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Franchises come in all shapes and sizes and provide a multitude of business opportunities. There are hundreds of service orientated franchise businesses, which cover just about every consumer niche out thereplus there are new ones appearing every day.~.}

Picking out the right one is critical to the overall success of the franchisee. Select one which is struggling, or has grown too fast to sustain itself and you risk wasting your time and money. On the other hand, pick one which is on the rise, that has proven methods and plans established, and you can easily become a success.

This part of the franchising process is one that {potential franchisees must undertake on their own~is the sole responsibility of the potential franchisee to get right}. Franchise consultants can help track down information on some of these topics, the choice of which franchise to choose ultimately falls to the franchisee~but their objectivity can sometimes be questionable}. No matter what franchise {industry is under consideration~the particular type of franchise being considered} though, they can be assessed with the answers to the below questions~a sound evaluation can be made by asking the following questions}…

Does the vision of the company match with yours?

How old is the company?

For what time did it operate for independently before offering itself as a franchise business~What length of time did it operate independently before becoming a franchisor}?

What is the brand {position of the company~How is the reputation of the brand perceived}?

What types of franchises are they offering?

How many franchisees are there in the system?

How many multi-unit franchisees {does it own~Of the existing franchises, how many own more than one unit}?

How many franchisees have left the system? Why?

What is the {franchise fee and what does it cover~What is the cost of the franchise and what does it include}?

Is there a royalty fee? If so, ho much is it??

How long is the franchise contract for~What is the duration of the franchise agreement}?

Who {are the people charge of the franchise business?~Who is in charge of the company? What are their qualifications?~Who is in charge of the company? Are there any legal cases pending against them?}

What level of training is on offer? Is on-going support provided?

Which regions are they operating in?

How are material sourced?Can franchisees choose their own suppliers?~}

Does the franchisor offer financial assistance?

Does the franchisor provide real estate support?

How many employees are needed?

Is assistance offered in the recruitment of employees?

How proven is the marketing plan? {What is the marketing support?~~}

Click Here : Starting A Franchise

There has been a growing interest in franchising in Canada as of late. This is because the industry is booming. As a matter of fact, nearly half of all new retail businesses in the country are franchises. Before putting up a franchise business in Canada, a potential franchisor must first be aware of the different Canadian laws that concern the franchising business. A good way to do this is to hire a attorney in franchise.

Some of the services of a attorney in franchise are: preparing and reviewing disclosure documents; drafting, reviewing, and negotiating franchise agreements; giving advice on the application of franchise laws and regulations; registering and licensing trademarks; and mediating or litigating commercial disputes. Because Canadian franchise lawyers are experts in the field of franchising, they are well-equipped to protect their clients’ business interests. Their services are invaluable not only during the start-up phase, but are essential also in the maintenance stage of the franchise business.

One important consideration when setting up a franchise business in Canada is how federal laws directly affect the franchise industry.The Competition Act is an example of legislation that directly affects franchising in Canada. This law prohibits a person engaged in business from influencing the price at which another person offers to supply a product or service within the country. Consequently, the franchisor cannot dictate the price at which the franchisee offers its products or services. Another example would be the Consumer Packaging and Labeling Act, which specifies guidelines for the packaging and labeling of products to be sold in the country. In case the franchisor is in the business of distributing imported goods, this law would require him or her to specify the country of manufacture, as well as the name and address of the importer, on the product label. Most elements of the labeling should also be written in both the country’s official languages: English and French.

These are just a few of the legal-related matters a potential franchisor or franchisee has to consider before starting to conduct business in Canada. Franchise attorneys will be able to answer business-specific queries or concerns.

-C.D.

Franchising is on the rise in Canada. Franchises make up nearly half of all new retail businesses in the country. Consequently, a lot of individuals and businesses are considering going into the franchise business.Before putting up a franchise business in Canada, a potential franchisor must first be aware of the different Canadian laws that concern the franchising business. A good way to do this is to hire a lawyer in franchise.

