According to the British Franchise Association, around 80% of franchisees report success five years after joining a franchise. That’s an impressive track record, especially when you consider that completely the opposite is true of new business start-ups outside of franchising, of which just 20% are still trading after 5 years.
It’s a powerful endorsement of how well the franchise model works compared to going it alone.
However, that still means one in five franchisees don’t make it. A pretty sobering thought when you consider each one of those means lost income and revenue opportunities, and maybe even a big hit to your franchise’s reputation.
In our experience working with franchise brands across the UK, most established networks see between 5–10% of their franchisees exit each year. Some leave on good terms – life changes, relocations, retirement – but others struggle, underperform, or simply walk away frustrated.
While operational challenges or market conditions occasionally play a role, more often than not, the root cause might be a lot simpler: the franchisee was never the right fit in the first place.
So, how do you avoid it?
Well, you’ll probably never hit 100% success. Sometimes even someone who looks great at the start turns out to be a bad fit, and needs to be moved on – and rightfully so. However, you can get pretty close… and enjoy a more streamlined recruitment strategy which leads to more revenue, and fewer headaches.
Access4Lofts is the perfect example.
With over 100 territories now filled across the UK, they’ve built one of the most successful home improvement franchise networks in the country. Here’s the remarkable part: in all that growth, across all those franchisees, they’ve only ever had one franchisee fail.
That’s not luck or happy accident – that’s the result of a carefully considered recruitment strategy which put finding the right franchisees ahead of simply finding more franchisees.
As you’re probably aware, The Franchising Centre actually now owns Access4Lofts. However, we’re not telling you all this to pat ourselves on the back, but rather because it is living proof of what’s possible. When we acquired the brand from its retiring founders, one of the biggest reasons we were so confident in the investment was precisely because we had helped them build such a strong, stable network.
They didn’t chase numbers, and they didn’t lower the bar when things got quiet. They stayed laser-focused on attracting people who were genuinely suited to the business, and it paid off big time.
If you’d like to hear the full story behind how we worked with Access4Lofts and eventually decided to buy the business, you can read more here: From Consultancy to Ownership: how The Franchising Centre doubled down on its specialty and became a franchisor itself
Zero in on the right prospects from day one
The biggest lesson we can all learn from a franchise like Access4Lofts is that the quality of your franchisees determines the strength of your brand. Get that wrong, and nothing else matters.
For us, it reinforced just how important it is to have the right systems in place to support recruitment, which is why we’ve since doubled down on developing services that help franchise brands do exactly what Access4Lofts did – build networks filled with the right people from the start.
Introducing two powerful new tools:
1. Zorakle Profiling
Zorakle is a rigorous profiling system that evaluates whether potential franchisees genuinely have the characteristics, skills, and mindset needed to succeed in your specific franchise model, assessing everything from cultural fit and resilience to learning style and motivational drivers. The result is deep insights into whether someone will thrive in your system before you invest time and resources in onboarding them.
2. Our Franchise Matchmaker Service (powered by 30,000+ qualified leads)
We’ve built a proprietary database of more than 30,000 franchise prospects who’ve already expressed serious interest in franchise ownership and been pre-qualified based on their goals, budget, location, and sector preferences. Through our Matchmaker service, we strategically match your franchise with candidates who align with your ideal franchisee profile – people whose skills, ambitions, and expectations genuinely fit what you offer.
Let’s have a conversation about your recruitment strategy.
Whether you’re looking to refine your approach or just want a second opinion on what’s working (and what’s not), we’re happy to help. Sometimes a fresh perspective is all you need.
Just click the button below to schedule a call.
John Overdijking
Franchisee Recruitment Specialist & Partner
