I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.
For me personally I think it’s our profession because of the perception it creates around what we do.
Wed 31 Jan I saw probably only the second ever full episode of the show since it’s been aired on TV
If you didn’t see it let me just explain what one of the challenges was.
They had grown men and women sliding down what can only be described as a giant slide running down a hill. Once they reached the bottom they were made to run back up the hill against a clock.
One lady probably in her late 50’s early 60’s carrying about 5 – 6 stone too much weight actually collapsed and required an oxygen mask.
Is that what our profession is about? I really don’t think so, do you?
I’d love to hear your comments.

Reason because in a rather strange twist of fate, they suffer from a very similar mindset as many of the potential clients they could be working with, that is overweight and unfit people.
Here let give you a few quick examples:
The typical overweight client – seeks a quick fix for losing weight.
The typical personal trainer – seeks a quick fix for gaining new clients.
The typical overweight client – rarely sticks with anything long enough to see real results
The typical personal trainer – rarely sticks with anything or one long enough to see real results
The typical overweight client – has bought into ‘Work Smarter Not Harder’
The typical personal trainer – has bought into ‘Work Smarter Not Harder’
Try ‘Work Harder which is followed by Smarter’
Just some thoughts if you really want to build a business that can generate over £30k per year start by doing some of the opposite things to those listed above and you’ll experience growth not necessarily overnight but you will have growth.

Why should you a fitness professional who has spent hundreds possibly thousands of pounds on extensive training and personal development consider buying into a weight loss franchise concept?

You shouldn’t if you can achieve the following criteria:

1. You have a better service than the weight loss franchise concept
2. You are able to get to market faster (more applicable to newly qualified)
3. You require less financial investment (don’t forget investment is long term)
4. You will be more profitable faster by yourself

If you can confidently say that you can meet the four criteria above my advice would be to read the book by Michael E Gerber, ‘The Emyth Revisited’ systemise your business so that if you want to you can either sell it as an ongoing concern or sell it as a weight loss franchise in the future.

Below is a table showing some of the perceived advantages & disadvantages of been a one person fitness professional versus a franchise fitness professional

As I stated earlier you do not need to be part of a franchise to be successful there are a number of personal trainers out there making a living as one man operators. The undeniable fact about franchising even with any of it’s perceived disadvantages it allows the franchisee to get on with focusing on profits and growth of their business rather than getting bog down with graphic designers, web designers etc which can be time consuming, frustrating and energy sapping.

Before you decide which way you would like to go assess your own personal strengths and weakness, not every personal trainer enjoys getting involved in designing marketing materials and websites and would rather get on with the job of working with clients.

Make sure you request the franchisors information pack and see what they have to offer and then grill them.

By Erak Simsson Founder & Director of Coach Me Slim & Trim®

Weight Loss Franchising is often mistakenly seen as an easy option to get into business. Well yes it’s very easy to spend your money but this will not guarantee your success. Do you actually have the necessary attributes to be a successful franchise?

Take the self analysis below and be honest what’s the point in kidding yourself it will only cost you money!

Questions

Answer all questions on a piece of paper with an A, B, C or C response. Don’t skip to the end to get the points allocation before your have completed the analysis.

1. Do you need to control everything and like to make all the decisions yourself? How true is this statement?
A. Partially true
B. Completely true
C. Completely untrue

2. Are you able to handle the day-to-day operation of a weight loss franchise business, which may mean taking on additional classes in the absence of a trainer?
A. Yes, definitely
B. Not sure, but I would be prepared to consider it
C. No, it would not be acceptable

3. How strong is your motivation and drive to achieve success?
A. Extremely strong
B. Strong, but other things in life are also important
C. Success is business isn’t one of my goals

4. Do you equate buying a weight loss franchise with ‘buying a job?
A. No, not at all
B. Yes, in some ways
C. Yes, definitely, I’m unemployed

5. Are you prepared to work long hours to make the business a success?
A. Yes
B. Maybe
C. No

6. Are you able to work without supervision?
A. Yes, definitely
B. I would give it a try
C. No, I’m too used to working with a boss and other staff

