AAFD Franchise Tip #2: Find a Franchise-focused Company
January 16, 2007 by Sean Kelly
Filed under Business
The American Association of Franchisees & Dealers (AAFD) is a non-profit organization that acts to educate the public regarding fair franchise practices, quality franchise opportunities, and to expose the unethical practices. The AAFD recommends that individuals considering franchise opportunities should look for 8 elements to consider in a franchise. They believe all 8 are critical in selecting a good franchise opportunity.
TIP #2: Find a franchise-focused company.
According to the AAFD:
Select a franchising company that is primarily interested in distributing quality products and services to ultimate consumers. Although this rule may seem obvious, many (if not most) franchising companies are primarily interested in selling franchises and are less concerned with the quality of the products and services they are theoretically in business to sell.
* From “8 Things to Look for in a Franchise” by the American Association of Franchisees and Dealers.
Problems arise in cases where companies offering franchises also have other, sometimes more important, channels of distribution. The franchise channel could be neglected, or find itself competing at a disadvantage. For example, The UPS Store franchisees are suing their franchisor, alleging that they are at a disadvantage competing with the discounted rates UPS offers on the Internet. The UPS Store franchise program is one very small revenue center for UPS.
Dedication and focus on its franchise initiative is often one of the advantages of choosing a smaller or regional chain. Learn more about these relatively “undiscovered” opportunities in IdeaFarm’s free franchise guide:
I agree with tip #2. The UPS Store Franchise is a prime example of the conflict of interest that this creates.