Best practices before buying a franchise

Photo courtesy of Spring-Green

Making the decision to join a franchise can mean a huge increase in resources, but how do you know which would be a good fit for you? While it can be great for brand recognition, marketing and other resources that come from partnering with a national company, it also comes with requirements, expectations and challenges.

“You’re buying into that but in doing so, part of buying into a franchise is now you are protecting the brand with which you just bought in,” says Lou Schager, COO of Mosquito Joe.

“Some franchises offer detailed organizational systems, training and day-to-day support, and others are more product focused. Each has its own strengths and its own personality,” says Phil Fogarty.

Fogarty says his experience with two different franchises was dramatically different and served very different markets. The Ohio Weed Man franchise owner has also owned a holiday lighting franchise in the past and while Weed Man is very system-oriented, the holiday lighting franchise was much more focused on products.

Read the full story from the January issue here.