18 Questions for Potential Franchisees to Ask Themselves: Part 2
In the first part of this series you considered nine questions any potential franchisee should ask themselves about how to get started in a franchise business. Here are the remaining nine questions you should ask yourself as you start to explore different franchise opportunities.
10. Do I want a new or established system? While an established system may have more support and you may feel more secure about your financial success, a new system may allow more creativity and independence.
11. Do I want a large or small franchise system? About 60% of all franchise companies have fewer than 50 locations, so you'll have a bigger choice if you opt for the newer, smaller systems.
12. Do I want a system with slow and steady growth or one experiencing rapid growth? This changes franchise to franchise, and will often depend on how many hours you would like to put in over the first couple of years.
13. What kind of attitude do I want from the franchisor? Paternalistic? Dictatorial? Collegial? Laid back?
14. How important is name recognition? On a regional or national basis? Maybe in your specific location, you feel a well-known brand name would be a huge draw, or the complete opposite.
15. Will I be happy with one or two franchised units or do I want to own multiple units or develop an entire area?
16. How much can I realistically invest in a franchise (money that does not have to be borrowed or raised elsewhere)?
17. How much should the total investment be? Is it worth it to put more up front and get more in return, or to start small and gradually work your way up?
18. Do I need to find a franchisor that offers a low-interest financing program or has an established third party financing relationship?
How Fran Dev Teams Can Become Hyper Efficient In Their Prospecting Efforts
These are the types of tools guaranteed to qualify, and in many cases disqualify, your franchise candidates early and often. Tech like this is fast, affordable, easy to use, and critical for tightening up your lead filtering process.
Franchise Hurdles
The first point I made ties into this, but you need to make sure you’ve done your research before you go ahead and sign a franchising agreement. And that doesn’t just mean from a financial perspective. There are so many other aspects in running a franchise that you need to understand before you get started. Most of this information can be found in the Franchise Disclosure Documents. Some of the most important things you should take a look at would be any legal issues the franchisor might have and the churn rate of franchises. Both of those could potentially be pretty significant red flags that might make you want to reconsider whether or not you want to open that franchise.
At the Intersection of Office Coffee, Subscription Revenue, and Opportunity
In a $400+ billion global coffee market, office coffee-as-a-service remains the great untapped opportunity (cold brew pun intended).
