What Information Franchises Want
About Me and Why
When you request more information on a franchise, or meet
with a franchise consultant they will generally all want
a great deal of information about you. Half of it can seem
like a job application and the other half more like a bank
loan, but try not to let it worry you as it's something
we all have to do and for the most part, you will be dealing
with professionals who respect your privacy.
Why does a franchise need all this information about me?
Easy. Not all franchises are for all people. In fact,
owning a franchise period is not for everyone. All franchises
are different and require different types of people
to run them. Different personalities, skill sets, experience,
goals and of course financial positions. Finding the
right owners and operators is just as critical to a
franchisor as choosing the right franchise is to you. Both
parties are facing significant risks with each new franchise.
"But I'm the only one investing any money so I'm the only
one taking a risk" - Not true!
While franchises do incur significant costs with each
new franchise developed it is true that you the investor
is the one that actually lays out most of the cash for
your franchise but the success or failure of your franchise
will have an impact on every other sister franchise across
the country. With each transaction you are not only representing
yourself and your franchise, but the entire brand and all
it's franchises. If you receive bad service from a business
that happens to be a franchise you generally assume that
all of those franchises give the same level of service.
To this day there is a certain fast food restaurant that
I won't set foot in based on 1 single experience from 1
meal in 1 single franchise. Because 1 of thousands of franchises
failed to maintain a certain standard it has damaged the
reputation of everyone of it's locations. Now that's a
pretty strong example, but it demonstrates the point.
In addition to a customer's point of view, your success
or failure with a given franchise will impact the overall
perception of that franchise as a business opportunity.
A franchise with many success stories sounds like a better
investment than one with many stories of failure. It's
important that franchises find people who resemble the
types of people behind their successes.
So - when you start your franchise information research
and quickly learn that most want as much information about
you as you do they - don't be surprised and don't take
it offensively. They just want to make sure they have the
right fit and that you are someone who could potentially
succeed with their particular unique system. When you do
finally find your perfect franchise opportunity you will
be grateful that they use the same scrutiny in developing
future franchises to protect what is now, partly your brand.
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