Franchising your business can be an excellent way of expanding your company. However it may not be suitable for every business, and one of our roles is to help you identify if it is right for you. Our help moves you from where you are now, to where you want to be in the future.
There are a few rules of thumb that will enable you to establish if, in principle, franchising could be worth considering as an expansion route for your business.
Generally:
The business should be proven
The market should be stable or growing
The business should be able to be replicated in other geographical areas
The proposed franchise business must be capable of generating a good profit margin for both the company as franchisor and the individual franchisees
As a franchisor you must be able to develop and maintain a good working relationship with franchisees because franchising is a working partnership.
Franchising is an important step for you to take, but can offer excellent development opportunities for the right people with the right business.
Benefits of franchising
Lower capital investment as franchisees fund their own operations
Franchisees are totally dedicated, operationally, legally and financially
Quicker expansion (International Franchises)
Well constructed Franchise Agreement can offer a high degree of control for the franchisor
Day to day running of the business becomes the responsibility of the franchisee
Resources required to run a franchise operations are generally lower than ‘company owned’ operations
Our approach to helping you franchise
Stage 1: Franchise Development
The first step is to confirm that your business model can be franchised and identify how your franchise system would operate. It would look to answer the following questions:
Can your business be franchised?
Is franchising the best way forward?
How would the franchise system operate?
What are the potential financial rewards for you as the franchisor and the franchisee?
How would your initial and ongoing income be generated from franchising?
What resources will you need to build and support a franchise network?
What are the critical factors of success?
Stage 2: Preparing a Franchise
The second stage takes you to the point where you are ready to begin marketing the franchise and recruiting pilot franchisees including:
Franchise recruitment procedure and documentation
Induction training and support programme
Production of a Franchise Agreement
Creation of a Franchise Operations Manual
Franchise territory analysis
Production of franchisee cashflow and profit & loss forecasts
Resource analysis for the franchisor organisation
Production of franchisor profit and loss forecasts
Advice on setting up and running pilot operations
Refining package and fee structure
Refining management structure
Refining franchisee profile
Developing franchise marketing plan and marketing materials
Briefing franchise depts of the High Street banks
Assistance in joining the British Franchise Association
Stage 3: Franchisee Recruitment
This could include:
Handling franchise enquiries
Carrying out franchisee screening interviews
Advising franchisees on business plans and raising finance
Training staff and franchisees
Troubleshooting
General business development
At each stage, we work with the client to ensure that they are in control of the project and it moves at the pace they want.
