Half of the winners of the Queensland Business Review Women in Business Awards are involved in franchising.

Aussie Pooch Mobile franchisor Christine Taylor took out the Personal Services category.

Smartline Personal Mortgage Advisors franchisee Karen Le Comte won the Business and Financial Services category and Remax Wynnum/Manly franchisee Narelle Gill was winner of the Property and Construction category.

Franchising success stories

These women demonstrate some of the success stories which franchising achieves and provide examples of franchisee profitability as well as the success that can be achieved by a franchisor.

Christine, who started her business in 2001, now has operations in New Zealand, the United States, New Caledonia, the United Kingdom and Malaysia, and services 20,000 customers per month in Australia alone.

Karen on the other hand aims to be in the top 10 franchisees of Smartline Personal Mortgage Advisors franchise business and has a 9.5 out of 10 customer satisfaction rating. More than 50 percent of her business comes from client referrals.

Narelle is also at the top of her franchise business with the number one sales team in Queensland, in the top three Australia-wide and top 24 internationally.

In her acceptance speech one of the people she acknowledged was her accountant, who she sits down with every Monday at 10am to have coffee and cashflow discussions so she knows exactly how her business is travelling.

Apart from the passion these women share, they all acknowledged the importance of their teams.

Franchise business teams and your brand 

Looking at your franchise business network, not just a franchise unit, as one big team is important — after all you’re all working for the same brand.

Anyone in the franchise business can either positively or negatively affect the brand image, customer perceptions and in turn the bottom line.

By working together you can draw on each other’s expertise, learn from each other’s strengths and strengthen the brand — and a strong brand has benefits for everyone.

7-Eleven franchise is a great example

7-Eleven is a great example to highlight a strong team ethos in a franchise business.

A group of the franchise business franchisees formed their own network independent of the franchisor (named by them as the ‘curry club’) to discuss issues, build relationships and support each other (as well as share great food).

7-Eleven CEO Warren Wilmot is also often invited to their meetings, which highlights the strength and benefits of a strong franchisor - franchisee relationship.

There was also an instance where a franchisee was unable to operate her franchise business unit and other franchisees rallied together and shared staff and their time to support that franchise unit through a challenging time.

Strong franchise business network benefit

A strong franchise business network really can make a difference.

Not only can you lift the performance of individual franchise units, but the franchise business network as a whole.

Has a strong team environment made a difference to your franchise?