If you’ve done a good job with your franchise business selections, including making sure that the opportunities you’ve looked into are within your budget, and you’ve done a thorough job with your research, there’s only a couple of things left for you to do.
The decision to go into a new business is a major one, and that is why here at Award Leisure we feel the recruitment process needs to be robust and structured and designed to provide you with as much information as possible about the business before anyone makes any form of commitment. Therefore, it is highly recommended as part of the recruitment process to visit a franchise operation, retail site, existing franchisee, retail site to get an idea how the franchise model works and runs.
This is known in the industry as a discovery day, it’s a great way for potential franchisees to really get a deeper understanding of the business and how it’s ran daily. A discovery day is also important for the franchisor to assess the candidate and evaluate whether they are the correct fit for the franchise role.
The benefits of this discovery day vary, but the main advantage is it offers the potential franchisee is a physical feel of what it’s like running a franchise in the selected industry. A perfect way of doing this is visiting a physical site and be aware of all the processes. For example, visit warehouses, visit offices and showrooms and speak to all level of employees understanding the roles and systems the business has put in place.
Prepare a list of questions to bring with you. Be ready to ask them, either in a group setting or when one-on-one, to key leaders team members and high-level staff within the company that attend the discovery day, this may be the franchise development manager or owner. Here are a few examples:
- What is “A Day in the Life” of an owner like?
- What are the common traits among their top performing owners?
- What are the challenges or frustrations I should be prepared for as owner?
- What’s their vision for the company? Where do they see it five, ten years out?
- What being done to plan a cost-effective marketing, budgeting and expenditure plan?
It’s important to remember that a discovery day is not an interview. The discovery day should be a free no obligation meeting, which covers a large amount of information for potential franchisees without the feeling pressured or intimidated. This is a great benefit as it allows for ground to be covered but still in a professional capacity.
Finally, discovery days are only welcomed and accepted by franchisors who feel a candidate has potential and meets all their initial requirements, it is very positive to get to this stage. For people who have already made the decision in their mind if this is the type of franchise they want to buy into. The discovery day will often include an NDA and a written contract in some cases. You should be visiting a discovery day if you are excited, enthusiastic and keen to acquire a deeper understanding of this business model to progress in buying into it. It can be a big expense for a business to host these discovery days, therefore Franchisors only reach out to true prospects.
Want to know more about the Award Leisure Franchise opportunity? Book your own Discovery Day!
