Designing and setting up a franchise is a specialist area. It involves understanding and bringing together a whole range knowledge and experience including:
- strategic
- business planning
- financial forecasting,
- commercial functions and linkages
- operational procedures and systems
- supply chain and logistics
- marketing and brand development
- site negotiations and store construction
- finance and cashflow management
- franchisee recruitment
- franchise support and resourcing
- legal documentation and IP protection
All of these areas need to be well understood individually and then linked together to customise the franchise model that eventually becomes your new franchise business.
Some budding franchisors make the mistake of going straight to a Lawyer and asking for documentation. Many lawyers then just ask the client to fill out an instruction sheet specifying how much royalty do you want to charge?, do you want to have territories, will there be a marketing fund etc. These are all relevant questions but who is doing the thinking and analysis to get the answers right and make sure there is an integrated commercial business model that is best practice and fit for purpose for the next 10 years? Most clients can’t do this themselves and many Lawyers just want information to plug into their templates. Let’s be honest, how many Lawyers are really great business people? They are great legal advisors but rarely have they started a business themselves or grown a small business into a big business.
Don’t fall into this trap and potentially make serious mistakes or lock yourself into positions which could massively impact the profits you make and the end value of your business …possibly even making it hard to sell your business because there are flaws in the franchise or you have not made yourself attractive to potential buyers.
What you really need is a business consultant / franchise expert that can work through the strategic, commercial and financial issues to then design the right model to meet your objectives and work with you and (later) the lawyers to bring together the whole plan and execute a successful launch and growth of your franchise.
Robert Graham of CEO Consulting not only has a legal background but has been a franchisor, a franchisee, the key strategist and franchise expert for franchising for both ANZ Bank and Westpac Bank and has worked with hundreds of franchises internationally and in Australia to plan and grow their franchise networks.
If you want to franchise your business or want to know how to franchise your business then call Robert on 0407 105163 for a free discussion. Make your mind up which way to go after that.
