Are you considering buying a franchise? Well, you can’t.

Franchises are awarded. Sure you can research and reach out to lots of different franchise concepts. But they won’t take your money until they’re confident you’ll be a good fit for their brand.

There is a roadmap you’ll need to follow.

If you haven’t looked at franchises before, know that the process can be quite grueling. It’s meant to be that way. But we have simplified it for you here with our 9 easy steps to buying a franchise. 

You see the franchisors (and we as franchise placement specialists) have designed it this way on purpose, to see how well you can follow a process/system.  Ultimately when you invest in a franchise, that is exactly what you are acquiring: a proven process/system, and franchisors want to know that you’ll follow their process/system.

Even though franchises are awarded, there are many other factors that come into play that will determine whether a franchisor will award you a franchise, such as is the territory you’re interested in available, do you have the capital resources to grow and sustain the business, do you have the skills and background to operate this business? 

The reality for you is that NO matter which franchise opportunity you might look at, you are going to go through a process. Wouldn’t it be great if you had a roadmap to follow, so you know exactly where you’re heading and what to expect along that way?

You get that with our proprietary FRANCHISE Roadmap, a 9-step system we guide our clients through to help them to be awarded their PERFECT franchise.

Ready to hit the road and see how this exciting process works?

And the good news for you my friend, is that if you work with us “your franchise placement specialists”, we will be there every step of the way during this process to educate and assist you using our 9 easy step process to buying a franchise. Make NO mistake, there are no shortcuts to this process whether you go it alone, or decide to have a friend like us helping and guiding you every step of the way.

Buying a Franchise in 9 Easy Steps

1. Find out your skills, interests, resources, and passion - this is SUPER IMPORTANT! I can’t tell you how many times we have been approached by someone looking for a food service franchise, that after we have painted a picture for them on what is involved in food service both time and money wise, they quickly wish to investigate other options.  There are over 4000 franchises out there today, likely one in almost every business category. You really need to take the time to assess your skills, interests, resources, and passions.  Of course this may not be so easy for you to do on your own, so let the professionals (us) help do this for you. You will be amazed where you might end up at the end of this rainbow.

2. Review franchise options - this is the fun one for us.  We work directly with over 500 GREAT franchises.  We say GREAT for a reason, NOT ALL franchises are created equal. There are GREAT ones, and then there are the rest. Trust us when we say this, and ask us about our story of the franchise we purchased 16 years ago that we still operate today. We promise you it’s a story worth hearing.

3. Acquaint yourself with franchisors - this will be a lot of homework if you go it on your own.  You will need to fill out forms everywhere on the internet over and over again, and hope someone will get back to engage you in your initial interests.  You see these franchisors are very very very busy .... running their franchises … helping the current franchisees execute the repeatable proven system they have created and are usually very short on resources following up with multi dozens of unqualified franchise candidates that come in from the web or phone daily. Let us make a personal introduction after we have taken care of the first 2 steps above.  You will get a lot further a whole lot faster with us in your back pocket.

4. Notes - take lots and lots of them and write down all your questions, or better yet let us give you a full list of very specific questions to ask the franchisors that will show them you are following the process they desire and that you are already knowledgeable about their franchise and what they are looking for in a new franchisee. As we stated earlier we will educate you and can be available every step of the way with you on this journey to make sure you make the right franchise selection.

5. Compare Options - generally we will start with about 6 to 10 franchise selections (you should do the same) and work our way down to 3 or so that you are serious about investigating further. Remember the number 4000 from above, and think “paralysis analysis” if you go beyond these guidelines. Also remember, we have already done a lot of homework/research for you by only working with GREAT franchises that we already vetted and know these franchises have processes and business models that work if you are willing to follow them.

6. Hunker down and review the Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) - Yeah, this is a fun one.  The Franchise Disclosure Document is the bible for learning about a franchise. It has 23 sections that cover everything from investment, to operating results to disclosure. We highly suggest spending the dime and hiring an attorney here, particularly since it’s a fraction of what you will invest in your franchise. We can give you the basics, and certainly arm you with a long list of questions for the franchisor during your discovery if you want to go it alone.

7. Investment - The “F” word: Financials. Yikes! “Show me the money” is what the franchisor is going to look for early on in the process. Make sure you are adequately funded. Do us a favor if you are going to hire us to help you through this journey, or not, please DO NOT overstate or understate your financials. This will only delay the process while the franchisor verifies everything. Most of this information is not all that hard to uncover these days anyways.

8. Seriously ready to make a commitment - Usually you're a bit scared at this point (normal). No worries, we are here to lean on, to cry on, or to just know you have someone else in your corner helping reassure you are making the right decision.  If you have come this far, it shows you are very serious. Honestly, you have justified getting to this point, spent all this time, you really should not be scared.  You have done your homework, we have educated you completely, you have all your questions answered, you have done your due diligence by calling many of the franchisees from the franchises you are super interested in. Why would you stop here? Think about it.

9. Executive Interview (frequently called Discovery Day) - This is the final step before signing the agreement. You're ready to strap on your new uniform, start and run your own enterprise. Of course this is only where the journey begins. At this point our role is to stay friends with you on an ongoing basis. Check-in, see how you're doing, and see if there may be any way we can assist you going forward. Whether that may be additional funding, additional units or just a warm voice to talk to.  We commend you greatly in moving forward! It was a wise decision to purchase that franchise of your dreams.