Discovery Day is a well-scheduled meeting designed to allow prospective franchisees meet the franchisor and his staff face-to-face. It plays an imperative role in the franchise process. This meeting is more pivotal for the franchisee, as he is going to invest his hard-earned money in someone else’s business to debut his own franchise business.
However, it is not necessary that every franchisor will have one-to-one communication with the prospective franchisees. The franchisor may have up to 20 candidates in attendance to meet them together. Typically, it is organised at the franchisor’s headquarter. However, in certain cases, the franchisor or his staff may accompany the franchisee for a visit to various outlets in nearby areas. This meeting intends mutual opportunities to both the parties to impress each other to close the franchise deal and get started with the franchise operation.
What can franchisee gain
The meeting is scheduled after the franchisee has gone through the Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) and gained enough understanding of the franchise programme. The main purpose of the franchisor behind organising this meeting is to qualify an aspirant and sell the franchise. However, the franchisee has a number of objectives to fulfill from this meeting, as mentioned below:
- Keenly observe, recognise and understand the corporate culture of the franchisor.
- Carefully analyse his/her interest and objectives to match with those of the franchisor (essential to get succeeded).
- Negotiate various open clause of the franchise agreement.
- Discuss and gain feedback from the franchisor and his staff on business plan and strategy.
- Try and clear all the queries that are raised in his/ her mind by putting questions to the franchisor and his staff.
Questions to put forth
Even though franchising offers more secured and profitable business, it is important not to be misled. This is why, a prospective franchisee is always asked to utilise the Discovery Day to its fullest rather than regretting later. As the franchisee has already gone through the Franchise Disclosure Document, he has enough data to raise questions. Some of the questions that a franchisee can ask his franchisor are:
- Inquire about franchisees who have terminated the franchise agreement and the reason behind their leaving the franchise network.
- Ask about franchisor’s future plans, like if he is considering selling the company to another party. Besides, his future plans to expand the brand may help you know whether the market is saturated or still has enough room for growth.
- Find out whether the franchisor has any complaints from the present or previous franchisees and the way he deals with the complaints.
- Has the franchisor ever terminated any franchisee? If yes, try to find how many and why.
- Find out the views of the franchisor on multi-unit franchise. If the franchisor is not selling multi-unit franchises, then you must ask him the reasons behind the same.
Points to ponder
As the meeting is usually scheduled at the end of the franchising process, it might be franchisee’s last chance to clear his or her doubts. Take full advantage of this meeting not just to get a good hold of the franchise concept but also to gain the trust and confidence of the franchisor and his staff. Prepare yourself well for the meeting. You must read the FDD carefully and outline all the clauses and points that you want to discuss with your franchisor and his staff. Apart from this, you must draft a rough business plan and share it with the franchisor to get his expert advice.
