How do you boil down more than 4000 franchise brands in 80-or-so various industries to the few that are most appropriate for your own purposeful consideration, especially when so many bad options advertise themselves as being great?

There are a lot of wrong ways to do this that might be entertaining or time consuming for you, but which are ineffective and inefficient. Many people begin their franchise research randomly by combining personal experience and interest with dozens of assumptions, they see a new location opening, they talk to a friend or see an ad that grabbed their attention, then they add random inputs into Google queries, and months or years later they feel painfully frustrated and disappointed after having wasted a lot of time and energy to learn only what they don’t want in a business or what they cannot have because it’s unavailable for purchase in their area, or it’s unaffordable, or it requires their involvement to a degree they won’t exercise, or it demands skills they don’t possess, etc. After hundreds of hours, they are back to Square One! ☹

Instead, I take an intelligent approach called The Very Best Deliberate Path, which starts by taking your measurements on more than two dozen different ownership criteria, from the obvious to the important. We discuss your purpose – your “Why?” – and I’ll learn to understand your likes and dislikes, your desire and capacity for scalability, your skill sets and weaknesses, your tolerance levels for investments and returns, your expectations and timelines, your lifestyle goals, your financial and intellectual ranges and desires, your capacities for sales or management, and more. Only after that do you and I begin considering the brands to approach.

For any franchise, territory availability can be a moving or a disappearing target. 

Generally speaking, franchisors won’t advertise that they are sold out in any particular market; doing so is a waste of their resources. Some franchisors sell out rapidly in certain cities, to the point where if you’re not an early adopter, or in the right place at the right time, then you might never have a chance of owning that franchise in your geographic area, regardless of your net worth or how awesome you believe the brand to be.

On your own, there are endless secrets about territory opportunities and dangers that you won’t uncover until you’ve invested weeks or months in research. You could still be waiting for a franchisor to respond to you.  Instead, franchisors are quick to respond to me regarding territory availability and special circumstances for the area. Some real examples:

If the brand is tenured, is a recognized name, or is marketed to you locally, chances are it’s no longer available in the area for you to purchase. You’re too late.

Maybe your desired zip code is owned by the brand’s Franchisee of the Year, but the zip code adjacent to that begins an equally attractive and available demographic market that’s ripe for buildout!!

Maybe all the towns and zip codes the franchisor purports to cover online gives you the impression that your desired territory is no longer available for purchase, but really they have only “loaded the website” to cast a wide net so that a consumer will assume they are within coverage area for services. Your desired territory area is available for purchase and development.

Maybe your desired territory is currently owned, but the franchisee who owns it is looking to move in order to care for an elderly parent in another state, and they’ll sell the business for just a portion of their own investment? 

Some information you’ll wrongly derive by presumption, while other information could take you a random, shotgun approach and weeks to learn the facts.  Instead, I could learn that information quickly by a well-placed request. In your overall research efforts, this type of information alone could save you hundreds of research hours.

All franchisors are required to state reasonable investment ranges in their disclosure documents. However, different franchisees in different markets can have different experiences. With access to this information in advance, I’m able to aid you in a way you won’t enjoy without my involvement. Again, this translates into far fewer research frustrations and less time investment for you as you’ll avoid wasteful effort.

Making claims of earnings, incomes, or expenses is NOT something I do. Meanwhile, if I understand the franchisee culture of a brand, and I understand what current franchisees expected when they were researching a franchise, and I’m aware of measures of franchisee satisfaction or dismay at various points during their business growth arcs, could that save you time and frustration in your search, avoiding rabbit holes in which you would regret wasting your time?

Our lives are finite. Among the greatest values of a franchise success model is that a new franchisee can enjoy a fast track to desired outcomes versus trying to do it all on their own. The franchise advantage is that, versus starting from scratch and doing it on your own, a franchise success model can save you from experiencing many years of frustrating and costly lessons, can divert you away from expensive and untimely mistakes, can provide you with the foundation, the framework, the guard rails, the confidence, the support team, the timely direction and advice, the economies of scale, the intellectual capacity of myriad business owners flying the same flag, and more to help you get yourself to where you want to go much faster and with fewer headaches and financial pains versus doing it on your own. 

And when it comes your time to exit, if that’s your plan, a good franchisor can help you enjoy a higher selling price then doing so without them, and can help you move on to your next endeavor faster (no buyer training or seller management agreement required).

Are you aware that sometimes your financing mechanism actually determines the legal entity you will establish to start and build your franchise?

There are lenders, and then there are franchise-familiar funding companies. There’s a world of difference between the two.

Would you rather take your loan down the street to a local banker who advertises business loans and who will be viewing your specific request for their very first time, or would you rather take it to a franchise-familiar funding company who has seen this similar or specific request for your desired franchise brand for the 31st time in the last two years?

There are multiple ways to finance a franchise business. I’ll explore this with you, and/or point you to the experienced people who can get into the weeds with you and who will include your financial advisor(s) in the discussion.

I’ve found that satisfaction is merely a result of expectations. Higher expectations must be met with greater and less common opportunities. The vast majority of my candidates seek options that inevitably fall into what is considered the top 7% of all available franchise brands. It is wise to discriminate when choosing franchise brands and franchisee operation models to research.

Mind you, “success” or “failure” is always the responsibility of the franchisee (the role you’re considering), NOT the franchisor. If we look hard enough, we can find a few successful franchisees among brands that are largely considered terrible disappointments, and we can find failing franchisees among brands that are measured among the most highly-rated franchise business models in the world. People do what people do.

Unfortunately, there are many franchise brands where franchisee satisfaction is low, and not one of those carry a neon sign stating such. Fortunately, however, there are also a great number of fantastic franchise brands and success models that regularly deliver on their expectations of support, direction, and development which a solid franchisor can facilitate. 

You are likely searching for Freedoms of Time, Money, People, and Purpose. I approach this endeavor with each individual candidate, focused on their own unique interests, skills, tolerances, and expectations. Each search and coaching process is designed to enhance the experience for each unique candidate and to maximize their efficiency and effectiveness throughout every phase of their franchise review process. That’s my commitment to you.