How Do Franchises Attract Franchisees?

With so many franchise concepts out there, prospective franchisees are truly spoilt for choice. With thousands of franchise opportunities to choose from, making a decision on which franchise to put their money into could be a case of “what they see” instead of “what’s best for them”. It is like a fight just to gain the attention of prospective franchisees - and yes, that’s just only to gain their attention.

Related: Is Making Money The Only Thing Franchisees Want From Franchisors?

Fulfils A Market Need 

First and foremost, in order to be in a business, there needs to be existing customers who want to buy from you and make actual purchases. In other words, there needs to be a real market need for the product or service that your business is selling. But this isn’t a problem with the business itself. Instead, it is a market gap that the business has been designed to fill. Prospective franchisees will want to know how effective your business is at providing a solution as a market need because this literally translates to the lifeblood of every business - customers.

Differentiation

In today’s modern times, innovation is something that is truly hard to come by. However, it doesn’t mean you have to be involved with something that hasn’t been thought of or introduced ever. Besides, even if you actually launch a totally new and unheard-of business, you’ll likely find duplicates popping up everywhere once the word is out that a new potential golden goose has arrived.

However, being unique allows people to differentiate the business. Do you cater to a specific age group? Is speed during delivery of product or service your best asset? Are you able to do what you do better than your competitors? There are so many ways to differentiate your business and create your own niche, but prospective franchisees need to see that clearly. Think of it this way: if you yourself don’t take the initiative to showcase your franchise concept to be different, how can prospective franchisees be expected to differentiate it from all the other noise?

Acceptable Pricing

While it’s great if you can charge as much as you’ll like for your business offerings in your home territory, can markets in other locations bear that similar pricing level? At the end of the day, it won’t matter how low operating expenses are, or even how much cost savings they would be getting by being a part of your franchise system. If prospective franchisees cannot visualize the scenario where enough consumers will be willing to pay your level of product/service pricing, they won’t be convinced that their investment in your franchise concept will be feasible or sustainable, even if you yourself are experiencing impressive sales figures.

Scalability

Typically, when someone makes an investment, they aren’t looking for a flash in the pan. Rather, it is with an eye on the future so that it is something the business and franchise needs to address when negotiating with prospective franchisees. While you may have a successful business today, the key is to ensure that this status quo is going to remain unchanged five years (or more) down the line. But more than that, the dynamic environment we all live in means you’ll also need to figure out how to regularly create new opportunities. Will you be able to sustain and improve the business, whether from an operational point of view or in terms of new product/service launches? The key point is to remain relevant and competitive in the market and that’s what prospective franchisees will be looking to be a part of because more opportunities mean more chances to increase sales figures.