Friday, June 19, 2009

Buying A Business Franchise – The Basics

Before you buy a business franchise, you should make sure you’re ready. From choosing the franchise that’s right for you, to making sure you’re right for the franchise, this article takes you through the steps you’ll need to cover in order to get your franchising dreams off the ground.

Finding the Right Business Franchise for You

There’s literally hundreds of sectors and thousands of franchises to choose between. That’s why you have to find franchising opportunities that suit your lifestyle, skill-set and aspirations. The internet is a great place to start. There’s online franchise directories that’ll guide you through the different franchise opportunities that are out there, and they’ll even put you in touch with relevant department within the company. However, if you don’t like getting sales calls, you shouldn’t contact the company to get information from them until you’ve done some level of research.

Understanding the Legal Stuff

In franchising, it’s all comes down to your relationship with the franchisor. Which is why, you have to understand the relationship that they are proposing. Read through their legal documentation in detail, and make sure your lawyer does as well. When selecting a lawyer, consider working with one that has experience in dealing with franchise agreements. A lawyer with franchising experience will understand the business to a greater degree, and the kind of standard terms you can expect.

As is naturally the case, many of your conversations will be over the phone and in person. This is great for really getting to know the company, but can cause some problems later on if some of the representations that the franchisor has made to you turn out to be false.

That’s why you should make notes of any points that have been made orally and discuss with your lawyer whether or not these form part of your contract with the franchisor. You should tidy up your notes, and send them to the franchising sales person and ask them to clarify everything you believe is accurate – you should ask them to respond in writing. For telephone conversations, you could consider asking the franchisor if it is okay to record the conversation. However, this could also damage your relationship with the company. They are unlikely to say no, but they are also unlikely to think of you highly when you show signs you don’t trust them. The letter can work just as well, if you cover all important points, and will make you appear professional too.

Speaking To Other Franchise Owners

Speak to franchise owners and find out what they think about the business. It’s easy for the business to cherry pick the franchisees that’ll offer the best recommendations, but you could consider contacting owners yourself. That way you will get a random sample. Find out what the company is like to deal with after you have entered into a franchising agreement.

You should ask the franchisor if the percentage of franchising arrangements that fail, and the reason why they fail. Or else, how do you know what mistakes to avoid in your business?

Article Source: http://www.Free-Articles-Zone.com
Catalogs: Business-Advertising, Business-Branding, Business, Business-Coaching, Business-Strategy, Business-Construction, Business-Customer Service, Business-Employment Careers, Business-Entrepreneurship, Business-Ethics, Business-Franchising, Business-Graphology, Business-Home-Office, Business-Human-Resources, Business-Industry, Business-International-Business, Business-Management, Business-Manufacturing, Business-Marketing, Business-Negotiation, Business-Networking, Business-Other-Business, Business-Outsourcing, Business-PR, Business-Presentation, Business-Productivity, Business-Public Speaking, Business-Retail, Business-Retirement, Business-Sales, Business-Sales Training, Business-Small-Business, Business-Telemarketing, Business-Teleselling, Business-Transportation and Logist, Business-Venture-Capital, Business-Work-from-Home, Business-Workplace-Safety

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7 Characteristics Of Business Models Perfect For Franchising

When rapid business growth is on the menu, you might be considering franchising as a way to sky-rocket infrastructural development and revenue acceleration. For many this is a good choice, however for others it just isn’t going to work. In this article we explore traits that make your business model suitable for franchising, and therefore allow you to put more thought into whether it’s right for your business.

Local Presence

One of the most popular reasons that businesses franchise off their assets is to grow a presence in other markets. Fast food chains are among the most popular franchise-dependant businesses as they require a local presence throughout the country.

You might wish to consider franchising if you need a sales team at a local level, a store-front at a local level, or even if you need the provision of services to happen at a local level.

Strong Brand

One of the strongest reasons why people opt to buy a franchise is the brand. When you buy a franchise from a popular brand, you can set up shop and expect people to know what you stand for right away. This is a privilege that most businesses would die for.

