Light Bulb Moment

Hi there,

I haven't posted on this blog for a while, so I thought it was time for an update. From October 06, I met another person who was interested in the franchise. We talked (a lot), she had the agreement and even went to the bank and got a loan for the franchise - all sounded really promising.

Then out of the blue in early Feb 07, I got a call from her saying that she'd changed her mind (sound familar?). I arranged to meet her and talk it through, but her heart was set on running a coaching business, and not this one.

So, that's twice now that someone has been yah close to signing and it has fallen through at the last minute.

I was feeling quite gutted about this and then someone asked me the other day how it was going and I told them. As I was talking, I realised that most of the franchises that people buy are things that they couldn't do themselves without a significant amount of training - so they can't go off and start their own business in this field as they don't have the know-how.

My light bulb moment was realising that perhaps I haven't made my offering tight enough to make people realise that they can't do the franchise on their own.

These last couple of weeks then, I've been working on how to tighten my offering and shortly (I hope) I will relaunch the website to reflect this - watch this space!

In the meantime, I'd really welcome thoughts, comments and suggestions as to why you think potential franchisees are committed all the way through and then change their mind at the last minute - I don't know whether my assumptions above are correct, but it would be great to hear thoughts.

New Partnerships

Over the last couple of weeks, I've teamed up with Franchise Sales to provide mutual benefits in the future - watch this space for more details.

In the meantime, you can see their sites at:

www.businessesforsale.com
www.franchisesales.com
www.businessopportunities.com

How hard is this?

Well just as I was about to get my first franchisee on board, I was let down at the eleventh hour…worse still, I found out that she tried to set up in competition with me, so had to spend a couple of week and legal costs on sorting that one out.

Yes, I’m still talking to other people, so all is not lost, but it’s hard, hard work.

I’ve learnt some valuable lessons from going through that experience though – how long it takes; what to tell people and what not to etc – sometimes you do wonder whether it’s all worth it.

Yet another time for me to pick myself up off the floor, dust myself off and get on with the job…

National Franchise Exhibition

Last week I went up to the National Franchise Exhibition at the NEC. I know some contacts who regularly go up there and run the Business Advice Zone, so I volunteered my time to work on this.

This is a great and free way to come into contact with lots of people who are considering buying a franchise and give them advice, help and information. I also met the organiser of the exhibition and have approached her to see whether I can speak at the next one.

Even though I have been a bit down on my marketing for the franchise for the past few month, doing the franchise exhibition reminded me that if you just keep your eyes and ears open for opportunities, there's loads out there that you can do for free.

Should I have used a franchise consultant?

I was talking this week with someone I know who has franchised his business. He used a Franchise Consultant to put everything in place and it made me wonder if I should have used one too.

Looking back on this, I would have to say for me the answer to this question is no. OK, things have probably taken longer without using a franchise consultant, but the business is far more profitable and works more efficiently because I’ve taken the time to think through how it works properly.

Plus I wouldn’t have been able to afford one either. The costs for using a franchise consultant can be very high.

Again when getting franchisees on board…yes it might be quicker using outside help, but I’m prepared to substitute the time for the cost saving plus the learning I have gained from doing this from within the business.

Who knows if I’ll regret saying this in the future, but for now I don’t regret not using an outside consultant at all.

Who said this was easy?

It’s hard work this franchising lark. I’m ashamed to say that I was talking to someone the other day at a networking event who wanted to franchise his business and the thought that came into my head was “don’t do it”. When I started down this road, I didn’t realise how many ups and downs lay ahead of me and how long things take!!! I read the other day that to get a franchisee on board takes an average of 7 months and I can say that’s absolutely true.

With those sorts of lead times it’s pretty obvious why it’s so hard to keep your motivation levels up sometimes. Oh and also I didn’t realise how frustrating it would be to receive ‘fishing’ emails from potential franchisees. Those that ask for information packs and have no intention of buying – they’re just shopping around to see what’s out there.

So as a result, I’ve had to change the way I’ve marketed the franchise now. Instead of simply sending out an information pack, I now have a chat with the person on the phone first and if appropriate arrange to meet them. This definitely cuts down on the ‘shoppers’. Good thing is though is that I’ve started marketing the franchise again now.

I can say without a doubt that this first year of marketing the franchise has been incredibly hard work, but that’s about to pay off shortly – so watch this space and all being well, I should have an announcement to make soon!!

Why don't I believe people...

Franchising a business reminds me of organising a wedding. Once you’ve organised your own wedding, you try and pass this experience onto people who are getting married and they don’t want to know, preferring to do it all themselves. Once they have though, they then find out that they would have benefited from your experience, if only they’d listened…

Same goes for franchising. People tried to tell me things when I first started looking into this and I didn’t believe them. Now I’ve found out everything they told me was true like you should sell a franchise like you were selling your products and services – it’s the same process, just a different product and it’s hard work getting people on board.

Having said that I feel as though I’ve gone on a hell of a journey this year and learnt a lot, so that can’t be too bad. And even though it’s been tough at times, hopefully it will be worth it in the end.