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Are You Franchise Material?

Written by: Michael Hemenway

Article Overview: To become a franchisee, you need to be a leader with good communication skills. Moreover, you should be a hard-working individual who is open to learning new ideas. Besides, you will also need the required money to become a franchisee.

Are You Franchise Material?

When you read reports that approximately 97% of franchises remain open even after the difficult first three years; the attraction of this booming industry becomes too hard to resist! But before you start looking for franchisors, here is a checklist for you to make sure whether you can become a good franchisee.
• Are you “people-friendly”? The biggest thrill of franchising is that you, as a franchisee, are supposed to interact with a lot of people, such as your customers, your vendor and of course, your franchisor. You need to have enough people skill to handle each one of them according to their status. Moreover, you must have a charming personality with great sales skills to impress your customers. With your vendors, you will need negotiation power and with your franchisor, you are required to be articulate and organized, so that you can maintain the best of terms.
• Can you learn easily? Franchising business is all about following a successful business model diligently. But, you can only follow, if you learn it really well. For that, you should have the patience and temperament of a student. If you are too much of a free-spirited person, you may find the different clauses and restrictions of the franchisor too suffocating. But that doesn’t mean that you have to be a blind follower; you must have that much spark of creativity to mould the model of the franchisor to your maximum benefits.
• Are you a hard worker? Many think that taking up a franchising business is very easy and it’s all about getting associated with an established brand. You may also think that you will open the doors of the shop and customers will come rolling in! But, that’s not the entire story. Though it’s somewhat true that the name will bring in customers, but to keep them coming back, you are supposed to work really hard.
• Do you have enough financial stability? There are franchising businesses to suit every pocket. But you should have more than the franchise-prescribed budget to cover family expenses and other emergencies.

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Article Tags: budget, business model, charming personality, clauses, creativity, doors, family expenses, financial stability, follower, franchise, franchisee, franchises, franchising business, franchisor, free spirited person, maximum benefits, negotiation power, patience, successful business, temperament



Related Forum Posts
Re: Enticing Franchises - Top 9 List - All Franchise listed above are in millions of dollars. Do you have the list of Franchise in thousands
Re: Info for would be franchisers... - [quote="Sebastien":1d29sdv1]Like Franchise Times, Franchise Update is a very practical magazine. There is no blah blah, just straight facts that anyone in the franchise community can relate to. I just want to mention that all these magazines are NOT franchisee oriented. I mean these magazines are for franchise professionals. If you're looking to buy a franchise, you won't find much information in there. To answer your question, getting published in Franchise Times was fairly easy. I don't want to brag too much but I think I am known in the franchise industry. I was the marketing guy at Franchise.com for a few years before joining my new company, the World Franchising Network. So people know me and I have a very good relationship with Nancy Weingartner, the Managing Editor at Franchise Times. I was talking with her at the last Franchise Expo South in Miami and she mentioned she'd like me to be profiled. I was like "ok, sure!". I like this franchise executive profile thing in Franchise Times as it is rarely BS. People are usually really natural in there.[/quote:1d29sdv1] Thanks for the follow up Sebastien! And I can't say that I'm surprised that networking with the right people and managing your relationships with them properly are the keys to being published. I guess the old adage holds true of "it's not who you know, but who knows you" that's important.
how much for a franchise fee? - Dear Colleague There is no easy answer to this question. Things to consider: [list=] The sizeof the Franchise Clent base Expected Turnover Intellectual Property costs (recoup) Number of Franchises Number of employees Original Set up costs Franchise admin costs An example: A franchise that I was involved in setting was to a simple "lawn mowing/home repair" franchise. The Franchise included national/local advertising - preparation of client lists - general admin - central accounting etc The Franchise involved 300-500 clients - and an annual turnover of about $300,000 . The annual franchise fee was $30,000. Hope that this gives you some idea Take care Ian[/list]
Re: Franchise Surveys - Another good tool to researching a franchise is to speak with their existing franchisees. This contact information is included in most Franchise Disclosure Documents. In order to get a Franchise Disclosure Document or FDD as it is often referred to, you will have to complete a basic franchise application. The franchisor will then usually provide you with the FDD at that time. Included in that book of information is a list of the existing franchisees, the contract, the investment information etc... This information is required by Federal Law to be disclosed to your prior to making a purchase. So be sure to do your research and start with the Franchise Documents to get the initial information.
Re: Info for would be franchisers... - [quote="Sebastien":2gam0klq][quote="BuzzAroundBooks":2gam0klq]Like Franchise Times, Franchise Update is a very practical magazine. There is no blah blah, just straight facts that anyone in the franchise community can relate to.[/quote:2gam0klq][/quote:2gam0klq] That is really what I look for in any industry publication. We lead busy lives and when people fill their magazines with fluff, not only does it benefit no one, but it makes us truly appreciate those that don't. Thanks!


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