Recruiting the right owners for a senior care franchise can be a challenging task. While passion for caring for people is important, it is equally crucial to find owners with the necessary business skills and experience to run the franchise successfully. In this article, we will explore the two different types of franchise owners and how to recruit the ideal owners for senior care franchises.
There are two kinds of franchises, and each one attracts a different kind of owner.
- Pure business franchises attract owners whose main concern is to make a large and secure income. Their goal is to buy a franchise that provides the biggest possible financial return on their investment. And there is nothing wrong with that.
- Passion-based franchises attract owners who have a deep personal commitment to what their franchise does. These passion-based owners come in many forms. They could be people who love fashion and who want to stock their shelves with trendy clothes and interact with customers who are equally passionate about clothes and fashion trends. Other passion-based owners could be yoga practitioners who want to own and operate a yoga franchise, committed early childhood teachers who want to own tutoring businesses, or musicians who want to operate a music school. And some passion-based owners want to own franchises that serve aging people. (Perhaps they discovered this passion while they were caring for aging members of their own families.)
Let me stress that I am not judging members of either of those groups. There is nothing wrong with choosing a franchise that promises a large income stream, or long-term stability. Nor is there anything wrong with people who want to own a business that allows them to live out their personal passions or deep beliefs.
And sometimes, the right franchise cuts across both categories, allowing passionate people to enjoy substantial financial returns and security. Or conversely, the right franchise can become a personal passion for people who started out only wanting to make a lot of money. There is nothing wrong with being either kind of buyer. The fact that franchises are owned and operated by both kinds of owners makes the whole franchise world more varied and interesting.
Recruiting Owners for Your Senior Care Franchise
There are many kinds of franchises that serve the needs of seniors and their families. There are franchises that simply serve as counselors and help families find the best options for home and residential care for older members of their families. There are franchises that provide caregivers who will provide in-home care. There are other franchises that specialize in medical and senior transportation. There are also franchises that take on the role of case workers; they coordinate multiple aspects of caring for an aging relative – transportation to medical appointments, delivery, and set-up of home medical equipment, and more.
The ideal owners for these franchises are passionate about caring for people. But in my experience, hiring people only for their passion or desire to help people can be a mistake. Yes, you want people with a personal commitment to your mission. But remember that, if possible, they should also have business skills and/or prior experiences that will help assure they will be capable business owners and managers.
While the passion of certain prospective owners can make you believe they are the best possible owners of your senior care franchise (which they might be), remember that in most cases, franchises succeed because of the operational expertise of their owners, not because of how excited they might be.
So my advice is to, yes, hire for passion. But at the same time, recruit owners who will run their businesses capably. During your selling process:
- Mentor and coach prospective owners so they understand the hard skills they will need to succeed.
- Carefully screen possible owners and assess the full range of their business experiences.
- Encourage possible owners to meet with your current franchise owners at their places of business, so they develop a realistic – not romanticized – picture of what owning one of your franchises will be like.
- Develop excellent training programs and let prospective owners take them before they become owners. Once these future owners take training, they will develop a realistic outlook that blends passion with practicality.
The result will be a balanced owner who has what it takes to succeed.
Evan Hackel, Entrepreneur, Author, Speaker, Podcaster
As author, speaker and Evan Hackel has been instrumental in launching more than 20 businesses and has managed a portfolio of brands with systemwide sales of more than $5 billion. He is the creator of Ingaged Leadership, is author of the book Ingaging Leadership Meets the Younger Generation and is a thought leader in the fields of leadership and success.
Evan is the CEO of Ingage Consulting, Delta Payment Systems, and an advisor to The Learning Network (formerly Tortal Training). Reach Evan at ehackel@ingage.net, 781-820 7609 or visit www.evanhackelspeaks.com