A Lawyer in franchise possess the expertise to offer their clients invaluable legal advice relating to the franchising industry in Canada, thus protecting their clients’ business interests. The services they provide are essential not only during the start-up stages of the business, but during the maintenance phases as well. These services include: preparing and reviewing disclosure documents; drafting, reviewing, and negotiating franchise agreements; registering and licensing trademarks; giving advice on application of franchise laws and regulations; and mediating or litigating commercial disputes, among others.

One important thing to note before putting up a franchise business in Canada is that some Canadian federal laws have a direct effect on the franchising business. Take, for example, the Competition Act, which prohibits a person who is engaged in the business of producing or supplying a product or service from influencing upward, or discouraging the reduction, of the price at which any other person offers to supply or advertise a product or service within Canada. What this means is, a franchisor is prohibited from establishing the lowest price at which its franchisee is to offer its products or services. The Consumer Packaging and Labeling Act prescribes policies on how products that are sold or distributed in Canada are packaged and labeled. This law would require franchisors to indicate the country of manufacture and the importer’s name and address for products that are imported.  Product labels should also be written in both English and French, Canada’s official languages.

These are just a few of the legal-related matters a potential franchisor or franchisee has to consider before starting to conduct business in Canada. Franchise attorneys will be able to answer business-specific queries or concerns.

-C.D.

Now is a good time to consider exploring and penetrating the Canadian business market. Canada is now considered a franchise industry leader, with nearly half of all its new retail businesses being franchised businesses.There is a lot to learn about successful franchising in Canada, whether you are a franchisor expanding into Canada for the first time, or are a seasoned international franchisor. There are a lot of business and legal issues to consider, including cultural challenges, disclosure compliance, anti-trust laws, and intellectual property protection. Franchisors operating in Canada are subject to both federal and provincial law, so it would be prudent to consult with a Franchise Attorney before setting up your franchise.

The areas of law related to franchising in Canada include licensing; franchise and distribution; intellectual property; multi-level marketing; transporting franchise systems into and from Canada; and general corporate commercial law. Most franchise attorneys offer a comprehensive list of services related to franchising, including preparation of documents, analysis, and advice.

A good franchise attorney is a specialist in his field who is able to meet the needs of various clients. For instance, a startup franchise system may need help with drawing up documentation to sell franchises; a mature international franchise system may want to penetrate the Canadian market; a prospective franchisee would possibly need assistance reviewing documents provided by the franchisor. A franchise lawyer with business experience in franchising is a big plus, since he will be able to give his clients first-hand advice based on his own business experience.

Trademarking and protecting intellectual property are important considerations when one puts up any kind of business. A franchise attorney who is also a registered Canadian trademark agent will be able to properly register the business trademarks, and protect his client’s business from infringement anywhere in the world. The attorney can also provide advice on copyrights, industrial design, and patent issues.

Obtaining a consummate understanding of a business’s current marketing performance becomes doubly difficult for franchise businesses. For franchises, the integration of a call tracking solution provides a wealth of information benefiting both the franchisor and the franchisee. Outlining some of the features of this call tracking solution should provide a clearer picture of the power of this tool.

Gaining accurate feedback on the performance of one’s franchisees is often a difficult and inexact science, relying on highly-variable sources of information and opinions within different franchises, customer feedback on the franchisee’s performance, and so forth. Because call tracking logs instantly the data surrounding the call (e.g. call recording, call duration, individual sales and leads), this becomes a far more exact and judicious process.

Maintaining and monitoring a franchise’s advertising campaign is vital for insuring that one’s ROI on each campaign is sufficiently high to warrant the investment being spent, and as some call tracking solutions offer a unique telephone number to be applied for each advertising medium logged in the system, it is easy to calculate which media are generating the most conversions for your franchise, and to concentrate advertising investment accordingly.

Furthermore, the implementation of call tracking can hugely improve performance from the sales team of a franchisee. As franchisors are expected to train their franchisees in sales technique, call tracking can act as a great performance rubric for the sales productivity of a sales team; franchisees can see for themselves the success rate of conversions made from offline calls.

