Franchisors: if a candidate commits to discovery day, and you have mapped areas for them, please don’t then invite another buying group to that same discovery day for overlapping areas or worse the same area. If franchising is a relationship, how does that look to the candidate? It looks like you are in this for yourself!
We all know candidates get possessive of territory, and fear already makes most candidates irrational at this point in the process, so why would you jeopardize all the work we have done by inviting another buying group? Greed? To serve your best interest? I get it. You want the best person in that territory, but it’s not fair to the candidate who has done all that you’ve asked and who committed first – even if committing first meant minutes before the other party.
Please think about what you are saying to candidates with your actions. In the end, it’s your business, and you can do whatever you want, but as a consultant, it certainly gives me pause to sending more candidates your way.