Call current franchisees and former franchisees, and pick them yourself from the franchise disclosure document rather than from a list handed to you by a salesperson. That’s the short answer. A sales presentation is designed to move you toward a decision; validation calls are how you test whether the picture holds up when nobody’s selling. Ask about the daily work, the support you’d actually receive, the recruiting reality, and what surprised the owner in year one.
The consequence of skipping this step is straightforward. If you rely on a curated sample or the presentation alone, you may sign a multi-year agreement based on the experience of the owners most likely to say yes. You won’t know what you didn’t hear until you’re operating.
Franchise validation calls aren’t a formality. They’re the part of due diligence you control completely, and the part where you learn what the brochure leaves out.
Which franchise owners should you call?
Call a mix you assemble yourself: recent openers, owners three or more years in, and people who’ve left the system. The disclosure document is where you find them. FDD Item 20 includes contact information for current and former franchisees, which means you don’t need anyone’s permission to build your own call list.
A referral list isn’t automatically dishonest. It’s just self-selected. The owners a franchise development team knows well may be the ones having a good run, and their experience is real — it’s also incomplete. Your job is to widen the sample until the story stops changing.
Build the list before you start dialing
- Three to five current owners, spread across different tenure lengths.
- Owners who opened recently, if the disclosure document lists any.
- Every former owner you can reach, even briefly.
- Anyone whose market conditions resemble the one you’re considering.
- Owners not on any list you were given.
Ten conversations beat three. Patterns only show up when the sample is big enough to have a pattern.
What should you ask current owners?
Ask about specifics you can verify against your own plan: what the opening period demanded, how long ramp-up took, which parts of the support system they use weekly, and what they’d change about their first year. Avoid yes-or-no questions. Open-ended prompts produce the detail that actually informs your decision.
Keep the conversation grounded in operations rather than opinion. “Do you like it?” gets you a mood. “Walk me through a Tuesday” gets you a business.
Questions that produce usable answers
- What does a normal week look like for you now, and how did that differ in month three?
- Which training or support resources have you used in the past 60 days?
- How long did it take to feel confident in the core service delivery?
- What surprised you that you wish someone had told you upfront?
- How do you handle staffing and scheduling during busy stretches?
- If you were signing again tomorrow, what would you do differently?
Write the answers down during the call. Memory blurs ten conversations into one impression, and impressions aren’t evidence.
What can former owners tell you that current owners can’t?
Former owners can describe how an exit works, what the transfer or closure process demanded, and which assumptions didn’t survive contact with the market. They have no ongoing relationship to protect. That doesn’t make them more accurate, but it does make them differently motivated, and the gap is worth hearing.
People leave franchise systems for many reasons. Some sell the business. Some relocate, retire, or move into a different industry. Some had a mismatch between what they expected and what the business required. Ask why they left before you assume you know.
What to ask someone who’s out
- What led to your decision to leave?
- How did the exit process work in practice?
- What did you expect going in that turned out differently?
- What would have made the fit work better for you?
One frustrated exit isn’t a trend. Four people describing the same obstacle is something you should raise directly with the franchisor before signing anything.
How do you compare what you hear?
Use one question set across every call so the answers are comparable, then log responses in a simple grid. Look for repetition rather than intensity. A concern mentioned once by a passionate owner matters less than a mild observation that four separate people make without prompting.
Separate three categories as you review your notes: things everyone agreed on, things that split by tenure or market, and things only one person raised. The first category is likely system-wide. The second may reflect local conditions or timing. The third needs another conversation before you weigh it.
| What you’re comparing. | What to log. | Why it matters. |
|---|---|---|
| Ramp-up period. | Months to steady operations. | It shapes your working capital planning. |
| Support usage. | Resources used in the last 60 days. | Stated support and used support differ. |
| Daily workload. | Hours and primary tasks. | You learn whether the role fits you. |
| Staffing. | Hiring and retention experience. | Hiring shapes your schedule and costs. |
| Exit experience. | Reason for leaving and process. | Only former owners can describe it. |
Bring the grid to your advisors. The FTC says prospective franchisees should consult an attorney and an accountant before deciding to buy a franchise, and your call notes give both professionals something concrete to work with. An attorney reads the agreement. An accountant pressure-tests your assumptions. Neither can do that well from a brochure.
Where validation calls fit in the rest of your research
Validation calls sit between reading disclosure materials and making a decision. They’re not a replacement for either. Read first so your questions are specific, call second so you can test what you read, then review everything with independent advisors before you commit.
Franchise validation also helps you interpret documents that look simple but aren’t. Territory language is a common example — it’s worth understanding what a franchise territory map does not define before you ask owners how their market actually works day to day.
If you’re early in the process, start with published materials about the Lice Lifters ownership opportunity and build your question list from what you read there. Lice Lifters’ ownership overview is a starting point for questions.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many franchisees should I speak with?
There’s no fixed number, but more conversations produce clearer patterns. A practical aim is five to ten conversations across different tenure lengths and markets. Stop when new calls stop changing your understanding, not when you’ve hit a target.
Do franchisees have to talk to me?
No. Owners are running businesses and may be busy, traveling, or simply uninterested. Be brief, explain why you’re calling, and offer to work around their schedule. A short, well-prepared call gets more responses than an open-ended request for time.
Should I ask about money on these calls?
You can ask, though owners aren’t obligated to share financial details and may decline. Your accountant is the right person to help you build and test financial assumptions using disclosure materials, and validation calls are better spent on operations and expectations.
What if a franchisor discourages me from calling certain owners?
Treat it as information worth noting. The disclosure document gives you those contact details, and a reluctance to let you choose freely is something to discuss with your attorney. Reasonable franchisors expect independent diligence.
How should I record what I learn?
Use one template for every call: same questions, same order, notes taken live. A shared spreadsheet works fine. Consistent formatting is what lets you spot repetition later, and it makes the material far easier for your advisors to review.
When is the right time to start calling?
After you’ve read the disclosure materials closely enough to have specific questions. Calling too early wastes the conversation on things you could have read. Calling too late means you’ve already made up your mind and you’re just looking for agreement.
Ready to ask your own questions?
Good diligence is unglamorous. You read carefully, you call widely, you write things down, and you let independent advisors tell you what they see. Do that and your decision rests on evidence you gathered rather than a presentation someone else built.
If Lice Lifters is on your list, you can start a direct franchise conversation and bring the questions your research has already raised.