The next step in the evolution of predicting performance of franchisees and employees is to develop a prescreening (or prequalification) tool that has been designed to be used during the application stage. It should be inexpensive enough so there is no hesitation to have every applicant complete one.

Why should you develop and use a prescreening tool? Quite simply, it's to save you money. In the case of franchises, it helps your franchise development people stop dealing with unqualified and unsuitable candidates. Because your franchise sales department can now focus their sales efforts on those applicants that give the greatest return on investment, use of a prequalification tool reduces the cost of franchisee selection.

This year, in preparing to go to "cottage country" I brought our vehicle in for servicing (which included an oil change) to make certain we're all set for the trip.

I ran across an interesting situation last week that could have been handled several ways.

It seems there were two individuals that had applied for a franchise. The franchisor's initial evaluation was positive. The candidates' background was positive. They had several years of experience successfully running a non-competing business.

I wonder what has happened to the concept of serving customers. These days, dealing with "service" employees can be an exercise in frustration.

Some of our clients have found ways around these issues though. One franchisor has a terrific reputation in their industry and they take full advantage of that. Their great reputation helps them attract a large number of candidates, even in an area that's been hit hard by the economic downturn.

Franchisors and Business Brokers

Siegel Capital feels it is appropriate for us to share with you how the sub-prime fiasco is affecting financing new franchises and business acquisitions.