7. Are you able to organise your time and set priorities?
A. Yes. It’s the way I operate
B. Yes, sometimes
C. No, I’m always behind the time wise

8. Have you had more than 3 years business or teaching experience?
A. Yes
B. Less than 3 years
C. No, never had any business or teaching experience

9. Have you ever hired and fired employees?
A. Yes
B. Yes, but I hate it, especially firing employees
C. No

10. Have you ever trained personnel?
A. Yes, and I’m good at it
B. Yes, but I hate it and don’t do a great job
C. No

11. How do you feel about performing a sales function?
A. I like making sales and like to convince educate people about buying a service
B. I’m not crazy about making sales but I know it’s an important function
C. I hate t make sales and would not expect to be involved in sales in any way

12. Do you presently have sufficient capital (through personal funds or loans) to get through the start up phase of the business?
A. Yes, I’ve been planning for it
B. I don’t have it now but I have a pretty good idea where I can get it
C. No, I hope to start making money immediately

13. Weight Loss Franchisees often sign documents with investors and lending institutions and maybe leasing companies and others. Are you mentally prepared for financial risk?
A. Yes, very
B. Don’t know
C. No, not at all

14. Is your spouse supportive of you starting a weight loss franchise business?
A. Yes, very
B. Don’t know
C. No, not at all

15. Do you give up easily if things don’t go as well as planned?
A. No, I am very persistent
B. Sometimes I give up pretty easily, but other times I persist.
C. Yes, I go on to the next challenge

SCORING
Give yourself 3 points for every A answer, 2 points for every B answer, and 1 point for every C answer. Total up all the points.

HOW DID YOU SCORE?

45 – 40 points: Good news, if you’ve been thinking seriously about owning a franchise. You have the basic attributes and experience to succeed.

39 – 33 points: Be very careful! Think through your responses to the questions and re-assess whether franchising will work for you.

32 points and below: Looks like trouble! Your responses indicate that either you won’t be very happy or won’t be successful as a franchise owner.

The franchise information pack also knows as the prospectus is a document sent out by the franchisor. The purpose of the document is to showcase the business opportunity to individuals that have expressed an interest. It should also serve to answer a number of basic questions regarding the opportunity.

These documents are usually not intended to sell the franchise, but instead are used to open up discussions and possible meetings.

Franchisors will usually allow you to download their information pack directly from their websites. The nice thing about that is you don’t have to speak to anybody and you can read about the opportunity at your own leisure.

This is by no means a definitive list but will help you to quickly and easily assess a number of information packs.

Here goes 14 things to check for:

1. The Look of The Information Pack
If you’re going to be expected to spend a few thousand pounds then this document should look as though it has been produced professionally. Having said that which would you prefer a glossy looking professional document with only vague information or a less impressive looking one with lots of solid information?

2. Contents
As obvious as this may sound you would be amazed at how many franchisors’ send out information packs in a less than organised manner. By clearly laying out a contents pages a) it makes your navigation through the document far easier and b) shows a degree of logical thinking and thoughtfulness by the franchisor.

3. A Brief Introduction Into The Service
This sets the scene and helps you to be able to quickly understand where the business opportunity is positioning itself, which enables you to decide early on whether it sounds like something that would really be of interest you.

4. Your Success
Franchising depends upon the success of it’s franchisee’s so reading a statement or been shown some sort of diagram outlining how your success is going to be achieved indicates that the franchisor has a clear plan of action to help you. The lack of such information may show a lack of real thought about your success.

5. Who They Are Looking For
This will provide you with an opportunity to match your skills and talents against what the franchisor is looking for in a potential franchisee. Normally enthusiasm, energy and commitment to becoming successful will feature above qualifications and experience as the latter can be taught and gained over time, the former however is a that rare commodity that the franchisor is looking for. Please don’t mis-understand qualifications and experience are also excellent things to have.

