McGrow Franchise Consulting Spreads The Franchise Lie
November 15, 2012
McGrow Franchise Consulting spreads the deadly franchise lie that franchises hardly ever fail.
(UnhappyFranchisee.Com) McGrow Franchise Consulting of Hingham, MA claims it is “recognized as the leading franchise consulting firm in this country.”
McGrow Franchise Consulting encourages companies to start offering franchises with their help, claiming McGrow will share with them the “secrets to success.”
McGrow Franchise Consulting claims that the U.S. Department of Commerce has stated that fewer than 5% of franchises ever fail.
According to McGrow Franchise Consulting, franchisees don’t need to worry when they invest their life savings, 401Ks and their kids’ college funds because they have a whopping 95% chance of success.
Unfortunately, McGrow Franchise Consulting is spreading The Franchise Lie.
And they have inspired others (like sex offender & franchisor Greg Cantrell) to spread the franchise lie as well.
McGrow Franchise Consulting Spreads The Franchise Lie
If you are new to the franchise industry, you need to know this fact: Anyone can claim anything about themselves and never be challenged on it.
McGrow Franchise Consulting can claim it’s recognized as the leading franchise consulting company in the nation.
Yet, in the past two decades, we’ve never heard anyone refer to McGrow as the leading anything. Most people in the industry have never heard of them.
McGrow Franchise Consulting claims its clients are successful, that their clients have sold thousands of franchises, that they maintain long term relationships with every client and that, if you hire them, “You’ll be able to expand with less overhead and fewer day-to-day operating headaches, while generating a highly profitable stream of income.”
Yet McGrow Franchise Consulting does not include a client list on its website, and there are no names attached to its few sparse client comments. Where are the long lists of successful franchise clients who are maintaining a 95% success rate and generating steady streams of profits?
McGrow Franchise Consulting claims that buying a franchise is an almost risk-free investment:
Low Risk – The U.S. Commerce Department estimates that 95% of franchises succeed; only 25-35% of independent businesses succeed. Why the difference? Since a franchise is usually a duplicate of an already successful business, it should succeed.
The only problem is that the U.S. Commerce Department never stated that franchises have an estimated 95% success rate. They haven’t published any success rate that we know of, at least not in the past 25 years.
It’s fiction.
It’s a lie.
Even the IFA warned about The Franchise Lie
In May, 2005, International Franchise Association President Matthew Shay warned franchisors and other members (McGrow is a supplier member of the IFA) to knock it off with the bogus statistics. He wrote:
Dear Friends:
A message from International Franchise Association President Matthew Shay
It has come to our attention that some IFA-member companies may be providing information about franchising that is long out of date and no longer presents an accurate picture of the sector.
Of particular concern is information claiming that the success rate of franchised establishments is much greater than that of independent small businesses.
Many years ago, the U.S. Department of Commerce conducted studies about franchising which presented such statistics. That information is no longer valid. The agency stopped conducting such studies in 1987.
We strongly urge you to remove any information from your Web site and published materials that make such a claim. The use of such data, in the absence of current research, could mislead prospective franchisees who are attempting to conduct responsible investigations…
As a member of the franchising community, you serve as a gateway to future generations of franchisees and entrepreneurs. Please join IFA in making an effort to present an accurate picture of franchising.
Sincerely,
Matthew Shay President
International Franchise Association
Could it be that the leading franchise consulting firm in America and a long-time member of the IFA, and its founder Jack McBirney, didn’t get the memo?
Or are McGrow Franchise Consulting and Jack McBirney knowingly deceiving prospective franchisors and franchisees as to the real dangers of franchising?
We will contact McGrow Franchise Consulting and ask for clarification and give them a chance for rebuttal.
We will ask them for a copy of the Department of Commerce research study that they quoted.
And we will ask them for a complete list of ALL the franchise programs they have helped launch.
It will be interesting to see how close to a 95% success rate their clients have achieved.
ARE YOU A MCGROW FRANCHISE CONSULTING CLIENT? ARE YOU FAMILIAR WITH THE MCGROW FRANCHISE CONSULTING, JACK MCBIRNEY OR THE FRANCHISE LIE? SHARE A COMMENT BELOW.
THE FRANCHISE LIE Spread by Greg Cantrell, Jack McBirney & 1-800-DRYCARPET
November 15, 2012
The Franchise Lie is the franchise industry-wide deception created with bogus statistics and fictional “research” to lull would-be opportunity seekers into a false sense of security.
Promoters of The Franchise Lie, like convicted sex offender Greg Cantrell (CEO of 1-800-DRYCARPET) and franchise consultant Jack McBirney (Owner of McGrow Franchise Consulting), quote imaginary research they attribute to the U.S. Department of Commerce that states that buying a franchise is nearly a risk-free investment, vs. starting an independent business, which is a much higher-risk proposition.
These bogus franchise statistics have been discredited for more than a decade, yet they can still be found on hundreds of franchise websites, in franchise marketing brochures, and in news articles.
Despite the fact that the International Franchise Association (IFA) has publicly renounced the use of such bogus statistics, its members (including former member Gregory Cantrell and his 1-800-DRYCLEAN and current IFA supplier McGrow Consulting) continue to spread The Franchise Lie without consequence.
Gregory Cantrell Spreads The Franchise Success Lie
The franchise website of Greg Cantrell promotes his 1-800-DRYCARPET franchise using The Franchise Success Lie, stating:
Low Risk: The U.S. Department of Commerce estimates that 95% of franchises succeed; only 25% – 35% of independent businesses succeed. Why the difference? Since a franchise is usually a duplicate of an already successful business, it should succeed.
Not only is this claim, which is fraudulently attributed to the U.S. Department of Commerce, bogus, real studies have shown the opposite to be true. Because franchise systems themselves often fail, they drag the franchisees down with them.
The irony in this case is that the 1-800-DRYCARPET franchise seems to be abandoned while CEO Cantrell serves 3 years in prison for raping a 12-year old female relative (Read: GREG CANTRELL Franchise CEO, Sex Offender)
Jack McBirney McGrow Consulting Spread The Franchise Lie
Where did sex offender Greg Cantrell get The Franchise Lie statistic?
He cites long-time franchise consultant Jack McBirney, owner of McGrow Franchise Consulting.
And sure-enough, the McGrow franchise consulting website proudly displays The Franchise Lie, inducing both would-be franchisors and would-be franchisees to make the largest investments of their lives based on the blatant lie that franchise opportunities are nearly risk-free investments that hardly ever go wrong.
UnhappyFranchisee.com is on a mission to expose and eradicate The Franchise Lie.
Have you been told The Franchise Lie? Who told it to you? Please leave a comment below!
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