There is kind of a myth in the business world that entrepreneurs are extreme risk takers. They seek out the high risk and high rewards everywhere they look.
But the reality is much different. In fact, it’s almost the opposite in many cases. Many successful people look obsessively for opportunities that are low risk with high reward. And obviously that makes sense.
We know that we can’t fully eliminate risk. But it make sense to look for the best opportunities.
If you’re looking to bring on franchisees to your business you’re going to have to do some convincing on how you help to lower the risk for those coming on board. Here are a few thoughts on how to do that.
1. Case Studies
We connect to the stories of others. The more case studies you have of your past and current franchisees, the better. You’ll want to focus on the best ones. But I’ve had some great conversations with franchisors that like to include data on all of their franchisees. Even the ones that struggled.
It’s kind of like reading online reviews. We like reading the good ones, but we learn a lot from the bad ones. Even if one person had a bad experience it doesn’t mean that someone new will have the same experience. It could be a learning data point and actually make the new person more comfortable knowing how to avoid the pitfall.
2. Conversations With Other Franchisees
You probably talk with your current franchisees. It probably depends on how big your organization is, but you probably have regular conversations with at least a few. Talk to them about how they might feel being a resource for potential franchisees.
Most will probably be open to these conversations. Talking about their experiences. Good and bad. What they’ve learned to work and what doesn’t work. Potential franchisees would love this opportunity. You could be included in the conversations, but it would probably be best if you weren’t in on those conversations. You can talk with each afterward about how it went and go into these with a learning mindset to learn what’s going well in the organization and maybe what could change.
3. Common Pitfalls
With the two above some common pitfalls will arise. It’s your job as the leader to be able to identify these and figure out solutions for avoiding them. One will be trying to identify when a potential franchisee is not a good fit and not letting them come on board.
Potential franchisees will want to walk through these issues. They’ll want to know if they feel they can avoid them. They’ll want to know if the risk is little. Just a minor setback. Or if they fall into an issue if they will lose everything.
4. Operational Support
Franchisees are entrepreneurs. They want to have control over their direction. But obviously franchising is a little different. A big appeal of franchising is buying into an existing model that works. You’re buying into an operation. Go into the support side of the operations and how you help franchisees with this side of things. Talk about how you’ve improved operations over the years and how you’re planning to improve in the future.
5. Sales Support
Sales are big in any business. Without new customers coming in any business will fail eventually. This is a huge concern for potential franchisees. They may have a sales background. They may be really good at sales. But even then they still will likely want support. They know that sales have ebbs and flows. They will want to know how you help franchisees in both good and bad times.
Conclusion
Easing concerns is a big part of leading a business. Franchisees are entrepreneurs. That means they want high reward with low risk. Or at least as much as possible. And you want these type of people on your team. They’re typically hard working. But they want to make sure they’re putting their work into the right opportunity. Make sure you’re prepared to talk about the big concerns surrounding franchising with your organization. It will go a long way to attracting the right people.