6 Questions To Ask A Potential Franchisee Before Signing The Contract

While expanding your brand footprint is important, finding the right franchisees to carry forth your brand is vital. Since the franchisees at the end of the day will be another representation of your business, it’s important to choose the people who have the characteristics and qualities that best match your company’s goals and values. Having a conversation with your prospective franchisees that include the below questions will reveal to you a lot about their personal and professional ambitions. Based on that, you can decide upon the worthiness of your prospect.

Related: How To Become a Franchisor?

1. Why Did You Choose This Brand And Why This Particular Industry?

This question would determine where the true interests of the prospective franchisee lie. Ideally, the candidate must exhibit his or her real desire behind the decision to invest in their brand or that particular industry. Passion is crucial for the success of the franchisees. It is best to avoid candidates that show lukewarm interest in the brand and are looking at it as a random investment.

2. Are Our Goals And Values Similar?

The entrant’s long term plans will be revealed through this. This question would help determine if both franchisor and the prospective franchisee are compatible enough to help each other to achieve success. However, in order to assess the future franchisee’s goals, the franchisor must first determine their own goals and values clearly.

3. How Will You Fund/Financially Manage This?

Investing in a franchise might not yield immediate profit and ROI and it would be unrealistic of the probable franchisee to have such expectations. As a franchisor, it is important to determine if the candidate has enough savings and investments, not only to sustain the new business but also his or her personal life. The candidate must be financially secure.

4. How Hard Are You Willing To Slog Till You Succeed?

As the cash flow would be minimal in the initial year, it would require a very hard working franchisee to bring forth quicker ROI. They must be willing to work smart and work hard without looking at the clock. If the candidate is looking for a typical 5 days a week, 9 to 5 work timings sort of franchise, whereas if yours would require more work and more man hours initially, then you might want to consider other prospects.

5. Do You Have Relevant Skills And Experience In This Industry?

While it is important to check the skills and experience of an interested party, franchisors must be prepared for the fact that a lot of people who want to buy their franchise may not come with all the criteria/characteristics they are looking for. Most trades can be taught and learnt. Franchisors in that case must evaluate the candidate based on their passion for the business, goal similarity, their willingness to learn and their commitment to market the business actively.

6. How Do You Plan To Market The Brand?

Finding and retaining customers is the key to success in any type of business. The franchisor has to determine if the probable franchisee will be responsible enough to be proactive in marketing and employing customer retention methods. However, in the case of a Single Unit Franchise, the marketing of the brand will be the responsibility of the brand owner or the master franchisee. In the case of a Master Franchise, 2/3 of the brand marketing will typically be done by the master franchisee and 1/3 of it will be done by the franchisor.