But call tracking can provide improvement in other areas of the franchise business. Its call recording function can lead to the improvement of a franchisees telephone sales by allowing salespersons to listen back to exemplary calls. The progression in productivity therefore works at the level it is needed most, at the customer’s actual contact with a representative of the franchise. Call tracking also allows companies to follow-up on out-of-hours calls and missed calls, helping to recapture lost leads – this is incredibly beneficial to both reclaiming that lost percentage, and allows that extra quality of service to be conducted for the customer.

The information that call tracking provides for the franchisor is integral to an interpretation of offline conversions in the same manner as an analytics tool would present online conversions. The information logged for call tracking allows potential slumps in productivity to be rectified quickly, with minimal loss to investment, and furthermore the franchisor can feel justified in making alterations to the marketing campaign, having the information in an ordered and pliable medium. Combining all these elements together, the implementation of phone number tracking can safeguard the continued growth of all levels of the franchise business.

These people should have the same desirable qualities of your best manager. Like managers, individual franchise owners should have leadership, sales, and people skills, as well as physical stamina and job experience. They will not only manage but put up the start up capital as well. When the time comes to select franchise applicants, don’t be shy about
asking for detailed personal information such as school transcripts. 

Ideally you are seeking A students. A students often work for companies
managed by B students owned by C students. You do not want the person who likes to “wing it.” Nor do you want an entrepreneur eager to put his or her stamp on everything. Most A student candidates will have worked in structured environments for relatively long periods of time. They will tend to be comfortable following rules and regulations.

A good franchise prospect will have held jobs for at least three or four years and will have had several promotions. It’s helpful if the applicant has been married for a long time (it shows they can withstand pain). People who have experienced the up turns and downturns in both business and life
relationships stand a good chance of being successful franchisees.

Check their driving record. This may not only reveal the tendency to speed and break other laws but alcohol or drug problems will show up. Check their credit record.

Prospects who fail to make credit card or mortgage payments and other commitments on a timely basis may not pay their royalties on time either.

Have the person describe a typical day in their life. Someone who rides the train at 5:30 am train to work every day, returns home at 6:00 p.m.plops down in the easy chair for a night of TV and on the weekends is glued to watching sports is a poor choice for a franchise owner.
You want active energetic people who are busy with all life has to offer.

Your franchisees will have to hire, train and motivate employees, interface with customers, vendors, and community organizations, unload boxes, be on their feet for long periods of time, and work long hours. We all go through this in building our own businesses; and any franchise, even though it is well defined, will still require this kind of commitment to make it work.

You should always look to sell to an owner operator and not an absentee owner. Absentee ownership defeats the very purpose of franchising. An absentee owner just adds more to the cost of operation and takes away the advantage of an onsite owner. Owner-operators are the backbone of franchising.

Identifying and looking for the qualities listed above in a franchise buyer is absolutely necessary when considering the sale of a franchise. Your success as a franchisor is determined by the quality of people you sell too.

Franchising Your Business

The establishment of just one company owned unit is often more than the cost of a complete franchise program. After paying the cost of the franchise program, the remaining costs of expansion (as well as most of the risk) are assumed by franchisees. And since franchisees usually pay the franchisor an up-front fee and royalties, the right strategy for selling your franchise idea can become an immediate high-impact low-risk revenue source

In addition, the fixed and variable expenses involved in running a franchise company are much lower than operating a similar number of company-owned facilities.

You probably already know how much you would pay to establish a new company-owned copy of your existing business. 

If you own a restaurant, for example, the cost of buying land and construction, or even the cost of leasehold improvements and furnishings in an existing building, could easily run between $100,000 and $200,000 or more.   What you may not know is that for the same amount, or less, you can have a complete franchise development program.  And whereas the new company-owned unit might require a year to establish and might not be profitable for another year or two, your franchise program will probably take less than a year to put together and enable you at the end of that period to sell franchises and immediately begin to recoup your investment.  If your franchise fee is $35,000—an average nowadays—and if in your first year as a franchisor you sell seven franchises (another average for franchisors according to a study by DePaul University) you could have your program paid for by the end of that first year. 

