While the franchise application form is the starting place for a small business person who may want to buy a franchise, it should only be a small part of the larger process.

It makes sense that you will have a franchise application form that becomes part of the package of forms that will be used to take a potential new franchise owner through the process of qualifying to own a piece of your business. On the surface, it might seem that the franchise application form has a very basic function. It would seem that it is similar to an application for employment that you are using to start evaluating whether an applicant will qualify to buy a franchise from you.  However, there may be another way to view the franchise application form differently that has an eye on the goal of making big money for your business through franchising.

Let’s step back and look at this thing called the franchise application form a different way.  When you decided to franchise your company, that decision was made with the goal of making a ton of money by expanding your business rapidly letting franchisers buy into the organization.  It is a sweet deal. You are able to open dozens, maybe hundreds of new outlets and let the franchise buyer to all the hard work selling your products while you sit back and let the cash roll in. And if that wasn’t sweet enough, you sell the franchise buyer the franchise in the first place for a nice chuck of change so they are giving you money for the right to make you more money.

Taken in that light, the franchise owner is not your employee at all.  He or she is a customer who is buying your product which in this case is a franchise of your business. Instead of seeing the franchise application form as a way to eliminate unqualified employees, see it as the first welcome mat to a new franchise buyer and one that ushers them into the process with warmth, humor and above all, plenty of franchise information.

When a franchise application form is not a franchise application form.

When you use the franchise application form like this, you can gather some basic facts about the franchise buyer but you do not design the form to make the potential franchise buyer feel judged at all. The language and feel of the franchise application form is designed to virtually read like a brochure to sell the idea of buying a franchise from you.

Keep in mind that there are plenty of other franchise documents that are going to be presented to the potential franchise owner.  They will be looking at sample franchise agreements, franchise disclosure documents and franchise operations manuals as well. Instead of putting so much emphasis on information gathering in the franchise application form, get enough information to make contact to sweetheart that potential franchise buyer in grand style.  Then you can use a series of interviews and franchise orientation meetings to gently coax the qualifying information from the potential franchise buyer.

Do not worry as much about disqualifying franchise buyers using a franchise application form early in the relationship.  Instead, put the emphasis on qualifying and bringing into the family as many potential investors as possible.  The process of working through the interviews and other franchise documents will flush out the bad eggs if you put your tests in the process so the buyers do not even know they are being evaluated.  Meanwhile, many more potential franchise buyers will make it through the screening process and be eager to give you their money to buy a franchise from you because you did not make the mistake of alienating them with a hostile or tedious franchise application form.

 

A Subway franchise agreement has become one of the popular routes for a small business person to get moving in franchising and for good reasons.

Not everybody would want to invest in a Subway franchise agreement but it is clear that many thousands of smart entrepreneurs have made that leap. The appeal of getting into business with Subway is not hard to figure out. For one thing, they are one of the most well known restaurants in the country. In the fresh sandwich niche, it could be said pretty much without fear of contradiction that Subway dominates that market. So if you want to get into business with as solid winner, seeking a Subway franchise agreement is a smart maneuver on your part.

Those that do win a Subway franchise agreement also get excited about the appeal of serving fresh food in the fast food marketplace.  The way Subways are laid out, customers can often get a nutritious meal as fast or faster than they could get it at one of the big fast food chains like McDonalds or Wendy’s. The food you serve is healthy and fresh.  The success of those cute Jared commercials for Subway put the emphasis on how healthy and wholesome the food is at this restaurant. That is the kind of thing that appeals to anyone who wants a franchise in the restaurant category.

This not to say that investing in a franchise agreement from Subway is the least expensive way to go. Because Subway is one of the most sought after franchises to be part of, the franchise fees may take your breath away. On top of paying pretty steep franchising fees and royalties, you will have the expenses of leasing a space and stocking inventory, training employees and fixing up your store. Those costs can really start to mount up.  But when you do prove credit worthy of a Subway franchise agreement, the company will do all it can to help you get a cost/benefit evaluation done so you can get the financing to get your restaurant franchise up and running.

Investing in a Subway franchise agreement brings with it unparalleled support.

