Mortgage brokers top satisfaction list

The mortgage broking industry has surfaced as the leader in overall satisfaction among franchisees, with Smartline Personal Mortgage Advisors and Mortgage Choice taking the top two spots in a recent bi-annual review.

More than 2,000 franchisees from nearly 70 systems were surveyed by topfranchise.com.au, which has rated Australia's top franchisors according to their franchisees.

The free service, which was created by research house 10 Thousand Feet, looked at set criteria including renewal, recommendation, rewards, passion and support to rank the nation's leading franchises.

The review into the satisfaction levels of Australia's franchisees has revealed that being part of a franchise group has paid dividends over the course of the past year with a 5 per cent increase in franchisees' belief that they will be able to sell their business for a good return on investment.

Nedlands-based Smartline, which tops the list for the second time, which now has more than 200 franchisees, grew its network from 140 advisors by acquiring Western Australian-headquartered Mortgage Force in the past 12 months.

The broker has managed to successfully integrate the two businesses to still have the most satisfied franchisees in Australia, topfranchise.com.au found.

Smartline founding managing director Chris Acret said the key to a successful franchise was to ensure the franchisees were satisfied.

"The great thing about the topfranchise award is that the result comes straight from the mouths of our franchisees and is validation for the great team work that exits between our support team and franchisees," he said.

The survey also found that the big mover in the past year was from the mortgage industry.

Mortgage Choice with more than 300 franchisees has undergone a range of improvements since the last survey, to move into the number two position.

The firm's focus in improving key areas has been reflected in the popularity of its system with seven times the number of new franchisees starting with the business this financial year in comparison to last financial year.

The franchise's overall satisfaction rating had increased by 22 per cent.

New entrants to the top 10 for the first time were fast food company Chooks Fresh & Tasty, a Western Australian brand with 34 outlets, which has since moved into the east coast with six stores in Queensland and Tasmania.

Bedding company Snooze, which has 70 outlets and is part of the Steinhoff Asia Pacific Group, also made it into the top 10.

Snooze's improvement in the past 12 months was off the back of a 35 per cent improvement in franchisees' rating of their ability to get a good return on investment and a 50 per cent increase in their rating of Snooze providing ongoing financial guidance to help franchisees operate profitably.

Founder of topfranchise.com.au Ian Krawitz said it was great to see franchisors improving in key areas of financial guidance and helping their franchisees get a better return on investment.

But he said financials were not the only area of consideration in franchisee satisfaction. The topfranchise.com.au survey also takes into account seven different indicators of franchisee satisfaction.