What’s The Difference Between Franchise Consulting Services: Broker vs Consultant vs FSO?

When someone says that they offer “Franchise Consulting Services”, it could mean different things to different people.  Let’s walk through what the differences are between the various types of franchise consulting services.

 

#1 – Broker Networks

There is an army of franchise brokers out there.  I’m not exactly sure what the number is, but it’s probably somewhere around 20,000 people that are registered as franchise brokers or coaches.  Many franchise broker networks have 500+ active franchise brokers in there system.  The primary way that franchise brokers get paid is by making roughly $25,000 per deal that they sell.  So, they basically earn half of the franchise fee.

Usually, a single franchise broker represents several hundred brands that pay a fee to the franchise broker network.  So, in some ways, they don’t really care if they sell you Brand X or Brand Y because as long as you purchase some type of a franchise, they make their commission.  The key for franchise brokers is usually just to find people who want to open some type of a business and then help them decide which one to go with.

 

#2 – Franchise Consultants

Franchise Consultants traditionally has meant people that help you turn your business into a franchise.  But, more and more this term has become more vague and can also mean the same thing as “franchise broker”.  Usually a franchise consultant becomes more involved in working with the franchisor directly to help them improve their sales systems and processes, whereas a franchise broker oftentimes only interfaces with a franchisor when they are making an introduction to a candidate that is interested in that franchise brand.

 

#3 – Franchise Sales Organizations (FSOs)

Of these 3 types of “franchise consulting services”, FSOs are the most interesting to me.  FSOs basically get hired by franchisors to sell franchises for them.  Some of the fastest growing franchises in North America work with FSOs like Franchise Fast Lane, Rain Tree, and Franchise Evolution Partners.  We work with about 10 different FSOs, and most of them do a great job maximizing franchise growth for their franchisors.  We also provide FSO services for some of our clients, which has the added benefit of us not only driving the sales but also the leads so we can control what types of people are coming through the door in the first place.

 

Need Help?

If you would like to speak with us about potentially having us help drive quality franchise leads and even becoming a franchise sales organization for your franchise please fill out our Contact Us form.

We are a boutique agency that does National Franchise Sales and marketing via PPC (Google Ads + Meta Ads).  Also, here’s a list of some Franchise Sales CRM options that might help you.