The Power of Franchises

Recently I had coffee with David Brahm of Action International (a business coaching company) and the topic of franchises came up. It reminded me of the value of this business model.

He pointed out that, within four years, 80% of newly created businesses usually fail. Meanwhile, franchises have almost the exact opposite failure/success rate. I've known this for years, but I'm always impressed when I hear it again. Why do franchises enjoy such a high likelihood of positive results?

* Because franchises are built on years of experience, many of the bugs that take expensive trial and error are eliminated.

* Marketing -- the blood of any business -- is unique to every business. The marketing system in franchises is crucial in their success.

* Franchises have much larger buying power than other small businesses, thus they often buy things at lower prices than their competitors and are often able to resale accordingly.

These are just a few of the reasons why I encourage people who are interested in pursuing their entrepreneurial passions to consider purchasing a franchise. I also want to recommend they visit with Adrienne Leigh of FranNet for an initial consultation. She has been a Business Show Advisor for several months and offers an excellent free booklet on seeing if purchasing a franchise makes sense for an individual.

I don't usually use this space for such blatant advertising for a business associate, but with my conversation with David, this just seemed a great opportunity to match the many out there looking for a franchise with someone who can help guide them through that process.