This week’s Entrepreneur University comes courtesy of Diarmuid Kieran. Diarmuid is the Webmaster for the franchise opportunity sites network. Diarmuid shares withs us the top factors franchisors consider when they are evaluating franchisees.

“When franchisers meet with potential franchisees, they will be looking for certain personal characteristics to judge whether they would be suitable to run a franchise or not.

It is very important that people wanting to be franchisees have enthusiasm for the company and are confident that they can help to continue its successful expansion. Therefore, a good understanding of what the franchiser does and how it operates is essential.

Even if the franchiser has not directly asked for a business plan, it is advisable to produce a document outlining how the business would go about raising its profile to attract customers and staff and some of the goals to achieve in the first few months and years.

Although an optimistic outlook is valuable, potential franchisees need to acknowledge that in the early stages it is unlikely that large profits or in some cases any profit will be made. Franchisers will want to know that their franchisees will not quit at the first signs of poor financial results.

They must also make it clear to the franchise company that they know they are chiefly responsible for the success or failure of their franchise.

Another key characteristic to have is being a good communicator, as a franchisee needs to deal with the franchiser, staff, suppliers and customers, otherwise it will be difficult to be successful.

Being able to effectively interact with people and explain things in a clear and straightforward manner will create loyalty, value and trust.

When talking to potential franchisees, franchisers will also be expecting a number of questions to be asked to demonstrate a great willingness to learn and seek help when needed, as opposed to believing you know how to run things with little assistance.

Each franchise company is different and so potential franchisees are advised to enquire about any unique practices and systems at the first meeting if they are not told about them initially.

Ideally, they need to show a balance between working on the development of the individual franchise and functioning as part of a team.

Ideas for improvement are welcome as long as franchisees are aware that they need to use the business systems and practices of the franchiser, which have enabled it to expand. They need to accept that decisions made on changes to each franchise are for the benefit of the whole franchise family.

In addition, it is important for potential franchisees to show that they will value their employees.

This is because a belief that employees deserve trust, a degree of responsibility and the chance to offer meaningful contributions to the business is very likely to make them more productive.”

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Evan Carmichael
YoungEntrepreneur.com Blog Manager

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