I was recently talking to a friend of mine about a recent food franchise that had failed after being open only six months. He said, “well the food wasn’t very good and the customer service was bad.” Well there’s a surprise! Of all the components that are most important to your long term success, having a well-trained and motivated staff is numero uno. Even more so than your process, and more than your product, having the right people in place is a must.

Many business owners will often take a look at their business and ask, "how can I grow?". Friends will look at them and say "Hey!  You ought to franchise!".  Sounds good - franchise your business!  Easy, right?!  Just find some people who want to do what you do, teach them to do it, and then sit back and collect all that royalty! Wow - So Easy!

People are requesting information about our franchise on a daily basis. The two most often asked questions I get are, “how much does it cost?” and “how much can I make?” These are questions that most interested franchise buyers have the right to know. If I may, I'd like to offer prospective buyers a question that would answer the other two and save everyone a lot of due diligence and research. You see, I think the most important question that franchise buyers should ask is, “How many of your locations have closed?”

Many people that contact me are “romantically” attracted to our concept. They love the idea of a cute, fun and brightly colored place to take kids for a great haircut. Or I hear, “I love children, so I was really attracted to this." Now I am not saying that having an interest in our franchise concept because of your interest in working with kids is a bad thing. As a matter of fact, I would highly recommend that you invest your money, time and efforts into something that you feel passionate about. But our franchise, like most, is still a business, and will require a certain set of business skills to increase the probability of success. Whether you invest in a yogurt, burger, or salon business, it’s still going to come down to possessing certain business skills to succeed.  Here is our list of the top 3 skills needed to own and run a business:

1.  Communication Skills 
Your ability to communicate with others and “get the message across” about what your business is about to both employees and customers is critical. Everything in life begins with communication, and the ability that someone has to communicate is a big plus. Because time management and organizational skills can’t be taught in an operating manual, someone's ability to effectively execute a business plan becomes crucial. If a potential franchisee is unable to do this, then they may not be able to handle all the moving parts of running a business. Also, it's important to be flexible and adaptable. Rigidity has never worked in business! Now, of course I'm not saying to up and dump a system in favor of your own ideas. You have to follow the system. What I am talking about is the ability to handle a crisis when it arises, to shift gears and go a different direction on a moment’s notice, and to know when to be tough or to know when compassion is needed. Time management and organizational skills allows you to set a goal and reach it.

2.  Understanding the Need for Marketing 

When you are looking for a franchise to buy, there's a lot of due diligence that needs to be done. One of the things that I would recommend that you look for is current franchisees who are opening up additional locations. When a franchisee is opening up additional units it tells you a couple of things, number one is that there's a very high likelihood that they are either making money with their first location or they feel comfortable with the support and training that they are getting and the trajectory that they are on to continue to expand. Scalability is one of the most important elements of franchise success and opening additional units is a great sign of scalability. Multi-unit owners are really important in franchise systems that don’t have a 10 or 20 year track record. Everyone knows that McDonalds, Taco Bell and Subway have expandable and scalable systems, but if you are buying into a newer franchise system the importance of multi-unit owners is magnified. A lot of this relates back to the issues that I have mentioned previously, namely a proven track record and the support and training that you receive from your franchisor. With everyone looking for a new and exciting franchise opportunity, looking for franchise systems where franchisees are opening up additional units is a great place to begin your search!