I’ve been approached by a franchise broker on behalf of a franchisor. Should I go through them to pu

It will always be preferable for a franchisee to deal directly with the franchisor in respect of the purchase of a franchise.  There is a danger if the franchisor uses a broker that the broker will not know the franchise business and the franchisor may not know the broker well enough to rely on his judgement as to the suitability of franchisees for his franchise system.  Sometimes franchisors will use franchise brokers to initially screen applicants where there are a large number of prospective franchisees applying for a franchise in order to free up some of the franchisor’s time. The disadvantage of the franchisor doing this is that it will not be getting experience of meeting and accessing potential franchisees.  From the franchisee’s point of view, if initial screening is carried out by a franchise broker he will not get experience of meeting franchisors, allowing him to judge whether he could work with them based on their personal approach and management styles.  The more franchisors that a franchisee meets the more he will learn about the opportunities offered by different franchisors. The greater the franchisee’s experience in meeting and discussing opportunities with franchisors, the more likely he is in making the right choice when exercising an objective judgement regarding which franchise to choose.  It is always vital that a prospective franchisee talks to a franchisor personally and other franchisees in the network before he makes a decision on whether or not to purchase a franchise.