Franchise Spotlight: American Prosperity Group

AMERICAN PROSPERITY GROUP (APG) is a cutting-edge financial planning franchise with diversified products and services and a state-of-the-art business system. APG's focus within the Financial Services industry lies in Retirement & Estate Planning. As a franchise that grows almost specifically through franchise consultants, they have been a member with the FBA since our very beginning.
At our 2015 Franchise Brokers Conference and Expo they learned about an FBA program where we help coordinate discovery days between our franchisor members and our franchise consultants. They held their first Broker Discovery Day in December of 2015, in their local market of South Pompton Plains, NJ.
Afterwards, we followed up with Chelsie Charnet, APG's Director of Franchise Development, to see how the event went. "We had a great response. It was all very positive and we enjoyed the opportunity to meet and share our concept with these consultants. I really value time to get to know consultants on an individual level and be able to explain our strengths and answer their questions. Ultimately, we learned a lot from this experience and have slated another Discovery Day for May of 2016."
"Most of the Franchise Consultants that attended had no exposure to the APG concept prior to coming. I sometimes prefer that because it gives us a great opportunity to be able to go through all the unique details about our concept. There are many things about APG that are different from others within the Financial Investment industry, and when someone is open to understanding those differences that's when we have seen that we can help them to grasp what makes us different."
When asked about what the characteristics of her franchise's top performers are Chelsie told us "Our top performers are people who enjoy and are good at public speaking and want to help people. Many of them could be considered a social butterfly and are good at communicating. They usually have NO EXPERIENCE with the Financial Services Industry either. We prefer to teach them right from wrong at the very beginning. Another commonality is that they enjoyed the concept of money and in many cases invested as a hobby prior to joining us."
"In fact, when they first started looking at franchises to invest in several of our current franchisees stated to their franchise consultant 'I don’t want to be a Stock Jock' – or – 'I don’t want to be an Insurance Guy' – or – 'I don’t want to be an Annuity Guy' who preys on family, friends and business associates. However, when a franchise consultant truly understands our concept they can easily show them the this is not at all our offer and explain the high income potential."
"At APG there is so much that differentiates us from the traditional model. First, there is never any cold-calling, door-to-door canvasing, lunch seminars or require them to already have a book of business.  We also aren't restricted to a limited set of investment groups and do not take a percentage of the amount of the investment. Our franchisees are independent and instead are paid very similar to how a franchise consultant is paid. They are paid a commission directly from the company or carrier we work with and our clients aren't paying any more by working with us."
When asked in a survey about their experience with the Discovery Day one of the brokers in attendance responded, "I really liked the ability to select from all products available in the nation instead of being limited to one or two providers. I enjoyed getting to know Mark [Charnet, APG's CEO] in a casual, but content-rich environment. There is great earning potential with this concept. I am already lining up candidates!"
APG backs up their earnings potential in a very impressive Item 19 that shows an average of $188k.  When talking to Chelsie about it she explained further that 6 out of 15 of their franchisees far exceeded this amount and earned $342k after royalties.
She attributes their franchisees' success on their ongoing training, which they offer weekly, monthly, and quarterly. They also conduct an annual convention where they discuss best practices, changes in the economy, and how to best leverage these changes and go through diagnosing case studies.