Do Your Homework Before You Put On Your Apron !!!
Factors to Consider When Choosing a Franchise
3] Support from the Franchisor
One of the biggest drawcards of purchasing a franchise is that most of the “work” is already done for you. The original franchise creators have already become successful to a point where they now can sell the rights to prospective business owners to use their brand name to also make money.
a) Marketing support – One area where the hard work has already been done is in the area of marketing. A good franchisor will offer terrific level support in that department to its franchisees. When the advertising campaign is managed at a corporate level, a significant burden will be taken off the business owners’ shoulders. With this time being freed up, it can be better spent on running the franchise operation. Less money and effort can be put into website maintenance and television advertising at the individual franchisee level. Business owners stand a chance to benefit from the synergy of the franchise fees plus their own efforts within their business.
b) Training, guidance and mentoring – The franchise agreement must stipulate if the franchisee’s staff will receive training during the launch of the new venture. Given that the systems have already been perfected and documented by the franchisors, all that really needs to be done is to pass that knowledge onto the franchisee. Find out if training manuals are available. In some cases, the training may be tailored to that specific organization. Receiving on-site support from the head-office during the early years will make a positive impact to solidifying the operations and business confidence of the new venture.
c) Executive management support – With the help of a lawyer, you will come to know what your rights and responsibilities are as the franchisee. It is worthwhile meeting and communicating with the franchisor corporate executive team to determine if the leadership team will support you. Some franchises have less flexibility in delegating decision making to the franchise owners. Prior to signing the contract, the prospective owner must ask assess whether he wants to follow his own way or is he comfortable going along with all of the instructions passed down from the C-suite.
d) Networking opportunities – Some franchisors may host networking events, seminars, conferences, resorts or parties as a means for franchise owners to get together and network with each other and the franchisor. Like any networking event in the world, it provides a great opportunity for the attendees to share success stories, problems and solutions. Lifelong friendships can be built based upon the common interest of owing the same business franchise. From these friendships, opportunities for future mergers or buyouts prior to retirement can present itself to the business owner who is adventurous enough to take advantage of the potential opportunity.
