DEB FARNWORTH-WOOD, Founder Australian Skin Clinics Franchise.

What’s the next version of franchising that will keep the industry alive?

I like the idea of a flexible franchise that is built on a collaborative approach where the entire group benefits. Franchisors need to make their money from the success of their franchisees, not through additional charges.

Where should the franchisor set franchisee profitability on the priority scale? Franchisee profitability is absolutely critical to the income of the franchisor, so good benchmarking practices are vital.

Social media – should it be locally owned or driven by the franchisor?

In the beauty industry, everyone who cares about their looks seems to be a social media expert by default, and it’s an incredibly powerful tool for our business. But there would be some franchising areas where there is no innate social media experience within their stakeholders, in which case the franchisor should be providing useful, frequent content.

What’s the critical weapon to keeping a franchise community in the circle of trust all the time?

I believe there is real power in group meetings, that problems are better solved collectively rather than individually. The franchisor needs to be viewed as being down in the trenches with the franchisee.

What’s the one piece of technology that no franchise system can afford to ignore? A fully integrated real-time system that allows the franchisor to have a good overview of all elements of the business, at all times, with fast feedback to the franchisees of emerging performance indicators and trends.