Dr. John Hayes & His 12 Amazingly Deceptive Franchises
Dr. John Hayes, self-described franchise expert and “best-selling” author, claims that he has narrowed down 3000 possible offerings to just 12 AMAZING franchise opportunities… which he shares with prospective investors in his new “best-selling” book. Is “12 Amazing Franchise Opportunities Second Edition” a legitimately researched and honestly presented book… or is it a deceptive for profit sham designed to mislead prospective franchise buyers … in possible violation of the Federal Trade Commissions rules regarding paid endorsements?
(UnhappyFranchisee.Com) by Sean Kelly. This is the first post in a series exploring the Franchise Deception-for-Dollars segment of the Franchise Industry.
Read Part 2 here: 6 AMAZING Franchise Deceptions of Dr. John Hayes
Investing in the wrong franchise can result in crippling financial and personal devastation.
Individuals and families who suffer a franchise failures often suffer the loss of retirement and college funds, personal savings, credit scores and assets. Those who invest in a franchise and fail often find themselves facing bankruptcy, and sometimes lose their family homes to foreclosure.
And the fallout from trusting the wrong franchise company isn’t just financial. Franchise owners who recruited family members as investors often have those relationships damaged or lost altogether, and many marriages can’t withstand the strain caused by with a failing or failed franchise business.
For this reason, prospective franchisees are often desperate to find a trusted advisor who can guide them safely to sound and sensible franchise opportunities, and away from flawed, dubious or deceptively marketed franchises.
Through his massive and ongoing online propaganda effort, Dr. John Hayes portrays himself as that honest and honorable advisor prospective franchise owners can trust… the would-be entrepreneur’s guru in shining armor.
Dr. John Hayes: A Legitimate & Honest Franchise Advisor?
Dr. John Hayes claims franchise buyers should trust him because he is “one of the world’s most published authors and speakers on the topic of franchising” and is the “Titus Chair for Franchise Leadership and director of the Titus Center for Franchising at Palm Atlantic University in West Palm Beach, Florida.”
He claims to have written more than 20 books on franchising, many of them “best-selling,” and that he’s been a successful franchisee, franchisor and franchise advisor.
A few years back, Hayes published a book called “12 Amazing Franchise Opportunities for 2015.” In January, 2018, BizCom Press released the second edition of the book.
According to the promotional press release for Dr. John Haye’s “12 Amazing Franchise Opportunities – Second Edition,”:
“[Dr. John Hayes] masterfully compiles and presents a cadre of concepts destined for greatness, providing readers with a qualified funnel from over 3,000 franchise concepts down to 12 that are worthy of consideration,” writes Dr. Benjamin C. Litalien, CFE, founder and president of FranchiseWell, in the book’s Foreword.
He claimed that he had reviewed the 3000 available franchise opportunities and funneled them down to just 12 “amazing” franchise opportunities.
He used his status as supposed franchise guru to assure prospective franchise owners that these were credible companies, and that their franchise concepts were among the safest and best-poised for growth.
Dr. John Hayes’ Recommendations Influence Franchise Buyers, Franchisors Say
According to some franchisors featured in the book, prospective franchisees trusted Dr. John Hayes enough to contact these “amazing” franchise companies and, in some cases, invest tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars on the franchises that Dr. Hayes’ claimed to have researched and thoroughly vetted before recommending.
Scott Mortier, Vice President of Business Development for franchisor Dental Fix RX, states that within weeks of publication he sold a franchise “to a credible lead who came directly from the book!”
Joe Malmuth, Vice President of United Franchise Group, states “my goals are not only to find quality entrepreneurs, but to also produce validation and credibility for our brands, and Dr. Hayes and his book have been a fantastic resource that has brought us further credibility and expert validation…”
Robert A. Spuck, Director of Franchise Development for Farm Stores Franchising, LLC, states “We all know how hard it is to get a prospect to fill out a form giving us contact information. We have posted a free download of ‘12 Amazing Franchise Opportunities’ on our website and… our lead flow has been terrific.”
