It is so important for franchisors to pick the very best franchisees to run with in the marketplace. Without the best possible team it is hard to win in a highly competitive industry and that is why the interview is so important. Many franchise buyers believe that the interview or the one-on-one with the franchisor is simply a sales tactic to sell them something. This is totally wrong.

The franchisor should never sell a franchise without meeting the franchise buyer or potential team member candidate in a one-on-one interview. If they are not exactly what the franchisor is looking for he should not move ahead with the sale. A franchise buyer who is combative or problematic in an interview is merely a foreshadowing of things to come and the franchisor is much better to walk away and never sell the franchise.

Additionally, often we find in franchising that the competition is trying to scam us into giving away proprietary information by pretending to be franchise buyers. This corporate espionage is a lot like a spy game. But they are much easier to catch when they are in a one-on-one interview by the questions they ask and their body language, they give themselves away and you can tell that they are lying. You will get a lot of that, be forewarned.

Further, some government regulatory agencies acting on complaints that have come from competitors will pretend to be franchise buyers and they will start asking all sorts of questions and wasting franchisor's valuable time. Of course they will never show up to a one-on-one interview and lie straight to your face because in my opinion they are dogs, which is another good reason to call for a one-on-one interview. This is unfortunate indeed, our own government, but it is true.

All these are important factors that every franchisor should know when determining if a franchise candidate is good enough for your franchising company. If they are not they need to take a walk. As a franchisor founder that built my business up from scratch over a 20 year period prior to franchising I know that a franchising company has too much at stake to risk it with unqualified or future non performing franchisees. Don't go there and don't give away unnecessary information to spies. Please consider all this in 2006.

"Lance Winslow" - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/. Lance is a guest writer for Our Spokane Magazine in Spokane, Washington

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