How FranchiseLab Supports Responsible Franchising

Imagine you are responsible for franchisee recruitment. You have an enquiry from someone who passes your basic requirements. They say they have the capital and are keen to find out more about your opportunity in a relevant region. You've swapped some chats, had a brief conversation to gain some basic information about them, and explained how the recruitment process works. They seem cautiously enthusiastic about the possibility of owning a franchise and continuing to engage with you.

This is where Responsible Franchising starts.It means following a disciplined process to ensure they are suitable for your business and there are no unpleasant surprises for them or you later on.Remember this is not just a sale. If they proceed, your company and this candidate will be committed to a long-term interdependent relationship that will last on average for around seven years, hopefully more. Like a marriage, you are going to be stuck together for better or worse.

As the recruiter, your job is to keep the candidate positively engaged, assess their competence in the areas that matter and, if they proceed, set them up for success. 

An intelligent system that helps you to be a responsible recruiter 

FranchiseLab is a collaborative creation by psychologists from FRI with technology experts from Digital Experience Labs. Its purpose is to support Responsible Franchising by providing franchisors with access to a best-practice franchisee assessment platform for as little as $45 a week.

Let's return to our franchisee candidate to explain how FranchiseLab works. You can now just push a button and issue them with an easy-to-complete Information Request, which tells you everything you need to know about their work and business background, their home and personal situation, their initial expectations, and their detailed financial position.

The Information Request is far more than a CRM-generated application form. It is an intelligent system that highlights any red flags you will want to explore further with your candidate because if these are not addressed, it could jeopardise their future success. This is Responsible Franchising.

Not a personality profile

Next, FranchiseLab invites the candidate to complete a Self-Assessment. Unlike many personality questionnaires that are complex to understand or not relevant to the franchising context, the Self-Assessment measures specific attributes proven through FRI's research to impact a franchisee's performance and fit within a franchising culture. This includes things like pro-activity, commercial acumen, brand passion, family support, and the ability to manage conflict constructively.

Enables you to involve your operations team

If you are fortunate to now have a candidate who is looking good and keen to proceed further, FranchiseLab now provides you with a sophisticated Final Check tool. This is where it gets really exciting because the Final Check enables you and members of your operations team to work collaboratively and check you have assessed everything relevant to the candidate's future performance and success. For instance, are their expectations realistic? Have they done their due diligence? How does their family feel about the business? Detailed questions and prompts, which come from the Information Request and Self-Assessment, are provided to guide you and your team through this important final process.

The Final Check delivers a simple, easy-to-read report summarising everything about the candidate and their suitability to your business. This means there are no unpleasant surprises for them or you later on. That's Responsible Franchising. And we are thrilled that nearly a hundred franchisors are now using this platform to help them responsibly select quality franchisees.

How to find out more

For a free demonstration of FranchiseLab contact Ree-Anna Chatman by clicking here. Ree is a business psychologist who understands franchising and will also discuss how FranchiseLab can complement your existing processes.

By the way, we are about to launch a new FranchiseLab module called The Mentor which helps to develop the capabilities of your existing franchises. We are grateful to the franchisor teams that have been working with us on the R&D and beta testing process to ensure this tool meets the emerging needs of the sector. We look forward to keeping you informed about this exciting fresh contribution to the franchising sector.