My Franchise Business Advice For The Week Of November 23rd, 2009

This weeks suggestion is for future franchise owners;

Don't assume you know what your role as a franchise owner would be in the franchise you are thinking of investing in. The pictures shown to you in a brochure, or on a website, may not portray your exact role. The best way to find out is to ask the franchisees that are already in the system you are researching.

Comments

[The Franchise King]

Chris and Jim,

Thank you for chiming in.

Chris, I agree with you. Totally. I don't think you have a real deep passion for the work you do for commercial establishments, but I'll bet you have passion being a small business owner, as opposed to a corporate drone.

Jim, I'm disagreeing with you here. What are the chances that you'll find a few prospective franchise owners who have a passion for let's say-direct mail advertising?

Now, you may find some folks who have a passion for sales and marketing, and that would be fine, but as a young franchisor, you need to look for people that want to work for themselves, and can do what is required of them as a business owner.

If they are average in sales, pass on them. If they are tigers, grab them, and see if they can get excited about your opportunity. It does not matter if they were selling panty hose to drugstore chains, or flour to cereal companies.

The important question to ask is this;

"Can they transfer their sales skills to your product/service, successfully?"

The Franchise King
Joel Libava

[Chris Wisbar]

I think having passion for something in your personal life that the business supports is more important than being passionate about a business. If you're passionate about how people's hair looks and buy a hair cutting franchise that's not going to cut it in tough times. The business should feed the passions in your life and not make you a slave to it. That's the difference between you owning the business or the business owning you.

[Jim Mandeville]

Talking about the role of the owner takes me to thinking about the passion of the owner as well.

As a potential franchisee, of all the franchisors I talked to/investigated, none of them really sat me down and asked me if their business was something that interested me as a business, would truly fit me over the long term, or if I had any sort of passion for. Frankly I don't think any of them cared. I firmly believe that people should have a passion (of some sort)for their business. Kind of a "do what you love" mentality. Franchisors are very good at "promoting the dream" of business ownership, but once the franchisee is in the business for a period of time, many of them really don't enjoy it at all. They become slaves to their business, with no excitement and enjoyment.

I know that some franchisors advocate "work on your business, not in it" To get the best of of any business, regardless of your involvement, you need to have some degree of passion (beyond financial)for the business itself.

As I am now an early-stage franchisor, I will be certain to screen candidates and talk to them very specifically about their interest and passion for the business. Passion is that important, much more important than simply cashing a check. No passion - no franchise.

Your thoughts?

[The Franchise King]

Thomas,

Thank you for that great advice.

As for Discovery days, I still think they are very valuable, as they let franchise candidates see and touch. They can also get a good sense of the franchisors corporate culture.

But, as long as your way works, keep on, keepin on!

The Franchise King
Joel Libava

[Thomas Scott]

That is great advice for sure. When I bought my franchise (after I went through the application and disclosure process) I talked to as many franchisees as I could and made 2 trips to see franchisees - a top performer and a bottom performer. Now that I am a franchisor, I encourage candidates to do the same once they are past the application and disclosure steps. We did away with our discovery days in favor of one on one field visits between a franchisee and a candidate and it works.