Make your move, make your mark

If you’re looking at buying a franchise, it’s important to know your primary motivations and to measure your success against the right goals. You’ll also need to share your reasons openly with the franchisor of your preferred business. Before granting you a franchise, the team that will be supporting you to succeed must agree that the business has the potential to deliver what you want and that your expectations of time input, effort and potential returns (financial and intangible) are aligned with what the franchise system needs and can offer.

For 2024 Westpac Supreme Franchisee of the Year award winner Steven Painter of Landmark Homes Taupō, success stemmed from an opportunity that simply presented itself at the right time. Hailing from a building background himself, Steven says taking the leap into franchising was a move he felt ready to make. After aligning with business partner Gerry Schumacher, he hasn’t looked back.

“I saw an opportunity there in the market,” he says. “So I moved off the tools and jumped ahead financially by joining the Landmark Homes franchise.”

He says he has learned a lot about franchising over the last 10 years.

“Being a builder by trade, there was the matter of understanding the nature of the beast. Once you are aware of the size, the capacity for growth and how a franchise operates, you learn how potentially successful and enjoyable it is.”

Winning this year’s Supreme award, Steven says was hugely rewarding and very humbling, “It’s one thing to think you have a good business, but it’s another thing altogether to be recognised across all industries and across the whole country,” he said.

Key drivers

According to the latest New Zealand Prospective Franchisee Research survey, conducted by Franchize Consultants Ltd and Franchise New Zealand media, your motivations for buying a franchise are likely to be primarily income driven, with the potential to build wealth your main reason for considering the move.

Lifestyle improvements like flexibility, life balance and satisfaction are important secondary motivations, along with ways to have greater control over your own life, such as wanting a career change, having more security and stability, and making employment or asset provisions for other family members.

Two years on from the last Prospective Franchisee research period, larger numbers of you are facing redundancy or cannot find the job that you want, which is prompting more people in younger age groups (25-44 years old) to seriously consider the move to buy a franchise.

Our research found that almost half of you would consider moving to another region to take up the right franchise opportunity and over two thirds of you are considering buying a franchise with someone else.

Going into business with a spouse, partner or friend can provide real advantages, when you bring additional skills and experience to the business, as Steven Painter found when he met business partner Gerry Schumacher. The award-winning Landmark Homes Taupō franchisee says, “It’s key to bring different skills to the partnership and be able to handle workplace conflicts and change without animosity. There must be trust in what each other does, and a shared vision for what you want your business to achieve.” The pair recently brought on another partner when they took on the Hawkes Bay franchise and Steven’s wife Ingrid also works in the administrative side of the business, making for an even bigger pool of complementary skills in the team.

Proven power

Our recent Prospective Franchisee research found that the majority of respondents looking at buying a franchise have people management and/or business ownership experience, which begs the question, why would you prefer a franchise to an independent business?

Having access to a proven business model is the main appeal, according to the research findings. Brand recognition, help throughout start-up and the safety of ongoing support are all key factors in this decision, too.

One of the least-recognised benefits of a franchise system can be its buying power, which was only ranked as significantly important by 6% of prospective franchisees recently surveyed. Some of New Zealand’s most well-known franchise brands, such as Kitchen Studio and Paper Plus, have developed out of cooperative buying groups.

Having an established name lends a business a huge helping hand from the get-go. As the most visible part of a franchise operation, if the franchisor has done their work well, a strong, respected brand gives the new franchisee ...

 

This article is published in full on page 6 of the Summer 2024-25 (Year 33 Issue 4) issue of Franchise New Zealand magazine.

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