Franchise Offering Document System

November 27, 2009 by  
Filed under Franchise 101

So you have sold your first franchise and are hungry to sell more. Better slow down, this is the number one fault of most franchisors is to start taking on more franchisees than they can handle. You need to ensure a controlled growth and only take on those franchisees that are a definite fit rather than the one who can simply afford the fees.

Now, getting all of this down on paper is the other portion of the business some don’t recognize. Like most things, the excitement is 5% of the sale, the other 95% is the paperwork involved. A Franchise Document System, or a Franchise Operations Manual, is easy enough to create and consists primarily of an exhaustive index of material numbered to what each form, policy or contract does. A franchise system may have more than a dozen policies, a dozen or more forms and quite a few booklets on how everything should be run. Take a look at our Operations Manual for an example of a professionally made franchise document system.

Simplify your forms and policies by giving each of them a number. You can start with the employee policies labeling them as such: EMP-1001 – So this would be Employee Form 1001 – Vacation Request Form
Having all of this in order save a lot of time, especially when a franchisee requests this form if they have lost it or need more copies. These forms, policies, procedures and contracts should also be date stamped so you know the last time they were edited.

Now that you have your paperwork in order, your franchise locations will be setup in accordance with the forms they need. There may be some states that only allow certain stipulations in contracts and you may only have a handful or more franchisees in that state. The simplicity of a Document System will ensure that all of your paperwork is in pristine order and can be called upon with the click of a mouse.