Making The Most Of Discovery Days
The Discovery Day is one of the most significant days for a prospective franchisee. This is the day he goes either to the corporate site of the franchisor or sits down for a webinar. Attending the Discovery Day program is a very important step while you are deciding to open a franchising business, so keep the following points in mind when you embark on this process.
If you are going for a corporate visit:
• Ask how many people will be present at the Discovery Day program. If there are around 100 people, then be sure that the franchisor is more interested in selling the franchises than showing the prospective franchisees its business model. Ideally, a Discovery Day is supposed to be of 8 to 15 people, so that each of them can be properly attended.
• Ask for the UFOC beforehand, so that you become aware of everything relevant to the franchising process. Earmark the portions that are bothering you the most and clarify them with the franchisor. Pay attention to earnings claims. The UFOC may not include one, especially if a company is new to the market. But if it’s not in writing, don’t heed any figures given out during the Discovery Day.
• Check how they have organized the day. Did you get to see the whole office at your own pace or were you hurried? Did you meet all the top-executives or missed some of them, because they were not informed in advance? In order to make the Discovery Day perfect, the franchisor needs to make excellent planning and if he succeeds in executing the whole process in the right way, then he will certainly be hailed as the “ideal” franchisor.
If you are attending a webinar
A webinar is a great way of communicating with prospective franchisees without the hassles of flying them to the corporate office. It saves considerable amount of time and money for both the franchisee and franchisor. Webinars are best-suited for franchising companies that do not produce anything, but promote various services, such as business-to-business franchises. Since they do not have any factory or restaurant to show, they can talk about their services over the Internet. Still, these are the things that you are required to keep in mind while watching a webinar.
• As with Discovery Day, read the UFOC thoroughly and be prepared to ask questions. Remember that webinars are two-way procedures; as you are viewing the presentations of the franchisor, in the same way, the franchisor can also hear your queries.
• Don’t fall for sales tactics like “this area is open for a small time-period” or “we are reducing the franchise fee just for the time-being”. Franchising offers are generally non-negotiable, so companies who are making these sorts of offers are more interested in selling their units than seeing their franchisees prosper.
• For this reason, ask how many franchisees are in the pipeline at present. There are certain franchisors that take the franchisee fee and then make delay in helping the franchisee while opening the unit
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• Ask the top-executives of the organization all questions that are pertinent to the business. All of the company associates as well as the existing franchisees will be there, so get all your doubts cleared. Similarly, be prepared for answering about yourself too, as they will be looking at you also.
In conclusion, no matter which kind of Discovery Day you attend, never sign then and there. Also, keep in touch with other prospective franchisees, so that you can gain from each others’ experience.