I begin this writing assuming as a fact that the reader knows perfectly well the broadest and deepest meaning of the words franchise, franchisor and franchisee, and I assume that you have an interest in franchising your own business or investing your money in a third party franchise.
Let's start by understanding that the correct expansion of any franchise, among other aspects, goes through the proper selection of its franchisees. In the same way, selecting a franchise as a business, to dedicate time, investment and passion to it, also requires proper selection on the part of those who want to start a business. In this way, the bidirectional selection that occurs between the potential franchisor and the potential franchisee is of vital importance for a healthy coexistence between the actors of a franchise network, benefiting the protagonist: the customer.
It is very convenient that those involved in a franchise are aware at all times that joining a brand or accepting a new partner in a network are extremely important processes that mark the future.
As creators of a franchise concept, we must learn to define our model franchisee, which is nothing more than a kind of "spoken portrait" of the ideal character to invest, work and lead daily life, face to face with our business. As investors, we must know where we will put our money, understand the business model, and assimilate the sacrifices that must be made for the franchised unit to function perfectly.
The task of linking with a new partner in a relationship of an institutional, business, commercial or industrial nature is an arduous and delicate task, even more so if an adequate selection is to be achieved, which guarantees a sincere, transparent, cordial, productive and productive relationship. positive.
Entering into a franchise relationship, either as a franchisor or as a franchisee, is the closest thing in the life of a company to a marriage in the life of a person. Either in the company or in the personal case, being able to say "I love you" and "get married" requires a high level of consciousness and rationality so that the chances of enjoying a pleasant, constructive and productive relationship are high. In fact, just as it is recommended that a person does not marry purely out of interest and does not marry being carried away by excessive emotions, a franchise relationship must be based on that same principle.
Based on the above, my professional recommendations towards a franchisor who wishes to include investors and operators in his franchise network, first of all, he must take care of knowing with a good degree of certainty the academic, business, financial, labor, legal background, family, personal, social and even criminal of the candidate. A proper investigation that is part of the preselection of potential partners will save us many problems of all kinds.
Of course, this is not enough, since after making the preselection, we must know if the candidate already filtered is eligible for our franchise, according to the profile of the model franchisee.
But how do we design the profile of the model franchisee?
Basically, as I said before, this is like doing a "spoken portrait" of the perfect candidate. We have to understand that to successfully perform the role of a model franchisee, the candidate must meet a set of characteristics that facilitate and favor their performance in all tasks.
Among them, that it is of the appropriate gender and that it has an age that is congruent with the requirements, that it feels affinity and interest in the concept, that it has sufficient emotional and psychological stability, that it has values and ethical and moral principles shared with those of the organization, and obviously, that brings together a set of abilities, competencies, skills, aptitudes and attitudes, as well as a work philosophy, so that it has the ability to successfully lead and manage the franchised unit, regardless of whether it is in favorable conditions or adverse. Of course, it is essential that the candidate exceeds the financial requirements, in order to guarantee the stability of the business in difficult times or in times of uncertainty. It goes without saying that it must display impeccable moral and commercial solvency.
This is like telling a son to choose his wife well. Try to fall in love with a girl from a good family, decent, cultured, intelligent, pleasant, studious, enterprising, hard-working, pretty, preferably solvent and with a good reputation. That she is extremely beautiful and a millionaire are not limiting requirements, but if in addition to all those attributes, the bride meets these last two, it would be even better.
A model franchisee profile is not defined randomly, nor by copying from other generic franchisee profile definitions that one may see on some other franchise cards. The definition of the franchisee's profile must be done using advanced marketing techniques, even using several professionals who work in a coordinated way on this matter. This is really the main task in which we must focus great efforts and invest time, since the consequences of choosing the wrong franchisee are equivalent to those of "marrying the wrong person"and they pay off for many years, with internal conflicts, fruitless battles, lawsuits, and many other problems. In fact, many of us know that the problem of marrying the wrong person does not usually end with divorce.
