Franchise Your Business: Conversion Franchises

When thinking about whether to franchise your business, of the preliminary questions is, could a model of your business be offered to people already in your industry who are looking for a better method? This is a hard query to answer in most cases because each existing business has a matchless set of circumstances, variables, character traits and other elements that can drastically affect the way your franchise method will be owned and operated.

I have worked with a variety of franchise systems that have great models for conversion franchising. The Weave Shop is an African American hair care business that has opened 16 locations over the work of the last 18 months. The idea is fresh, new and leading edge. This is a nice example of a business method that could work for an existing salon in converting their business to a franchise. Also included would be the Restoration one franchise model - here, the franchise model fundamentally consists of a promotion method used to generate leads for the restoration business. In some cases, existing restoration businesses make ideal candidates as Restoration one franchise partners. There's plenty of more examples of franchise models that also could fit in to the conversion franchise model.

In my experience, conversion franchises are not the typical franchise transaction. Over the past years, I have been part of over 150 different franchise transactions and only of them would be thought about conversion franchises. That doesn't mean that it is not a valid franchise strategy, after all, Ace Hardware has used the idea of conversion franchises for years with great success. My advice, don't plan on the conversion franchise, but also don't rule it out as a feasible partner opportunity. As they say in marriage though, "don't plan on your partner to modify because you married them".

To start, what is a conversion franchise opportunity? It is basically when an existing, operating business converts it is operating method and trade name to that of a franchise method. The brand, operating procedures and business model converts to what is in compliance with the accepted franchise relationship. The benefits to this franchise model are that the operator should not require much training and support because they already get the business model. There also will be less of a "ramp up" time because the business is already generating funds flow in most cases. The downside to this model is that the operator is in most cases already "set in their ways" meaning that it can be difficult to modify the way they think and operate. It may also be difficult to persuade a conversion franchisee to pay an upfront fee and "buy in" to a franchise method when they are already operating the business you are selling to them.