The Ultimate Guide to Responsible Franchising

Chapter 4Matching Your Skills and Aptitudes to Opportunities

As you research different franchise opportunities, you are faced with the difficult task of answering five questions with great clarity:

• What are the key ingredients in the franchisor’s recipe for success?
• Which of the key ingredients do I possess?
• Which of the key ingredients am I missing?
• What is the franchisor’s track record of helping others like me acquire these missing ingredients?
• Am I willing to do what it takes to acquire these ingredients?

This requires great discernment on your part. As you investigate franchising, you will most likely work with a franchise sales representative (or development representative as they are sometimes called) who may not know all the ingredients needed to succeed in the particular franchise you are investigating. Few have actual experience operating the brand they represent, meaning they are theorists. That doesn’t mean their feedback isn’t useful and shouldn’t be trusted, but it does mean you need to conduct a thorough investigation on your own and to test the recruiter’s opinions and theories against franchisees’ opinions and experiences.

Understanding the Franchisor’s Motives

The franchisor representatives will generally know enough about operations to be competent in their roles as ambassadors to people investigating their franchise, but not to the extent where they could train and support new franchisees or run the franchise business competently themselves. While they ...