Some businesses are standing by and waiting for this economic storm to blow over while others are positioning their companies to succeed in spite of the downturn. 

What are you going to do with your business?Are you going to push forward and expand your business despite what your competitors are doing?How can you take advantage of this opportunity without having to spend your own money to fuel expansion?  You need to leverage your intellectual property.Expanding your business by franchising may be the only option for you. 

With all of the highly skilled people out of work franchising companies are taking advantage of the greatest supply of highly educated individuals that they have ever seen.The unemployment level may continue to increase over the next few months so this trend may continue for some time.  Though, once this recession is over and companies stop laying people off and start hiring them again, you may well have missed your window of opportunity to sell franchises in this fertile environment.

The fact is people have lost faith in what have become accepted as “safe” investments.  In spite of losses in 401k’s and home values, people still have money that they can access.People will still borrow funds from family and friends that willingly contribute to a new business venture which has always been a source of new business capital.  This will not subside, regardless of the economy.

The challenges of today’s economy may have just created the “perfect storm” and the best opportunity for franchising your business. The greatest fear you should have is sitting back while one of your competitors pushes forward.

The following are a few suggestions on finding a good franchise:

- A concession is basically a contract between the franchisor and the franchise buyer that permits the franchise purchaser to use the rights of the logos and trademarks of the franchise seller in running the venture. The franchise buyer is also allowed to offer the goods of the franchise vendor by following a contract that protects the interests of both. There is usually an initial concession fee, and ongoing royalty payments.

– A breach in the franchise agreement may cause you to lose the right to the franchise. If the agreement is for a short time, then there is no guarantee of its renewal. The owner has the right to terminate the agreement if you fail to pay royalties or fail to follow the performance standards and sales restrictions set out in the agreement. And once the agreement has terminated, you lose out on your investment. A concession agreement usually lasts for 15 to 20 years, after which the franchise vendor can decline any renewal of the contract.

– Ask other companies about the pros and cons of joining a certain franchise before investing time and money. Even ‘though you will have help and support and a plan if you join a franchise, there will still be hard work. Research about each franchise since they will present different pros and cons and assess each one and discover a franchise that gives you a great package and has an operating system in place and make sure they’ll train and guide you.

– Experience: Have you experience in the business of the franchise you wish to buy? If not, have you considered working in that kind of business before committing to purchasing a franchise in that area?

– Reputation. The greater the amount of reputation your franchisor has the easier it will be in starting a franchise. Everybody who resides in a developed country is aware of McDonalds and most people believe that a McDonalds restaurant anywhere in the world is owned by a single company. By starting a franchise with a high reputation you get customers by not even trying but by the name of the franchise vendor alone. That’s a good business. You ought to find a franchise seller with status to match the price paid for the concession brand.

– Diverse Benefits. Different franchise vendors provide different benefits to their people. Discover these benefits and discounts, as any of these companies should be eager to discuss them with their potential franchisees.

– Cost. Cost is an important factor not only in founding an enterprise but in almost everything else in life. When it comes to the cost of buying a franchise business it might appear a little bit too expensive compared to starting your own business from scratch but one must appreciate not only the short-term costs but the long-term ones as well. If you think you can bear the cost and you can benefit more from the opportunities a franchise venture has to proffer then it is sensible to go the way of purchasing one, otherwise you kick off your own venture from scratch.

– Competition. The threat of competition to a business is all too real. The competition can knock your enterprise out of contention before it even starts. A franchise venture in a region with tough competition has the potential to succeed more easily due to the name-recognition factor. Folks will readily identify with a popular company even if there are other available alternatives.

– Franchisors are always willing to train their franchise purchasers in all aspects of the enterprise. Their job is making business-owners out of their franchise purchasers, offering operations-training and an established enterprise model. You can choose the enterprise you want, get educated in it and then set to making money.

I hope these few simple ideas will be of some use to you in buying a good franchise business.

About the author: N. Svengali is an author for finding a franchise and cheap auto insurance websites in London in the UK.