Handling investor enquiries
What a franchise enquiry carries about the person sending it, how to read investment capacity and location against your models, and why accepting the wrong one is expensive for both sides.
A franchise enquiry is different from every other enquiry on Bidancer, because the person sending it is the thing being assessed.
Somebody buying goods is judged on whether they can pay. Somebody buying a franchise is judged on whether they can run it, for years, in a way that does not damage your brand.
What arrives with the enquiry
An investor enquiring names the specific offering and the specific model, and tells you about themselves:
| Investment capacity | What they can commit, and in what currency |
| Proposed location | Country, and state and city where known |
| Property | Whether they already have premises |
| Space available | Floor area, if they have it |
| Relevant experience | What they have run before |
| Timeline | When they would want to open |
You get this before deciding whether to accept. That is the point of asking for it — you are not spending credits to find out whether somebody is in range.
Reading it
Capacity against total investment, not the fee
The commonest mismatch. An investor whose capacity matches your franchise fee but not your total investment cannot open, and the conversation ends with them feeling misled.
Location against your preferred locations
Somebody proposing a city you already have covered, or do not want yet, is a decline — but a decline worth explaining, because territories open up.
Property and space against the model
Having premises already is a strong signal of seriousness and it also constrains which model fits. A site of the wrong size is a fit problem, not an enthusiasm problem.
Experience against your eligibility
If you require prior experience, this is where it is answered. If you do not, read it anyway — a first-time operator with realistic expectations often outperforms an experienced one who is diversifying inattentively.
Timeline against your own pipeline
Somebody wanting to open next quarter and somebody exploring for next year both deserve answers, but not the same amount of your attention this week.
Why accepting the wrong one is expensive
An enquiry you accept costs credits, exchanges contact details, and starts a relationship. With goods, a mismatch costs a wasted conversation.
Here, a mismatch can cost considerably more: a franchisee who should not have been signed damages a territory, a brand, and the confidence of the next investor who asks about your outlet count.
The information above is there so the filtering happens before the conversation, not during it.
Declining well
Declining is free and fast, and how you do it matters more here than anywhere else on the platform.
A franchise investor who is declined is somebody with capital who is now looking at your competitors. If the reason is fixable — the wrong city, a capacity shortfall, a model not yet open — say so. People come back with more capital, and territories open.
What your listing should be doing
Most bad-fit enquiries are a listing problem, not an investor problem.
If you are repeatedly receiving enquiries from people below your investment threshold, your eligibility criteria and total investment range are probably not stated clearly enough. See The offering and its models.
The signal's job is to make unsuitable applicants self-select out before either of you spends anything.
After acceptance
Contact details are exchanged and the process is yours — disclosure documents, meetings, site visits, agreement. Bidancer established that both parties are verified and that the enquiry was serious enough to pay for.
The enquiry closes like any other, and both sides rate each other, which earns each of you credits. See Closing and ratings.
Offering and models
A franchise offering is the brand; models are the formats you actually sell. What belongs at each level, the four ownership models, and why splitting them this way lets investors find themselves.
Costs
Publishing a franchise offering is free; enquiries cost credits on both sides and are refunded when they fail.