Many buyers meet their first franchise brand through a consultant or broker. The service is usually free to the buyer, which raises the obvious question: who pays, and what does that do to the advice?
What the FTC says about this seat
The FTC's guide for buyers is direct. Brokers "often work for franchisors, and are paid only if a sale is made," and some "earn a commission based on the cost of the franchise" (FTC). Neither is a scandal. It is simply the business model, and a buyer who knows it can use a consultant well.
What a good consultant sees
A consultant sees many brands at once. That is the seat's real value. A buyer looking at one or two systems has no basis for comparison; a consultant who has watched dozens of candidates go through dozens of systems knows which brands support their owners, which ones churn and which ones fit which kind of person. The best consultants spend more time saying no than yes.
What the chair makes easy to miss
A consultant is paid when a sale closes, and only by brands it represents. Brands outside its network may never come up, however good they are. A commission tied to the size of the deal can tilt toward bigger investments. And because the consultant's relationship ends at signing, the long middle of ownership is not something the seat has to live with.
How to use the consultant seat well
Ask directly which brands the consultant represents and how they are paid. Ask why each recommended brand fits, in specific terms. Then do the work the consultant cannot do for you: read the disclosure document yourself, call owners from the Item 20 lists, including the ones who left (16 CFR 436.5), and take the agreement to a franchise attorney.
How the other seats see the consultant
To a franchisor, consultants are a source of qualified leads and a cost of sale. To an owner, a consultant may be a distant memory. To a buyer, a good consultant is a guide whose incentives are visible, which is all anyone can ask.
What a good consultation looks like
A good consultant starts with the buyer, not the brands: finances, experience, the kind of work the buyer wants to do every day, and how much risk the household can carry. Only then do brands come up, usually a short list with specific reasons for each. The weaker version starts with a hot category and works backward to the buyer.
A good consultant also tells the buyer what it cannot see. It knows how a brand treats candidates during the sale; it may not know how that brand treats owners in year four. That is the gap validation calls and the Item 20 lists exist to fill (16 CFR 436.5).
When the buyer should walk away from the advice
Pressure is the clearest sign. A recommendation that comes with urgency, a deadline or discouragement from calling former owners is advice shaped by the commission, not by the fit. The fourteen-day disclosure period exists so no one has to decide under that kind of pressure (16 CFR 436.2).
The question to ask from this seat
Would this recommendation change if the consultant were paid the same no matter what you bought? A match that survives that question is one that holds from every seat in franchising.
Rob Lancit has worked as a franchise consultant, among the other seats described on his franchising page.