Franchise Your Business - Franchisor Consultants

The franchisor consultants mentioned in this section specialize in assisting franchisors in driving both growth and success. These franchisor consultants can help if you feel that you have a great business prototype and you would like to become a franchisor or if you are already a franchisor and would like assistance growing your company.

Most franchisor consultants are able to help you analyze your current business to determine if it is suitable for franchising. If your business passes this first test, then these franchisor consultants will be able to assist you in building your systems and formalizing your franchise disclosure document and franchise agreement.

If you are already a franchisor but have not achieved your growth objectives, these franchisor consultants can help you dissect your current business and create a winning plan to reestablish growth.

If you are a franchisor or hope to be a franchisor one day, these franchisor consultants can help you.

Premier Franchisor Consulting

Other Franchisor Consultants

Go to Website Edwards Global Services, Inc. (International Franchisor Consultants) 949.224.3896 www.edwardsglobal.com

Go to Website The Franchise Consulting Group (Franchisor Consultants) (310) 552-2901 www.franchiseconsulting.com

Go to Website The iFranchise Group (Franchisor Consultants) (708) 957-2300 www.ifranchisegroup.com The iFranchise Group is the world’s premier franchise consulting firm. Whether you are an experienced franchisor or refining or improving and established company or looking to expand through franchising for the first time, the iFranchise Group can provide the real-world guidance and hands-on assistance needed to reach your full growth potential.

Being a franchisor is a challenging. It takes dedication and a winning formula. These franchisor consultants can help you make great decisions early in the process, thereby avoiding many of the pitfalls traditionally encountered without the sage advice of proven franchisor consultants.

Questions to Ask

Asking great questions is the foundation for gathering honest, unbiased franchise information. As discussed in The Educated Franchisee, in order to gather great franchise information, you need to ask questions of yourself, the franchisor and the franchisees. This will allow you to gain the best franchise information and know whether or not a franchise is a great match for you.

The downloadable lists of questions are by no means complete. You will need to customize each list to the situation. All the franchise information you need is there for you if are willing to ask the right questions and listen carefully to the answer. By using these questions, you will be able to gather the franchise information you need and thereby make an educated decision.

Premier Downloads to help you gather Franchise Information

Questions to ask yourself This is a starter list of questions you should ask yourself before you enter into a franchise agreement. Many of the questions on this list follow the thoughts found in The Educated Franchisee – Part I

Questions to ask franchisors This is a starter list of questions you should ask franchisors before you enter into a franchise agreement. You can use this as a starting point but should add franchisor and industry specific questions as you seek to expand the franchise information.

Questions to ask franchisees This is a starter list of questions you should ask franchisees before you enter into a franchise agreement. You can use this list as a starting point but should expand and customize it to fit the franchisee you are speaking with. Chapter 11 in The Educated Franchisee discusses how gather great franchise information from franchisees.

There is nothing more important than high quality franchise information to make great decisions. Let these questions help you gather the franchise information you need.

Franchise Funding - Where to Find Reputable Franchise Loan Consultants

Franchise funding questions are among the most critical questions for anyone thinking of buying a franchise. The ability to secure franchise funding is often key to a potential franchise owner’s decision to move ahead with the purchase of a franchise opportunity. Although there are many possible sources of franchise funding, the best avenue is usually with reputable franchise loan consultants.

In Chapter 13 of The Educated Franchisee, you’ll find a thorough discussion of franchise business financing. The chapter includes discussions on both debt and equity funding. By the end of the chapter you will have a thorough understanding of the various options available for franchise funding.

Prospective franchisees have many options in terms of franchise funding. These options include hiring franchise loan consultants, getting bank loans, home equity and more. What follows is a list of reputable franchising loan consultants and other sources of franchise funding information.

Franchise Consulting Organizations

Today’s franchise buyer has some very powerful tools at their disposal as they seek to identify the perfect franchise opportunity. One of those tools is a qualified franchise consultant.

