Why Franchise Success Starts with Relationships with Brad Fishman

Franchise success depends on much more than selling franchises, opening locations, or generating leads. A franchise system can grow quickly on paper while problems develop underneath if franchisees are struggling, communication is weak, or the people involved stop trusting one another.

For more than three decades, Brad Fishman, CEO of Fishman PR, has had a front-row seat to the franchise industry. He has worked alongside emerging brands, established franchisors, franchisees, suppliers, and industry leaders, giving him a broad perspective on what separates healthy franchise systems from those that struggle.

One principle consistently rises above the others: franchise success is closely tied to the quality of the relationships throughout the system. Strong brands create an environment where franchisors and franchisees can succeed together, where communication flows both ways, and where decisions consider the long-term health of the entire organization.

Growth Gets Easier When Franchisees Are Successful

It is easy to assume that a franchise brand experiencing slower growth simply needs more leads. More prospects, more marketing, and more franchise sales can seem like the obvious solution.

Brad looks at the issue differently. Before concentrating on generating more demand, leaders should consider whether the underlying opportunity is strong enough to support the people already investing in it.

As Brad put it, “Growth becomes really easy when your franchisees are doing well.”

That idea gets to the heart of franchise success. Existing franchisees are more than operators within the system. Their experiences can become some of the strongest evidence that the business model works.

When franchisees are profitable, engaged, and confident in the organization, they can become advocates for the brand. Prospective owners can speak with people who are actually operating the business and hear firsthand what the experience is like.

The opposite is also true. Aggressively selling franchises before existing operators have a strong foundation can magnify weaknesses rather than solve them. More units do not automatically create a healthier franchise system.

Brad’s perspective is grounded in a simple question: Can the franchisee make money at this?

That question should remain important even as a brand becomes larger and more sophisticated. Franchise success requires a model where both sides have the opportunity to achieve meaningful results.

Relationships Create a Stronger Franchise System

Franchising creates an unusual business relationship. Franchisees are independent business owners, but they are also operating within a larger brand and following a system established by the franchisor.

That structure requires trust.

Franchisors need franchisees to follow the model, protect the brand, and take responsibility for building their businesses locally. Franchisees need confidence that the franchisor is continuing to strengthen the system, provide appropriate support, and make decisions with the health of the network in mind.

When either side begins viewing the relationship as purely transactional, tension can build quickly.

Brad has spent decades watching franchise relationships develop across different brands and stages of growth. His experience reinforces the importance of building genuine connections throughout the franchise community, including among franchisors, franchisees, suppliers, advisors, and other industry professionals.

Those relationships become especially valuable when leaders face challenges they have not encountered before. Instead of trying to solve every problem independently, they can draw on people who have already faced similar decisions.

That willingness to share experience is one of franchising’s greatest advantages. A leader may be encountering a particular growth challenge for the first time, but someone else in the franchise community has probably experienced a version of it before.

Franchise success does not require leaders to have every answer themselves. It requires being open-minded enough to ask questions, listen to experienced people, and remain coachable as the business evolves.

Protect Trust Before Problems Happen

Relationships become even more important when something goes wrong.

Brad and his team at Fishman PR have extensive experience helping franchise organizations manage communications and public relations. Over the years, that has included helping brands navigate crisis situations where franchisors, franchisees, employees, customers, attorneys, and the media may all need information.

His advice emphasizes preparation and consistency.

When a crisis happens at an individual location, there should already be clarity about who needs to be contacted, who is authorized to communicate, and what process the organization will follow. Without that preparation, people may react independently, creating conflicting messages and potentially making the situation more difficult.

A consistent message is important, but crisis preparation is really another example of relationship management. Franchisees need to know where to turn. Corporate leaders need reliable communication from the field. Marketing, public relations, operations, and legal teams may need to coordinate quickly.

Trust is much easier to rely on during difficult circumstances when it has already been built during normal ones.

This is why franchise success cannot be measured only by unit count or systemwide sales. Healthy systems also create communication structures that help people navigate challenges together.

Culture Has to Be Deliberate

As organizations grow, another challenge emerges: the behaviors and values that once seemed obvious can become harder to maintain.

Early employees may understand how the founders think simply because they have worked alongside them for years. Newer employees do not have that same history. As the organization adds people, locations, departments, and leadership layers, relying on employees to absorb the culture informally becomes increasingly risky.

Fishman PR has addressed this by deliberately teaching what the organization calls the “Fishman Way.” Brad credits the agency’s president, Deborah Vilchis, with formalizing that effort and creating opportunities to train employees around the principles and skills that matter to the organization.

The larger lesson applies to almost any growing company. Culture cannot remain entirely dependent on the founder.

If certain standards, behaviors, or values are essential to the organization, leaders need ways to communicate and reinforce them. Training should not be treated as something employees complete once. It should be an ongoing part of improving performance and maintaining consistency.

The same principle applies within franchise systems. As the organization grows, franchisees need opportunities to provide feedback, understand expectations, strengthen their capabilities, and remain connected to the larger mission of the brand.

Systems provide structure, but relationships help those systems work.

Franchise Success Requires Shared Responsibility

Perhaps the most important idea is that neither the franchisor nor the franchisee can create franchise success alone.

The franchisor is responsible for developing a viable model, strengthening the system, protecting the brand, and providing the support promised to franchisees. Franchisees are responsible for following the system, operating effectively, developing relationships within their local markets, and taking accountability for their own performance.

Both sides have responsibilities, and both sides need the other to succeed.

Brad’s perspective also highlights the importance of honesty before a franchise is ever sold. Not every successful business should become a franchise, and not every concept is ready to expand simply because there is interest in it.

Brad shared that there have been situations where he advised businesses to reconsider whether they were ready to franchise or whether investing in public relations made sense at that stage. His reasoning was not about securing the immediate engagement. It was about whether growth would ultimately create a healthy opportunity for franchisees.

That long-term thinking matters.

The first franchisees in a system are particularly important because their results can influence future validation and growth. Helping those operators establish a strong foundation can ultimately be more valuable than racing to sell the next group of territories.

Franchise success is therefore not simply about getting bigger. It is about building something worth growing.

That requires strong economics, clear systems, honest communication, accountability, and people who understand that their individual success is connected to the success of others throughout the organization.

Relationships do not replace strategy. They make good strategy easier to execute.

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About Brad Fishman

Brad Fishman is CEO of Fishman PR, a public relations and marketing agency specializing in the franchise industry. Brad joined the company shortly after its founding and has spent more than three decades working with franchise brands and leaders to build visibility, credibility, and stronger reputations.

His experience extends throughout the franchise community, including work with emerging and established franchise brands and leadership roles within the International Franchise Association. Brad is also a co-founder of Franchise Springboard, an initiative designed to bring franchise professionals together to share experience, build relationships, and help growing franchise organizations succeed.

Throughout his career, Brad has built his reputation around relationships, honesty, industry involvement, and a commitment to helping franchisors and franchisees create healthier opportunities for shared success.