Franchisee recruitment tips for franchisors

Franchisee recruitment is an on-going challenge for the majority of franchisors, so to assist franchisors with the process I’ve put together five quick tips:

Franchisee Recruitment Tip #1

• Provide potential franchisees with a work experience trial

Where appropriate franchisors should consider providing potential franchisees with a work experience trial.

Providing a prospective franchisee with an opportunity to actually work in the franchise before signing the franchise agreement allows both parties to check each other’s capabilities.

Franchisors can see what the franchisee is like in action, get a better feel for their personality and how they handle the pressure, as well as whether they’re going to be a good fit for the franchise.

The franchisee, on the other hand, can get a real taste of what it will be like being part of the franchise.

For example a franchisee might like dogs, however after three days straight of washing dogs they may realise they’re not really the right fit for the franchise – or they may be more passionate than ever!

Franchisors want to ensure franchisees are a good fit for the franchise, that they’re likely to be able to follow the systems and that the franchise is the right fit for the franchisee too.

There’s no point recruiting someone into your franchise who is going to lose interest after a few weeks.

These potential franchisees are not going to have the drive to make their franchise a success and could adversely affect your franchisee recruitment in the future when contacted by other prospective franchisees.

Franchisee Recruitment Tip #2

• Recruit franchisees from within existing franchise staff

Recruiting franchisees from within the franchise business has worked well for franchisors who’ve adopted this approach.

There are several benefits to this method over recruiting new people into the franchise.

One benefit is the franchisors have had time to get to know the skills and abilities of their staff so they’ll know who the reliable, high performers are that will make good franchisees.

Existing staff will already know the franchise business operations so will require less start-up training.

They also have loyalty towards the brand.

This approach also provides the staff with an opportunity to grow with the brand, rather than having to look outside the business for further growth opportunities.

This way franchisors can expand their franchise while also retaining the talent within the business.

Franchisee Recruitment Tip #3

• Reward good franchisees with additional units/territories

Rather than looking to recruit new franchisees it may be appropriate for franchisors to consider offering some of their most successful franchisees additional territories or units, if appropriate for the franchise model.

Again, there are several benefits to this approach:

• Franchisors already have an existing relationship with the franchisee.
• The franchisee has already proven him/herself as a high performer.
• The franchisee already knows the systems and operations of the business.
• It provides the franchisee with opportunities for growth and greater profit potential.
• Franchisors will have fewer franchisees to manage than if new franchisees were recruited for each site or territory.

This can be a very effective method for franchisee recruitment and franchise growth, however franchisors need to cater for multiple-unit franchisee field support needs.

Multi-unit franchisees require different types of field support to single unit operators, with a greater focus on HR and other areas required.

Franchisee Recruitment Tip #4

• Recruit people with small business ownership experience

Our research shows that franchisees with small business ownership experience often make superior franchise operators.

They already have a good understanding of business so there’s less for them to have to learn.

Becoming a franchisee can also make it easier for independent operators as they can access support from the franchise head office including marketing, economies of scale for any products used, environmental scanning and opportunities analysis.

This may involve conversion franchising, where a franchisor approaches existing independent operators in their industry to become franchisees.

Suggestions on how to make a franchise offer more attractive to existing independent operators are available here.

Franchisee Recruitment Tip #5

• Seek out people who have strong personal drive

Strong personal drive is one of the top personal characteristics you can look for in a franchisee.

Our research shows people with strong personal drive make superior franchise operators, so during franchisee recruitment processes franchisors should select people who can demonstrate this trait.

One way to assess strong personal drive may be through psychological testing, such as using the Myer Briggs or another personality test system.

People with strong personal drive are those who set goals and achieve or even over-achieve them. They are also the type of people who don’t get despondent when something goes wrong, rather seeing the situation as a challenge which motivates them to perform better.

Franchisors will really benefit from identifying these people during their franchisee recruitment processes.

To learn more about how you can improve in your franchise recruitment activities, click here.