Brand Dependency

It’s never usually a good idea to start franchising a commodity business. Although it’s possible that the business operates on low margins, it’s important that it has a means of differentiating itself. If it does not, then you have to step back and consider what value you are offering to the franchisee.

Scalable

Some business models scale better than others. For example, some people are extremely creative, and they will often use their creative talents to start a business. However, unless they can find lots of other creative people, just like them, they find that it is hard to allow their business to grow beyond a few staff.

That’s why you have to ensure your business is built in a way that means it scales well. This will often mean that systems and processes are in place that automates processes, and that a system is in place that allows for anyone to be replaced without it being detrimental to the success of the business.

Low Margins

Often franchise businesses will be low margin, high volume businesses. Franchising is a perfect fit for this model because the franchise owner only needs to earn themselves a good wage, and service their capital investment. The business is then able to grow in an, almost, risk-free way.

Economies of Scale

If your business is likely to have increased margin with scale, then this can often mean your business model is perfectly suited for franchising. Some industries, like business services, for example, often report decreased margins during certain phases in their growth cycle. Consider what your margins will look like as you grow.

Vested Management

Each of your franchise owners will have skin in the game. For some businesses this will be more important than for others. If it is important for your business, then maybe that’s a sign that franchising is right for you.

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Catalogs: Business-Advertising, Business-Branding, Business, Business-Coaching, Business-Strategy, Business-Construction, Business-Customer Service, Business-Employment Careers, Business-Entrepreneurship, Business-Ethics, Business-Franchising, Business-Graphology, Business-Home-Office, Business-Human-Resources, Business-Industry, Business-International-Business, Business-Management, Business-Manufacturing, Business-Marketing, Business-Negotiation, Business-Networking, Business-Other-Business, Business-Outsourcing, Business-PR, Business-Presentation, Business-Productivity, Business-Public Speaking, Business-Retail, Business-Retirement, Business-Sales, Business-Sales Training, Business-Small-Business, Business-Telemarketing, Business-Teleselling, Business-Transportation and Logist, Business-Venture-Capital, Business-Work-from-Home, Business-Workplace-Safety

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Franchising: Questions You Should Ask A Franchisor

If you’re starting a business, you may have considered purchasing a franchise rather than starting a company from scratch. This is particularly common in certain sectors, and has many solid advantages over starting a business on your own. However, before you commit anything, it’s important that you ask the franchisor the right questions to get to grips with exactly what you’re going to be buying.

Which services are covered by the management fee, and which services aren’t?

Some franchises will involve the central business doing all of your marketing for you, and for others it won’t. Some businesses will handle all of your customer service, and some won’t. That is why it’s important to find out exactly what you’re buying, and what expenses you will have to account for on your own.

Can I sell the franchise, and will your business help me sell it?

When you buy a franchise, you are buying a business asset. And, usually when you buy an asset, you should be able to sell it. However, most companies will have rules about exactly what you can and can’t do. Be sure to clarify this with the franchisor before you commit.

You should also try to find out exactly how hard it is likely to be to sell a franchise. With larger companies they’ll be a more liquid franchise market than with others. However, the success of your business will also have a material impact on how easy it will be to sell and how much it will sell for.

What earnings are other franchisors making with your company?

Although it’s true that other franchisees success and failure doesn’t necessarily reflect how well you will do, it can act as a yardstick. With franchising, you have to look at how well the business model has worked in the past. After all, that is what you’re paying for.

Also, you should contact every franchise that is referenced as an example of the company’s franchising model working well. It’s always best to double check if the information they provide is valid, and also if the franchisee interprets everything the same way as the sales literature suggests.

Can you provide examples of franchisees that have failed, and tell me why?

It’s to be expected that some franchisees will fail. Franchisees shouldn’t expect the franchising opportunity to be perfect, or for every franchisee to be immune from problems. However, as a franchisee, it can be in your best interest to find out the reasons why the franchising opportunity hasn’t worked out for some. You could even consider speaking with the failed franchisee and finding out the reason why they think they failed.

