Are you ready to challenge yourself with this pop quiz?! Are franchises: (a) bought, (b) sold, (c) awarded, or (d) all of the above?
We use the word ‘buying’ a franchise because you’re investing your money into the franchise. A franchise development person will educate you about the opportunity, introduce you to the company’s toolbox, the opportunity in general, and the industry. They’re going to pique your interest in the opportunity, teach you about what I call the ‘Book Theory’ of the franchisor, then get you into the validation process, where you can validate the opportunity in the real world by talking to the existing franchise owners. This entire process sets you up to end up at a Discovery Day when you will get exposure to the leadership team to ensure these people have your best interests at heart and feel like a good franchisor partner for you.
Let’s flip the story around and see it from the franchisor’s perspective:
The franchisor uses a consultant to hunt down executive candidates in transition, investors looking to diversify their portfolio, looking for people who have an interest in exploring franchise opportunities. So, the franchisor comes to FranChoice and Kim Daly to look for candidates with certain backgrounds who live in these markets who have this much money. The franchisor will go to the consultant to find the most qualified people that live in the territories that they have to develop that are financially qualified for their opportunity. So, that’s the perspective first on what they’re positioning their opportunity to the people who are going to be the most qualified. They then have developed a franchise sales process that they want to guide candidates successfully through so that you can be educated on the industry, the opportunity, the unit economics, the marketing, the training, the technology they have, so that proven toolbox they want the opportunity to give you the plan, to tell you, in their words, what their plan is and how it should go.
Then they develop a sales process to help you become the most educated you can be, culminating in that Discovery Day event, which is the mutual evaluation day. This is the day when they get the close-up interaction with you to, one-on-one, mutually evaluate if this is the right fit. Now, in most franchises that I work with, there is exposure to this executive leadership team prior to Discovery Day. But it’s at this Discovery Day event where you’re going to be culminating your research and using this event as your closing tool. From the franchisor’s perspective, they’re going to be using this Discovery Day event as their closing tool. After Discovery Day is over, they are going to set up a call with you and let you know whether they believe you are a good fit for their organization: a cultural fit, you have the skill set, you’re financially qualified. They are going to award you the opportunity to move forward or not. So, you are buying a business that you’ve done thorough due diligence on through a sales process. And then ultimately, you will be awarded the opportunity to move forward—if deemed by the leadership team, that you would make a good fit in their organization.
The answer is, of course, (d) all of the above!
If you are ready to begin your franchise due diligence process to determine if YOU should buy a franchise business to go through the sales process to be awarded the franchise opportunity, I would love to be your daily coach. Please leave a comment below or reach directly out to me by -email for more information on how to explore a franchise and to select the right one for you.