As we discussed in detail in Chapters 9 and 14 of The Educated Franchisee, finding a franchise consultant is easy. Finding a high quality, proven franchise consultant that can add real value to your search for the perfect franchise opportunity is the trick. On this page we have listed Franchise Consulting organizations that have separated themselves from the pack through their long, proven track record. All of the companies listed on this page have the following characteristics –

Experience – These companies have been in the Franchise Consulting business for over 5 years
Knowledge - Their Franchise Consultants have proven track records in franchising and/or business ownership prior to becoming a franchise consultant.
Transparency - These companies list the names, direct contact information and full biographies of all their consultants on their website.
Leadership - They are members of the International Franchise Association and abide by the IFA’s Code of Ethics.
Cost - These companies do not charge you for their service. They only make money when they are successful in matching the right person with the right franchise opportunity.

Of course simply being on this list does not guarantee that all the consultants in these franchise consulting organizations will be right for you. It is also important to note that there are some high quality consultants that are not associated with franchise consulting organizations that meet the standards set out above. Use the tools and strategies found in Chapters 9 and 14 to make sure you are working with the right franchise consultant.

Hot Franchises – Risk and Reward.

We all know who I am talking about. They are always following the latest trends, buying the new concept car and spending all night in line to buy the latest iPod. These folks want to be part of the ‘in crowd’ and feel that there is safety in having what everyone else says they want. They are always looking for the perfect school, spouse, church, house and business. Most of all, they are never satisfied, always wondering if they have the best.

So what’s wrong with this you may ask? Nothing, so long as you know what you are doing and recognize the fact that chasing the latest thing, while exciting, is not always the most reliable. Why is this? Well let’s use franchising as a case study.

There have been a number of hot and sexy concepts in franchising. How about the home meal replacement craze from a few years ago lead by Boston Market? Five years ago the hot and sexy concept was Ebay Stores, where you could drop off your extra items and they would sell on Ebay for you. A couple of years ago we were all drooling over the dinners-to-go concepts such as Super Supper and many others. This year we have been watching Cold Stone Creamery begin to sputter. All of these concepts were hot and now they are not and investor/entrepreneurs were divorced from their money. Why is this?

The reason is quite simple. These franchises are hot and sexy because they are NEW ideas in unproven industries. The thing to remember about unproven ideas and industries is that, by definition, they are unproven. These businesses have a significantly higher risk/reward ratio. If you corner the local market with a new idea, then there is a great reward; however, if the idea or industry is just another fad, then the business will probably falter regardless of the skill and effort you put forth.

If you are the kind of person that tends to chase the latest hot trends, you know there is a risk to this. The new cell phone that you wanted may not be all that it is cracked up to be and the new concept car may be more concept than car. New, hot and sexy businesses are no different – so don’t expect them to be.

Having been born and raised in the ‘Show Me’ state of Missouri and as the author of The Educated Franchisee, I am all about making sure something is proven before parting with my money. Quite simply, I want to stack the deck in my favor. To do this you have give up on your concept of ‘hot and sexy’ and instead focus on ‘tried and true.’

‘Tried and true’ would include franchisors that have been around for a few years in proven, mature industries. Try painting, house cleaning, aged care, hair cutting, window washing or even taxes. Boring as it may sound, this is the most predictable path to business success. Even though there is more competition, you also know there is demand today and there will be demand tomorrow. A high quality, proven franchisor will be able to provide you with a superior approach to securing and retaining customers thus allowing you to control an appropriate share of the local market.

Remember, the latest hot trend can cool off. Become an educated franchisee and stack the deck in your favor.

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The Educated Franchisee is dedicated to franchise education through the sharing of franchise information. Our objective is –
‘To create educated franchise buyers that have clearly defined objectives and are able to recognize the right, or wrong, franchise when they see it. An educated franchise buyer will move into the franchisee role with their expectations properly set and will have a heightened potential for success within the franchise system creating a win/win for all involved.

To get more franchise information about how to stack the deck in your favor –
Visit our website at www.educatedfranchisee.com or
Purchase our franchise book – The Educated Franchisee by Rick Bisio, Franchise Consultant or
Contact author directly at rbisio@educatedfranchisee.com or call 941 778 4660.