The costs of getting involved with a Subway franchise agreement may seem ridiculously high for a new franchise owner who is still feeling his or her way in the world of franchising.  But you can just put that thought aside because Subway is the kind of organization that takes the fear and loathing out of investing in a Subway franchise agreement.

Subway could give lessons to other big companies on how to spoil their franchise investors. From the minute you call a Subway franchise office and express interest in a Subway franchise agreement, they do all they can to make it easy for you. The company is right there every step of the way to explain the process and to help you with literature and seminars to explain where you are in the process and what the next step is.  They even help you sort out the maze of crazy documents you must become a wizard at including their franchise operating manual and other disclosure documents.  Subway makes sure those documents are written in real human being English, not a bunch of lawyer mumbo jumbo.

Getting a Subway franchise agreement is not a dangerous jungle adventure.  Every business venture has risks but Subway takes a lot of the terror out of the process. They make sure you enjoy the ride so that when you open your own Subway restaurant, you are ready to make big money. So when you go into a Subway and you notice the manager and staff have big smiles on their faces, that is because the people behind that Subway franchise agreement put those smiles there and that is why this franchise chain is such a huge success.

Creation of that franchise agreement draft is step one of the adventure of preparing to turn your business into a profitable franchise chain.

When you start the process of preparing a franchise agreement draft, you know you are on the way toward the very profitable step of franchising your business.  It is a savvy business move because when you reach that point that your current business is successful, the natural next step is to expand that business.  Franchising a business is a great way to expand quickly because you shift much of the grunt work of growing the business to eager franchisees and you charge them for the privilege to boot.

When you start thinking about going the franchising route, it is easy to want to jump to the part where you bring in excited investors who love your business model and are eager to take out their checkbooks and buy into your business.  Before you jump to that stage, you have some homework to do including the development of franchising documents. So the faster you conquer what it takes to hammer out a franchise agreement draft, the faster you can get to the big money making stage where the fun begins.

There are a number of franchising documents that you will need to prepare before you begin to get out there and start fishing for great franchise owners.  The franchising world is heavily regulated by the Federal Trade Commission so that franchise agreement draft must live up to the standards that the FTC has in place to make sure the entire franchising transaction stays honest and that nobody takes anybody for a ride.

The process of preparing a franchise agreement draft will facilitate some decision making and preparation that has to happen before any franchises are sold to anyone.  Better to take a few days, weeks or months in getting organized and getting all of your franchise documents together than to discover that you are coming up short once discussions start with real living prospective franchise owners.

Disclosure is a big part of the game.

It is during that preparation phase when your franchise agreement draft is still in the revisions stage that you will hammer out the terms of your franchise including the fees that you will charge, how you will handle distribution of merchandise, advertising and the dozens of other terms of the franchise relationship that will dictate how the machinery of your new business model will work to make you and your franchise investors happy and wealthy.

Along with stepping through he business terms, developing a franchise agreement draft will also help you design the other documents that will be needed when you go into business with the many franchisors who will be beating your door down to invest in your business.  Some of those documents include the franchise disclosure documents and your franchise operations manual.

Not only does the FTC insist that all of your documentation fulfill a high level of disclosure to your future franchise investors, it is smart to let them know every detail of what they are getting themselves for when they become part of your organization as franchise owners.  When you have disclosed every aspect of what it means to run a business that lives up to your requirements, that will bode well for a very successful partnership. And when you are happy and your franchise owners are happy because your franchise agreement draft and the other disclosure documents are complete and correct, that means a very prosperous future for your business this year and for many years to come.

Your franchising company will provide a sample franchise contract well in advance so you know what you are signing when you enter into that binding relationship.

A sample franchise contract is part of the process of learning every detail about the franchise relationship before you sign those papers and make that partnership take off.  Any good franchising company will flood you with every imaginable document so you will come to the table a fully informed partner.  They know that the more you know about the benefits and the demands of franchising, the more you will make your franchise take off and make a pile of money for them and for you.

The sample franchise contract that you get from the franchising company is just one of the documents that is important for you to know like the back of your hand.  Along with the franchise agreements and the franchise operating manual, you will get more information about the nitty-gritty of running a franchise than you may have ever imagined was out there.

