Are Your Field Visits Just Polite Check-Ins or Compliance Policing Exercises?

If your support team’s calendar is full but franchisee performance is stagnant, something’s wrong.

Box-ticking isn’t coaching. Reporting on what’s already happened isn’t strategic support. And turning up with no plan? That’s not field support, it’s a get-together with no substance!

We’ve got to stop confusing activity with impact. Because when field visits are poorly structured, poorly timed, or poorly executed, they don’t just waste resources, they stall growth, disengage franchisees, and undermine credibility.

Let’s fix that.

The Hard Truth: Why Some Franchisee Visits Drive Growth and Others Don’t

In my research study, one contrast stood out time and again: high-performing franchise networks approached field support visits completely differently to those that struggled.

Let’s break it down:

• In low-performing networks, some franchisees got loads of attention while others were barely contacted, not based on need or impact, but on proximity, noise, or convenience.In high-performing networks, visits were prioritised strategically, tailored to franchisee stage, performance, and commercial priorities.

• In low-performing networks, the purpose of field visits was murky. Were they coaching? Auditing? Catching up? Nobody could really say. In high-performing networks, the purpose was crystal clear: build capability, drive commercial performance, and strengthen accountability.

• In low-performing networks, every support team member did things their own way. There was no shared structure, no consistency, and no way to measure impact. In high-performing networks, there was a clearly defined visit flow, aligned with the overall franchisee success system. Support was professional, focused, and replicable.

The result?

❌ Inconsistency. Confusion. Disengagement.

Support teams felt stretched but ineffective. Franchisees didn’t know what to expect — or why it mattered. Time was spent, but impact was low.

✅ Clarity. Trust. Progress.

Franchisees valued the visits because they led to real change. Support teams were confident, aligned, and equipped to drive results.

The difference wasn’t how often visits occurred - it was how intentional they were.

WHAT Field Support Should Include

If you’ve already cleared out the timewasters and involved franchisees in setting smart priorities, the next step is to get laser-focused on what your field support visits should actually include.

In high-performing franchise networks, field support isn’t about presence - it’s about purpose. Every element of the visit is intentionally designed to develop capability, increase commitment, and drive commercial outcomes.

By contrast, in lower-performing networks, support often means turning up and hoping for the best. Visits lack focus, franchisees don’t know what to expect, and everyone walks away a little busier, but not necessarily better off.

So what’s the difference?

If you’re working through my book, The Ultimate Franchising Success Formula, then back in Element One you’ll have developed your Successful Franchisee Star Builder - a tool that defines the star behaviours of your most successful franchisees.

These behaviours form the backbone of your recruitment, development, and replication strategy and they should also guide the content and focus of your field support.

Now ask:

• What support does a franchisee need to strengthen each key behaviour?

• Which of these support strategies should be delivered during a field visit and which can be supported through other tools, systems, or resources?

Here’s an example:

If a key star behaviour is having a proactive approach to sales and local area marketing, then effective support might include:

• Reviewing current marketing activity and results against local targets

• Coaching the franchisee to build their own quarterly LAM plan

• Providing templates, examples, and peer benchmarks

• Reinforcing accountability by reviewing progress in future visits

By working through each behaviour in this way, you’ll define a visit structure that’s practical, tailored, and rooted in what actually drives performance.

In high-performing networks, field visits typically include:

• Behaviour-focused coaching aligned to the Star Builders

• Capability-building actions for both franchisees and their teams

• A review of key performance metrics and progress tracking

• Action planning aligned with network priorities

• Tacit knowledge sharing - the “learning and growing” conversations

• Ongoing encouragement and engagement

• Direct linkage to strategic initiatives and the overall success system

Low-performing networks don’t miss the mark because they lack goodwill. They miss it because they haven’t defined what good looks like.

If your field visits aren’t helping franchisees strengthen the behaviours that lead to success, they’re not support — they’re just noise.

Once the “what” is clearly defined, it’s time to shift gears and look at how your support is delivered.

HOW Field Support Should Be Delivered

Once you’re clear on what your field visits should include, the next step is to design how they’ll be delivered.

And here’s where many networks fall short.

In lower-performing systems, field support is often improvised. Each field manager runs visits their own way, based on personal style or instinct. There’s no shared structure, no consistent flow, and no system behind the scenes. It’s well-meaning but patchy, inconsistent, and often hard to scale.

By contrast, high-performing networks treat field support like a core business system. There’s a clear framework. Every field visit has purpose, flow, and structure, while still leaving room to tailor based on the franchisee’s needs.

That doesn’t mean robotic scripts. It means a shared foundation for quality.

Your Field Support Health Check should help answer key delivery questions like:

• What’s the most effective and efficient way to deliver the support activities we’ve defined?

• What should every visit include and in what sequence?

• What tools and resources are needed to support consistency and impact?

