The National Franchise Exhibition (22 & 23 February 2013, NEC, Birmingham) will bring a large number of high street franchise brands, as well as many smaller recession-resilient franchise opportunities across a variety of sectors.

If buying into a franchise is your preferred route into enterprise, franchising expert Carl French has some useful tips to help you make the right decision.

Success comes from a sound knowledge of yourself, your abilities and your ambitions, plus a combination of talents and characteristics that are not that common and that can even seem contradictory...

STEP 1:

Be very clear what is really important to you so you end up doing something you can really put your heart and soul into.

Know what abilities you have and what abilities you want to develop further. If you have ever taken a psychometric test, perhaps as part of a recruitment process, review the results. You could even consider having a Working Style Profile prepared that reflects you as you are now.

STEP 2:

Make sure you are absolutely clear that as a franchise owner you are performing a very special role:

All of this can only really work well if you, your franchisor and your fellow franchise owners share core values.

STEP 3:

Identify which kinds of franchise are most likely to enable you to use and develop your abilities to achieve what you want from life.

Look beyond first impressions - many franchises that appear at first to be a simple ‘Man and Van’ proposition also offer opportunities for people used to managerial roles.  Often you can choose to operate the franchise as the man with the van, or you can effectively take over a larger territory and manage a team of people delivering the core services to your customers.

STEP 4:

Identify candidate franchises in those categories that appear to match your core values.

STEP 5:

Conduct a thorough background research on your candidate franchises.

STEP 6:

Approach your chosen franchisor(s) and get answers to your questions.

If you don’t get satisfactory answers, or if you find their core values do not match yours, walk away. If they do, make your choice.

Read the franchise or license agreement very carefully before you sign it. Get it checked by an independent lawyer with experience in franchising. Above all, do not sign any agreement until you are absolutely comfortable about doing so.

STEP 7:

Start your new life as a business and franchise owner...

Carl French BSc (Hons), MSc, Grad Cert Ed, CEng, FIMA, FBCS has lots of hands-on experience as a director of innovative companies. He is also a best selling author, popular business speaker and a founder member of the Professional Speakers Association. Find out more about Carl and franchising at:  www.replico.biz