However, you do not have to wait until the franchise company is ready to send you a sample franchise contract as that step usually happens just before franchise agreements are signed and you are officially part of that company’s family of franchise members.  There are plenty of places online where you can find sample franchise contracts and other franchise documents.  The good of using these resources is you can start the process of becoming a serious expert in franchising even before you pick out which company will be the one you want to sell you a franchise.

Look for the danger signs like fixed costs despite profits in the sample franchise contract you get from the franchising company.

It is important to keep in mind that the primary source of franchise information once you begin negotiating that new franchise adventure will be the company that is selling you their franchise. They don’t do this just because they are really sweet people.  They must provide you with every possible kind of disclosure information before the transaction takes place as part of franchise law.  However, once you get that sample franchise contract in your eager hands, consider the source.  Since all of the binding franchise agreements that you will sign originate with the other party, it makes sense they will be written more to protect their interests than yours.

One example of a financial plan that is common in a sample franchise contract is where the fees you pay to the franchising company are fixed.  If the amount you pay to the franchisee is not a percentage of profits, you could end up paying high fees while you are still building the business.  It would also lower the incentives to the franchisee to link arms with you and make you profitable.

This is just one example of why it is smart to have any sample franchise contract that you get reviewed by some legal geniuses that work for you.  By using a lawyer who knows his stuff about franchising, he will know the ropes of modifying that sample franchise document so that your interests are protected too.  It is not out of line for you to negotiate for the best franchise agreements for your interests. Don’t be afraid to have that sample franchise contract looked at and to ask for changes so that you can get a sweet franchising deal that makes you rich and keeps the franchising company smiling too.  That is how it should be.

Examine the franchise contract example that you get from the franchisee carefully so you can be certain that you agree with every line of it before buying into that franchise.

In the last weeks before final papers are signed, the franchising company will send a franchise contract example to you as part of disclosure.  To the prospective franchise buyer, these franchise disclosure documents are not optional to how the tricky negotiations to buy that franchise roll out. So when that franchise contract example shows up, pay attention to it because you will find there a laundry list of what the franchising company expects of every small business owner who wants to hang that franchise corporate logo outside their business.

When a company sells franchises to grow fast, there is a huge priority on making absolutely certain that every franchise they sell looks, smells and operates exactly the same as every other franchise. The franchise contract example is their way of sending up that flare to you that if you sink your teeth into running one of their franchise operations, you will pony up whatever it takes to live up to that uniform image of the brand.  By sending you a franchise contract example, they are laying down the rules of the game. You need to know the lay of the land because if you don’t play by their rules, the results spelled out in the franchise contract example can be pretty harsh.

If you have been curious what you are getting yourself into, the arrival of that franchise contract example is there to answer that question.  Give this document some serious and concentrated attention.  When the final version of that same document shows up with the option to sign on the dotted line, it is assumed you know every paragraph in line backwards and forwards because you have studied and agree with everything in that franchise contract example.

The franchise contract example is the prototype of a franchise agreement that is more binding than the marriage contract so take it seriously.

If you do not agree with everything in the franchise contract example, now is the time to bring that up, not after the franchise agreements have been signed.  This is also the time to get your legal eagles on the case to look that franchise contract example over in detail to make sure your interests are well protected and that you are not agreeing so something that is outrageous.  So do not be shy about getting some high powered franchise lawyers in on the game so they can watch your back long before the time to write that check and buy that franchise comes along.

There are a lot of details buried in the franchise contract example that should give you a very clear vision of the future once you own and operate a profitable franchise small business.  That future will include keeping that franchise name squeaky clean and living up to the financial obligations of running that franchise so it lives up to corporate standards. It is true that being a franchise owner is not the same as working for that company but it is the next best thing.  You are expected to keep your facility clean and in good repair. By signing that final franchise agreement, you are saying loudly to the franchise company that you will live up to every tiny detail in the franchise operations manual. So be sure you get a crack at reviewing that document in intense detail as well.

