🍄 Are We in a Field of Mushrooms?
The mobility sector is buzzing right now. New franchise and affiliate brands are popping up everywhere: Mark called them a "field of mushrooms".
And you know what? Some of these new players are really exciting. But let’s be real, if you’ve been in this business a while, you remember the "field of mushrooms" we called brokers back in the '90s. Many of them vanished just as quickly as they appeared.
The trick is figuring out which ones are building a solid tree trunk for the long term and which ones are just going to disappear tomorrow. To avoid a costly mistake, like the poor operator who signed a deal only to get US traffic instead of the European distribution he actually needed, you need to ask these five hard questions.
1. Do They Actually Operate a Car Rental Business? (The "Skin in the Game" Test)
This is the big one. If a franchise is only focused on signing up affiliates, cheering you on to "grow the business," and then collecting their royalty check, what are they, really? They're cheerleaders and then they become tax collectors.
A genuinely valuable partner has skin in the game. That means they are operating and investing in the business themselves.
- Are they running car rental stations?
- Are they spending money on marketing to build real brand equity?
- Are they operating in a market that matters to your source of customers? For example, if you’re a tourist destination, you want them operating in major source markets like Germany, the UK, or France.
If they aren't actually running a successful operation, they can't offer you the deep, real-world experience you need to solve complex problems.
2. Is Their Influence Pointing in the Right Direction? (It's All About Polarity)
Mark uses the word polarity, and it’s a smart one. It’s about the franchisor’s power of influence in the exact right place.
Here’s the thing: if your operation is in the Caribbean, and 90% of your visitors come from the US, you need a franchise that's a powerful player in the US market. It's that simple. If you choose a brand that's only strong in, say, Croatia, you're missing the point.
And for my independent operators out there, ask yourself: Why sign up? If you’re a player in Brazil, where 92% of the business is domestic, why are you giving away your margin and competitiveness to a global brand that can't send you much international traffic anyway? Sometimes, staying independent, but nailing your online distribution, is the smarter play.
3. Are They a One-Trick Pony?
Mark’s dad was an airline pilot, a self-confessed "one-trick pony". In business, that lack of diversity can be a massive risk.
If your operation is in a major city like Madrid or Barcelona, you need a partner that is not just a leisure brand. You want a network that operates successfully across all segments:
- B2C / Direct-to-Brand
- B2B (small enterprise and corporate)
- Leasing, insurance, and replacement business
If you're only focused on leisure traffic, what happens when that market dips? Having multiple segments helps you weather the inevitable storms and gives you a wonderful problem to have: deciding how to manage different types of revenue.
4. Can They Throw Their Weight Around? (Leverage is Power)
We all know the distribution challenge is massive. Going up against the huge brokers and OTAs on your own is incredibly tough. That's where a good franchise earns its royalties.
They need to have enough power to walk into the negotiating room and get you real advantages:
- Placement: Can they leverage their volume to ensure you land on the front page of customer search results when their algorithms sort the list?
- Commercials: Can they secure you volume rebates or better margins that make up for the cost of the franchise fee?
- Costs: Are they powerful enough to negotiate kickbacks or better fleet deals with manufacturers, lowering your asset costs?
If they can't offer genuine, cost-saving leverage, they're just a brand name, and you're paying too much for it.
5. What About Quality and Future-Proofing?
What happens when one franchisee in the network delivers a terrible experience? You'll suffer from guilt by association. What you want is success by association—a network where a great experience in Italy makes the customer choose the brand again when they visit Croatia.
You can check quality right now! Look at customer scores on Booking.com and Expedia.
Finally, look at technology. Is the franchisor investing in the future, or are they a "copy-paste company"? If they don't have the resources to move into areas like AI and advanced revenue management systems, you're going to trail behind.
This is where we come in. Your pricing strategy must consider customer score, too. If you have poor quality, your price needs to reflect that. If you have exceptional quality, you can potentially seek a premium. You need the tools (and the right partner) to assess all those multiple variables when setting your price.
"If you don't know where you're going, how will you know when you get there?".
This quote, which Mark learned from his airline pilot father, is the ultimate guide. It's a never-ending story; you have to keep navigating and asking these questions to ensure your business arrives at the right, profitable destination.
About Mark Richards
Mark Richards is a Global Commercial Leader and Franchise Expert, specializing in driving strategic growth and transformation within the Travel and Mobility (Rent a Car) sectors. With over 20 years of experience, including a significant tenure as Franchise Director at Europcar Mobility Group, Mark now runs SYNC FWD SAS, guiding franchise networks and independent operators to build more efficient and profitable long-term strategies.
Ready to ensure your revenue strategy aligns with your long-term goals? Book a meeting with WeYield to discuss how our solutions can provide the clarity and expertise you need for strategic navigation.
