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Are you spending too much time educating franchise prospects about the basics of franchising? You're not alone. Many franchisors are frustrated by candidates who meet their financial requirements and have relevant industry experience, but then don't seem to know the first thing about franchising.
Rather than squander the precious time of your sales and development staff on Franchising 101, why not send them our way? In January 2009, Franchise Update Media Group introduced a comprehensive online resource for entrepreneurs new to the franchising model, the "How-To Franchise Guide: A Step-by-Step Guide To Becoming a Successful Franchisee."
Our intention for this how-to site is to help build franchising by providing an online educational resource for these entrepreneurs - a place they can learn about the basics, history, and nuances of becoming a successful franchisee on their own time, at their own pace -- before they approach a franchisor.
This online guide, available for free at www.franchising.com/howtofranchiseguide/, can save your development team countless hours. And the better prepared your candidates are when they approach you, the more time you can spend learning about them, to see if they qualify to move ahead in your sales process.
Every week, for more than a year, our editorial team has added a new chapter to the How-To Franchise Guide. Franchise prospects, candidates, and entrepreneurs in general can check in each week for a new article on how to make the right franchising decision, find the best franchise opportunity, and become a successful franchisee.
Newbies can start with Chapter 1, "What Is Franchising?" which begins: "Franchising is a business model that combines the best aspects of sole proprietorship and Corporate America. It can be described as a 'hybrid' model that fills the gap between working for somebody else (whether a large corporation or a small business) and working for yourself."
From there, they can go on to educate themselves about the history of franchising (Chapter 2), its opportunities (Chapter 3), and continue on to more specific "how-to's" such as FDDs, FPRs, site selection, financing, and how to draw the crowds on opening day.
A complete list of chapters and topics is provided below, or you can visit the site yourself at www.franchising.com/howtofranchiseguide/ to see how useful it can be for your sales and development team. You know all about franchising, but your candidates don't. Let us know what you think at eddyg@franchiseupdatemedia.com.
Chapter 1: What Is Franchising?
Chapter 2: History of Franchising
Chapter 3: What Kinds of Opportunities Does Franchising Offer?
Chapter 4: Franchising vs. Traditional Business
Chapter 5: Making the Franchising Decision
Chapter 6: Choosing the Right Opportunity for You
Chapter 7: Getting Started
Chapter 8: Starting the Process
Chapter 9: Site Selection
Chapter 10: The Opening Process
Chapter 11: Growing Your Business
Chapter 12: Global Franchising
Chapter 13: Building Success
Chapter 14: Franchise Markets
Chapter 15: Business Planning