What’s important to homecare franchise brands

Here’s how to read a franchise brand’s mind, before you even meet them.

Buying a homecare franchise is a two-way process. You need to make sure the franchisor ticks your boxes, but they will also be assessing your fit with their brand, plans, values and network just as much.
Ethical franchisors will be quite used to having to politely but firmly turn down offers from people who might not be the right fit, for one reason or another. Having met a lot of fellow franchisors, here is the inside scoop as to what we’re looking for (and what doesn’t matter to us)

What matters to franchise brands:

Understanding your ‘Why’ – What’s your motivation for starting your own homecare business? Different motivations will chime with different franchisors, but short-term monetary gain as the sole motivator might not set you up for long-term satisfaction and success, especially in the care sector.

Communication and people skills – How well you can communicate, both written and verbally is crucial, especially in the homecare sector. 

Practicalities – What’s your current work situation and commitments, and how does starting and growing a business fit into that? Available capital, other commitments, where you live, all need looking at.

That you’ve done your homework – starting a discovery call with “So, tell me what homecare is?” is surprisingly common (and a bit of a red flag 😬)

Transparency and honesty – A good franchisor should see the relationship as a partnership between the national brand and local entrepreneur – starting this on the right footing is important. You’ll be owning part of their brand and what you do with that matters.

 What doesn’t matter to franchisors…

Not having sector experience – This can sometimes even be an advantage; looking at a service and a sector with fresh eyes has opened up some big improvements and innovations.

That you haven’t run a business before – Franchising is a bit of a cheat code when it comes to being entrepreneurial – the proven system, support, training and established brand means you will hit the ground running and won’t be making the mistakes that, for example, we made when we first started the brand. And there were a few! 

That you’re talking to other franchisors – Choosing the right franchise brand is important. We’d always recommend speaking to a few other brands to get a sense of what they offer and how everyone fits into the market. Often, it comes down to the people behind the brand, and the (technical term incoming) general vibe.

What matters to you when choosing your next step? Only you can answer that – but it’s good to think about before you make contact with franchisors.

Quick update – 5 Star Franchisee Satisfaction Award 

An anonymous survey of our partners run by our friends at Workbuzz has seen us win a coveted 5* Award for our Brand, Support and Leadership. In the spirit of transparency, here’s our exact results. (Beating industry averages in all categories bar 1, where we were off by 1%)

If you’re interested in finding out a bit more about how joining an established, differentiated brand could help turbocharge your company’s growth, simply reply to this email. I respond to every email I get. You can also book a call with me for a no-obligation initial chat. 

Yours,


Ben