Can You Franchise an Unsexy Concept?
Whenever I hear these questions, my first response is to point to some of the undifferentiated concepts that have achieved high levels of success in the marketplace. “What about janitorial services—why have they been so successful?� Then I go through the list. Maid services. Lawn care. Carpet cleaning. Temporary and permanent placement firms. And of course, the list goes on and on.The fact of the matter is, a significant number of franchise companies are in industries in which their products or services are not readily differentiated.
What these questioning entrepreneurs fail to understand is that, as entrepreneurs, they are the one group on earth that is perhaps the least suited to understand the mindset of the prospective franchisee.
The typical entrepreneur is, at least by my definition, someone who never saw a rule he or she did not want to break. And, in many respects, the entrepreneur is often the last person you would want to be a franchisee. The best franchisees are not the rule-breakers. And, in fact, the truly entrepreneurial are often the least inclined to buy a franchise.
The best franchisees are motivated adopters—people willing to accept some level of risk, but people who, nonetheless, are willing to follow the rules established by their franchisor.
Photo by berbercarpet.
Bootstrapper on March 15th, 2007 11:40 am
This article really hits the nail on the head. I work with franchisees daily on the construction of their buildings. The most successful, and I might add, “happy” are the ones that are good followers of the system.
The ones that try to recreate the wheel, simply end up giving themselves more headaches.
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