Franchisee Satisfaction Survey Results:
Franchisees Speak Out About Their Franchisors

by Patricia Schaefer

Franchise Business Review, a national franchise market research firm, recently released its findings from an industry-wide survey of franchisee satisfaction. According to its president, Eric Stites, franchisee satisfaction is one of the most important factors for any prospective franchisee to consider before buying a franchise.

To measure franchisee satisfaction, Franchise Business Review surveyed franchisees from nearly 250 franchise companies, representing 45,000 franchisees. Franchise companies surveyed were all sizes, including smaller companies with as little as 10 franchise owners, as well as very large franchise companies with several thousand locations. Franchises were evaluated in five areas: training & support, franchise system, franchisor/franchisee relations, financial opportunity and overall satisfaction.

"Our franchisee satisfaction survey is one of the largest studies every done on franchisee satisfaction and the results speak volumes about the companies that made our Franchise 50 list," says Stites.

From first to tenth, the top rated Franchise 50 are:

• Heaven's Best Carpet/Upholstery Cleaning
• FASTSIGNS International, Inc.
• Budget Blinds
• Precision Concrete Cutting
• 1-800-GOT-JUNK
• Parmasters Gold Training Centers, Inc.
• Computer Troubleshooters
• CertaPro Painters
• Truly Nolen of America
• Tax Centers of America

Survey results, says Stites, were full of surprises and "amazing comments from franchisees; both good and bad." Many of the long-established franchise ratings systems traditionally do not measure or calculate franchisee satisfaction into their scoring formula. Franchise Business Review's top 50 offers some fresh new franchise company faces who are real winners in the eyes of their franchisees.

"Heaven's Best, our top winner", Stites said, "was one of the biggest surprises." With more than 15 years of experience in the franchise industry, Stites had never even heard of Heaven's Best before: "Here's this franchise company with more than 1000 locations that has franchisees who are extremely happy and making money. The majority of these franchisees are working an average of only 30 to 40 hours a week, and when asked, 'If you had to do it all over again, and you knew what you know today, would you invest today?' 88 percent of their franchisees said 'yes' and 10 percent said 'probably (the average is 40%).'"

Franchise Trade spoke with Heaven's Best CEO Cody Howard just a day after he had the opportunity to review his company's survey results. Naturally very pleased and ecstatic, Howard embodies in his words and enthusiasm their company slogan of "A Company You Can Trust." Howard was glad to see that his company's commitment to "honesty and integrity in everything we do" -- and their genuine concern for their operators and customers alike -- had not gone unnoticed by their appreciative franchisees.

Heaven's Best started franchising in 1983, and according to Howard, "the number of our franchises has doubled in the last five years, and we plan to double in size again in the next five." Howard makes no qualms about the fact that Heaven's Best is only looking for franchisees who are "a good fit" with their company. "We realize that not everyone is cut out for this. And we're looking for a hard worker, someone who's honest, has a clean-cut appearance and gives honest service to our customers."

Even with Heaven's Best's overwhelming satisfaction on the part of their franchisees, Howard expressed his company's desire to strive for more; in his words, "How can we improve even more? How can we do better for our operators and customers?"

In addition to awards given to the top 50 franchise companies with the highest levels of franchisee satisfaction, Franchise Business Review has also awarded 22 franchise companies with "Best in Category" status in their industry. Budget Blinds was rated "Best in Category" in the Home Services Industry category and ranked third overall in the Franchise 50 2006 Franchisee Satisfaction Survey based on the feedback of 439 franchise owners (69% participation).

Franchise Business Review has published both Franchisee Satisfaction Survey and Best in Category results at http://www.Franchise50.com.

Copyright 2006, Attard Communications, Inc.