When individuals embark upon the process of considering a
franchise as the next stage of their career it should be the start
of a long-term relationship. Franchise contracts last for a
minimum of 5 years and can run to twenty years plus with automatic
renewals. The first time a prospect meets with a franchisor,
it's a blind date!
Will they get on?
Will they meet again or discover that they don't have anything
in common?
That first meeting sets the tone for the relationship as that
meeting both parties will see if the pheromones fly or whether
there a mis-match between the two.
Assuming sparks fly the ‘courtship’ continues as each party
learns more about each other – subsequent ‘dates’ introduce the
friends and family of each other meaning that the franchise
prospect meets more of the franchisor team and, importantly, the
other system franchisees, those that have already joined the
system. Those are the ones that can tell the real story and
separate it from the franchise sales pitch – hopefully they are
aligned!
Eventually the relationship approaches a decision point – a
‘go or no-go’ situation. Liken this to the courtship phase
when approaching the time to get engaged – it’s a huge decision.
At this stage the parties should have shared their lifelong
Vision and both are bought in to what that means – this is really
important and I’ll return to it later.
As the wedding day approaches – in franchise parlance the
Franchise Agreement will be signed rather than the marriage
certificate – many franchisors celebrate as their ‘family’ is
expanding and there is strength in numbers. Franchisors
should celebrate at this stage, it is a joyous time but often
Franchisors quickly head back to the fields and seek out more
prospects to meet with. Sure they will deliver their
induction programme but are they focused on building on that
relationship or just finding more and more franchisees? In
the mature franchise systems of course they have the financial
muscle to do both hopefully but many systems are immature and have
to chase new franchisees for reasons of revenue generation –
understandably.
However, for me it is all about building deep and long-lasting
relationships beyond the wedding day and this is why sharing Vision
is so important in the early part of the relationship. If
both parties know where they are headed they can start out on the
journey together and build a lifelong partnership. They’ll
recognise that there are imperfections in each other and when they
hit the inevitable blocks in the road it is the Vision that will
help them get past them – without detriment to the relationship.
Of course there may be a few ‘discussions’ with each other
but with a shared Vision the road blocks will dissipate and the
partnership can get stronger. Without a Vision don’t be
surprised to find divorce on the cards – and that is painful for
both parties as there can be no winner in that scenario.
I’ve been fortunate to share Vision with many franchisees and
when that happens you build deep long lasting relationships that
can survive challenges when they occur – together. Of course
I have got it wrong too in my early career and that hurts but
experience is about learning from mistakes and thankfully I have
taken steps not to repeat those mistakes. Make sure if you
are looking at franchising as a career that you understand what you
are entering into and who you are entering it into
with.
Franchising is a great career choice for many people if they
choose the right partner, but if you get it wrong it can end in
messy divorce!