6. Your Sources of Income
It goes without saying the information pack should indicate what your earning potential can be. Expect to see a range of possible incomes, lower, middle and upper end. For Personal Training / Coaching which is conducted out of gyms, homes, corporate offices or private hirings you may only see gross income projected as operating costs can vary dramatically. Be very mindful of claims in excess of £50k+ as they will usually show you working between 30 – 40 sessions per week of one to one which is doable, but you must also consider that you are going to need time to market your business consistently, client service, general business administration, service development or implementation of new services oh yes and have a family / social life. Ideally your sources of income should come from a range of related services e.g. one to one, one to two, corporate work and coaching & training small classes. The increased numbers from one to one to small groups or corporate work allows you to generate a higher hourly rate e.g. one to one may be £35 per hour versus corporate £75 per hour. Also be mindful of regional differences, within the larger cities £40 – £70+ per hour are not uncommon, these prices may not be achievable in smaller less affluent areas.

7. Your Support Franchise Package
This section should outline what will be given to you to support your immediate and long term growth and success. A crucial document that should be mentioned in this section is the ‘Operations Manual’ This is the blueprint for your future success.

8. The Training Package
Clear objectives need to be achieved during your training. A wishy washy, ‘we’ll will tailor the training around your needs’ may mean that there are no clear training objectives. Remember you’re thinking about buy a proven system surely they must have a system for training you? The duration for a weight loss franchise should be between 3 – 5 days depending upon the quality and detail gone into. Training packages should not assume prior knowledge other than your core skills as a personal trainer. If a company is making an assumption you already have marketing and sales skills this crucial area may be skipped over and this is probably the most important area of your training, ask questions about it? And don’t accept you’ll be given some flyers and brochures we all know about those.

9. Your Franchise Investment
So what are you going to get for your money? Everything! Yes everything that you require to be able to walk out your training and literally start building your business from day one. You have been give the training so it’s about things that you will now physically take away this should include all marketing & sales materials, (lead generation materials also) stationery, equipment, any necessary licences, insurances (year 1 normally), any client support packs, Operations / How to Manual, uniform, telecommunication system these are certainly some of the items you would expect to leave your training with. If you where able to buy these items yourself if possible (Operations Manual not possible) they would probably cost you more as the franchisor will have greater buying power therefore receive a large discount which they can forward on to you.

10. Researched Background Into The Service Area You Are Considering Entering
This just shows that the franchisor is in touch with what is really happening within their service area. It also helps to identify opportunities now or in the future for franchisees. A reference or two are always reassuring to see.

11. A Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Section
You can treat this as the franchisor trying to be as helpful to you as possible by answering some of the questions which they have been asked in the past, it also provides you with a certain degree of confidence when you see your question on the sheet it means your thinking this through as thoroughly as other people. The FAQ section should not be page after page, if the remainder of the document has done its job. Also by not trying to answer every single question that you may have it allows you to discuss this with franchisor, which is your opportunity to assess the franchisor by the quality of the answers that they may not have thought about, that would be interesting.

12. Testimonies
There absolutely must be some testimonies of some description either about other franchisees or about clients who have used the service which you are considering buying into. Other successful franchisees may not always be available it is feasible that in the relatively new area of Personal Training franchising you could be getting involved in a new company in which case they may not have any franchisees that you are able to speak with. Failing that they should have a number of bona fide testimonials singing the praises about the service which you will be offering should you become involved? In some respects testimonials about the service are more important than testimonials from other franchisees why? Well think about it if your franchisor has a generic website that promotes your service what is going to help your prospective client buy your service of weight loss coaching and training, a testimonial from a franchisee or one from a satisfied client saying how they lost weight and increased their fitness and energy levels? Client testimonials i.e. the end user the overweight person are worth their weight in gold why? Social proof most people will look for it.

13. Your Franchise Business Trainers
Running a franchise of any description is going to take more than just been good at delivering your core product the perfect ‘press up’ you have to be taught how to run a business which is going to require a wide range of skills including, marketing, sales, accounts, administration and more. Your trainers should be experts in their respective areas. A one man training operation will lack the depth of knowledge across all of the business areas which means you will end up with second rate business training.

14. Your Next Step

There should be a clear call to action if you are interested in finding out more. Typically this will involve ring a centralised number and arranging for a one to one meeting or attending a discovery day. Discovery days are open events when a number of potential franchisees get together and listen to the franchisor explain the business concept, show off some of the support materials and it gives the potential franchisors the opportunity to ask some more questions.

