may sound as though these sentences are describing dangerous criminals or evil political regimes, but actually they’re talking about respected companies.These are typical samples of franchisee complaints.
The people who write these complaints are understandably upset. They went through all the work of choosing a franchise business opportunity, the excitement of planning to open their own business, the effort of opening and the suspense of building their company. And then, sometimes quite soon and sometimes after many years, things went wrong. Many had health problems or family emergencies, and the franchise became too much for them. Others lost out to competitors who moved in. All experienced failure.
They’re not writing carefully phrased, accurate descriptions of their experiences. They’re pouring out their hearts in highly emotional rants.
Nearly any established franchise will have some complaints on franchise complaint websites — a thriving business in itself. Many of them sound very emotional. You can decide for yourself how reliable this kind of rant might be and how much attention you should pay.
But it’s worth noticing how the franchisor responds.
Some compromise. Some build “gag orders” — or confidentiality agreements, as franchisors more often call them — into their contracts in hopes of lessening the negative comments. Others take it to court.
One franchise took a different approach. A hair salon franchise, they were hearing from angry franchisees that they were allowing competing shops to open up too close to established ones. The angry franchisees were bringing highly emotional complaints to the franchisor, and taking those complaints online as well.
The franchisors were willing to accept some dissatisfaction. They understood that the franchisees were operating from fear and not from a rational position, and they also understood that they were asking franchisees to accept risks — and who wants to do that?
First, they didn’t refuse to discuss the issue or throw their weight around. They tried to talk with their franchisees about the costs and benefits of the decisions they were making. It was good to keep the lines of communication open, but they could see that the franchisees were not prepared to accept their word that everything would be okay. They began using business analytics software to run analyses of what the franchisees could expect when a new branch opened closer than they wanted.
They took into account not only the additional competition, but also the additional visibility for the franchise brand. Not only the possibility of losing customers who would choose a closer shop, but also the possibility of gaining customers who would see additional locations as an added convenience. They also showed what might happen if a competing salon franchise seized the opportunity to build a location instead.
They had actual data to back up their word, so the discussions became less emotional and more productive. Their willingness to take extra steps to work with their franchisees — even though they weren’t willing to change their position — is a good sign. Ask the franchisors you’re considering how they’ve dealt with complaints, or search for the answer online.
