The Advantages of Networking and Being a Franchise Advocate

Written by on May 26, 2016

Franchise Consultants are the people who help guide potential entrepreneurs to the ideal franchise. The good ones, with whom you want to associate with and can trust, are true advocates and work closely with their clients throughout the entire process -no matter how long it takes. Their goal is to deeply understand their clients and to use their knowledge and experience to best serve them.
Cheryl Chiasson is a Franchise Consultant at Franchise Connexion and understands how big and important a decision like purchasing a franchise is. She and her husband Gregg are franchisees  with Instant Imprints and understand the journey to business ownership. Their experience as franchise owners gives them valuable insight that Cheryl now uses to help others.
Cheryl generates her leads almost exclusively through networking. “My business focuses heavily on connecting with people.  I really enjoy getting to know my clients and helping them get to where they want to be. It also feels great to be able to help them avoid bad decisions and find opportunities they never would have known about or considered.”

How Franchise Advocate's Serve Their Clients Long-Term Interests

Cheryl's most recent franchise placement was with the Tutor Doctor franchise and was a referral from someone within her networking community. 
The referral was working for an online marketing business specializing in franchises. She just had a strong desire to go out on her own and to be her own boss. Not an uncommon situation by any means for any consultant to encounter. So, Cheryl began taking her through the process and the two quickly became friends along with their husbands. Everything was moving along fine, but they had to put everything on hold when the client got pregnant. It clearly wasn’t the best time for her to jump into a new career!
Three years passed and they stayed in touch and continued to see each other socially. Things could have ended there, but because Cheryl kept in contact and became a trusted friend, it didn’t. Not too many deals close quickly and you never know what will happen. As it turns out the client’s husband, Ryan, had grown tired of working as an Accountant within the Oil and Gas industry. He too had the bug of being his own boss and wanted to see what options were out there for him. Of course, since he already knew and trusted Cheryl and Gregg he immediately called her and the process began again.
“When Ryan called me up one of the first concepts we thought of for him was Tutor Doctor.  I knew he matched the criteria as an ideal candidate. He wanted to help others within his community, have flexibility and work from home. I showed him others of course, but I felt this would be a great fit.”
Cheryl was originally introduced to Tutor Doctor at the annual conference hosted by the Franchise Brokers Association. During this conference she was able to meet with the franchisor face-to-face and really understand the concept and who their ideal candidate was. “It really made a difference to me! You can’t beat in-person interaction. I got to ask the important questions and get to know who they are and what they’re all about. I loved the home office aspect of the business and what the positive influence it has on the community. There is so much need for the services Tutor Doctor provides.”
“Throughout the entire process Ryan really relied on my advice. He would always immediately tell me if he didn’t like something and if he was on the right track with what he was thinking. As we began to narrow down the franchises he was laid off from his (then) current job. This didn’t force him to make a quick decision though. He was very good at conducting his due diligence, but ultimately there were a lot of things about Tutor Doctor that really resonated with him.”
“He and his wife were moving to Cincinnati, OH. Purchasing a franchise in an area you don’t already live in comes with its own set of challenges, but we persevered and the Franchisor was very accommodating.  Ryan understood that the business would be what he made of it. Purchasing a unit in Cincinnati would make him the first franchisee in that area and he liked the idea of being first to market. The next big step would be the validations and they went great! I coached him ahead of time with the right questions to ask and to let him know that not all his validation calls were going to be a 10 out of 10. In the end he was very confident in his decision to move forward.”

Analyzing the Process and Moving Forward

Working with Ryan and getting him into his Tutor Doctor took about 3 months. However, Cheryl had originally started working with his wife 3 years prior. This deal in particular really demonstrates that this is a people business and the importance of establishing trust and staying in contact. The cherry on top is that Cheryl just started looking for a franchise for the contact who referred this couple to her in the first place!
Just like people, you can’t force deals to happen on your time. You have to give them the proper time and space to grow into what they will eventually become. You never know what you’ll be rewarded with in the end.

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