The sale of a franchise must be conducted with the precision of a surgical intervention. It is a “person” who sells a franchise, not a site, a catalog or a technical file. The result is going to be a life changer for the franchisee and a new brand building opportunity in a territory for the franchisor. No more no less. How not to put everything you have in each interview?

I found after my 30 years experience, that franchises have to be "sold". Franchising is developing long-term relationships. To sell franchises, you must first sell yourself, be consistent, believe deeply in the system that is being sold, tell your own story and your own vision of the future. When the day ends, the most effective sale ever made is building a relationship. In general, people buy who likes and deserves trust, and in franchising this is the most important thing. I don't understand selling franchises in a "supermarket," like cars or centrifugal pumps.

How to make the potential franchisee trust the franchisor?

The franchisor must get people to know him by telling them his own story. His experience, his challenges, his family history, his vision of the future. Prospective franchisees want to know that about franchisors, before letting them "come into their lives." And the franchisor should not be afraid to count his failures, because that makes him more human and shows his strength to recover.

Failure is not the opposite of success but is part of success.

When you sit face to face with a potential franchisee and look him in the eyes, you can ask some questions that no application form or landing page can get. It is the same difference that exists between sending an email and saying the same thing personally. Gestures, anxiety, irony, intuition, clarity, predisposition, empathy, purpose, personal values, vision, entrepreneurial instinct, cannot be transmitted in writing in a cold and depersonalized email.

These are my questions.

Q1) Why do you want to buy a franchise?

This is the most important of all the questions. The prospect wants to stop doing what he is doing to face a new lifestyle with the promise of financial independence. But you have to delve deep into the predisposition of the person to conduct their own business, especially if it comes from corporate life. This is where the gestures, emotions and sincerity of  “not collecting a salary every month” count. Are you going to accommodate yourself to this?

The franchisor must be honest with this delicate subject. Very few franchisors tell their prospects that over a period of time, the franchisee is not only not going to withdraw money but is going to have to put it down. That is, during the first months there will be a financial gap for the payment of wages, taxes and fixed expenses that will not be able to be covered by the franchise revenues, and that, this difference, will then have to be added to what is shown in the franchise financial plan, as an initial investment, a "buffer" sum that few calculate with precision and that will serve to pay those expenses.

Financial independence, if the franchisor system is respected, is going to come sooner or later, and if several franchise units are opened, then you can think of making a good economic difference. But the start is going to be very hard, no matter what brand and proven system the franchisor has.

So if the prospect answers this question by talking about ROI, internal rate of return, payback period, maximum financial exposure, and net present value since the first interview, you should discourage him from going into the franchise world. The franchise is not a financial investment, and the franchisor must clearly explain to the prospect that when he started his business, the same company that now has a successful brand and concept, he never thought of those Wall Street financial technicalities and that he went forward against thick and thin, fighting with banks, suppliers and tax collection agencies, and that he wants his franchisees to have the same entrepreneurial spirit as him, his family and his partners.

No franchisor needs financial yuppies in his network.

What would I expect as an "ideal" response to Q1?

I love the brand, I have followed it for a long time as a client, I want to be the owner of that brand in my territory, I am passionate about this business and I am going to put my soul into making it a success.

Q2) What things are not negotiable for you?

We all have a series of values that shape our lifestyle and that we have decided to adopt as behavior, so that we are recognized and qualified. If the prospect says, for example, that his core value is spending a lot of time with his family, then he should move away, for example, from gastronomic franchises, which are highly absorbing, and lean towards franchises that open half Saturday and don't open on Sunday.

Other values that arise from this question are territory, personal development, the desire to learn permanently, respect for the rules, training, work in a friendly environment, healthy work, and the daily support of the franchisor.

What would I expect as an “ideal” response to Q2?

I do not want to be a gear in a machine, I want to learn and grow, since I am going to put my soul into this endeavor.

Q3- What do you love the most of this franchise?

The word "love" is key. One must "love" rather than "like". The answer is decisive. The sentimental link must be achieved and, in this response, the emotions shown by the prospect should be taken as definitive.

What would I expect as an “ideal” response Q3?

The brand, the excellent product and the passion showed by all the franchise employees I visited.

Q4- What are your main fears and concerns when buying this franchise?

It is normal for a prospect to have doubts, fears and concerns, given that his life is going to change dramatically.

The main doubts go through the hypothetical fact that the revenues predicted in the Excel model given by the franchisor are not met. I do not like that this arises. Rather, the prospect should say he will bill twice what the model says. But that rarely happens. Instead, what you need to do is have a very good proof that revenues showed are perfectly achievable.

Another very common fear is the idea that "I get out of one prison and get into another" (!?). That is, the prospect has the fantasy that the franchisor will martyr him, control and demand more than his previous employer. Explaining that he (the franchisee) is the business owner, and that he have to comply with rules, but that success or failure is his responsibility, everything is arranged quickly.

The idea to work with these concerns is to make the prospect think, asking what he would do to solve or remove these problems. This will put into play the proactive energy of the prospect and will give us the opportunity to analyze his level of creativity when solving practical problems, which will undoubtedly come in the daily operation of the franchise.

It should not be forgotten that almost all problems are not real and only live in the head of the sufferer. If we handle the conversation in such a way that we help the prospect deny these problems, there will be an almost miraculous cure.

What would I expect as an ideal response to Q4?

The biggest fear and anguish I have is to keep doing what I'm doing now.

Q5- Do you think you are going to seriously contribute to this brand growth?

The idea of this question is to know the degree of self-esteem that the prospect has. If he feels too small to contribute to the growth of a well-established brand, a red light will turn on us about its future performance. The franchise networks are built with an infinity of "micro relationships" that have to do with a whole that is the “brand”. The contribution of each franchisee is enormous, as well as their errors and their incorrect uses of the brand and the system. So everyone's actions count a lot. The degree of awareness that the prospect has of this, will give us an idea of how he can behave in the future and what are his expectations for personal growth in his territory.

What would I expect as an ideal response to Q5?

You will give me the “best franchisee monthly award” several times and I will travel the world thanks to my performance.

Q6- Do you think that the business model of this franchise adjusts to your personal strengths, your personality and your lifestyle?

An introvert, for example, will not be able to deal directly with the public. This question is more a joint evaluation between the interviewee and the interviewer, of how the purchase of these franchises could be faced, according to what we are seeing as the behavior of the prospect in the interview.

We can talk for a long time about this question, because we will be able to know a lot about the prospect’s lifestyle, and ourselves make a mental image of what it would be like as a franchisee of our brand. If we make a mistake, we are going to cause a failure in the prospect's life, who will be forced to close or transfer his franchise, with the consequent associated headaches.

What would I expect as an ideal response to Q6?

I think I have everything I need, but if necessary, I will adapt to the rules of the brand to achieve the success I need.

Of course, there are many more questions. But these should not be missing. Make your best to hire the best franchisee of the territory.

You can check out my other posts here: https://www.publish0x.com/franchise-matters

Publish0x is a gret idea. Consider signing up with my link: https://www.publish0x.com?a=J0dNkpAveL

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to leave them down below

You can also contact me at [email protected]

Twitter @SirGerardThe1st

Telegram @franchising_group_argentina