What franchising can learn from marriage

“We met at a dinner party, just like couples do. The reason I’m making this comparison is that I believe business partnerships are like marriages, and the company symbolises the child. You have to take care of your kid, grow and nourish it together. And just like in a marriage – divorces can be very expensive, hurtful and without any winners.”

Our Co-founder Anton Skarlatov shared the above when asked about how he met his business partner Rune Sovndahl in a recent interview.

When it comes to franchising, do we apply the same rules as business partnerships or even marriage? Just like in marriage, the relationship between a franchisor and franchisee can be simple or complex, fun or chaotic, healthy or toxic – it all depends on how we make it work.

Let’s look at what franchisors can learn from marriage and how they compare to each other.

When a happy wife equals happy life

You know what they say is the key to a healthy marriage – a happy wife. Put more simply – a happy wife equals happy life. When the wife gets the support and care she needs, it will ultimately make her want to reciprocate.

Just like in great marriages, and with dear wives, in Fantastic Services, we genuinely care about our franchisees. We spend time and effort to provide all the support our franchisees need. Our support ranges from the initial training to customer support for our franchisees’ clients to the so-called crisis support. 

We have dedicated franchise advisors whose job is to support our potential franchisees, explain our franchise model, and help with any questions they have. It is essential to be on the same page from the initial meetings and make sure both sides share the same vision for the business.

Similarly to marriage, we are together and true to our franchisees “in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health”.

When you know that it’s time to clear the air

“Marriages are all happy. It’s having breakfast that causes all the trouble!” – Irish proverb.

It sounds like the Irish know all too well that married life isn’t all about roses and champagne, and it is pretty common to have disagreements between the partners.

If you want to keep your sanity, it is essential to have the skills to deal with conflicts and resolve them quickly and on time to avoid further escalating your problems.

The same applies to our relationship with our franchisees. In keeping constant honest and transparent conversation with our partners, we effectively resolve any disagreements and help everyone focus on the important stuff.

Good communication skills are vital in this franchisor-franchisee duo, and we make sure we are always on the same page with our franchisees. If, for some reason, we are not, we take time to communicate through our franchise advisors and help solve any issues right away.

When you don’t miss the silver lining, expecting the gold

This paragraph is not about the husband who answers “Yes“, looking down, under his moustache, when asked if the rather miniature dress fits his wife well.

It is about the sincere, bona fide connection, where both sides know what they are dealing with and are eager to continue with their relationship. It is about the man who is well aware he won’t be having a nice meal till the end of his life but still wants to be married. It’s about setting realistic expectations.

At the beginning of our partnership with our franchisees, we set realistic goals according to the franchise level, expertise, and working area. We make sure to schedule meetings to systematically verify each other’s expectations and discuss ideas and plans. We like to keep an honest conversation at these meetings and help our franchisees open up about their expectations.

As with great marriages, knowing what you are dealing with at all times can be very useful and help avoid significant conflicts on the way.

When it takes two to tango

“A long marriage is two people trying to dance a duet and two solos at the same time.” – Anne Taylor Fleming

Because we know we are in this together and ultimately are following the same goal, we have made it even easier for our franchisees to feel welcome in Fantastic Services and have their concerns met at all times. 

We have a huge community of like-minded people who believe in the philosophy of Fantastic Services. We have made it easy for our franchisees to get immediate answers to their concerns and easily share their thoughts and questions with other franchisees through our social media groups. We also like to keep things personal by offering individual coaching sessions, where our franchisees can open up one-on-one sessions with their dedicated franchise advisor.

We all have the same objective – to grow the business and become better in what we do every day. Just like with great marriages, where openness and ongoing conversation are of utmost importance, to have a successful franchisor-franchisee relationship, communication should never cease.

When it comes to long-lasting, happy marriages, franchising can learn a lot from them. We try to live by the rules of great marriages, one meeting and one conversation at a time, and never forget that sometimes keeping a healthy partnership means keeping your partner well-grounded, just like in this saying: “A man’s main job is to protect his woman from her desire to ‘get bangs’ every other month.” —Dax Shepard

• Last update: March 1, 2022

Posted in Fantastic Family