Time Saving Tips for Franchise Shoppers
Time is a precious commodity these days and although buying a franchise is a time consuming process, there are ways to cut to the chase. Of course you should do your due diligence, but first make sure you’re focused on viable choices. Here are some tips to quickly identify the best franchise opportunities for you so no time is wasted.
- Know what you want. Before you even begin shopping around, clarify what you want in a franchise business. Make a checklist of the characteristics you’re looking for. Use your checklist to quickly weed out franchises that don’t fit the bill.
- Know your limits. Have your accountant help you determine how much you can invest. Then look in the FDD/UFOC to find the amount of net worth and liquidity that's required by the franchise. Don’t waste time investigating a franchise you can't afford.
- Look for open territory.
Ask the franchisor if there are opportunities available in the area where you
want to locate your business. If not, look elsewhere.
- Review Item 3 in the FDD/UFOC. That’s where the franchisor is required to disclose any relevant litigation history. It will give you clues about the organization’s relationships with its franchisees.
- Don’t bet on bad odds.
Check the franchisor’s failure rate. You’ll find it in Item 20 in the
FDD/UFOC.
If the track record doesn’t look so hot, it’s probably not. Move on.
- Have the right stuff.
A good franchisor will tell you what characteristics and skills they expect
from franchisees. If you don’t measure up, you’re wasting your time and
theirs.
- Get the inside scoop.
Find out if a franchise is a good match for you by talking to the company’s
existing franchisees. Get on the phone and start asking questions. You’ll
quickly get a sense of what it would really be like to become a franchisee in
this system.
To learn more about franchise opportunities and business opportunities, visit us at FranchiseHelp
Low Cost Franchising - Options for Affordable Franchising
Fortunately, there are numerous excellent low-cost franchise options available, and those options span nearly every industry an entrepreneur could imagine.
Advertising and Promotion Watch: McDonald's Monopoly is Back
This month sees the return of a venerated promotional campaign, McDonald’s Monopoly. The promotion first began in 1987, and in the last decade has become an almost yearly tradition. Each year, certain McDonald’s products come with Monopoly game tokens, each with either a space from the Monopoly board or an instant win prize for items such as a small fries. Larger prizes are won by collecting all of a group of Monopoly properties, usually three, but sometimes two (Illinois Avenue, Indiana Avenue and Kentucky Avenue, for example). Each group of properties have one whose piece is much rarer than the others; for most of the groups, it’s the last alphabetically (Kentucky Avenue for the red properties, Ventnor Avenue for the yellow), but for the dark blue, it’s Boardwalk, as it is the last and most expensive property on the board. More recently, McDonalds developed an online counterpart to its in-store Monopoly game in which customers can roll virtual dice, or more recently pick one of three chance cards for various prizes.
Franchises and Business Opportunities – Understanding the Difference
For entrepreneurs seeking to hit the ground running with a new business venture, there are two main categories of opportunities out there that allow them to benefit from the experience, assets and reputation of existing business concepts. These are: (i) the franchise, and (ii) the “business opportunity”.