Franchisors reported that having been selected for Hayes’ book boosted the credibility of their franchise offering in the eyes of prospective owners, and bestowed such ancillary benefits as being mentioned in the almost unanimously glowing Amazon book reviews.
Catherine Monson, CEO of FASTSIGNS International, Inc., wrote “The book served as a catalyst for people to comment not only about the content of the book, but also about the benefits of owning a FASTSIGNS franchise. It was a very effective way to gain credibility for the brand, and those comments remain on Amazon.com forever! We also enjoyed working with BizComPress as they helped our team coordinate an effective publicity campaign centered around the book.”
Dr. John Hayes’ 23 Amazing Franchise Opportunities
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2015 Edition |
2018 Edition |
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Scott White & BizCom Press Declare Dr. Hayes’ Books a Huge Success!
According to BizCom Press, publishers of John Hayes’ books, the two editions of “12 Amazing Franchise Opportunities” and related spin-off books were immediate best-sellers that have earned nearly unanimously positive reviews and ratings from Amazon customers.
So Dr. John Hayes and the CEO of BizCom Press, Scott “Scooter” White, seem to have created a Win-Win-Win situation for all involved.
Hayes & White, it would seem, receive the accolades and handsome book-sale revenue that come with a string of Amazon bestsellers.
Readers, most of whom are would-be franchise owners, get the benefit of trustworthy recommendations from a reknowned expert – and insider tips on which hot franchises have the least risk and greatest earnings potential.
And the 23 hand-selected, carefully vetted franchise companies get the recognition they deserve for the vision, insights, refinements and flawless execution it takes to create a truly amazing franchise opportunity.
It’s Win-Win-Win… Unless They’re All Lying…
It’s rare when the planets align in such a way that good people are able to come together in such a way that benefits not only each other, but the wider world as well.
And here we have these good and ethical experts like John Hayes and Scott White bringing together the creators of amazing franchise opportunities who are willing to share their success secrets and support with the good, creditworthy franchise shoppers doing their due diligence on the Internet.
It’s a beautiful thing.
Unless, of course, it’s all a lie.
Unless, of course, Dr. John Hayes and Scott White are really greedy opportunists who have recruited franchisors whose own real-world accomplishments and franchise concepts are not enough to win over prospective franchisees…
Unless, Hayes & Bizcom tempted those franchise sellers with an offer to artificially boost their credibility in the eyes of prospective franchise owners… putting them at the potential risk of being exposed for using a deceptive, paid endorsement without the required disclosures.
And unless Dr. John Hayes sold the desperate and/or inexperienced franchisors a tool and a system designed to trick prospective franchise owners into thinking that these select franchise opportunities have been thoroughly researched and recognized – by a leading expert – as superior to 2988 competitors, including some of the world’s largest companies.
What if they are simply lying?
If that is the case, Dr. John Hayes would have created a WIN-LOSE-LOSE scenario in which only he and his partner Scott “Scooter” White would come out enriched.
If my suspicions prove correct, this raises some important questions about those who enable or allow such predatory practices.
If this does turn out to be a Franchise-Deception-for-Dollars scheme, would the franchise industry, including those 2988 competitors, still let such douchebaggery go unchallenged… and continue to allow Dr. John Hayes to present himself to franchisors & franchise prospects as a respected and trustworthy franchise expert?
And would the Federal Trade Commission – which forbids companies from displaying paid endorsements unless they are clearly disclosed as such – not crack down on such a flagrant and unconscionable effort to defraud the public?
Those are questions we’ll be seeking to answer in the next installment of the Franchise Deception-for-Dollars series… so check back soon.
