Looking into potentially owning your own franchise? There are things you need to know. This is the kind of thing that can be extremely rewarding for you in the long run if you play it the right way. It can also be the opposite for people who don’t.
Franchising is built upon the idea that you can help expand a brand and be successful more easily using a formula that is working for hundreds or thousands of others all over the country. Youll be building your own business based on what someone else has done and had success doing.
Admittedly, franchising isn’t for everyone. there are franchise-types, even, that is not for everyone.
Pros
Systems in place
There are business systems for you to take full advantage of. you will be told what to use in regard to your computer systems, marketing strategies, OS, and more. The heart and soul of the brand you choose lives within the franchise systems that it employs. us it to your full advantage. that is what it’s there for. You’re paying for it!
Training
Technology
Marketing software
if you want your name out there in real life or online, there is some marketing required to get you there. marketing is some ing you do every day, whether you notice it or not. every time you talk about your business, you are kind-of marketing, no>?
There is software out there for you to use that will help make this process easier, especially on the digital end. Digital marketing is all about interacting with your clients and users, being able to give them someone to connect directly too to your brand and helping them solve their problems fast. most franchisors now offer options for business owners to use that can help achieve this with relative ease. sending tweens, publishing blog posts, and managing online digital spend is easier than ever before with the use of a marketing platform that franchisors offer to you.
Email Platforms
Whether talking about email marketing or just the kind of email platform you use in general for your franchisor, there are things on the email end that they will have for you to use also. This could be using drip marketing campaigns like “drip’” or handling the neverending debate between Outlook and Gmail. Your franchisor will have things for you to choose from on this front as well as many others
Social media
Are you on social media, are your kids on it? People are on social media 24/7 and marketers have taken notice. It has changed the way many consumers and brands do business. Online rankings and building an online presence is more important than it has ever been before. Franchisors make it easy for their members to effectively manage social media campaigns and post to their pages with approved content, often created by corporate or their approved vendors.
Financial software
Franchisors and franchisees alike have a lot to lose if something goes wrong with their bookkeeping or some other financial aspect of the business. Every business owners have these same risks. Franchisor stake advantage of these financial systems to help franchisees effectively handle their accounting and payment processing to streamline the process.
Operations software
There are hundreds of business processes that have been simplified with software that can handle tasks ranging from managing jobs to CRM. You want to give your customers the best experience possible so that they keep coming back time after time for your service or product. Part of making their experience the best it can be is streamlining it with the use of software daily.
Marketing and Advertising
Franchisors usually have a list of approved vendors or a marketing team of their own for you to take advantage of. When you want to get up, starting, and in the green quickly, marketing is paramount to getting the word out about a new local business.
You will have the official grand opening that you can promote with the help of a quality team of marketers to contact media publications in the area, publish content about the opening, and make all of the necessary preparations online.
From talking to friends and family to talking to the general public, any time you talk about your business to another person or “thing,” you are marketing!
Support
If you are like us, you are the kind of person who is always on the phone with support when something is new or frustrating and you need help. We all do it. Having quality support is often the difference between good franchise opportunities vs bad ones.
Don’t be shy when you have an issue. Reach out to support. They can usually help you out!
Real Estate Connections
Franchisors tend to have a good idea of where they are located and where they want to be located. When you are working with one to get your franchise opened up for business, they will be able to guide you in the right direction on real estate choices.
From connecting you with an agent who can help in guiding you into the right type of place for a franchise business, you have help and guidance from your franchisor. They have been through it all before and made all of the mistakes to get to where they are. Use them as a resource!
A Franchise Network
One of the main reasons we like to franchise is that people have walked in the same footsteps as we did, not too long before us! These people in your area, like you, invested in the same opportunity. They have experienced everything before you from the front line and can help you with things that come up and problems you will face along the way.
These people in your network are the ones with the answers. Become friends with them. They have experienced what you are experiencing right now that you might be looking for help with through this post or on our website. Give them a call!
The Cons
Nothing can ever be perfect, right? Too bad. There are cons of franchising just like there are pros. It isn’t for everyone. Here is a list of cons of franchising:
Franchise Fee
Up front, you will have to pay a franchise fee. This is a one-time investment into the brand that acts as a “cost of entry.” Every franchise has them.
The fee allows you to use all of the franchisors proprietary systems and information legally. Generally, you can expect a franchise fee to be anywhere between 25,000 and 25,000 USD. It could be more or less depending on your selected brand and market.
Royalties
As part of a franchise agreement (FA), you will be paying back a percentage of your gross sales each month to the franchisor. The percentages that they require varies. You can find franchises in the food services field by around 5%. Services related businesses like tax preparation can see up to 20% franchise fees.
Rules and Guidelines
You have to follow the rules of the franchisor if you want to maintain your status as a franchisee. There is no room for error there. Too many violations and you could lose your franchise license.
Without rules, the system would crumble. You are franchising for a reason! When talking about branding, especially, guides are important to keep everything uniform. You are helping your brand to become better known in the country and the world! Some things need to stay uniform in order to make that happen. It will help everyone involved.
Approval needed for selling a franchise
Just like when you invest in a co-op or condo form of ownership for a property, there is a board involved that needs to approve sales of the franchise when you are ready to sell. This can make the sale more difficult at times, but can also provide the benefit of professional eyes looking over the transaction to make sure everything is on the up-and-up.
Still, think franchising is right for you?
Franchising has some amazing benefits for you to take advantage of. From marketing help to support when you need it and a network of people like you to ask for advice, the list goes on and on. With anything, though, of course, there is a cost.
The negatives mostly take the form of costs associated with the things you get as a franchise. If you do not feel like you are going to benefit from them or use them as much as you should, then the fees may not make sense for you. If you think that the systems in place are going to make a major difference to you being successful, then it is well worth the cost.
The choice is yours, but we can help you make it a bit easier. If you still have any questions about what we talked about here, get in touch with us. Our advice is free…
Recent Comments