"Nick, What’s the top franchise opportunity to buy?"

Having paid myself the proverbial "nickel" every time I've been asked, “Nick, what’s the best or top franchise opportunity to buy?” my sack of coins finally got too heavy and made me think. (Mind you I said "pay myself," because many fine people, not out of greed, but out of ignorance, assume that business consultants just sit at Q&A desks and wait to give free advice.) For quite a while I was easily tempted by inquiries about top franchise opportunities and spent way too much time spouting my opinions.

I was flattered to think that my opinion mattered enough for people to be interested, and I was sucked into time wasting diatribes over and over again. Why was it time wasted? Because what I think about good opportunities for myself has very little bearing on what might be right for my fellow man.

A consultant can help with facts, figures, and if smart enough and insightful enough, with sorting out issues, but no consultant (indeed no human being) is capable of making a long-term, quality decision concerning another person's perception of a top franchise or anything else. It is far too important and personal a matter to leave with another person, let alone a total stranger in the form of a consultant.

In my other life as a counselor to adults I am privy to a host of presenting problems. My role is to first listen, and listen hard, to everything a client has to say. I take notes, I think, I reflect, I reach for the core of the problem. In a successful encounter I am able to help people see real issues behind the problem and then possible solutions. This is accomplished through encouragement and highlighting key factors that the affected individual can miss for any number of reasons. The bottom line is that my counseling clients come to discuss problems and I help them sift through the muck and mire in an effort to gain clarity and direction. Just telling people what to do doesn't work.

When acting in the capacity of franchise consultant to folks searching out an opportunity, the client's tendency is to put their quarter in the slot, sit back, and have their options listed and evaluated, and have a top franchise chosen for them. Worse yet is the client asking me to recommend a top franchise for a spouse, child, friend, etc. That is lunacy in the first degree. I know that I cannot choose another person's path, and anyone who claims that they can is a liar, a fool, or both. (And just for the record, a person who is paid a fee by a franchisor for helping someone select that particular franchise is more commonly, and accurately, known as a salesman. If a "franchise consultant" is paid by a franchisor for selling their concept then they are in the sales business, and they earn a living by your decision to buy what they represent. So, be on your toes my friends.) The only way for a consultant to be paid, and still remain loyal to the client's needs, is to be paid by the prospective franchisee for consulting services rendered, not a commission. (I offer one valid exception - that would be if all parties understand and agree upfront that consulting is defined as salesmanship, and the salesman states that he/she might receive a commission, referral fee, whatever one chooses to call it, if a sale is made. But, in no case is that a counseling relationship.)

So what do I think, in case you are interested? I think that the consultant's role is to help a client probe all the good, the bad, and the ugly concerning the issues of entrepreneurship, franchising, and indeed, the world of self-employment in general. In addition, good consultants should be able to analyze all manner of business opportunities and keep constructive, level criticism as the focus of all discussions. It is the client's job to ultimately choose the top franchise for himself.

Copyright Nicholas A. Bibby, all rights reserved.