Discovery Day. ✔️ Meet the Team Day. ✔️ Confirmation Day. ✔️ These are all phrases that mean the same thing in franchising. How do you know that you’re ready for a discovery day? How do you complete your due diligence and feel completely competent in the work that you’ve done so that you can be confident in your final answer to franchise or not? Let’s talk about the 7 most commonly asked questions regarding Franchise Discovery Day.
#1: Is discovery day virtual or in-person?
Many franchises have figured out how to offer a virtual discovery day and may never go back to in-person events, but there are still franchises who really believe in the face-to-face interaction that can only happen from an in-person discovery day. If you’re going to potentially invest your life savings into a franchise business, it’s important that you get a strong sense of the people you’ll be working with. Nothing can really replace that face-to-face interaction of a real discovery day.
#2: What happens if I go to discovery day too early?
This is a common mistake that candidates make, especially candidates not working with a strong franchise consultant who can guide their process. The discovery day really should be your closing tool—not the franchisor’s. Strong franchisors are using the discovery day to confirm everything that you’ve already learned during their due diligence process, where they’ve been guiding you from one call to the next call to the next call, leading you to validation with owners and then closing all of that due diligence with this confirmation day. Do not go before you’re ready, no matter what a franchisor says about how there won’t be pressure to sign or there won’t be pressure to make a decision. The reality is this discovery day event is used to culminate your due diligence.
#3: Can I go to more than one discovery day?
Ultimately, you can do whatever you want to do. It’s your process. But as one of the top consultants in the country, I’m going to tell you that you’re only cheating yourself if you try to attend more than one discovery day. When I have a candidate who says they want to attend more than one discovery day, I know that they’re probably not going to invest in anything. They’re demonstrating to me that they’re not capable of making a decision that they feel confident about. Find some criteria that helps you put one business slightly above the other if you find yourself in the position where you absolutely could go either way. Then, go to that discovery day for that company that’s eking out and see if when you’re there, you feel confident to be able to say yes if you’re even awarded the opportunity to move forward. And if you go to that discovery day and you’re still not confident, then you put that business to the side.
#4: What if I’m not quite ready for THIS discovery day, but the NEXT one is so far away?
This would be the only time when I, as your consultant, would say it might be beneficial then to go to the discovery day a little bit premature, so long as we set the expectation with the franchisor that there may be a few things you still need to do if you are approved and you decide you want to move forward before you’re ready to actually commit and sign.
#5: When do I know that I’m ready for a discovery day?
Owning a franchise is all about leadership, and the leadership should start right from the due diligence process. It really shouldn’t be on you as the candidate to know what you need to know to say yes. There are steps that should be followed in a proper due diligence process, steps that are offered by the franchisor to help you learn about their toolbox.
#6: What will I learn at discovery day?
It’s important at this discovery day that you have the opportunity to meet the people that you’re actually going to be working with—the president, CEO, the operations team, the support team, the people that you are going to be relying heavily upon when you say yes to this dream.
#7: What should I expect after discovery day is finished?
I want you to be the leader of your own process. I want you to use this discovery day at the right time, so it is your closing tool. When you become the leader of your process during due diligence, and you empower yourself through the process to know that you’re going to be ready at this discovery day event, then you are going to feel empowered to say yes or no because you went in with the expectation that you were in control and this is what you were going to do.
If you’re ready to explore your future in franchising, I’d love to offer you my free franchise consulting services. Please contact me directly using the form below!