There you have it 14 things to look for within a franchise prospectus.

Wouldn’t life be so much more fun if everything we did had a guaranteed outcome maybe? But then where would all of the fun and excitement of not knowing go?

Franchising is not a guarantee for easy success. You will have to work as hard as or even harder than a one man operator, why I hear you ask?

Take the typical newly qualified personal trainer, they will spend a lot of time deliberating over what their company name will be, logo, website, what equipment etc and yes this can be considered as work, but the real work doesn’t start until you have all of this put together.

The franchisee is buying into a system that will get them working in their business immediately. They will be focused on a series of marketing events; networking, developing joint ventures, contacting local business, contacting media PR releases, arrange the use of various venues all leading to carrying out consultations and training of clients. Once this starts your then into client retention activities, ensuring that your referral systems are in place, deciding upon what to up-sell or cross-sell to your clients and so your business life begins and continues to grow and develop. This is the real sort of work you want to be doing as quickly as you can. This is the sort of work that is going to keep the roof over your head and give you the income to take the holidays and buy the presents you want, not developing websites etc. Yes I know developing a website has to be done if you’re a one man operator it’s a means to an end.

If you’re considering the franchise route, your attitude and work ethic must be of the highest level why? Because your going to have to impress the franchisor with these attributes, no franchisor would take on a franchisee that displays the wrong attitude and work ethic, they simply wouldn’t because it would damage their network.

Whether you’re franchising or going it alone you need the right attitude and a good work ethic without it failure is just a matter of time.

Your attitude and work ethic will determine your altitude in business!

To see a similar set up to a franchise visit: www.weightlosslicence.co.uk where I have set out all of the benefits of a franchise without all of the length legal paper work. A licence can offer you the same benefits as a franchise whilst retaining your own individuality and existing business name.

Franchising within the fitness profession is starting to see an increase, with a number of unscrupulous companies offering what they claim to be a franchise opportunity. Often these opportunities are nothing more than the use of a company name, a uniform with a days induction about how much of your hourly rate you’ll be handing over to them.

Franchisee training should be through and conducted by professionals within each area to be taught.

Within this document I have used the weight loss franchise market as a model to indicate the areas that should be covered, it can be adapted to suit your own particular market if weight loss is not your intended market.

Before I get into the areas that should be covered 5 quick questions to ask your potential franchisor about their training programme:

1. When are the training days scheduled – if its adhoc are they really planning for growth or just winging it?
2. How many days training?
3. How long are the training periods? (40 – 50 minutes max)
4. Are there any handouts? (should be yes) Ideally an ‘Operations Manual’
5. What are the areas to be covered (some detail please)? (see below)
6. Who will be conducting the training in each of the areas? (experts not one person)
7. Is there any role play as part of the training? (vital to help build confidence)
8. Is there any pre-course training required? (should be to help ease you into the training)

Areas You Should Expect To Be Covered For A Weight Loss Franchise

1. How To Delivery of Your Core Services

There should be intensive training on how to deliver the franchise core service. Without it everybody will just be doing their own thing that is not how a franchise and brand or service are built and only leads to mediocrity, unhappy dissatisfied franchisees and disappointed clients seeking to lose weight.

2. How To Understand & Use Weight Loss Psychology
The days of visiting the gym 2 – 3 times per week and saying just eat less are no longer enough. Today’s society has been described as an ‘Obeseogenic Society’ with individuals been constantly bombarded with fast food adverts, giant size chocolate bars on offer buy one get one free being promoted by skinny women who probably never even touch a square of chocolate. As coaches / trainers we need to understand a little more about how a person seeking weight loss is processing information and about what their perceived barriers to exercise are and remember perception is reality, but the good thing is perceptions can be changed with the right approach by the coach / trainer.

3. The Basics of Good Nutrition
Once an individual has got rid of the head trash that often holds people back from really succeeding in losing weight nutrition is the next important thing. I know as coaches / trainers we like to think it’s exercise. Without good nutrition where asking for the impossible.

4. How To Coaching Effectively
Coaching is not about giving instructions that’s a trainer, coaching is about asking the right questions at the right time, which means you also need to be a good listener. Asking the right questions enables the client to go inside themselves and find the resources they need to move to the next level of improvement.

