Today’s Franchise Development Prospects Desire to Follow a Proven System
By: Michael Alston for Franchise Insights
July 2, 2024 — In our June 2024 survey, almost two-thirds (66.3%) of respondents claimed “willingness to follow a proven system”, an essential characteristic for succeeding at franchise ownership. Grit, or “persistence towards a goal despite obstacles” was cited by over half of respondents (50.6%) of respondents, followed closely by “team leadership experience” at 47%.
These characteristics should be expected, given that the vast majority of today’s would-be franchise owners are at prime entrepreneurial age and are leaving full-time jobs according to recent aspiring franchise owner demographics from the monthly small business startup sentiment surveys.
Survey respondents were invited to select only three of the seven factors on the list, or to provide an “other” response, so the above are what they deem their most valuable attributes for franchise ownership.
Willingness to follow a proven system, “grit” and team leadership experience are most cited by franchise seekers.
Grit was coined as “perseverance and passion for long-term goals” by psychologist Angela Duckworth and colleagues in a 2014 study of the predictors of success. In this pivotal work, the authors found that traditional predictors like intelligence (as measured by standardized tests like IQ) and talent — possession of extraordinary abilities — were secondary to what they came to define as grit. If you have not been exposed to the research findings, you might enjoy this six-minute TED talk by the author whose video has been viewed over 22 million times.
Grit is a necessary trait, but it is not sufficient for the successful operation of a franchise. The willingness of franchisees to follow a proven system is a known success factor, and the recognition of that characteristic in today’s prospective owners bodes well for the coming generation of franchisees. Franchises often require team leadership skills, except for absentee-ownership situations and solo opportunities.
Almost 39% of respondents cited a supportive partner or spouse, and 34.9% have experience in the business segment they are pursuing for a franchise. Access to sufficient startup capital was reported by 33.7%. Another 27.7% of respondents included prior business ownership among their top three strengths.
In June 2024, 27.7% of respondents included prior business ownership among their top three strengths.
An “other” category garnered some valuable other traits that we may include in future rounds of the survey. “Training” experience, and “sales and marketing skills” and “location” are a few examples.
The Small Business Startup Sentiment Index™ is based on a monthly survey of individuals who have recently inquired about businesses or franchises for sale on the FranchiseVentures Lead Generation platform. Data for this article was collected June 20-30, 2024.
FranchiseVentures is the leading franchise lead-generation platform for potential franchisees to thousands of growing franchise systems in the United States and Canada. Its franchise lead generation brands include Franchise.com, Franchise Solutions, Franchise Gator, Franchise Opportunities, Franchise For Sale, SmallBusinessStartup.com and BusinessBroker.net, and together they provide the largest aggregation of prospective franchise buyers in the U.S.
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Published on Tuesday, July 2nd, 2024.