As many franchisors across the UK and the world expand into new territories, they require a franchisee partner to help scale their business. But the franchise recruitment process is not as straightforward as one might think. It requires a lot of effort and preparation and while there are some best practices, there are also loopholes that you should avoid. We’ve prepared a list of some of the most important ones to help you when you are recruiting for a franchise.
Dos and don’ts of franchisee recruitment
The franchise selection process is crucial because you’ll end up being in business with this person for the next 5, 10 or even 20 years. As a result, you need to ensure that the person who you’ll be entrusting your business know-how and clients to is completely responsible and committed to your cause. Here’s what you need to consider.
Do’s
- Background/CRB checks: it may sound odd that you need to do background or CRB checks on your prospective franchisees, but it’s essential if you want to be sure that the person has no criminal records against their name. In fact, franchisee background screening should be one of the first things you do before even presenting any of the documents involved in the process such as the Franchise Disclosure Agreement. Give yourself the added peace of mind that this person is honest and has no prior criminal records.
- Credit score checks: another check you should be doing is credit score checks. Franchising necessarily requires the payment of the franchise fee and an initial liquid capital investment. You need to ensure that your prospective franchisee can afford these costs, otherwise, you risk wasting a lot of time and effort on someone who doesn’t have the capital to join your brand. If you do a so-called “soft-pull” check, you’ll also make sure that these checks don’t affect the prospective franchisee’s credit score. It’s a win for both sides.
- Financial history: the potential franchisee’s financial history will also be relevant. You want to know that they are responsible with money and their finances because they’ll ultimately be a part of your earnings as well. In addition to a financial history check, also do check their other business shareholdings. This will ensure you prevent any possible conflicts of interest from arising.
- Bankruptcy-lien-judgement search: this is critical because this way, you’ll know whether your prospective franchisee has had any judgements against them that have declared them incapable of holding a leadership position in a business. What’s more, is that liens and judgements stopped being reported by the credit bureaus in July 2017. So double-checking this aspect should put your mind at ease.
Don’ts
If you are wondering how to recruit franchisees, it’s crucial to remember that there are some serious don’ts when it comes to the recruitment process. The following are what you should be looking out for:
- Skipping the brand persona: a brand persona is crucial if you want to attract the right leads on your budget. This brand persona will focus on the franchisee’s personal qualities, skills and/or qualifications, experience, level of commitment, desired lifestyle, minimum investment, motivation and goals. This avatar must also consider what makes your franchisee tick, what motivates them, what are their ultimate goals and do they have the necessary drive to make your business successful. Other important considerations include their location, business acumen, people management skills, and of course, a business plan assessment.
- Avoiding planning your strategy: just like any marketing strategy, you need a franchise lead generation plan. Without this plan, you are surely going to aim and shoot in the dark hoping to hit your target. It’s simply not feasible. You need to set a proper budget for this task and then implement a strategy around it by exploring what franchise directories are offering as well as other channels and then implement it while testing out what works and what doesn’t. Set goals for yourself such as 10 franchisees over a period of 12 months. These will be your key performance indicators (KPIs) against which you can measure your success.
- Not advertising: in this day and age, everything happens digitally and online. If you aren’t online, you’re unlikely to find a solid franchisee prospect. This is why you need effective and targeted advertising strategies to ensure you reach your prospects better. Make sure you offer them as much information as possible to help them make an informed decision and choose your business over others.
- Being unprepared for the interview: it’s tempting to think that you know your business inside out and that you don’t need to prepare for the interview once you’ve attracted some franchisees. But that’s not correct. You will always have a question you’ve never heard of before and being able to answer questions from every possible angle will give the prospective franchisee more confidence in you and in your business.
- Viewing franchisees as business partners, not employees: finally, it’s crucial to view the franchisor-franchisee relationship as a business partnership. You’re not hiring employees. You’re recruiting business partners. These partners can help make or break your brand with their relationships with clients and service offerings. Therefore, there’s a need for a certain level of respect and equality between you two so that the relationship can thrive and that your franchisee can feel well supported throughout their experience with you.
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Bottom line
If you’re in the process of recruiting new business partners and you’re wondering how to attract franchisees, we hope that the do’s and don’ts mentioned above help you along on your journey. Franchisee recruitment is a process all unto its own and requires commitment, dedication and thorough preparation and planning. A clear strategy is essential if you want to sign up the right partner to join your business.
