The reviewers have spoken at Amazon.com and franchisors and prospective franchisees are paying attention!
BizCom’s senior advisor, Dr. John Hayes, who heads the Business Administration department at Gulf University in Kuwait, recently wrote Buy “Hot” Franchises Without Getting Burned, and franchisors as well as franchise brokers are recommending the book to prospective franchisees. Since it’s an e-book, it’s a low-cost investment and a quick way for prospects to get a good education about franchising.
Franchisors including Mike Hawkins (The Dwyer Group), Mark Huckins (Budget Blinds), and Peter Holt (Tasti D-Lite), and brokers and sales executives including Mark McKeller (HomeVestors), Don Fertman (Subway), Bill Edwards (Edvest International), and David Clayton (United Franchise Group), etc., have praised the book. Most reviewers have awarded the book 5 stars, although we noticed Nancy Weingartner of Franchise Times rated it at 4 stars. Nonetheless, her rave review said that “Hayes . . . removes the stars from the eyes of prospective franchisees by providing a detailed lesson plan on everything they need to know about franchising. . . .” That’s precisely what we’d expect a professor to do!
In the book’s introduction, Hayes explains that most people looking to buy a franchise want to know:
What’s the franchise failure rate?
What’s the success rate?
How many franchisees are satisfied with their franchisors?
Leave it to Hayes to say those are the wrong questions to ask! “All good questions,” he writes, “but the answers to those questions are irrelevant. . . .
Instead, he continues, prospective franchisees should be asking:
How many of the company’s franchisees succeed?
How many of the company’s franchisees are satisfied with the franchisor?
How many of the company’s franchisees earn at least $150,000 a year?
How many of the company’s franchisees, given the chance, would buy this same franchise again?
And from there he takes the reader on a franchise journey that is always encouraging, but realistic.
“Franchising is the safest way to go into business in America,” he explains several times, “but franchising is not for everyone.”
Those who finish reading the book will know if and why franchising is for them, and they will be well prepared to invest in a franchise, hot or cold.
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