From the coaches
Why the intro call comes before the matches
Buyers ask why they can't see their matches the moment the survey ends. The answer is that a score without a conversation sends people to the wrong brands.
1 minute readFinancial performance representations are the most read and least understood pages in an FDD. What the figures are, what they leave out, and the two questions to ask about every table.
By the Franchise Outfit team · Aug 31 · 2 minute read
Item 19 is where a franchisor may tell you how its units perform. "May" is the word. A brand can choose to say nothing, and many do. When a brand does publish figures, buyers tend to read the biggest number on the page and stop. Do not.
A financial performance representation: revenue, sometimes gross profit, occasionally more, for some set of the brand's units over some period. The FTC Franchise Rule requires that a brand which makes such a claim anywhere, including on a sales call, puts it in Item 19 with a reasonable basis. That is why sales teams say "look at Item 19" when you ask how much you will make. They are not allowed to answer any other way.
Which units are in this table? All of them, or the ones open more than two years, or the ones in a certain format, or the top half? The footnotes say. A table of the top quartile tells you what is possible, not what is typical.
What is this number before? Revenue is before rent, wages, royalties, marketing fees, loan payments and your own salary. A unit with strong revenue and thin margin is a job, not an investment. Item 6 lists the fees the franchisor takes; your validation calls tell you the rest.
Your market. A brand's average across the country says little about a town with different rents and wages.
Your first year. Most tables are for units past their ramp.
You. The owner is the largest variable in every unit's result.
The brand is not hiding something illegal by staying silent; silence is permitted. It does mean the only financial reality you can get is from current owners, on validation calls. Ask them directly what a unit like the one you would open brings in and what it costs to run.
We read Item 19 for the footnotes first, then the figures, then we compare it with what owners tell you. When the three agree, that is a brand you can plan around. When they do not, you and your coach talk about why before you go any further.
Buyers ask why they can't see their matches the moment the survey ends. The answer is that a score without a conversation sends people to the wrong brands.
1 minute readIt's the most chosen involvement level in the survey and the most misunderstood. What brands mean by it, and what it asks of you in the first year.
2 minute readThe match survey takes about 8 minutes. Your coach reviews every match before you see it.
Take the match surveyAbout 8 minutes. No cost, no obligation.
The franchisor is deciding about you as much as you are deciding about them. Three things to know about yourself before the introduction, so the call goes somewhere.