READ The Series “Dr. John Hayes’ Franchise Fraud School & Pay-For-Praise Emporium!”:
Part 1: Dr. John Hayes & His 12 Amazingly Deceptive Franchises
Part 2: 6 AMAZING Franchise Deceptions of Dr. John Hayes
Part 3: FASTSIGNS CEO Catherine Monson named Valedictorian, Franchise Fraud School
Part 4: Dr. John Hayes’ Book Reviews Given an “F” for Fraudulent
Part 5: FASTSIGNS Franchise Deception Seems, Well, Amazing. Comments?
ALSO READ:
FRANCHISE DISCUSSIONS by Company
OTHER FRANCHISE DECEPTION-FOR-DOLLARS POSTS:
FRANCHISE BUSINESS REVIEW Pay-For-Praise
FBR Franchise Business Review Promoting Illegal Earnings Claims?
Are Franchise Business Review Winners Violating the FTC Act?
FRANCHISE BUSINESS REVIEW: Justify or Retract Your Bogus Franchise Award
Dr. John Hayes Named Dickey’s Barbecue Pit one of the 12 Amazing Franchises for 2015. Here’s how things turned out:
Dickey’s Barbecue Pit: The Musical
ARE YOU FAMILIAR WITH DR. JOHN HAYES & HIS PUBLICATIONS, SCOTT WHITE, BIZCOM PUBLISHING AND/OR ANY OF THE 23 AMAZING FRANCHISES THEY ARE TOUTING?
PLEASE SHARE A COMMENT BELOW OR EMAIL US IN CONFIDENCE (UnhappyFranchisee@Gmail.Com).
TAGS: Dr. John Hayes, Dr. John Hayes franchise expert, Scott White, Bizcom Press, 12 Amazing Franchises, franchise books, franchise fraud, franchise marketing, bad franchises, FASTSIGNS franchise, franchise scams, fake news, Catherine Monson Fastsigns, Joe Malmuth, United Franchise Group, Robert A. Spuck, Farm Stores Franchising, Scott Mortier, Dental Fix RX, unhappy franchisee .
Thank you Sean for exposing yet another dirty secret in the corrupt and morally bankrupt world of franchising. Over the past few years with the economy improving and home values rising I have watched as Frnachisors once again are flooding the airwaves with advertisements for franchise opportunities. And many are still falling for this draining what equity they have in there homes and placing there families at great risk of bankruptcy.
Franchising has become even worse than multilevel marketing in the business practices. I can’t help but believe that we are very close to franchising being exposed. Franchising could be a legitimate way of doing business if franchisors and franchisees were truely partners in business. But the vast majority of time the Franchisee is just a pawn in a fixed game of chess.
Until franchisees are able to group together and form oroganizations that can fight the criminal behavior that goes on so many time, I’m afraid franchising will continue to get worse. Franchisees have to gain the ability to fight the franchisors in court ensuring they get the rights guaranteed to them in the franchise contract. Right now Many Times Franchise Contracts, no matter how good they are for the Franchisee, are worthless because franchisees do not have the financial capital to fight these large franchisors in court. And fighting It out in court is the Franchisors biggest and most powerful advantage and they know it! Franchisors not only know this they do what they can to ensure franchisees are never in a financial position to challenge them.
I hope you keep the great work up Sean and continue to shine the light on this corruption.
You are welcome. Not planning on stopping any time soon ;)
Comrade Sean Kelly. It is with most interest we read your writing on propagandist John Hayes. Here in Mother Russia we much greatly value such cunning and deception and seek to exploit such fine skills of strong mans like Hayes. Propagandist Hayes creates the fake of news by such wonderous illegitimate means. We too prize fake rankings and exploitative means to make for the election of our President—whoops correction your President. We would like to recruit said such Propagandist to further infiltrate Amazon and other online Platforms to finance our ongoing operation by separating American fools from their money while affirming greatness of Vlad Putin as Hayes does of himself. We ask you for discrete introduction for referral fee as Hayes does so well with no disclosure to relevant American authorities. Yes?
