By Tim Parmeter on January 18, 2023
We’re going to talk about just one word in the English language: decision. In particular, we’re going to discuss the “decision” around which franchise to choose.
With almost every single client we work with, the word “decision” comes up. Clients say “I need to make a decision” or “When will I make a decision?” – but what if we told you that you’d never have to make a decision to know which franchise is best for you? Would you believe us? Or would you roll your eyes in disbelief?
Well, it’s true. Here’s the thing: You will never have to make an actual decision. We say this all the time to our clients throughout the process, and every single person rolls their eyes the first time they hear it.
So how can it be that something as life-altering as becoming a franchise owner can be done without EVER making a decision? Well, we’re glad you asked. This article will explain how this is not only possible but an absolute certainty.
How Can You Make Such a Big Decision… Without Actually Making a Decision?
Before we at FranCoach ever connect people with franchisors, we go through a three-step process to figure out “what you want to be when you grow up” and what’s a priority for you in your career. Many people don’t realize how important these things are in franchise ownership.
Step One: Getting to Know What You Want
In the corporate world, industry experience is often the driving factor in finding your next job. That’s not the case when it comes to franchise ownership. In fact, it’s almost never the driving force. Most people start a franchise in an industry they have little to no experience with, an area they wouldn’t have thought of on their own, and oftentimes even an area they didn’t even know existed.
So if not industry, what will we be looking for? When you work with FranCoach, we’ll ask a variety of questions about talent, skill set, core values, and more:
- What are you good at?
- What do you want to do as an owner?
- Who are the people you want to be around in terms of your staff, customers, and community?
- What conversations do you want to be having?
- What are the core values of your business?
- What does your customer profile look like?
- How do we build a team?
Of course, we’ll talk about the industry, but we’ll take a deeper dive to discover what will motivate you to get out of bed every day and take on running your business.
All of the more than 600 franchisors we’re partnered with are different from each other behind the scenes. By having relationships with these franchisors, we’ll be able to combine our knowledge of what the franchisors are looking for in a potential owner with our discoveries about what our clients are looking for in order to find a perfect match.
Step Two: The Discovery Process
Once we’ve discovered what you’re looking for in running your own business and found a few franchisors that would be good fits, we’ll begin the discovery process, which is a 6-8 week journey. The Discovery Process will include as many as 15 different steps along the way, and our team at FranCoach will guide you through those phases.
During this time, you will learn about all of the aspects of the franchise brands that we have paired you with. That could include understanding what the franchises do, how they are organized, their suites of services or products, what they look for in an owner, their sales and marketing, and more.
You will get a sense of the support mechanisms the franchises offer to help you as an owner. Some of those support areas might include marketing and sales, recruiting and hiring, overall operations and systems, site selection, negotiation for a location, financial modeling, business coaching, owner collaboration, and more.
We will also get into the Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) and cover validation calls with owners. There are many pieces to the Discovery Process, but each will help you gain a deep understanding of a given franchisor and provide you with all of the information you need.
The FranCoach Team will be there with you every step of the way to make sure that you are not missing anything, you’re processing all the information, you’re taking all the right steps, and you’re asking all the right questions. As we go through the Discovery Process, our clients gain much more clarity.
While the process can feel like a rollercoaster ride at times – there will be moments when you’re incredibly excited and moments when you are scared to death – it all comes to fruition at the end of the journey.
The franchisor is vetting you as much as you’re vetting them. It’s a system of mutual due diligence. FranCoach’s Founder and CEO, Tim Parmeter, likes to say that the Discovery Process is like dating. You’re not going to run off to Vegas to get married after the first date, nor will you be ready to sign a franchise agreement after the first call with a brand. Instead, you’ll both feel each other out over the course of the discovery process, which culminates in Meet the Team Day.
Step Three: Discovery Day
The discovery process will end with what we call Discovery Day or Meet the Team Day. Those two terms are interchangeable, and they both refer to the day when you as a potential franchise owner get to meet the franchisor’s entire team. It’s an opportunity to connect with everyone who’s going to touch your journey as an owner.
You will get to meet them either virtually or in person, depending on the franchisor’s policies. It’s a day that can be almost overwhelming with how much information is presented and at the realization of how much support you will receive.
As you gain more information and a better understanding of how the franchisor’s business works throughout the discovery process, you’re teeing yourself up to know whether or not it’s right for you. When you walk out of Discovery Day, it’ll be crystal clear.
You wouldn’t marry someone who’s a “maybe,” and hopefully you weren’t making a pros-and-cons list on the night before your wedding. In the same way, our clients don’t find themselves writing pros-and-cons lists after Discovery Day. You don’t want to start a “maybe” business. You want to start a business that’ll make you excited to get out of bed every day.
By the time you get to the end of the process, we’ll have helped you find out what you value and what you prioritize before we even introduce you to a franchisor. Then, we’ll have supported you over the 6-8 week discovery process in getting to know a franchisor that’s a good match for you. Once you’ve gone through that process, it won’t feel like a painstaking decision. You’ll just know.
Don’t believe us? Check out any one of the “In Their Words” episodes of our Franchising 101 podcast. In those episodes, we host former clients who became franchise owners, and in every single case, they’ll mention how it didn’t feel like an agonizing decision at all. They were able to trust their guts based on all the information they discovered along the way.
Thinking About Franchise Ownership?
If you’re reading this post, you’re probably already interested in franchise ownership. But it can feel incredibly overwhelming to search the web for information about franchising. That’s why we’re here. We can help.
FranCoach is a national search firm dedicated to working with individuals who are interested in owning a franchise. We've partnered with over 600 of the top franchisors in the country, spanning nearly 70 industries.
Our goal with clients is to help them find the absolute best franchise for them to own. Our goal with our Franchising 101 podcast series and this series of informational blog posts is to help educate people on all aspects of franchise ownership.