5. How To Sell Effectively
Most trainers I have met hate or take offence at been called sales people often saying things like ‘I’m a fitness professional’ or ‘Master Trainer’ not a sales person. Often these are the very people you hear in conversation telling clients about what qualifications they have, who they have worked with, their hobbies etc etc you probably see this stuff on their websites as well. This is not effective selling and drives many trainers out of the profession which is sad, because with just a little guidance it could all be so different.

6. How To Market Effectively
Jim Labadie, Dax Moy, Sean Greely, Ryan Lee, Chris Cardle are just some of the fellow fitness professionals I have had the pleasure of learning from and speaking with. Learning to marketing effectively is the difference between one trainer having the ability to at the press of a button to be able to market to 100 – 10,000 willing prospects ready to buy versus the other struggling to create a list of 5 or 10 people.

7. How To Set Up Your Accountants
It may seem boring but it has to be done and you need to be taught by a professional they’ll help you save money.

8. How To Be Administratively Efficient
Again this may seem like a boring and mundane skill, but when done properly it can save you hours even days and make your business run like clockwork even when your not there.

To see a similar set up to a franchise visit: www.weightlosslicence.co.uk where I have set out all of the benefits of a franchise without all of the length legal paper work. A licence can offer you the same benefits as a franchise whilst retaining your own individuality and existing business name.

What is a franchise?
A franchise is a legal commercial relationship that exists between the franchisor (the owner of the brand) and the franchisee (the owner of the individual franchise). The franchise agreement sets strict guidelines on how the business will be run. For the use of the business system and the trademarks the franchisee pays a monthly royalty, which can be between 2% – 20% depending on the franchise. It can often be more in the fitness / personal training industry. The franchisor usually assists in offering the following:

• Site selection (not applicable for free lance trainers)
• Training
• Product and service suppliers
• Assistance of development of business plan
• Assistance development of Marketing and Advertising
• Ongoing head office support.

These are the basics for most franchises

The UK franchise market is still playing catch up with the USA market where franchising is aggressively promoted as a less risky way to go into business instead of starting your own independent business from scratch.

Often franchising is supported with low failure rates in franchising and high failure rates in independent business. Franchises are not a guarantee for success it is true that a well positioned and properly implemented franchise can generate significant profits for the franchisee. The other side is a poorly positioned and implemented one can lead to loses and disappointment.

A figure that is often used in the world of franchising is 95% of franchisees succeed while 80% of independent business fails. Let’s just challenge this statement which is often used to lull people into a false sense of security.

The above statement may be true for large well established blue chip franchises, but can it be applied to newly established companies.

As a potential franchisee you must identify what is marketing hype versus what is reality. And when you combine some of the hype about franchising with the current obesity epidemic it’s very easy to become carried away with the thought of all those people you see walking down the high street paying for your help.

Keep your conservative glasses on when reviewing income figures, if they sound too good to be true they probably are.

To see a similar set up to a franchise visit: www.weightlosslicence.co.uk where I have set out all of the benefits of a franchise without all of the length legal paper work. A licence can offer you the same benefits as a franchise whilst retaining your own individuality and existing business name.

You should treat the whole process as if you are choosing a business partner, because that’s effectively what you are doing.

At times you may feel a little intimidated by the process, particularly if formal assessment processes are involved. Avoid at all costs the temptation to exaggerate your strengths or your assets, or make yourself out to be something you are not i.e. qualifications and experience. This will only backfire on you guaranteed. You will be taking on the responsibility of running a business where you will be in total charge and responsible for what happens. A franchise is not like a job where you can just walk away if you are not achieving the results that you expected, well you could but you would lose money.

On the other side of the coin you may feel you have to quickly sign a franchise agreement because of a sense of obligation or because you feel psyched up by your thoughts and hopes of what the franchise will give you. Calm yourself down and take an object look at everything presented. If necessary take counselling / advice from preferably a business person as they will have a better understanding of business than say a family member who may have never run a business before, this does not include your spouse as your going to need their support in developing and growing the franchise. Remember buying a franchise is not like buying a sofa or washing machine. You can’t take it back if it does not work the way it was explained to you. As they say in the carpentry business, measure twice, cut once.

