As you narrow your franchise search, you have many factors to
consider before choosing that one concept you're going to
dedicate the next 10 or so years of your life to. Is the product
you sell one of those considerations? Should it be? And if you
already know what category you're interested in, how do you
choose between similar products? Is a hamburger always a
hamburger?
Franchise Zone spoke with Stephen Spinelli, co-founder of
Jiffy
Lube and director of the Arthur M. Blank Center for
Entrepreneurship at Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts,
about the role products should play in choosing a franchise.
Franchise Zone: What should people look at specifically when
they start looking into franchising?
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Stephen Spinelli: Start with what's hot. Prospective
franchisees have two different perspectives: The first one is the
brand-name issue. A lot of people would like to own a
McDonald's. There might be some allure to Midas Muffler or
Jiffy Lube or Dunkin' Donuts, because those are
well-established brand names, and they carry some visceral belief
that they're successful--if they've been around all this
time, they must make money, and there's some logic to that. The
second perspective is the what's hot, new-on-the-block kinds of
things: an Internet or computer service or a new food, a new and
different name that seems to be growing pretty fast. People are
excited to get on that wave, and that sort of kicks off the search.
Or they may start with this dual perspective, and then narrow their
focus.
During this initial investigation, should they be thinking
about the products these different brands are selling?
Clearly, they should. But I probably have the minority opinion
on this: I believe [a prospective franchisee] should consider how a
customer can use the product and the sustainability of that product
versus personal passion for the product. Many people, including a
number of entrepreneurship professors, will say you've got to
love the product you're working with and selling. I don't
think there's anything wrong with that, although the word
passion means different things to different people.
A more valuable perspective is saying, "I believe this
product or service can truly help my customers, and I'm excited
about that." That is much more sustaining, personally and
professionally, than saying, "I love sports, so I'm going
to buy a Play It Again Sports franchise." Becoming too
ephemeral may detach you from the viability of the concept, but if
you investigate the product and find a lot of people need this or
it can make their lives better, then the passion has much more
depth. That's where I would encourage people to focus their
search as it pertains to the product or service.
You gave the example of someone liking sports and buying a
Play It Again Sports franchise. If people do have that kind of
passion for one particular thing, could they be in danger of
focusing too much on one segment?
Yes, and that can get in the way at times. I love food, so do I
want to own a restaurant? There's a world of difference between
going to a fine restaurant and enjoying dinner with your spouse
versus owning and operating that restaurant. Some people can make
that connection between their personal interests and delivering
that interest for other people, but I don't see that it's a
necessary component [for success], and at times it can get in the
way.
When a person has narrowed down his or search to a specific
type of franchise--say, a hamburger restaurant--how does the
product factor into the choice between a McDonald's and a
Wendy's?
This issue arose early on with Wendy's. The
"where's the beef?" commercial was a direct
reflection of the Wendy's franchisees' belief that their
hamburger was simply better--it was bigger, juicier and fresher.
Whether it was or not, they believed it, and that belief really
pushed them forward to being able to enter the market. When
Wendy's entered the market, everyone said, "How can you
open another hamburger franchise? Are you crazy?" but they
really believed in the product and that the customer was
under-served by the other competitors in the marketplace.
This dramatic belief was specifically attached to satisfying the
need of the customer. It wasn't necessarily, "I love
hamburgers, and this hamburger is a little better, so I'll
choose this one." It was, "People love hamburgers, and
our hamburgers will satisfy more people." You take that
understanding of the product and project it on to customers.
So the customers should be a major consideration in any
franchise you choose?
It should be absolutely at the core, and the product should only
be a reflection of the need of the customer.
Should a franchisee's opinions on the product come into
play when trying to determine other people's needs?
You may not be an accurate reflection of the needs of the
broader audience. If you think the square hamburger is a crazy
idea, does that mean you shouldn't buy a Wendy's franchise?
You have to be careful about that.
Is it possible for franchisees to be successful with a
product they either don't like or don't use?
It's a really interesting question. Could you be a
franchisee of McDonald's if you were a vegetarian? My general
belief is that there's probably a spectrum. If I believe eating
meat is evil, it would be a pretty dramatic mistake to open a
McDonald's franchise. If I think McDonald's hamburgers are
absolutely perfect and no one should ever eat anything else,
I'll probably be blinded in a different way and not as
successful as I could be. If you're on either extreme of the
spectrum, you should exclude yourself from that product or
service.
More toward the middle, I'm less concerned. I like to have a
hamburger every now and then, but I don't eat it every day.
I'm not a great car buff, but I believe changing your oil
extends the life of your car and disposing of the used oil in a
proper way makes for a sound environment. It's a very
complicated set of variables that makes up my perspective on the
product--you probably need to think through the depth of your own
perspectives.