There are a lot of documents involved in buying a franchise so you can become a very successful franchise owner.  But there is plenty of disclosure given about what those documents mean and the franchise contract example is one of those crucial disclosure pieces of literature.  Sure, the fun of running a franchise is in operating an exciting business and finding ways to store all of the big profits you will make.  Look on this review of the franchise contract example as part of paying your dues so you can have that fun once your franchise doors are open.  That will make this tricky process of looking at, tweaking and signing franchise agreements a lot easier to put up with.

 

 

A McDonald’s franchise agreement may be the gold standard in franchise opportunities because the chances for making big money are so great.

For a franchise opportunity, the McDonald’s franchise agreement is one that dominates the fast food landscape. So the idea of getting a McDonald’s franchise agreement and becoming part of one of the most successful chains in the world is appealing to say the least.

Even if you are not out to land your own McDonald’s to own and manage, the McDonald’s franchise agreement is a model that sets the standard for all of the franchising industry.  With thousands of successful franchises, the McDonald’s operating manual is one that is well thought out with contents to cover every possible franchise issue that has come up in the operation of such huge franchise network.

Part of the appeal of winning a McDonald’s franchise agreement is the knock-your-socks-off name recognition of the McDonalds brand.  That means that once you open your own McDonalds will inherit an amazing customer base that will flood your fast food store from the minute you open the doors on the first day.  The profits that a very busy McDonalds can generate are nothing short of astounding. Any small business person who is temped about that kind of big money operation would look at the possibility of owning a McDonald’s franchise agreement as a dream come true.

It pays to consider the investment before jumping into a McDonald’s franchise agreement.

With any business opportunity, there are costs that balance out the big time profits to be had. That is certainly true of a McDonalds franchise agreement.  A franchise agreement with McDonalds is going to come with a pretty hefty price tag.  The costs of buying any franchise is going to based on the existing success and appeal of the franchise chain. And since McDonalds is one of the most successful franchise chains of all time, the costs of getting into a McDonalds franchise agreement and then starting up operations is going to be out of this world compared to many other smaller franchises for sell on the market.

The work of running a fast food chain and living up to your McDonald’s franchise agreement are demanding. Most franchise owners and managers find themselves working virtually day in and day out to maintain those standards not only to satisfy the franchisee but to keep the customers rolling in. McDonald’s customers are notoriously spoiled by clean restaurants, McDonalds that are consistently stocked and ready to serve those familiar menu items hot and tasting exactly the way they expect them to taste no matter which McDonalds franchise they are in.

That is a high standard to hit.  In addition, because it takes such an army of low cost workers to keep a McDonalds running like a top around the clock, to staff a McDonalds is going to mean high turn over and some serious management challenges.  These are some of the issues that any small business owner who is the proud holder of a McDonalds franchise agreement will have as part of his life every week.

None of these issues should be s show stopper from keeping you from being the owner of a McDonalds franchise agreement. But as is true of any big business move, knowing what you are getting yourself into is the first big step on that road to success and wealth owning your own McDonalds franchise.

 

You can develop your small business operations manual to assure that the experience you develop in running your business becomes part of that document.

It is easy to overlook that a small business operations manual is just as important to a small business starting out as to a larger business with a ton of offices and all kinds of employees. As the owner and manager of a small business, your quest in life is to standardize how your business and the employees of that business deal with various aspects of what goes on each day.  If your small business is a franchise of larger organization, living inside of the restrictions of a franchise agreements just goes with the territory.

But whether you are part of a franchise or not, there are some big time values to drafting a small business operations manual as early as you can find time to do it. In fact, if you have an early draft of your small business operations manual already in place when you begin to staff up with new employees and that procedures guide is the law of the land the first day you open the doors to customers, you are way ahead of the game.

Perhaps the hardest part about putting together a small business operations manual is knowing where to start.  You actually have a fairly precise idea of how you want your business to run that you have never written down.  It is buried in your own body of experience combined with your own philosophy about how you want your business to relate to customers, to suppliers and how you want your employees to conduct themselves each day.  All you are doing when you begin to hammer out a small business operations manual is to take that significant repository of wisdom that is in your head and turning it into a document that will serve to standardize how things will be handled day in and day out in your own small business.

Getting started is half the battle in drafting your small business operations manual.

