Discover the right franchise

Nigel Toplis gives his top tips on finding the ideal opportunities and making the best of franchisors’ Discovery Days

Prospective franchisees will use different methods and media to seek out the right opportunities when it comes to finding a franchise. All have their place and all offer different benefits. Magazines are useful because they allow you to look at a cross section of franchises, in your own time, with no disturbances. Additionally, magazines such as Business Franchise provide independent editorial with plenty of hints, tips and advice – invaluable tools when considering the world of franchising which can, to the uninitiated, appear a potential labyrinth of information.

Exhibitions provide another means of learning about different franchises but with the added benefit of being able to talk to a number of franchisors under one roof. These events offer the ultimate opportunity to collect a lot of information across the spectrum of franchises in a relatively short space of time.

To maximise the value of going to an exhibition you should do some pre-planning. Gathering information is all well and good but better to gather more information about franchises that might suit you. So before you go set some basic parameters – list the type of business you think you would enjoy, for example outdoor, retail or business-to-business (B2B) franchises. Then set a budget and think about what you can realistically afford – remember not to overstretch yourself. Just by doing these two simple things you will have narrowed the field down and given yourself more time to spend with companies that at least meet your initial criteria.

The bfa website is a very useful and popular point of reference and, as well as giving you lots of information on each member franchise, it has the incalculable advantage of featuring only bfa members. So, anyone looking for a franchise knows that every franchisor on the bfa website is accredited and approved.

Then of course there are Discovery Days. As a franchisor I have used Discovery Days – for our education franchise, ComputerXplorers and for Recognition Express, a long-established B2B business. Discovery Days allow the franchisor to be more personal with people and meet prospective franchisees on a one-to-one basis and provide a further in-depth meeting to the initial introductions made at exhibitions.

Discovery days also offer a number of benefits to prospective franchisees:
• Getting to spend some time with the franchisor
• Meeting with existing franchisees
• The opportunity to ask questions and hear answers to those others may have
• No commitment and you can be as anonymous or as direct as you wish

At our Discovery Days we have found that the greatest benefit is getting prospective franchisees to meet both with each other and with existing franchisees in a non-threatening environment. However, to get the most out of going to a Discovery Day you need to have a plan for the day. Decide why you are going and what you want to get out of the day – simply going along to get more information won’t be enough.

You will certainly have the opportunity to question the franchisor and most likely existing franchisees – so prepare a set of questions that you need the answers to. Ask questions that will reveal the scope, success, opportunity and challenges of the business.

 Possible questions to ask the franchisor include:
• Profitability – ask for three years’ reports and accounts.
• Knowledge – question the market and the latest trends.
• Success – how long has the franchise been in business and is it successful?
• Support – ask to see detailed support plans. Examine the company
organisation, chart and note improvements made to its systems (or
not). Does it have the manpower and intellect in each key business area?
• Chemistry – do you like the franchisor and head office team?

Possible questions to ask a franchisee
include:
• Are you making money?
• Do you get on with the other franchisees?
• Has the business affected your family life?
• Does the franchisor offer good support?
• Are you lonely?
• Do you enjoy the business?
• Is the business giving you what you expected when you first came on board?

At the end of the day you will be investing in the system more than anything else. If the current franchisees are following it, enjoying it and making a good profit from it, you could do the same.

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