exclusiveinterview
When it goes wrong with a
franchisee, what do you do?
You sit down with your franchisee
and talk to them. Be civilised and say:
‘Look, it’s clearly not working – it’s not
good for you, it’s not good for us. If
you don’t have the passion to drive
the business, you’re not going to make
enough money to support yourself.’
I’ve recruited franchise owners now
for 15 years and I must have recruited
more than 400, but you can’t get it
right every time. We had franchisees
that worked out very well, and others
where we had to say we couldn’t
continue. We had some churn in
the early days, but it was right some
people left because they weren’t right
Racing ahead: Nigel with two Recognition for the brand.
Express franchisees
What are the warning signs?
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Unmerited arrogance is one. Another is
Someone
if they start asking about the amount
of time they need to spend on the
said to me
business. If they’re concerned about
working hard you don’t want them
that I have no
anywhere near you.
tolerance, so I
null null
What do you think can be
done to raise the profile of
thanked him.
franchising?
Most people know so little about
franchising because we do so little to
promote it. If you ask someone on the
street what is a franchise, they might
What advice would you
show them how to do their marketing,
say Manchester United is a franchise, or
offer to new franchisors?
you can even help them to organise
McDonald’s, but very few would really
First of all, make sure you’ve got
their activities, but you can’t give them
know what it means. You need other
a decent budget. People always
passion. That comes from within.
general publications – radio and press
underestimate what it’s going to cost
We’ve had franchisees that worked out
– to feature franchising in some other
them to launch a brand. Secondly, don’t
very well, and others where we had to
environment.
rush it. Thirdly, make sure you have
say we couldn’t continue. We always try
We – academia, regional development
got all the processes and procedures
to interview with at least two of us to
authorities, the government – are guilty
in place. Good franchising is about
get a different perspective. We’ve used
of doing nothing. Even the franchise
replicating what works. And make sure
psychometric profiling, 360-degree
community is just as guilty of being
you know there’s a marketplace out
interviews, multiple interviews, but I
insular to its approach to franchising.
there.
think what works best is a one-to-one
meeting. I try not to interview people –
Do you think the
How do you recruit good
I try to get them to interview us. What
government should put it
franchisees?
you want them to do is to ask questions
on its agenda?
We want people who are, if I could sum
that point out where their strengths
I have written a paper called Economic
it up in one word: passionate. You can
are, where their concerns are, and
Regeneration Using the Franchise
teach people business skills, you can
where they can identify the potential of
Model. It’s about how we can get
the business.
franchisors involved in regenerating
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