When doing this you should be looking out for ways that you can avoid their mistakes. You should also be vigilant in identifying whether the reason for failure appears to be the fault of the franchising company or the franchisee.

It’s also definitely worth finding out what percentage of franchisees fail. If the number is higher than other franchising opportunities in the same sector, then you should try to think of reasons why this may be.

Article Source: http://www.Free-Articles-Zone.com
Catalogs: Business-Advertising, Business-Branding, Business, Business-Coaching, Business-Strategy, Business-Construction, Business-Customer Service, Business-Employment Careers, Business-Entrepreneurship, Business-Ethics, Business-Franchising, Business-Graphology, Business-Home-Office, Business-Human-Resources, Business-Industry, Business-International-Business, Business-Management, Business-Manufacturing, Business-Marketing, Business-Negotiation, Business-Networking, Business-Other-Business, Business-Outsourcing, Business-PR, Business-Presentation, Business-Productivity, Business-Public Speaking, Business-Retail, Business-Retirement, Business-Sales, Business-Sales Training, Business-Small-Business, Business-Telemarketing, Business-Teleselling, Business-Transportation and Logist, Business-Venture-Capital, Business-Work-from-Home, Business-Workplace-Safety

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Six Reasons Why Business Franchising Works

Franchising can allow your business to grow at rapid pace, and gain a presence in new markets. Although there are disadvantages to franchising your business, and although it will not suit all business models, franchising is often an under-used tool among business owners that are looking to scale their operation. Following are six reasons why you should consider franchising your business.

Turbo Charge Your Business Growth

One of the greatest benefits to franchising is getting things done fast, and with less labour costs. You’ll be able to focus on recruiting franchisees, and then they will focus on growing your business in their region. You can even sell franchisees for an entire country or continent, and allow the franchisee to take your business to the next level.

Reduce Gearing As You Grow

You will increase your capital base from franchising fees as your business grows. A business will traditionally borrow money, and increase their gearing as they grow into new markets. With a franchising model, you’ll be able to see your sales grow, your market reach grow, and you’ll also be able to see your balance sheet strengthening at the same time.

Prevent Equity Dilution

When you grow your business it can be tempting to give away equity to fuel growth. Although in many ways this can work out well, it does mean that in the end you’re left with a smaller share of the pie. When you grow your business through franchising, you’ll be able to grow with low levels of debt and without diluting your equity position either.

Galvanize Your Business Against Cannibalisation

When you make money from each franchise that is sold, and you also make money in management fees (usually calculated as a percentage of revenue) cannibalisation ceases to be a problem for the franchiser – unless this is something that worries franchisees. The reason: as you take on more franchisees, you make more money from licensing; and although more franchisees may damage a franchisee’s profitability, it will not damage total revenue, and therefore you will continue to prosper even if your franchisees struggle.

Limit Losses

During a bad year, it’s possible to make less money, but it’s not possible to lose money through franchisees losing money. That risk is assumed by them. You will charge management fees as a percentage of revenue, and as revenue cannot be a negative number, you will always earn an amount in management fees from this. In the long term the profitability of franchisees is of paramount importance, but it’s good to know that you will be stronger than your competitors during more difficult trading periods.

Work With A Network Of Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs are naturally more motivated than employees; they have a profit incentive. You will be able to benefit from this through having each and every franchise managed by a business person with a strong incentive for their franchise to do well.

