Franchise Opportunity Review: Cost,Time and Value

Anyone who really understands franchising and how the disclosure process works needs no more than an hour to judge the quality of an offering (on paper, including marketing materials and/or website). Even with new offerings, a checklist of questions made ready for the prospect, or asked directly by the analyst of the franchisor, the time spent doesn't approach two hours. Anyone in the know would agree. (Buyer beware - if the person selling review services doesn't know franchising or is only reviewing the 'agreement', they can spend a week and not detect the landmines.) The real time eater is two-fold: 1) explaining to the prospect what was found, and 2) explaining 'why' what was found is potentially lethal (which will be true in most cases). Outcomes can be interesting. For those who had their arms twisted into getting some help, going forward with a junk purchase is not uncommon. "OK, there are a few little things we found out, Honey, but this person is paid to be picky. Anyone can see that this is a great franchise, especially for us." For those who really listen and 'get it', most don't buy the franchise, and actually don't go into business at all - and shouldn't for many reasons. (Note that in terms of personality, independents are a different breed altogether from prospective franchise buyers.) Hundreds of thousands of people enjoy kicking franchise opportunity tires as a cheap form of entertainment, but serious 'new' buyers have to make not one or two, but three critical decisions: 1) get some help 2) get some competent help 3) listen to the help. Buying a franchise is not a 'do it yourself' project for the uninitiated.