What's your Ideal Franchisee?

Every franchisor wants to grow its brand as fast as possible, but the key to long-term success is growing the brand with the?right?people, regardless of the pace. As a franchisor, it’s your duty to understand the four types of franchisees and create a process for identifying the type you want to attract to your brand.

Type one is the?Rogue Franchisee. The Rogue Franchisee can appear like a go-getter who has a true passion for taking care of the customer and believes in the product or service. They are confident, smart, and committed to success. But beware, they also are full of ideas and believe their ideas are the “best ideas.”

Rogue franchisees don’t like being told what to do. It may be the reason that they left a job where they were the employee. They often ignore pieces of the model, thinking that they know a better way to do it or that it is not important to success and a waste of time.

Feeling that customer service is the key to success, they believe their personality is why people visit their facility. By focusing their attention on the customer relationship (or the feeling of importance this relationship gives them), they often neglect other aspects of business ownership, and begin to struggle. As they struggle to succeed, they believe the model is the problem and continue to make changes until a customer entering their facility would not recognize it as part of the overall brand.

In a brand that approves Rogue Franchisees, the franchisor-franchisee relationship will deteriorate. The franchisor will not be happy with a franchisee who doesn't want to follow the rules, and the franchisee will not be happy with a model they are convinced doesn’t work and resent being forced to follow standards that they believe limit their potential for success. Ultimately, this relationship usually ends prematurely through the sale or closure of the unit.

Franchisee type two is the?Doer. The Doer got into franchising for the right reasons. They didn't want to open a business on their own. Instead, they wanted a blueprint explaining how to do it the right way and expect the franchisor to spell it out in detail. This franchisee comes into the system ready to take what the franchisor gives them and execute the play.

However, this franchisee may get stuck and fail to take action if the franchisor doesn't tell them exactly what to do and when to do it. They will wait for instructions and may hesitate to take initiative to optimize their reach without being told to do so. They may also fail to adequately address the aspects of the business they are solely responsible for, like finance and legal.

Rather than driving toward a specific revenue or volume result, they derive accomplishment by checking all of their tasks off a list. This will lead them to some success, but not take them to the top of the brand. They will be happy as an operator and be content with a single location where they can interact with the customers.

Franchisee number three is the?Leader, who has more ambition and bigger dreams than the Doer. They are excited to leverage the perks of belonging to a franchise system, such as national brand awareness and bulk buying power. They understand the value of learning from someone with experience and skipping the trial and error.

The Leader is committed to fast tracking success, mastering everything the franchisor teaches very quickly, and uses that to develop a team and cultivate a culture within their individual units. This person realizes that to maximize their personal potential, they need to invest in themselves and elevate their business acumen to supplement what the franchisor has given them.

The Leader Franchisee rises to the top of the brand and continues to scale into multiple locations.?As they continue to perfect their processes and leadership, they may morph into an Investor Franchisee.

The?Investor Franchisee?rounds out the four types. The Investor brings on a team that can handle the operations without being involved in the day-to-day whatsoever. This freedom allows the Investor to continue building their portfolio through adding locations under the same brand and diversifying to other brands, industries, and revenue streams.

Franchisors can leverage their Investor Franchisees in two ways: 1) to purchase multiple licenses creating explosive growth in the brand, and 2) to acquire underperforming units, make them profitable and then sell them to a new, eager franchisees. Of course, they may do #2 and just add it to their ongoing empire, as well.

Most franchise systems have a mix of the four types of franchisees. The formula for explosive growth is to create robust screening criteria to avoid Rogue Franchisees. Then, put a strategy in place to help Doers develop into Leaders and Leaders to develop into Investors. It won’t happen overnight, but the long-term growth will be unstoppable.

Franchisors, grab a complimentary consult with April to learn more about the formula for explosive growth and how to implement it in your business.

Book a time with April here.