As a complete wide-eyed, impressionable rookie back in the beginning of my corporate franchise experience post-university, I used to think that every franchisor had the franchisees’ best interests at heart. “Why wouldn’t you?”, I thought. “Happy, high-volume, successful franchisees is the goal, and it makes the franchisor’ life easier and more lucrative.”
Now with my decades of experience, I have seen the brutal truths of some franchisors that just wanted to use franchisees as a vehicle to get rich. NOTHING WRONG WITH GETTING RICH. Just don’t do it off of the backs of hard-working, naive people.
I have also seen the genuine care about franchisee success with some of the franchisors that I have worked with. People that truly cared and were passionate about their success, seeing their franchisees families grow in the business and live a life they only dreamed of once upon a time.
My goal is to make sure that franchise candidates are never subjected to the former type of franchisor. I can usually smell it a mile away with just a few clues from the FDD, the history of the leadership team, or the sales pitch.
I also recently was contacted by a candidate that had been working with another “consultant” that according to him was “completely clueless and just throwing anything against the wall”. I looked him up and he had 4 months of experience as a broker with no prior franchise experience.
Please make sure you are working with a legitimate, experienced franchise consultant BEFORE you talk to any franchise brands.