Comrade Uri:
I appreciate your friendly remarks. I am not surprised that you have been monitoring the franchise industry through my site. If I were searching for a treasure trove of discord-inducing dirty tricks, I’d be on the site that discusses members of the IFA party and their iron-handed attorneys too.
However, after perusing Dr. John Hayes’ Facebook page, I simply can’t believe that you two are not already intimately acquainted.
ADMIN
It’s beyond me how franchising is so uniquely susceptible to this kind of fraud that the fraudsters don’t even try to cover their tracks.
Hayes is out there telling the world how to game Amazon ranking and it doesn’t even occur to him how unethical his actions are–heck, he wants the world to know! And this is at a time when the world is clamping down on Internet cons like planting fake news and using shills to comment and game rankings.
There’s so much wrong with this scam that’s it’s hard to know where to begin. There are the FTC violations for non-disclosure of paid endorsements, and then there are the ethics violations. The public relations industry should sanction BizComm for perpetrating this scam. But even worse, the first rule of public relations is to never damage a client’s reputation. By getting involved with this kind of crap, BizComm opens their clients to bad press, eroded reputations and legal action by franchisees who relied on this deception when buying a franchise.
In fact, that’s the ultimate risk for these scammers. That a smart franchise attorney will bring a class action suit against Hayes, Scooter White, and BizComm for inducement. The final point you make is even more telling about the industry. Where is the outrage from legitimate franchisors and the IFA? They should want a clean industry–or at least one that doesn’t create and brag about their cons so publicly.
Could you imagine if this happened in any other industry? How about a book about 12 amazing biotech cures or 12 amazing banking products for you to invest it? Or 12 sure-fire penny stocks to buy? All of which is clandestinely paid for by the companies profiled in the books? The operation would be closed down in a heartbeat.
This is the state of franchising today. Pathetic.
I don’t see that much interest by any Govt Agency or regulatory body to go after the corrupt franchising system. What I have seen more than anything is the certain Govt Agencies like the IRS willingness to go after the franchisees of some companies but stay away from the actual franchisors. I believe this is due to not wanting to spend the resources to try to go after some of these companies when they can go after the franchisees for things and just like the Franchisors the IRS understands that the franchisees have no real resources to fight them and it’s an easy win for them.
I believe now more than ever that Franchisees must come together creating an organization to enable franchisees to fight these thieves and force the Franchisors to uphold there end of the franchise agreements. I don’t care how good a franchise agreement is the fact is u less you have huge resources you will struggle to hold them to the contract if they are hell bent on not holding to it or trying to play games and go around the agreement.
Franchisors want no part of franchisees organizing for a good reason. Franchisors will destroy franchisees who even speak of organizing. Because organizing would destroy the dictatorship that many of these Franchisors have built where they can destroy a Franchisee at will, bankrupting them, and stealing all there money. If you don’t believe this happens everyday I suggest you go out and speak with franchisees from different franchises and you will see the use of fear and intimidation along with Franchisors using there Size and wealth to intimidate franchisees is a normal practice in many of the franchises.
While some states and even feds will attempt to protect the consumers from fraud there is no one that I have found remotely interested in looking at fraud when it comes to franchisees having fraud committed against them by the Franchisor.
Sean has been one of the few that has had the guts and has taken the time to expose the criminal acts of Franchisors. While I have nothing but respect and appreciation for what Sean has done there needs to be so much done by authorities to protect franchisees before they are bankrupted by these thieves. It’s sad that Sean is still a Voice crying in the wilderness while authorities turn the other way.
The above is fairly accurate in my experience. My Franchisor AND MY attorney worked together to put a lot of money in their respective pockets, leaving my partner and I out in the cold, despite 18 years of loyalty and support in building the system across 10 states. We sued the Franchisor and never thought our own attorney who represented us as a plaintiff would sell us out, he did (Robert Zarco of Miami). I’ll never stop letting anyone know this story as it is more common than most people realize. The corruption in franchising is deep in my opinion.