How are franchisors communicating with franchisees? Some are using online facilities.

Karli Furmage is global capability manager at Gloria Jean’s Coffees International. The coffee business launched its e-communications system Gloria in November 2007 and last year won the Franchise Council of Australia’s MYOB Innovation Award. It started as an e-training platform but with the growth of the brand the facility to communicate was essential.

We really needed a platform 24/7 to deliver consistency in training and create a platform of communication for the Gloria Jeans family. We started out with a trickle feed function, she explains. Unsurprisingly Generation X and Y embraced the program enthusiastically but others were new to the concept so introducing the training capacity of the program first put them at ease, Furmage explains. But it was only a couple of months after this when the communication element took over.

The roll out strategy was sidelined as franchisees wanted to get more involved and demanded more from Gloria. The most successful segment has been the forum which allows for three-way communication: from franchisor to franchisee, from franchisee to franchisor, and from franchisee to franchisee.

And while the aim of any franchisor implementing such a system must be to improve the feed of information, what is conveyed through Gloria is not just essential business building reporting. The most viewed topic is funny things people say and do, followed by the display of latte art and new drinks ideas.

Franchisees are using the system to improve their businesses directly though, reports Furmage. For instance, a franchisee benchmarking their performance may discover a weakness in controlling waste and use Gloria to source suggestions from other franchisees on how to improve this area of the business.

Franchisees are very open about their results, and I think more so since Gloria, admits Furmage. The flow of franchisee communication has been positive for the coffee brand, she insists. The traditional model is of franchise partners with an operations manager and maybe two or three stores that connect together. Our franchisees have the ability to tap into over 900 stores. Plus it’s motivational.

A system in which franchisees are able to communicate freely across the globe has an element of risk to it for the franchisor. How would the company manage if the mood among franchisees was less than positive? Furmage says: We were nervous and we were very prepared to have to stop some negativity. But we set up the communication forum and the terms of engagement, and franchisee partners regulate themselves. If someone bags a promotion the community gets involved and suggests ways to make it work.

Information is imparted to franchisees using a notices feature on Gloria, and this has taken over from the company being email-centric. The system also adds to the face-to-face meetings held regionally, allowing information from the franchise advisory council for instance to be made available in real time.

The US arm of the business, only recently attached to the global brand, is being included in the Gloria set-up; all other 35 countries are using the system with a translation process being put in place. And franchisees across the world are communicating with each other, often about growing the brand through guest service.

But not everyone is on board. Furmage admits there are strugglers who are yet to be convinced by the communications tool and still need to see the value to their business.

In the meantime the interactive element is getting a facelift with an audio facility, and the addition of html newsletters will provide information from the support office. And there is online recruitment, a service which is enhancing the ability for Gloria Jean’s Coffee staff to move between countries. So far this has only been one way, says Furmage, with Australians going overseas, but it is an essential part of building a career path within the company.

Coy about the investment that has gone into building and implementing Gloria, Furmage says there has been development taking place across the business, from the business tools to the time it takes for franchisees to learn the system.

What I can tell you is that it’s been worthwhile, she says. This judgment is made on the engagement in the system with more than 8000 posts on the forum she reports. We can check how often people are logging in and we can run surveys, she says.

On message

Superior Service is an online communication provider that offers the World Manager platform as a tool to consolidate all human resource, training and communications facilities in one global system. Lorraine Boswell, national human resources manager of Australian Fast Foods that operates as Red Rooster, Chicken Treat and Oporto, is a fan.

Having online access to a communication platform like the World Manager has allowed us to reach more than 7000 mostly Gen Y employees across the country, she explains. In the past it has been a challenge to monitor where every employee across the country is at with their training and we would usually have to wait days to produce national reports but these statistics are now available to us at the click of a mouse.

Other franchised brands that have invested in the online technology include Hungry Jacks, Domino’s Pizza, Jamaica Blue, Muffin Break, Autobarn, Sumo Salad, Barbeques Galore, Snooze and Grill’d.

Communications is not just about the latest product news or franchisee forums. Training is an essential part of keeping a business on track and it can be a time consuming and expensive process. Putting training online is convenient and cost-effective; it also allows for one message to be easily conveyed.

Pack & Send has its Learning Academy modules on Packnet, the company’s intranet. It has been developed to ensure a consistent approach to learning and customer service across the international franchise network. The focus is on keeping skills current and up to date so lessons are assigned to users and are linked to a category or course.

Each lesson is designed to take 20 minutes or less to complete and can be interrupted and completed in stages. Franchisees are expected to train their staff to the standards of the business system and keep themselves fully trained and up to date with the latest developments. The company plans to extend its use in the UK and New Zealand after releasing it in Australia.

Damien Lisney, learning and development manager at Pack & Send says, the biggest investment was nine months of time and research to ensure we have the correct company to host. We had to make sure the design, look, feel and user friendly aspect met our needs.

Including time and application cost, the overall investment is in the region of $60,000 to $70,000, says Lisney. But it’s been worthwhile, he insists, with immediate benefits to the brand and the ability to communicate a consistent message that ensures uniformity for starters. The biggest benefit though has been to customers, and from that, increased business for franchisees.

So what sort of information is conveyed using this e-learning tool? Well, packaging standards for one: addressing a gap in consistent standards across the network was dealt with through the Learning Academy. The next step is to deal with the considerable bulk of information relating to customer service and sales conversion.

We are able to deliver more training and the learning can be done when it’s convenient, explains Lisney. It reinforces the same message.

Ongoing support from the franchisor and the capacity for the franchisor to inform franchisees of regulations and rules changes from third parties make this tool a valuable addition to the franchise network, Lisney says. But people learn in different ways he says; some have a kinesthetic approach and learn by being hands-on, and there will always be a role for this. It’s vitally important to maintain face-to-face training.

So what next? Probably looking into incorporating webinars for franchisees that like human interaction, he says. For now there is no strategy for taking the e-learning tool beyond a training capacity. But that may change. Whether communication is based solely on skills training or develops to offer forums and benchmarking capacity across networks, interactive online facilities play a vital role in maintaining and building a franchise brand.

Gary Valkenburg, the founder of Superior Service, believes the power of online information sharing and its ability to reach staff members is heightened by today’s workplace demographics. With over 60 per cent of the workforce aged between 15 and 34 years old it is important to provide a communication platform which these generations embrace, he says.

In the age of Facebook, My Space and Twitter, an online platform of communication is an obvious tool in a franchise network, albeit not the only one. The importance of face-to-face encounters in the communications has not diminished. You still can’t beat sitting down and seeing the whites of their eyes, says Furmage.