As a potential franchise investor, you may be
tempted to scour the internet to try to find something that interests you, and may
even find websites that review franchise opportunities and then make
recommendations as to which one to buy. While the internet has a lot of great
information in this regard, more often than not you’ll be doing yourself a
disservice if you rely solely on an internet recommendation. There are a number
of reasons why you should be cautious of any review of a franchise opportunity
on the internet.
Website Objectivity
The first reason that you should be cautious
is that the website owner may not be as objective when evaluating franchises as
they lead you to believe. Quite often, franchise companies will pay a website
owner an "affiliate commission" for publishing a pre-packaged review
of their franchise opportunity on their site. When you click through to the
franchise site itself, the website owner may be paid a small commission. This
provides an incentive for the franchise review site to rank their listings based
on how much commission they are paid, and not what franchise has the best track
record of success.
Only Half a Loaf?
A second reason to be skeptical when evaluating
opportunities on franchise review sites is that the data provided is often
scant. The purported investment level may only include the initial franchise
fee, thus not taking into consideration a myriad of other upfront costs
necessary to launch the business, such as equipment, leasehold improvements,
initial marketing, working capital, etc. Therefore, a prospective investor
could be wasting valuable time looking into a franchise they may think is
affordable based on what a website is reporting, only to find that the total
investment is much higher once they’ve been provide with the Franchise
Disclosure Document. Another important factor that franchise review sites miss
is the role that the individual owner
must play in driving the success of their franchise unit, which leads us to our
next reason for caution…
They’re so Impersonal!
Lastly, but most importantly, a website does
nothing to get to know YOU personally. That’s where a FranNet franchise consultant
comes in. As your trusted advisor, a FranNet consultant will spend the time to
get to know you as a person – your transferable skills, core competencies, lifestyle
needs, resources, motives, and your dreams. We also utilize our proprietary assessment
tool (developed by a behavioral psychologist) to profile your franchising
"personality" to help determine which franchise concepts are most
worthy of your investigation. While internet sources and business periodicals
may be able to evaluate franchises using hard data, such as the number of units
sold or revenue growth, they miss the mark on enlightening readers as to what it takes to own and manage a
successful unit. By contrast, a FranNet consultant will recommend franchises
for you to research based on how your personal profile aligns with the profiles
of top performers within those systems. It’s one thing to read or hear that
there are people making great money with a particular franchise, but quite
another to determine if you’re able and willing to do what those folks have
done, and without sacrificing a balanced lifestyle.
Internet franchise reviews and other
information available online can be good starting points when you first
consider the franchising model of business ownership. But, be careful, and take
franchise websites with a grain of salt, as there are many quantitative AND
qualitative factors to consider. Only an experienced, knowledgeable, and
personable franchise consultant - one you like and trust - will help you conduct
the due diligence required to render an intelligent, well-informed decision
that’s right for YOU.
At FranNet, we offer you sound business
ownership guidance and coaching in a safe and professional environment. We work
with a wide variety of pre-screened franchise concepts, thus offering choices
for our clients to explore based on their own personal profile. Our services are
provided at NO COST and with NO OBLIGATION to our clients, so why not let us
help YOU?