The biggest obstacle to drafting your own small business operations manual is getting started.  Sometimes all it takes to kick start the process is a structure or a format to give you a direction to go to start writing your own guide to how you want your business to operate.  The good news is that it is not difficult to find an excellent operations manual template that will provide that structure for you. By downloading a format to use as your jumping off place, you can be writing your small business operations manual in no time flat.

Once you begin to uncork the treasure trove of ideas you have inside your brain for how you want things to happen around your office and how you want to see your customers handled, it will be amazing how quickly that small business operations manual begins to take shape. An important ethic to keep in mind as you organize your first draft is to just get it all down on paper. You can refine it and edit it after you have your thoughts out of your head where they can stand on their own and be examined by others.

The second big tip to keep in mind as this first draft begins to shape up on paper is that your small business operations manual will always be a work in progress.  As you launch your growing business, you should always be ready to revise and update your small business operations manual.

In that way, anytime you resolve an issue, find a better way of doing things or learn about a new and exciting way to make your business hum, that can become part of your small business operations manual and be captured forever for everybody to benefit from. That is a small business operations manual that grows with you and with your business until before long, it is big business operations manual to serve that very successful and prosperous business of yours.

The step by step process setting up a franchise is well known so the faster you get moving on the process, the quicker you will be the proud owner of your own franchise business.

Setting up a franchise is something that has been done many thousands of times with great success in huge variety of businesses niches.  Now that you are setting out to become a huge success as a franchisor, you are smart to find out how to start and the step by step work to be done to buy a franchise of a successful business. There is no question that the more franchise information you have, the more successful you will be.  So leave no stone unturned to transform yourself into a franchising expert and the result will be plenty of success as you get moving setting up a franchise of your own.

For very obvious reasons, the first step of setting up a franchise is to decide what kind of business you want to run. There are thousands of franchises to invest in so make sure the one you sink your teeth into is a business niche you like and that you know about already. That will put your success on the fast track.

Step two for setting up a franchise is to learn all you can about the hoops you have to jump through to make that franchise your own.  You can get franchising information from the company offering franchisees for sale and learn how big a pot of money you need to make that franchise your own.  You can do your homework on financing and about the steps ahead and the documents you must review and sign before you are able to finally finish setting up a franchise of your own.

Getting into the nitty-gritty of setting up a franchise

Once you have learned every tiny detail you can unearth about what goes into setting up a franchise, it is time to get out there and make it happen.  The more you can meet with delegates from the franchising company to learn their requirements for setting up a franchise, the better.  You will also be booking meetings with your financial backers and, if you are a savvy business person, set up some serious backup support such a franchise lawyer and consultants who know about setting up a franchise and will be there to watch your back.

The process of setting up a franchise takes some time to make sure every detail is attended to before you sign those final franchise agreements and take the keys to your business to open the door to an eager public. You will need to understand where the products come from, the process of communications between you and the franchisee and how to resolve problems when they come up because, let’s face it, problems come up.

Almost certainly the franchisee will have some franchise training for you. Get yourself to that training with bells on and eat it up because you want to know everything possible about setting up a franchise before you sink your hard earned or hard borrowed money into that business. You will also be given some in-depth information about how to deal with every detail of setting up a franchise such as franchise operations manual.

Give these documents your very best attention as well because what is in them will save your skin plenty of times as you learn the ropes of running your own franchise business. You will be glad you put plenty of hard work into setting up a franchise well in advance because once you are open for business and you start to see profits start to fill up your bank account, your pride and sense of confidence will grow by leaps and bounds. That will make all the hard work that went into setting up a franchise entire worth the effort.

The FDD franchise disclosure document is the newer and better version of the UFOD but it is just as important to the process of buying a franchise.

The FDD franchise disclosure document was introduced to the franchising world by the Federal Trade Commission who are the government big shots who say what goes and what doesn’t go in the franchising universe.  Despite the fact that the development of this important franchising document was done by the government, it is a nice step forward to bring the franchising process into the new century without too much discomfort.