Why Should Your Franchisor Have a Thorough Selection Process?

Assuming that the franchise system you are looking at is based on a proven business concept with sound training and support systems, research suggests that the extent of your future success will still largely be determined by your own hard work and abilities. Your franchisor should be thus assessing your potential strengths and weakness to see how they can best help you to succeed and whether or not you should proceed with the business opportunity.

Consider some recent research conducted by Professor Lorelle Frazer from Griffith University USA, on the causes of franchise failure. She found that inadequate franchise selection procedures were a major factor in the franchisees failure. The companies selling the franchisees had poor selection procedures; allowed people to purchase a franchise who were under-prepared, under-funded, unsuited mentally or who had unrealistic expectations of what running a business was really like.

Content Of A Thorough Selection Process

Here are three methods that may be used

1. A detailed application form. These forms are often available using a secure web site. The application form should ask detailed questions about your family situation, background experience, intentions about the business and financial capability.

2. A Self –assessment questionnaire. This can provide you with insights into your approach to business, life and dealing with other people. This information can then be used to highlight strengths and possible weakness in relation to running your own business.

3. A Structured interview process. An interview should use pre-prepared questions that ask about your past experiences and focus on issues relevant to running the business. This will protect both you and the interviewer from making decisions based on emotion, gut feel or bias.

Content Of A Structured Training Programme

1. Subjects to be covered are been delivered by subject matter experts. One man training programmes will probably fall short of giving you specific and necessary information that could make all of the difference between you getting off to a quick start or floundering.

2. There is a structured training programme. Adhoc training either assumes that you know something well and this is not the level of professionalism one would expect for a franchisor. Ensure there is a structured training programme your initial success will depend upon it.

3. Good handouts within an ‘Operations Manual’ to support each training area covered. Taking reams and reams of notes means that you will not be paying attention to what is been taught.

4. Comfortable and well lit training facilities. This will enhance the learning experience and increase the level of professionalism

5. Opportunity to reflect and role play. This will help to confirm learning and proper understanding. Remember you should leave your training full of confidence and raring to go, not with doubts and questions because things either weren’t covered properly ‘rushed’ or not given the chance to practice and receive some feedback.
To see a similar set up to a franchise visit: www.weightlosslicence.co.uk where I have set out all of the benefits of a franchise without all of the length legal paper work. A licence can offer you the same benefits as a franchise whilst retaining your own individuality and existing business name.

By Erak Simsson Founder & Director of Coach Me Slim & Trim®

A Few Initial Thoughts

If you are in the market for a franchise you will notice that franchisors tend to adopt a variety of approaches to selecting potential franchisees. Some will be very choosy because they have a very popular and successful brand.

Other companies with a less well-known brand or concept will naturally attract fewer enquires. This does not necessarily mean that their franchise offer is any less valuable. All successful franchise networks had to start off at some point as unknown business. And getting in early can mean less competition and better returns. However there will inevitably be greater risks when dealing with a less-established franchise concept.

Franchisors that are growing quickly will be focused on attracting good quality franchisees fast. This should not however compromise their selection process they should still maintain their high standards. Be cautious if the person you are talking to seems desperate or tries to manipulate you through high pressure sales tactics such as ‘if you don’t sign up now you are going to miss out on a ground floor opportunity’ Some franchisors need to sell the franchisees or they themselves don’t survive.

Understand What Their Recruitment & Training Process Is

Once you have decided who will feature on your short-list of potential franchise systems that are of interest to you, find out the franchisor’s recruitment & training process. Most bona fide franchisors will have a structured process leading from the initial meet up through to advanced talks and training process and dates for training available and will be pleased to explain the whole process.

Once you have determined that the franchisor has a legitimate recruitment and training process, and you are comfortable with what you have heard about the company, you then need to go through a mutual screening process. This is where you and the principle franchisor or a representative get to find out a little about each other to see if there is a good fit. Before signing any agreements you need to meet personally with the franchisor to review and make any final judgements or ask any final questions, the franchisor will be doing exactly the same.