How to Establish a Franchise Advisory Council

The purpose of a Franchise Advisory Council is to maintain the lines of communication between the franchisees and the franchisor. In addition to ensuring that the interests of all parties are preserved, council meetings provide an open forum for discussing ideas and motivating key players. Even if your franchise is still in the early stages, you'll benefit greatly if you establish a Franchise Advisory Council.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

1. Determine the power structure of the council. There is more than one way to organize a Franchise Advisory Council: You can have complete control over the council, the franchisees can have control or you can share the power jointly. Ultimately, sharing the responsibilities among the franchisor and the franchisees should be your goal.
2. Include a provision in the Franchise Agreement that spells out all of the bylaws of the Franchise Advisory Council.
3. Create a constitution that will serve as a framework and rulebook for the established council. The constitution should establish leadership, determine the objectives of the group and outline how decisions within the group will be made.
4. Elect officers to the Franchise Advisory Council and establish their council duties. Make sure that the officers represent a wide range of franchisees so that all ideas can be heard equally.
5. Assign someone the responsibility of taking minutes, so that details from each meeting can be reviewed later. This person should also distribute the minutes to council members.
6. Follow agendas to ensure the council meetings don't just become open forums for complaints. This type of environment will do nothing to improve the working relationship of your franchisees and could actually serve to keep them unmotivated and dissatisfied.

Tips & Warnings

• An experienced consultant can be helpful in creating a successful Franchise Advisory Council.
• Don't wait too long to establish a Franchise Advisory Council. Lack of a Franchise Advisory Council makes it too easy for the franchisees to band together and form their own council group—one that doesn't represent your interests. Such groups tend to breed resentment and close the doors of communication between you and your franchisees, creating an unhappy (and unhealthy) relationship that could result in litigation.