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Catalogs: Business-Advertising, Business-Branding, Business, Business-Coaching, Business-Strategy, Business-Construction, Business-Customer Service, Business-Employment Careers, Business-Entrepreneurship, Business-Ethics, Business-Franchising, Business-Graphology, Business-Home-Office, Business-Human-Resources, Business-Industry, Business-International-Business, Business-Management, Business-Manufacturing, Business-Marketing, Business-Negotiation, Business-Networking, Business-Other-Business, Business-Outsourcing, Business-PR, Business-Presentation, Business-Productivity, Business-Public Speaking, Business-Retail, Business-Retirement, Business-Sales, Business-Sales Training, Business-Small-Business, Business-Telemarketing, Business-Teleselling, Business-Transportation and Logist, Business-Venture-Capital, Business-Work-from-Home, Business-Workplace-Safety

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online stock market trading for beginners-learn the stock market tips.

Stock market trading is something that can be very exciting as well as nerve racking and stressful. The reason that online stock market trading is so appealing to beginners is because of the possibility of making hundreds or even thousands of dollars in a matter of hours. Though these greatly successful trades do come, they do not happen as often as many people wish. Knowledge is the key to being successful on online stock trading.

The knowledge that needs to be understood by stock market trading stock market beginners is the ability to know when to pull the trigger on a stock trading and when to sell it. This is the key to making any money at all and staying in the game. When someone can find out a strategy and some market signals that work well for them, they can be enormously successful.

I also recommend that you sign up with some sort of signals service, especially if you are looking to get into online stock trading. There are many of these but I believe that the best one is a product called Doubling Stocks. This product has been shown to pick the right stocks trading and when to buy and sell them a very good percentage of the time. Obviously, sometimes these stock pickers are wrong. However, when you find one that is reliable, the potential earnings could really surprise you.

These are just a couple of things to think about when looking for information about online stock market trading for beginners. The stock market is very complex but with the right tools you could make some serious cash even as a beginner.

Article Source: http://www.Free-Articles-Zone.com
Catalogs: Business-Advertising, Business-Branding, Business, Business-Coaching, Business-Strategy, Business-Construction, Business-Customer Service, Business-Employment Careers, Business-Entrepreneurship, Business-Ethics, Business-Franchising, Business-Graphology, Business-Home-Office, Business-Human-Resources, Business-Industry, Business-International-Business, Business-Management, Business-Manufacturing, Business-Marketing, Business-Negotiation, Business-Networking, Business-Other-Business, Business-Outsourcing, Business-PR, Business-Presentation, Business-Productivity, Business-Public Speaking, Business-Retail, Business-Retirement, Business-Sales, Business-Sales Training, Business-Small-Business, Business-Telemarketing, Business-Teleselling, Business-Transportation and Logist, Business-Venture-Capital, Business-Work-from-Home, Business-Workplace-Safety

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Business investments through franchise business opportunities

The overwhelming success of a famous local bakery store in Singapore that has expanded in 9 other countries resulted from a single branch that only started 8 years ago. You can find 7-11 stores in almost every corner of the streets locally and internationally, deriving from the fact that it started from a store selling ice blocks. Giant brands did not always start big in their industry. They all started with a good idea through an outlet with business investments through franchise opportunities.
Franchise It is organised by the business consulting firm, Astreem Corporation and it was held at National Library Board on 24th October 2008. This half-day seminar covers the fundamentals of franchising for business owners. “Franchise It aims to provide business owners an overview of business investments through business franchise opportunities and the processes involved in the development of a good franchise structure and program,” says Hsien Naidu who is the founder and director of Astreem.

Topics covered during the seminar were:
- The business franchise concept
- Advantages of franchising your business investments
- Basic steps in developing your business franchise program
- Test of your business’ “Franchisability”
- Important features of the Franchise Operations Manual
- The Franchise Agreement
- Protecting your Intellectual properties
- Marketing your business franchise

The speakers that are involved with this seminar were the business consulting firm’s consultants. Attendees of this event are business owners who want to grow their operations via franchise business opportunities, entrepreneurs who want to expand their businesses and business investments using other people’s resources and franchisors encountering problems with their current franchise program. Astreem constantly seeks for Singapore franchise opportunities for the local as well as overseas market and represents clients who are looking for Malaysia franchise opportunities, Indonesia franchise opportunities, Philippine franchise opportunities and Vietnam franchise opportunities. The business consulting and management consulting firm also consists of franchise consultants, branding consultants, marketing consultants, business consultants.

