Exploring the Shift: How Highly Qualified Candidates are Reshaping Franchising
The franchise marketplace has gone through a significant evolution over the past ten years in that more and more of the candidates that enter the franchise marketplace are what would be described as higher-educated and higher-qualified franchise buyer than the market had seen previously. The reason for this new wave of buyers who bring college educations, MBA’s and advanced careers is the declining job market for higher income employees.
Many industry segments have seen significant decline in what traditionally high paying opportunities for employees. According to Fox Business, Real Estate Agents who in the mid-2000’s realized an income of $39k-$136k per year have lost over 200,000 jobs in the segment, the pharmaceutical market who once was a premier industry segment for sales and marketing positions have lost over 50,000 jobs paying between $75,000 to $106,000 per year. Banking, Construction, Journalism and other market segments have experienced some of the same trends.
Franchising as a Path for Career Transition
This movement from an employee standpoint has pushed people who in most cases have not been an entrepreneur or business owner to consider starting a business and this is where franchising offers a significant value proposition.
For many of these candidates who come from a “white collar” office environment, working in the restaurant or retail industry segments is a difficult life transition to grasp, where the business services market segment tends to be a much easier transition to business ownership. Business service franchises are businesses that offer B to B services and are usually incorporating a higher level of management and strategic sales that would be associated with selling a business service.
The business services segment in franchising has expanded exponentially in the past decade driven largely by this influx of new, qualified franchise candidates. Business service franchises have not only grown in quantity of franchise units, but also in number of franchise brands that have taken to the market and are offering opportunities.
Real Estate Business Services have expanded with franchise brands such as HomeVestors (almost 1,000 franchises), Five Star Painting services (almost 300 franchises) and new brands such as A-1 Painting or Arbitrage all of which provide real estate services and have very strong performance track records in addition to strong franchise growth. The Pharmaceutical former employees tend to be drawn to the healthcare market segment in franchising which offers an enormous array of opportunities such as Visiting Angels Home Care (1,000 locations), Caring Matters Home Care and Alerion Home Care & Wellness which are effective in-home senior care franchises. The healthcare market has expanded significantly with the growing senior population and needs of this demographic.
Regardless of what the business services market segment might be, there are opportunities for buyers. Accounting and financial services franchises have experienced significant growth with the automation of the banking sector shrinking the number of job opportunities in the banking industry. Franchises such as RMH Business Solutions, Padgett Business Services (300 Franchises) and others offer small business consulting services and financial guidance. Franchisees are offered tools, technology and systems needed to open a business using their brand and operating model. Home services, Janitorial (Jantize America), sales training (RC Evans Institute and Sandler Sales Training) and other market segments also offer significant business service franchise opportunities.
Benefits of the Business Service Franchise Model
Some of the key benefits to the business service franchise model are that these businesses often tend to be home-based, offering a lower initial investment and typically do not have the cost of goods associated with traditional businesses, which leads to a great opportunity for a strong return on investment on the franchise. There are a wide range of business service franchises available; follow your passion and interests and find the franchises that fit your passion and interests before you settle on a brand.
