Franchise Broker Training
Franchise Broker Training – What’s Included and Who Does it Best?
While the approach to broker training may vary from group to group, at the end of the day they, for the most part, teach the same stuff. After all, it’s not like one group holds a secret sauce that another group does not know so bottom line, regardless of which group you join you will be taught similar material.
These days with most all groups all training is done in a virtual setting with some offering optional live training throughout the year. This may be done at annual conventions or regional meetings but no one has reinvented the wheel when it comes to franchise development and brokering.
Probably one of the key differences in training approaches among the various broker groups is this… Some assign you a single trainer. This may be a corporate trainer or may be one of their brokers who has agreed to help with training. Other groups may have a group of trainers who are also brokers that have agreed to train on a subject or two each month to new brokers. There are pros and cons to both but both methods work just fine.
The most common things taught in all franchise broker training sessions are:
Franchising basics – what is a franchise in the legal sense.
Franchise models and ownership roles – the various levels of owner-involvement in a certain type of franchise model.
Why people invest in a franchise – i.e.: learning the advantages of going with a franchise vs. starting your own business as an independent.
Franchise legalities – not how to be a franchise attorney but some basic legalities covering broker do’s and do nots.
Candidate qualifying – how to qualify and profile your prospective clients. The type of owner they may be, how serious are they, investment targets, industry likes and dislikes, etc.
Franchise matching – once you know your prospect, how to identify potential perfect matches for them.
Presenting franchises – how to pitch your prospect on your suggestions.
Managing the process – once you have introduced your prospect to one or more franchises, what is your role and how you can help along the way.
Lead types and engagement techniques – Some groups may focus on all, some more on specific lead types but the various types and best practices for engaging them.
Technology – how to use your group’s back office, intranet and any other technology they may make available to you.
Financing and funding – the various options available to many franchise investors to leverage money to make their franchise investment and some key players in the industry.
Invoicing – what is that group’s method for invoicing when you close a deal. Some groups invoice on your behalf while others teach you to invoice directly.
Home office set-up / tools of the trade – the basic tools most franchise brokers need for their home office setup.
While these are the basics covered in most initial broker training sessions some groups will dress it up a little with fancy topic names and such but again, no group has a proprietary silver bullet.
Beyond your initial training most groups do offer ongoing training sessions that can range from additional topics to cameos from industry experts. These people can range from franchisors to top producing brokers.
Just like any industry there are some great trainers in this business and some not so great ones. Marc Stephens with Success Franchise Advisors is probably the best known trainer in the industry, partly because he has been in the industry for such a long time and has probably trained more franchise brokers than anyone, including many of the trainers, mentors and even executive staff at some of the broker groups. Brokers commonly say not only does he know the industry like the back of his hand but has a fascination with the psychology of the human side of the industry and has a knack for explaining it well.
No matter which broker group you choose you will, most likely, receive a thorough and well prepared training session.