During the process of buying a franchise, a number of franchise agreements fly back and forth between the franchisee and the franchisor. What the FDC is working hard to make a reality in making the FDD franchise disclosure document part of the process is that every detail of disclosure takes place between the two partners in a franchise before signatures are put on the final franchise agreements and money makes the trip from one bank account to another.

While the uniform franchise offering circular served a long and distinguished term keeping franchise transactions honest and above board, it was due for a facelift.  The FDD franchise disclosure document was that facelift. One of best improvements on the old fashioned system of franchise disclosure is that it cleared up the timing of when these documents had to be delivered to the franchisor for review.  By making sure all of the players knew the rules of the game, that made the tricky process of franchise purchase negotiation just a little less tricky.

Finally franchise disclosure information can be exchanged electronically and efficiently.

Whatever other criticisms we might have of the powers that be, in some sections of the government, there are some good things happening. How this important franchise disclosure document is managed is one of those improvements. When the UFOC became the FDD franchise disclosure document, one big improvement came in how it can be shared between franchisee and franchisor.

No longer is it absolutely essential that bulky packages have to crawl through the mail system and clutter up your mailbox.  Now the franchisee can deliver the FDD franchise disclosure document to you electronically. For most people, working with documents in digital form has become as natural as having a cup of coffee.  And now you can have this crucial franchise information on your computer screen instead of all over your living room floor. This gives you all of the tools of the computer age to review and manage it.

By getting the FDD franchise disclosure document in digital form, you can search it, cut and paste from it and even pass it along to your franchise advisors and lawyers easily and without cost.  The big shots in Washington even took their upgrade to the FDD franchise disclosure document one step further and made it possible to sign the document and make it official using electronic signatures.

Naturally some care must be taken to make sure the exchange of sensitive franchise information is kept between you and the franchisee.  But those protections are entirely possible in the world of cyberspace. It is worth taking those precautions to have the improvements that the FDD franchise disclosure document has brought to the franchising process and to the franchising world as well.

Franchise agreement forms must be signed when you begin your franchise relationship or renew it and each time it pays to review what is in those important documents.

Franchise agreement forms can be intimidating. When you set out to realize your dream of franchising a business , that vision is not of filling out a bunch of complicated legal forms. Whether you are new to the franchising game or coming back for renewal, you may greet the arrival of those franchise agreement forms with a massive groan.  But let that groan out and get it out of your system and then get a cup of coffee and read those franchise documents carefully. You will wind up in a stronger relationship with your franchisee if you do that.

There is always the impulse to get in a big hurry in your haste to want to get that franchise open fast.  Taking your time to work through your franchise agreement forms should not be seen as a nuisance.  One way to find the motivation to read every paragraph and line of those franchise agreement forms is to look for the areas of responsibility.  First of all, discover in what ways you must salute the flag of the franchisee company. Franchising a company is about much more than just hanging their sign outside the building and wearing the corporate logo on your uniform shirt.

But of greater interest to you is where the franchisee will earn their money you pay to buy the franchise and to keep paying those franchise royalties each month. There are ton of benefits to the franchisor that you get by getting into bed, so to speak, with a successful business as a franchisor. Those benefits will include training, products and advertising as well as the deep wells of wisdom the franchisee brings to the table to help you become a big success.

All of that is buried in the franchise agreement forms. Dig deep when you read through the franchise agreement forms and read them several times.  When you can virtually quote those documents chapter and verse, you will open the doors of your new franchise business with much greater confidence.

Renewal franchise agreement forms need love too.

Franchise agreement forms are not lifelong contracts.  Every so often, a time comes where both parties have a chance to step back and consider if this experiment in getting rich is working.  When those renewal franchise agreement forms show up in the mail, it is not a reason to panic.

 

The arrival of renewal franchise agreement forms is a chance to look at the time you have owned that business to make a decision about whether it is all living up to the grand dreams you had before you sign another set of franchising agreements to take on another tour of duty. It is a chance for you to give an honest assessment of whether the franchisee is giving you the support and service you need to be a success.

It is also a chance to take a good honest look at whether this is the franchise for you. If you decide your money making efforts would be better used elsewhere, you can always let the franchise expire and sign up with a different franchisee and put your years of hard fought experience to good use.

 

 

« Previous Page — Next Page »