Characteristics of a Great Franchise Consultant

There Are Some Qualities That All Good Franchise Consultants Should Have, Including Being Motivational and An Effective Communicator 

Working with a Franchise Consultant can be what you need to determine what franchise path is best for you. This professional will provide you with expert advice based on your interests, skills, and financial status. They also act as brokers when connecting you with franchisors to buy franchises.

While skills for franchise consulting can be learned on the job, there are some innate characteristics of a great Franchise Consultant that you should look for when you want to work with one. What are the characteristics of a Franchise Consultant? Here’s what to look for.

Characteristics of Franchise Consultants

Good Communicator

Good Franchise Consultants are excellent communicators and have an understanding of a candidate’s needs and a franchisor’s ideal candidate to successfully broker deals. An entrepreneur who wants to open a franchise must tell the consultant about their background, skills, financial background, and more to ensure they find the ideal franchise business for you. Based on this information, the consultant will connect you to franchisors who are looking for potentially successful franchisees like you.    

Always Learning from the Most Successful Franchises 

Great Franchise Consultants should be experts in the business and thirst to learn more. To do this, they need to take advantage of webinars and franchising events to keep up-to-date on trends.

Motivational

A successful Franchise Consultant is a motivated member of the franchising community. Look to work with Franchise Consultants who go the extra mile. For example, you can look at networking sites and see which consultants write guest articles for publications, start or participate in industry-related podcasts, and join local networking groups. Franchise Consultants who are the most motivated will likely help you find the perfect franchise opportunity.

Organized

Organization is key to business success, making it one of the necessary characteristics of Franchise Consultants. Experienced Franchise Consultants have a process to follow to keep you on track with your paperwork and be able to balance their time to learn, take calls, and network. Consultants are trained to eliminate inefficiencies in the process of buying a franchise by working closely with you in order to make franchisors’ jobs easier.

Ethical and Objective

Your best interests should always be the Franchise Consultant’s top priority. If you’re not a good candidate for the franchise, the consultant should be upfront about it, even if it means losing a commission. They will help you find other franchising opportunities where you are a better fit.

As a prospective franchise owner, you should only work with consultants who you feel comfortable with. To build that comradery, consultants have to work closely with you to ensure that your needs are met. This will ensure that you will be matched with franchise businesses that are a good fit for you. The consultant is also responsible for asking the franchisor questions you may feel uncomfortable asking yourself.

Entrepreneurial and Business Savvy

In order for you to pick the right franchise, your Franchise Consultant should genuinely be interested in entrepreneurship and understand the basics of business. They should be able to communicate with you with terms like ROI, P&L, EBITA, KPIs, B2B, and B2C. These consultants are familiar with how to buy into a franchise and will work to make that process easier for everyone involved.

Patient 

Helping someone find the right franchise and then invest in it can be a long, difficult process. A good Franchise Consultant will be patient and have empathy for you because they understand that investing in a franchise is a life-changing decision for you and your family.

Collaborative

Franchise Consultants look to form a strong relationship with you and the franchisor they work with. In order for these relationships to be successful, the consultant will work closely with the franchisor to determine the ideal candidate. This will help the consultant see if you are a good fit. The franchisor, prospective franchise owner, and the consultant must work together in order to make the process of purchasing a franchise as straightforward as possible.

Friendly

You can tell right away if a Franchise Consultant is approachable and easy to work with. Look for a consultant who is a people-person and is interested in helping others. Since this consultant will be calling and conferencing with you a lot, find someone who is affable and friendly during this life-changing time. Charisma also goes a long way in terms of characteristics of Franchise Consultants. This can make you enjoy the process of purchasing a franchise.

Passionate

The more passion someone has for what they are doing, the more likely they will put all of their energy and effort into it. If the consultant doesn't seem excited by the prospect of finding the best opportunity for you, then maybe you should look for someone else.

Goal-Oriented

The job of a Franchise Consultant is to work really hard to find ideal franchising opportunities for qualified entrepreneurs. Nothing should stop them from achieving this goal. As a prospective franchise owner, you should never feel like the Franchise Consultant doesn’t care about helping you achieve your dream of owning a business. Not only does the Franchise Consultant work hard to get into the business for themselves, but they’ll also keep you on the right track and keep you on top of things when investigating various franchise businesses.

Keep these innate characteristics of a great Franchise Consultant in mind, as this can help you find your next franchise opportunity.

Characteristics of a Great Franchise Consultant

Working with a Franchise Consultant can potentially make or break your decision to leap into franchise ownership. Characteristics of good franchise consultants include being organized and goal-oriented, having business savvy and patience, and constantly keeping up with trends by attending conferences and contributing to franchising news sites. As franchise ownership and the number of franchise establishments continues to grow in the U.S., the demand for franchise consultants will likely increase with it.

What Defines a Successful Franchise?

While there is no guaranteed success in franchise ownership, the most successful franchises have certain things in common. Successful franchises have an easily replicable business model, great support and training, a strong marketing strategy, and a welcoming culture that fosters high franchisee and customer retention. Keep these characteristics of franchise businesses in mind throughout your journey to buying a franchise.