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Met with a three-time franchisee (and buyer of rental properties – he once owned 125 houses and is happy to be out of that buisness) who has since decided to become a franchisor in the pet industry, one of the few industries that has continued to expand in the last three years. I enjoyed learning about his plans for development, but nothing that he said was more important than this:
“Three times I’ve been a franchisee, and in all three instances the franchisor didn’t seem to know that I was the customer! It’s like an abusive husband who beats his wife but expects her to be good to their children. Franchisors want their franchisees to take care of the customers – the people who buy the company’s products and services – but many franchisors don’t seem to understand that their customer is the franchisee! My philosophy is this: Take care of the franchisee and the franchisee will take care of the customers.”
Well said!
Zig’s secret to success in business
It helped, of course, that this gentleman had read Zig Ziglar’s books and on one occasion had an opportunity to meet Zig. “Mr. Ziglar,” he said, “What’s the secret to success in my business?”
Zig didn’t hesitate and said, “You can have everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.”
Defining franchising
That’s not only the golden rule, paraphrased by Zig Ziglar, it’s also a good definition for franchising.
During the last 30 years, working closely with more than 100 franchisors (and with many of them for at least six to ten years), I’m happy to say that most of them understood that the franchisee was their customer. But I worked with some of the best-known names in franchising. It’s not unusual to hear about franchisors – including some with large franchise networks – that are not in business to help anyone but themselves. Most of them don’t make it, but in the process of failing many good people fail with them.
Fortunately, this three-time franchisee was able to survive his failed attempts, but I was at least curious to know how a smart guy gets himself into three bad franchises. If I told you the names of the companies you wouldn’t recognize them, and that was part of the problem. They didn’t have enough traction to produce experiences that existing franchisees could share with prospective franchisees. But even then – even if he had been told the franchisors were confused about their relationship with franchisees – chances are he would have invested in all three businesses because he liked the products and services.
Must you love the product or service?
Which raises an interesting question: How important is it to like a product or service before you buy the franchise?
I’ll have more to say about that later – let me know what you think. Meanwhile, it’s far more important to find a franchisor that understands that the customer is the franchisee! Or, to be one if you’re the franchisor!
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Great start to the story but … hoping you’ll explain how to pick an honest, trustworthy franchisor who knows their success comes from helping franchisees be successful. I unfortunately bought a churn & burn franchise, and it’s really sad watching it die and take so many good, hard working people down the tubes.
Just catching up after so many months . . . the answer to your question isn’t an easy one. But what I would do (because there are so many churn and burn franchises) is ask existing franchisees — more than just a few — to get the “low down” on franchisees. Some will lie, no doubt about it, but not all of them will. You just have to be persistent and keep asking questions! Sorry you got burned.