Positive Impact

I write these Tips to encourage reflection on why we do what we do, and how this impacts on others. In this final one for the year, I’d like to reflect on how we measure success. But first let me introduce you to Keith Badger. I first met Keith in the early 1990s, when he had been a high flying, global oil company executive. He had just taken the role of Australian Managing Director for one of the world’s largest and oldest franchise networks, Midas Mufflers, as they were then known. Keith was a loyal client for many years, and engaged us to help his franchise network navigate an arduous journey of change, as their industry became increasingly disrupted.

Since leaving Midas 20 years ago, Keith has been on a different type of journey, a personal journey, which has transformed him from corporate man incarnate, groomed within an industry that has been one of the planet’s biggest polluters, to somewhat of an ecological warrior with a mission to help people create sustainable, quality living for themselves and the planet. He has just written a thoughtful book, Joining Loose Ends, documenting a grueling five month, 2,800 km walk he undertook with his wife, Debby, from the top of Scotland to the bottom of England, and how this changed him forever.

How to measure success

I recently had a pleasant end of year lunch with Keith. As we walked out of the cafe, squinting in the sunshine, I asked him why he wrote the book. He said “I want to make the point that it is a big mistake to think money is the single most important measure of success in business”. I wandered home reflecting on his comment. We have a mission at the Franchise Relationships Institute to foster the creation of profitable partnerships in the global franchising sector, and I have been recently thinking about how we might better measure our success with this.

So I asked our team to collect some metrics, other than financial, that might reflect the positive impact of their hard work over the past 12 months. And I was delighted when they emerged with the following numbers, which I’d like to share with you in the spirit of broadening our thinking about how to measure business success. If you are one of the people we have worked with this year, thanks for trusting us and giving us a go.

As you can see, over the past 12 months:

• We worked with hundreds of brands, helping them improve their franchise relationships and build a healthier franchising culture.
• We contributed to many conferences, sharing evidence-based tips and strategies to both franchisee and franchisor audiences.
• We surveyed thousands of franchisees, and delivered constructive feedback to their franchisors on how to improve their support.
• The Nathan Profiler was used by hundreds of franchisor executives to assess the suitability of thousands of franchisees.
• Our Net Promoter Score was a massive +87, possibly one of our proudest measures of success.
• Almost everyone who attended one of our conferences or educational sessions was very happy with their learning experience.
• We distributed thousands of our books all over the world, to people wanting to understand how to build profitable partnerships.
• Lots of articles were written and published on the psychology of business and best practice franchising, and read by many people.

What’s the mission of your business? And how are you measuring your success against this?

Thanks again to everyone who has been part of our journey this year, in helping us to foster the creation of profitable partnerships in the global franchising sector.