On the other side of the sidewalk, when we are investors and want to become franchisees, the situation, although it is very similar to the example of marriage, is somewhat different, in that instead of selecting who we involve in our franchise network, Now we have selected a franchise network for us to get involved in, which implies assuming as our own some values and principles of third parties, as well as their work methodology and organizational culture. We mimic ourselves and become part of them.
We must be very clear that when we intend to enter a franchise network, we are going to sign an adhesion contract, in which practically no clause is going to be modified at our request. Generally, these types of contracts protect the Franchise Headquarters very well.
Just like choosing a partner in life, deciding to invest and choosing a business option that works under a franchise scheme also requires good sense and a cold and calculating heart.
The first thing we must do is design a selection filter of possible franchise options in which I can invest. Of course, that filter has some generic components and other very particular components. I consider it pertinent for the investor or future franchisee to review a franchise guide for the country where he plans to invest and a regional franchise guide. There are many options there and the logical thing is always that the analyst selects all those options that seem compatible with their tastes, that conform to their moral values, that require competencies, abilities and skills that can be achieved or surpassed by the candidate and that can be covered, from a financial point of view, in full or through a loan under reasonable conditions.
After making this prior selection, we must proceed to carry out a comprehensive and in-depth analysis of each of the offers of the pre-selected franchise concepts, in their different formats or schemes, in order to have a clearer vision of the different options. For example, it could be that the A format of a franchise requires the permanent presence of the franchisee and an investment of US $ 200,000, while the C format of the same franchise requires the intermittent presence of the franchisee and an investment of only US $ 55,000. In that case, it would be necessary to analyze if the franchisee is willing to dedicate himself exclusively to the franchise, such as self-employment, or if the franchisee only wants to have a managerial supervision role as an investment director.We would also have to analyze the financial capacity and determine in which of the formats less or more risk is assumed, which of them is more profitable and what results of return on investment the candidate aspires. In short, this is an issue that does not have a single formula, but on the contrary, there are as many personalized formulas, as the number of aspiring candidates to become franchisees.
The assertive selection of the brand with which we are going to link for a long time business, commercial, organizational, is very important. For this, it must be done with a scientific methodology and not with a methodology based on the emotional.
There are those who nowadays believe that love, precisely what a couple is based on, is something mysterious that arises without any explanation, but also today many of us know that scientifically in love relationships there are a set of hormonal interactions that are what trigger all the biochemical and biological reactions, on which attraction and romanticism are based. Many of these interactions are physically based on messages sent and received by the members of the couple, on each other's responses, and on subsequent interactions.
In the same way, we must be able to interpret whether there are real possibilities that there is "love" in the "organizational couple" that is to be formed between the franchisor and the potential franchisee. We must determine if the franchisor's initial interactions with us as potential franchisees are appropriate, respectful, sincere, and valuable. If there is false information, not verifiable, that conceals data, that is seen as doubtful or that cannot be proven, something strange must have and we have every right to reasonably doubt.
We must also financially compare the returns of each of the business options that the different franchises offer us. Of course, a franchise is an investment and we must choose, from the ones that we like the most, the one that intuition tells us is the best, based on the one that has the greatest chance of being adopted by the market, the one that has the possibility of enjoying of a stable and lasting market, without it being a passing fad or a commercial boom, and one that represents a reasonable return on investment and a satisfactory return, even in unfavorable conditions.
For all this, we can conclude that as in the lives of people who form couples, the high rate of divorce of business couples in the franchise sector could be linked to the poor choice of the franchisor by the franchisee or the franchisee by part of the franchisor.
The Solomonic way of curing ourselves in health is nothing more than being rational selective when investing in a franchise and being rational selective when incorporating a new franchisee into our network. We understand once and for all that it is better not to do business than to do bad business.
In this regard, Doña Carmen, my maternal grandmother, always told us that "The way to avoid divorce is by marrying the right person, not the prettiest, or the most partying". Nobody paid any attention to him and almost all of us got divorced.
