This lesson is part of our free Franchise 101 course.

Before deciding on whether to sign up with a specific franchise, it’s important to talk with some of the current franchisees, to understand their experience. The franchise disclosure document will give you contact details for all their franchisees, but which ones should you contact?

Going Local

Generally speaking, it’s a good idea to start local and work your way out from there, as you try to talk to enough current franchisees. There are a couple of reasons for the local approach.

Firstly, conditions will vary in different parts of the country. Local tastes, cultures, and demographics will affect which franchises succeed in any given area. The benefits and challenges of running a specific franchise aren’t going to be universal.

This can vary on a lot of different criteria: east coast versus west coast, urban versus rural, coastal versus interior, and so on. You want to talk to franchisees whose experience is as close as possible to the one you would have.

This means that, once you get past your immediate area, picking the best people to talk to might get more complicated. If you’re setting up a rural outlet in the southwest, then you can start by talking to nearby rural franchisees, but what happens when they run out? Do you talk to those in nearby cities, or in rural locations further afield? That’s going to depend upon what factors you think will make the biggest difference in your industry.

But there’s a second consideration that might push you toward staying local.

Future Colleagues

If you become a franchisee with the company, then the franchisees near you are the ones with whom you’ll have the most interaction. Talking to them in advance will give you a chance to sound out the people involved, to see whether they’re the sort of colleagues you’d be comfortable working with.

This is also your chance to start building a good relationship. Be polite and respectful, not only because it’s good manners, but because you might be working with these folks one day. If they have a good impression of you, then they’re more likely to support you when the time comes.

Contacting the right franchisees is a vital part of picking the right franchise, and of setting yourself up for future success.

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