I’ve met quite a lot of people in that time who absolutely should be franchisees, and perhaps more importantly, I’ve met even more people who should not.
They’ve come into my world from all walks of life, all manner of countries, and all social backgrounds. Some were employed, looking to break away from the daily grind of making money for a faceless benefactor, whilst others were self-employed, working tirelessly in their own business but struggling to see the wood for the trees.
I’ve met people who had been made redundant (some on multiple occasions) and could not face the prospect of going through it again. I’ve met people who had received an inheritance windfall but were torn between the feelings of loss and also the excitement about what that might mean for their future.
Some were married, others were single. Some with children, some without. Some wanted to go into business with their family (not for me this one), others with friends.
Why become self-employed?
For some the reason to become self-employed was solely financial, whilst for others the pride of being a business owner carried a huge amount of weight.
I’ve spoken to stockbrokers, milkman, undertakers, lorry drivers, barbers and arborists. I’ve interviewed teachers, students, sailors, firemen and policemen. The white-collar backgrounds were plentiful too and came from all departments – sales, accounts, operations, and marketing. There have even been those who were franchisees for other businesses prior, and of course those who had no idea what the word franchising meant until we first spoke.
Through all of this, you might think it’s difficult to find the ‘right’ people; how can a barber and a procurement specialist BOTH be good franchisees for my business?
The truth is though, it’s not. That’s because the good ones, those that I desperately wanted to be part of my franchise network all had one thing in common; they were PLUs.
If you are considering finding your way into the wonderful world of franchising, there is good chance you feel a bit overwhelmed, and I don’t blame you – I would too. The sheer volume of information that is out there can feel daunting and with no idea where to start, or which industry voices to trust.
At this point in the article, you may be hoping I’m going to give you the secret recipe to making this process easy but I’m afraid I won’t, or rather I can’t.
I will however let you into my secret, and how it can help you thin the franchise herd. Drum roll please….
A PLU is a ‘Person Like Us’
This is the first question I ask myself on meeting a prospective franchisee – is this a person like us? Do they share our values? Our goals? Can I count on them for a favour, and would I go out of my way to do a favour for them? Are they funny? Could I go for a pint with them? Or are they a PNLU? A person NOT like us.
Now this all might seem blindingly obvious but you’d be surprised how often actually liking someone is overlooked as a critical part of selecting the right franchisee, or in your case, the right franchise to be part of.
Many prospective franchisees make it their mission to find the perfect business, focussing only on the mechanical elements such as income, USPs and market share, forgetting the human parts such as trust, empathy, good humour and a sense of belonging. The franchise you are looking into may offer great returns, be in a sexy fast paced environment and at the cutting edge of the specific industry; but when the chips are down and you walk into that office to meet the key players who run the show, ask yourself that touchy feely question – how do they make you feel? Do you actually like them?
Are they PLUs? Or are they PNLUs?
The culture a franchise creates starts at the top and nothing is more important than feeling affinity with those who created it (or at the very least run it day to day). They need to be your people. There is no such thing as B2B or B2C, only H2H – all businesses are fundamentally human to human, and yet prospective franchisees so often overlook the literal humans who will be providing the critical business support that’s going to form the framework of their future success.
So, before you build the fancy P&L, or start researching beach front properties for your swanky new outlet, take plenty of time to really dig into the part that matters.
Are they PLUs? Or are they something else?
