Franchising……a Retirement Plan or Prison Sentence?
Legacy signals
Legacy popularity: 1,435 legacy views
Legacy rating: 2/5 from 1 archived votes
Franchisors and Franchisees:
there are many conversations, in person and online, that are attempting to determine responsibility and accountability for the success or failure of a franchise. There is now chatter about whether buying into a franchise is a great retirement plan or a prison sentence…. (On LinkedIn, Franchise Network Discussion Group)
Being that I am a franchisee myself, as well as a coach with franchise consulting experience, here is my take, short and sweet:
The candidate absolutely should engage expertise and counsel by a franchise consultant and a franchise lawyer.
They should have financial projections and pro forma statements created; engaging an expert if needed, and are sure they understand ALL of the costs and expenses for running the business (dig deep, there are always surprises).
Be realistic with themselves what it means not only to be a business owner (with the skills required to do it), but also to work within the confines of a franchise. A core advantage of a franchise is the processes and systems. A core disadvantage of a franchise is the processes and systems, if you do not want to work the system. Franchises are not for the shotgun ‘cowboy’. Due diligence cannot be understated. It is the responsibility of the candidate to research, talk, interview and poll, etc. the potential franchisor, franchisees, and all aspects of the business they are considering. The franchisor is obligated to provide full disclosure, so be prepared with a very long list of questions for them covering every aspect of the business (and engage help to formulate that list if needed). That all said, the franchisor definitely needs to be completely open with full disclosure. They need to show their warts and highlight their strengths. Believe it or not, some folks are okay with warts if they understand the potential in the company (even the best corporations have warts).
Franchisors do need to do a better job at qualifying candidate owners. They have to raise the bar to ensure they get high quality and prosperous owners signing up. Awarding franchises for the sake of new franchises will cost the franchisor more in the long run and definitely in the short term.
Franchisors, your main objective is to grow revenue, expand footprint, and extend brand awareness in the marketplace. Therefore do not take short cuts in the awarding process, qualification standards should be high. Franchisors have to fully understand and admit to the gaps they have to fully service their franchisees. Then they need to hire, outsource or contract it! It is in the best interest of everyone (even if it comes with an additional cost). They will recover the costs if they have productive, profitable, and HAPPY franchisees, growing revenue, and expanding footprint.
Franchising is a great retirement plan and can make many people successful. It is up to BOTH the franchisee and franchisor to do their part to get the returns on the investment that will provide them prosperous retirements.
LIKE Shedding the Bitch(tm) on Facebook and get a Free Ebook
www.facebook.com/shifttorich
Buy the book at www.sheddingthecorporatebitch.com
Or submit your own story for publication in a future Shedding the Bitch book, or simply leave your comments at www.sheddingthebitch.com
Article author
About the Author
Author's Bio
As President of The Boas Group, based in Atlanta, Georgia, Be
adette Boas is “a ball of fire” who compels businesses to excel in achieving their companies’ and their personal superior financial goals.
Energy, passion and a wealth of corporate and entrepreneurial experience characterize her current business consulting, coaching and public speaking practice, extending her business into a global media communications firm that includes radio, television, books, CD’s and other educational medium.
Powered by Focal Point International, the business coaching and development organization of world-renowned speaker, author and coach, Brian Tracy, FocalPoint Coaching of The Boas Group deploys its knowledge, expertise, tools and leadership to help clients increase productivity, outperform the competition and reach new heights of success.
Two corporate decades of driving change and delivering significant revenue increases to Fortune 1000 retailers such as Wal-Mart , Federated Department Stores, Office Depot, Sears, and others, as well overseeing a Global Professional Services Organization Development team, have culminated in a consulting, coaching and public speaking practice that provides its services to new start-ups and established small and midsize businesses.
Be
adette Boas is a member of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, the Atlanta Business Alliance, Atlanta Women in Business, the Buckhead Business Association, Women Leadership Exchange, and the National Association of Professional Women. She is active with the Junior Achievement’s Fellowship Program, Toastmasters International, and speaks about “Creation of the Entrepreneur™,” to groups and companies of all sizes, at colleges and universities, United Way and Chamber of Commerce events, and business and association meetings.
Regards,
Be
adetter
Your Master Business Coach, Consultant and Motivational Speaker
Further reading
Further Reading
Article
How to Generate More Sales During the Holidays
The holidays are a busy time for everyone, but especially for small business owners/entrepreneurs. In addition to everything else you’ve got going on: this is a great time of year to be connecting with your current clients and potential clients. Yup, that’s right. This time of year is perfect for generating new business, connecting with those you serve in a way that feels good to you, expanding and moving your business powerfully forward into the New Year.
Related piece
Article
Is Nice Energy Sabotaging Your Business?
I’ll share with you that when I first started in business the image of a leader that I brought with me was an authority figure who has the power to hurt those that are following them. This was because I was so used to being around authority figures who were coming from a place of leading through fear (I came out of the very toxic public school system). I knew I didn’t want that in my business.
Related piece
Article
Protecting Your Energy with Your Thoughts
We all know that smiles are contagious. So are bad moods. Experts in the field of psychic energy say it's that energy – not the actual smile -- that connects you to the good mood of the other person. Now there are a lot of people that DON’T believe, but there is a growing percentage that believe ...
Related piece
Article
3 Sure Fire Ways To Connect With Quality Prospects (Your Future Clients)
Many of my clients share that one of their biggest marketing challenges is actually connecting with enough prospects. They are doing all of this great work in their businesses, but not very many people know about their work; or at least not enough for the flow of business to be moving smoothly and easily. Stop. Start. Stop. Start. Sound familiar? There isn't one perfect way to consistently connect with prospects, but there are many ways that, when used collaboratively, will build you a nice stream of people who are interested in what you do.
Related piece