senior care franchise research There’s a lot that goes into researching a senior care franchise, but one of the most important aspects of research is speaking with franchise owners.

America’s franchising laws make it easy to find and contact a franchisor’s current and past franchise owners. This makes it possible for potential franchisees to get first-hand accounts of what life is like as a senior care franchise owner under a specific franchisor.

If you’re thinking of buying a senior care franchise, here are some suggestions for how you can reach out to existing and past franchisees, and what questions you should ask franchise owners during research.

Getting Franchisee Contact Info

To contact franchisees, you will first need to acquire their contact information. Any franchisor will be required to include the names and contact info of existing franchisees under Item 20 of their Franchise Disclosure Document. Franchisors must also include limited information about any franchisees who left their company in the past fiscal year.

Prep for Franchisee Conversations

Once you have a list of existing and past franchisees, take the time to plan the questions you will be asking and the information you need from the franchisees you are contacting. Preparing for your conversation in advance will be helpful in getting the answers you need to make your decision.

Some questions you might want to ask existing and past franchisees for a senior care franchisee might include:

What kind of support did head office give you when starting out?
What kind of continued support is available through the head office?
How much value has the franchisor’s brand and national marketing had for your business?
What specific advantages and/or difficulties have you found with your franchisor?
How carefully have you followed the franchisor’s franchise model?
How key has the franchisor’s model been to your level of success?
Would you recommend purchasing a franchise with this franchisor?

Contact Several Franchisees

A senior care franchisor will need to give you contact information for at least 100 franchisees, and may provide you with a full list of all franchisees in their network. While you probably won’t want to contact that many franchise owners, you will want to have conversations with more than just a handful. Try to reach out to at least five to ten franchisees (or more) to get a full sense of how the franchise model works for different owners, particularly in markets similar to your own.

Think owning a senior home care franchise might be right for you? Contact Visiting Angels today for information on franchise opportunities in your state.