As with many business challenges, the pandemic provided valuable insights that can help franchisors strengthen and improve operations — not only to drive revenue, but to prepare for future disruption.
Businesses had to adapt in real time, change models quickly, and take risks under uncertainty. Based on conversations with customers, FranConnect identified four actions that apply across franchise sizes and industries.
1. Build a Staffing Pipeline for Future Hiring Needs
Whether franchises experienced a boom or a bust during the pandemic, many later faced insufficient staffing. FranConnect polling found that 58% reported a moderate impact and 18% had reduced hours or service because they could not hire enough employees.
The best employees are often the people you already have. Reducing turnover, keeping teams engaged, and encouraging employee referrals can all strengthen the hiring pipeline. Some brands also expanded the benefits they used to attract entry-level workers, including childcare support, tuition assistance, and signing bonuses.
Lesson learned: Even if you don’t need applicants today, build a strong bench in case demand rises or unexpected turnover hits.
2. Use Both Virtual and In-Person Discovery Days
Discovery days, meet-the-team days, or decision days are an important point in the franchise sales process. When the pandemic forced those meetings online, many teams discovered that virtual sessions could happen more frequently and at lower cost for prospects.
Even as in-person meetings resumed, virtual formats remained useful for selected stages of the process.
Lesson learned: Discovery days are likely to remain hybrid. Use the format that best supports your team, candidates, and sales process.
3. Use Virtual Assessments and QA Software to Drive Better Coaching
Thanks in part to virtual evaluations, brands in FranConnect’s data actually completed more evaluations in 2020: an average of 162 onsite and virtual audits, compared with 148 in 2019.
At the same time, Franchise Business Consultants expanded their spans of control. Distance technology helped operations teams maintain touchpoints even when travel was restricted.
Brands also increased their use of learning systems, gamification, simulations, custom courses, video reporting, and quality-assurance tools to reinforce skills and monitor execution against operational playbooks.
Lesson learned: A hybrid approach to assessments supports more frequent coaching, while technology helps field teams manage larger portfolios effectively.
4. Use Operations Tools to Develop Actionable, Data-Driven Insights
Brands increased their use of operational dashboards and command-center tools to monitor key performance indicators, customer accounts, and other critical information in real time.
FranConnect developed tools that help teams analyze performance data and translate issues into structured playbooks. Those playbooks can address performance declines, realignment with best practices, or other operational gaps while capturing expertise from across the organization.
Lesson learned: The strongest franchisors use technology to turn data into insights and insights into repeatable coaching actions.
Helping Franchisors Navigate a Complex Environment
The pandemic was immensely challenging, but it also demonstrated the resilience of franchise systems. The lessons above remain relevant because they strengthen staffing, candidate engagement, field support, and operational visibility.
The original webinar, The Role of the Franchise Operations Team Today, also covered how operations teams can achieve:
- Operational excellence through consistency, service quality, brand compliance, and field execution.
- Improved unit-level performance by centralizing operational data and deploying playbooks for remediation and improvement.
- Staff enablement and support through communication, engagement, onboarding, and training.
- Legal and process compliance supported by data management and a single source of truth.
