When you buy a franchise, you’re making a long-term investment. Most franchisors require a minimum commitment of 5 to 10 years. What’s more, many franchisees continue to own and operate their locations long after this commitment has expired. If you’re thinking about purchasing your first franchise, you’ll want to measure the growth potential of different franchise opportunities.

This is an area we’re more than familiar with at Visiting Angels^®. As one of the most prominent home care brands in America, we know a thing or two about expanding industries. So, let’s take a look at how to target franchise opportunities with the best growth potential.

Which Franchise Opportunities Have Strong Growth Potential?

Finding franchise opportunities with strong growth potential takes legwork, foresight, and more than a little bit of luck.

A number of entrepreneurs start by looking at markets and industries that are growing rapidly, but still appear to have untapped potential. This can be a good place to start your search. But it can also be risky. Fast-growing industries and markets are often more likely to collapse than to keep expanding. Yet many entrepreneurs spot an upward trend and assume it will keep trending upward forever.

Below are three of the biggest red flags for fast-growing franchise brands:

The brand’s appeal is built around its trendiness or novelty value.
The brand’s core product or service offering targets consumers’ discretionary income.
The brand’s competitive advantage could be easily disrupted by new technologies.

The franchise opportunities with the best growth potential are the mirror image of get-rich-quick brands. They avoid trends and novelty gimmicks. They provide a high-priority product or service. And while these brands take advantage of new technologies, they don’t bet the house on systems and software that will quickly become outdated.

These opportunities can still be found by looking for growing industries and markets. But keep in mind that these brands take a little more patience. Even during periods of rapid growth, this growth will be relatively steady and sustainable — not an explosive flash in the pan.

High-Growth Franchise Opportunities in Senior Services

At Visiting Angels, we have significant hands-on experience with franchise opportunities in growth industries.

We began franchising the Visiting Angels brand back in 1998. Back then, only a handful of people saw the industry’s massive potential for growth. But now that the first wave of Baby Boomers are reaching retirement age, the industry is taking off. Thanks to the foresight of Visiting Angels’ core leadership, our franchisees are positioned to capture this rapidly growing market.

Senior services, like home care, are a perfect example of a growth-friendly industry. Growth in our industry has been driven by a number of factors, with changing demographics the most obvious. Seniors now make up larger share of the population than ever before in US history. What’s more, the overall number of seniors in the US is increasing at a never-before-seen rate.

But there are other important factors at play. These factors make the senior services sector much less vulnerable and volatile than those in other growth industries.

To illustrate, let’s look at how franchise opportunities in senior services measure up against the three issues we cited above.

For most senior services, demand is being driven by a tangible need, not the novelty or trendiness of the service offering.
American seniors express a strong desire to age in place for as long as possible, and they will prioritize senior services over discretionary spending.
With few exceptions, franchise brands in this sector don’t rely on proprietary software or technologies, shielding them from disruption.

Regardless of growth potential, you need to choose a franchise that fits your skills and goals. To put it bluntly, the senior services sector isn’t for everyone. But even if you don’t think that you’re a good fit for a home care franchise, our industry is an ideal template for what you should look for in franchise opportunities with strong growth potential.

Request information about franchise opportunities with Visiting Angels today by calling 800-365-4189 or by requesting information online.