Many well-known businesses around the country are franchises that are run by national organizations. Depending on your business and depending on the franchise, there could be some opportunity for you there, even when starting at the local level.
Getting your foot in the door
A while back, a roofing client of mine met with a franchise owner of a well-known national restaurant chain. The person owned three restaurants locally, so not tons of opportunity with him directly, but my client knew to think bigger.
That particular year there had been some hail storms, and my client first took care of a small leak the owner was having in one of the restaurants. Then my client met with him a couple more times, and upon request even took him to see another roof my client had done.
Finally, the owner ended up signing an agreement with my client to replace the roofs on all three locations.
There are a couple lessons you can learn from that example. First, my client used a small job to get his foot in the door. Second, he went out of his way to spend time with the owner and make him comfortable, even taking him to see some past work.
Would my client normally have spent that much time and energy on that size of a job? Maybe, maybe not. But in this case, he knew there was additional opportunity.
Leveraging the relationship
In case you weren't aware, each franchise-driven business is built differently. While advising my client on this particular opportunity, we talked through whether it was worth investing additional time and energy.
First, we talked about the investment franchise owners typically make for this restaurant chain. Some franchises have a relatively low buy in, in the tens of thousands of dollars. In others, you may have to spend a million or more to be an owner. This particular restaurant chain fell into the latter category. So from a financial standpoint, the owner was more likely to be a good fit for my client.
Second, we talked about the culture of this particular franchise. In some franchises, the owners hardly see each other. In this one, owners are practically forced to spend time with each other. That meant there was opportunity for my client. He could leverage a successful relationship with one franchise owner and get introductions to other owners.
So whether you're considering working with a franchise owner or you already have one as a client, consider leveraging that relationship for additional business.
