Across the business world, you meet a lot of personalities. Some are more cut out for entrepreneurship than others, and among them, some are better suited for investing in a franchise. What is one of the biggest personality traits we see that lead to successful franchisees? Believe it or not, strong communicators.

Why communication?

Yes, of course, communication is an asset in sales. More than that, however, strong communicators build and foster a rapport between franchisee and franchisor that allows for the optimal collaborative environment. It doesn’t matter which franchise system we’re talking about – this is crucial across all opportunities.

A franchisee on the path to success will be open to ongoing conversations with staff across many different departments and seniority levels at corporate head office. The facilitates the chance to learn to work together, and for the franchisee to take in and digest more valuable information on an ongoing basis. Yes, training teaches you everything you need to know to get started. However, ongoing dialogue allows for immersion and development of expertise.

Where franchisees tend to miss this mark is when they are either close-minded to ongoing conversation or don’t see the value in continuous conversation with various members of the franchisor’s head office staff. Whether it’s arrogance, lack of organization or prioritization, or simply lack of desire, this tends to have the effect of shooting themselves in the foot when ramping up their business.

It works both ways.

This isn’t entirely on the franchisee, of course. A lack of communication or poor communication from the franchisor can be just as detrimental, if not worse, to a franchise and larger brand’s overall success. As the potential franchisee, of course, this is out of your control. Open dialogue is a two-way street, and you can only do so much if you’re getting nothing in return.

So how can you avoid this when looking at potential franchise opportunities?

Oftentimes, a franchisor will reveal its communication style during the discovery process. How willing they are to communicate and answer questions, how many different people across the organization they introduce you to on Discovery Day, and their communication styles in general are all fantastic indicators of what this relationship will be like moving forward.