There is so much information available to you from all the different franchisors available to you.

It’s hard to sift through all of the information and find the things that are actually important to you. Everyone is shouting their ‘Key Features’ at you, but a company’s key feature isn’t always key for you.

You need to create a filter for yourself. Create a list of the things that are most important to you, so you can look for them. If a company doesn’t offer a ‘must-have’, you can count them out.

The problem is, that it’s hard to know what should be a ‘must-have’ for you, especially when you’re new to this, so it’s very easy to get distracted by special offer and shiny marketing. These things are there to distract you, and get you to make a decision to make a decision on emotion.

It’s FOMO (fear or missing out). You might be told that if you don’t join by the end of the month, prices will go up, or you might miss out on additional ‘free’ features, or that you’re going to miss out on a training spot, so act now, pay your deposit to secure your spot.

It’s all about creating a sense of urgency, so remove the time you need to dig into the real details that matter.

So, if you are offered this by anyone, if any pressure if applied. Do yourself a favour and step back. I guarantee those ‘special offers’ will be there again; it’s just a playbook of pressure marketing.

Take a step back, and do your research properly. Forget the distractions.

So what should you be looking for? What should be important to you?

Here are a few questions to ask yourself:

• What kind of business do I want?
  • Do I want to work for someone else, or have my own identity?

• What kind of training do I want?
  • Face-to-face or Zoom?
  • Group or one-to-one?

• What kind of support do I want?
  • Direct head office support or mentored by a franchsiee?

• How much independence do I want?
  • Might I want to stand on my own two feet one day? Would I benefit from having my own brand identify?

• Is this long term or short term for me?
  • For long term should I pay a slightly higher franchise fee to get a better commission split for the lifetime of my business?

• Short term, should I pay a low fee, give more away for a couple of years, they get out?

• What’s my exit plan?
  • Am I going to make a bit of money, leave and start something else from scratch?
  • Can I create something saleable?
  • Can I create a business to pass down to my family?

• How much do I know about the numbers?
  • What are the outgoings on top of the franchise fee?

• How will I find customers?
  • If it’s through the ‘master franchise’ brand, will I actually get enquiries? What happens if I don’t? How will I market my brand?
  • Do I need to know how to generate my own enquiries without relying on friends and family?
  • Have I got a customer list a through friends and family already? What happens if they don’t book with me?

• Do I get the feeling the franchisor is just after my franchise fee?

• Am I being rushed? This should be a red flag

• What range of suppliers will I have access to?
  • Will I be competitive compared to existing brands?

From this you’ll be able to start creating your own list of must have features, and you’ll be able to eliminate certain franchisors from your list. Even is that’s us, congratulations, you’re one step closer to finding the right partner for you.

I’d love for all franchisors to be open and honest about the model on offer. But the truth is, there’s a lot of smoke and mirrors, lots of distraction, and lots of half-truths.

To have any chance of making the right decision, you need to become comfortable asking the uncomfortable questions.

If they get the franchisors back up – maybe you’ve found out they’re not the right partner for you. If any of this speaks to you. If you’re worried you’re being railroaded, pick up the phone, or book a call, and we’ll help talk things through with you…with total honestly.