In high-performing networks, HOW visits are delivered includes:

• Pre-visit preparation - using data, past actions, and current priorities to focus the conversation

• Structured agendas - balancing review, coaching, capability building, and planning

• Shared templates and tools - so everyone is using the same language and process

• Live coaching - modelling behaviours, not just giving advice

• On-the-ground support for franchise team members not just the franchisee

• Tracking and accountability - progress is measured, not just discussed

And critically, support team members don’t just know what to do. They know how to do it well.

That means training your franchise support team in:

• Coaching skills - asking better questions, not giving more answers

• Commercial acumen - linking behaviours to results

• Knowledge transfer - drawing out what works and sharing it across the galaxy

When HOW is left to chance, outcomes are inconsistent. Franchisees disengage. Field teams burn out. And leadership has no clear way to measure impact.

But when HOW is defined and aligned? Field visits stop being random acts of support and start becoming a replicable engine of franchisee growth.

Once you’ve defined how visits should be delivered, the next step is to determine when support should be provided and how to allocate it fairly and effectively across your network.

WHEN Field Support Should Occur

Once you’ve defined what support should include and how it should be delivered, the final step is to determine when it should be provided and how to resource it sustainably.

This isn’t a one-size-fits-all decision. One of the key insights from my research is that support needs vary significantly depending on the franchisee’s stage of development.

Yet in many underperforming networks, support frequency is set arbitrarily, based on habit, history, or who asks the loudest. That leads to inefficiencies, missed opportunities, and inconsistent franchisee outcomes.

High-performing networks take a structured, evidence-based approach. They match support frequency to franchisee needs, business priorities, and available resources, ensuring support is both strategic and realistic.

Start with franchisee maturity

Using tools like Greg Nathan’s Franchise E-Factor and your own Star Builder behaviours, you can categorise franchisees by development stage and then define what level of support each group requires.

Here’s a practical example from the field:

Franchisee Stage	Visit Content (What)	Frequency (When)
New Franchisee (Glee/Fee stages)	Post-training follow-up, Five Star visit cycle, team TNA, benchmarking, knowledge sharing	Daily in first 2 weeks, then tapering to weekly, fortnightly, and monthly over 12 months
Established (Fee/Me stages)	Field coaching, team capability development, action planning, knowledge sharing	Every 6 weeks, plus ad hoc as needed
Free stage (no dispute)	Business-as-usual support, performance check-ins, engagement check	Every 6 weeks, with optional gripe session
Free stage (dispute)	Gripe sessions, mediation, breach processes	Every 2 months, with urgent ad hoc visits
See/We stages	Strategic discussions, accountability, mentoring	Every 2 months
Support Plan / Exit Plan	Tailored visit agenda tied to plan goals	Structured to fit support agreement, usually 5–7 half-day visits annually

 This approach avoids over-servicing franchisees who don’t need it and ensures that those who do get intensive support early on, when it has the greatest impact.

Consider your resourcing

Your field support frequency must also be grounded in what’s actually deliverable.

My research found no direct correlation between lower field ratios (e.g. 15:1) and better outcomes.

In fact, some of the highest-performing networks had ratios as high as 30:1 but they invested in high-calibre field support professionals and targeted, structured systems.

Key considerations include:

• How many days per year your field team can realistically spend on visits (typically around 100 days per person once leave, admin, and travel are factored in)

• How many franchisees are in each category

• Whether you need specialist roles (e.g. new franchisee support, financial coaching, sales and marketing) to supplement your generalist field team

• How responsibilities can be shared across departments (e.g. onboarding support from Learning & Development or local marketing support from the Marketing team)

Define and document expectations

Once your support rhythm is mapped out, make it visible. Provide your franchisees with a clear statement of:

• What support they can expect

• When and how often it will be delivered

• What’s expected from them in return

You can include this in your Field Support Handbook, operations system, or Knowledge Fuel Tank. The goal is clarity, not just for your support team, but for your franchisees too.

The result? A support system that’s fair, focused, and feasible, not one that depends on who shouts loudest or who lives nearby.

Once you’ve locked in the what, how, and when, you’re no longer just “doing field support” - you’re leading a structured, scalable system that supports franchisee success.

Wrapping Up

Field support isn’t just a function, it’s a strategic system. When done well, it becomes one of the most powerful levers you have for driving franchisee performance, capability, and engagement.

But if it’s unclear, inconsistent, or overloaded with admin and guesswork? It quickly becomes a drain on time, trust, and results.

If you want to shift from reactive support to a high-impact, structured field system that actually delivers on your vision of developing a network of successful franchisees, the steps are clear:

• Define what support should include

• Structure how it’s delivered

• Set a realistic, needs-based rhythm for when it happens

And most importantly - build the discipline to stick to it.

Let’s Talk About Your Field Support System

If you're not sure where to start, or you’re ready to refine what you’ve already built, let’s explore it together.

📅 Book a complimentary 30-minute call with me to discuss your current field support approach and identify the next step toward a more focused, effective system:

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Whether you’re building from scratch or reworking a system that’s outgrown itself, this is your chance to take a step forward with confidence.