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Catalogs: Business-Advertising, Business-Branding, Business, Business-Coaching, Business-Strategy, Business-Construction, Business-Customer Service, Business-Employment Careers, Business-Entrepreneurship, Business-Ethics, Business-Franchising, Business-Graphology, Business-Home-Office, Business-Human-Resources, Business-Industry, Business-International-Business, Business-Management, Business-Manufacturing, Business-Marketing, Business-Negotiation, Business-Networking, Business-Other-Business, Business-Outsourcing, Business-PR, Business-Presentation, Business-Productivity, Business-Public Speaking, Business-Retail, Business-Retirement, Business-Sales, Business-Sales Training, Business-Small-Business, Business-Telemarketing, Business-Teleselling, Business-Transportation and Logist, Business-Venture-Capital, Business-Work-from-Home, Business-Workplace-Safety

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Closing the Sale With Ease

How confident are you when the time comes to close the sale? One of the most consequential factors at play that can contribute to a successful closing (and possibly understanding when you should move on) has to be the leverage and confidence you posses when going into a sale. Apply the following information effectively and you will be able to build both your confidence and leverage.

Stop emotional attachments when they are clouding your vision.
Emotional attachments can reek of desperation whether focused on the ego, the money or the time invested into your sales process. And anyway, many prospects see right through the desperation or need for a quick sale and can even sense that your pitch is now more focused on getting a deal done than it is about the solutions and value you can offer. You need to be able to close the sale with a greater sense of confidence. This, in turn, should eliminate bad deals altogether.

Manage your pipeline.
You need to manage all of your accounts over the entire sales process using an account profile management system-a corkboard will suffice-to post prospect information on as they progress through sales cycle stages. This is a great way to visually follow your sales activity. There are software programs that do the same thing, however, seeing your writing and notations up on your wall is a constant reminder to work harder. Engaging yourself in activity's which move you through your sales cycle will give you the power to either close a sale or walk away confidently.

Formulate your value statement.
You need to believe in your mission, the products you market and understand what benefits are your customers receiving. And the term, "Value statement" denotes the fact that you need to have a very enthusiastic and confident belief in whatever you are selling. A lot of it can come from the positive results experienced by your clients.

Possess a very stout history and track record.
Amassing an impressive track record full of positive testimonials and results is priceless. For your closing ratios to increase, you should be focused on all of the great results you can provide your customers with. Ask your prospects what they want to do with your services or products once they are in possession of them. Understand what their specified objectives are and then over deliver those objectives. Because in the future when you need help closing a deal, you can contact these satisfied customers who will gladly help you out.

As so many of us are already keenly aware of, loosing a deal that you have put your heart and soul into can be quite demoralizing. Maybe your business activity was lacking or the qualifying questions were lacking something, etc. Whatever your situation is, effectively utilizing the tips in this article will allow you to close more deals with ease and waste a lot less of your precious time. And we all know that time is money!

Article Source: http://www.Free-Articles-Zone.com
Catalogs: Business-Advertising, Business-Branding, Business, Business-Coaching, Business-Strategy, Business-Construction, Business-Customer Service, Business-Employment Careers, Business-Entrepreneurship, Business-Ethics, Business-Franchising, Business-Graphology, Business-Home-Office, Business-Human-Resources, Business-Industry, Business-International-Business, Business-Management, Business-Manufacturing, Business-Marketing, Business-Negotiation, Business-Networking, Business-Other-Business, Business-Outsourcing, Business-PR, Business-Presentation, Business-Productivity, Business-Public Speaking, Business-Retail, Business-Retirement, Business-Sales, Business-Sales Training, Business-Small-Business, Business-Telemarketing, Business-Teleselling, Business-Transportation and Logist, Business-Venture-Capital, Business-Work-from-Home, Business-Workplace-Safety

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