What business are you in? I asked the gentleman. His reply was “I’m in the food business.” Really? I said, then you’re not a franchisor? “Oh yes we are, we have over 100 units in the US”.
I replied, “Well then you’re actually in the business of franchising, food is just the vehicle.”
You see, while every franchisor distributes their unique brand of products or services, they are essentially in the business of creating businesses (franchise locations). Franshising is a business about building businesses, get it?
Why is this important you ask? Before you invest your time, effort money and future in a franchise business, you should do a reality check with the franchisor to see if they understand that they are in the business of “franchising” and they need to be outstanding at that, not so much selling their brand. Most candidates spend their time investigating the franshisors effectiveness at positioning their products or services and distribution or sales while not verifying that the franchisor is skilled at being a franchisor- see the difference?
Ok, let me say it this way. Mary Smith sells wonderful widgets. Everyone in America wants them, needs them and can afford them. So Mary decides to franchise her widget selling business. Only one problem, Mary has no knowledge or experience in building a sales team, developing training, providing communications to a network, providing support services and so on. She’s only good at selling her wonderful widgets, not building franchise businesses.
Young brands often suffer from this lack of experience in franchising. Take the time to research the franchising skills of the brands that you investigate. More to come…
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