constantly keep your finger on the pulse of what’ s happening in a given market. Create relationships with brokers in the area who can help notify landlords of your desire to open a club. In addition to letting brokers and landlords know your intentions, it also helps to let the Chamber of Commerce and any other stakeholders know you want in. This is especially true in smaller markets.

“ We contact them all and say,‘ We are looking actively, and when you have something come up, please call us if you want a Planet Fitness ®,’” said Cavolo.“ But you have to let them know before anything comes up.”

This was the exact scenario Cavolo encountered entering the Tullahoma market. The company, PF Growth Partners, is in the process of opening a 25,000-square-foot space that was previously occupied by Hastings Entertainment. The site was never listed, and the landlord reached out to Cavolo directly prior to putting the property on the market – something that Cavolo has experienced firsthand in the Nashville market four times.

“ We try to find people that we’ ve worked with before and had a successful relationship with,” added Cavolo.“ Right now, we have a big enough portfolio where we know, big or small, people that we’ ve worked with and like working with. We always put out to them and say,‘ Our relationship is going well. You guys get us, we get you, and anything else you guys have bring it to us.’”

And Cavolo isn’ t the only one who preaches the importance of a good broker. Eric Dore and Shane McGuiness with Sunshine Fitness Management went through five realtors in their first five years as franchisees. By contrast, they’ ve stuck with the same one for the last nine years.

“ Having a good realtor – we can’ t say enough about what a

difference that has made in our business,” said Dore.“ They should have detailed knowledge of what type of sites you are looking for; search online and pound the pavement; present quality sites to limit wasted time on sites that don’ t fit the model; assist with letter of intent and lease negotiations; and complete due diligence you might need help with.”

It shouldn’ t stop there though, said Dore. His company strives to find realtors that it considers full-service and can offer help with franchisor requirements, demographic reporting, market plotting and research, and also know when it’ s best to get the landlord and the zee in the room or on the phone together.

“ I think being patient is important,” added Dore.“ It’ s hard to rush deals along if you want to get a favorable lease, and that just means having a big pipeline. It is typical for us to have multiple letters of intent out in a market – we currently have well over 20 LOIs in play.”

Another tip for staying in the know, the duo suggests, is to attend real estate events throughout the year. Specifically the annual International Council of Shopping Centers( ICSC) meeting in Las Vegas, as well as smaller regional events, provides the perfect opportunity to meet face to face with landlords for some deal-making.

“ We’ ll set up multiple meetings through leveraging our realtor, and we’ ll be able to sit down at the booth and negotiate some deals. In a lot of cases, we’ ve made a lot more progress at these ICSC shows because they are in that mental state of‘ we’ re going to make this trip and make this effort to really gain some good traction on a couple of our potential sites and try to come away with some deals and make some good progress,’” said McGuiness.“ We’ ve seen that

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GearedUp | 2017 Issue 1

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