FRANCHISING 101
How To Franchise A Business
For many business owners, franchising can be one of the best ways to grow and expand their business. However, it is important to remember that franchising is a complex process that requires careful planning and execution.
Let’s take a quick look at the basics of what is needed to franchise. This list is by no means definitive, as there are multiple branches off of the basic requirements that are necessary to be successful. You can see our complete list of services we recommend after decades of experience here. However for brevity’s sake, we have boiled it down to the minimum foundation of what every owner would need.
Here are the 6 foundational pillars you’ll need to legitimately consider yourself ready to franchise.
A Federal Trademark
You and your franchisees, together, are going to build your franchise’s name into a well known brand. To do that, you need to trademark that name in order to protect the brand equity your building.
Franchise Disclosure Documents
The franchising industry is regulated by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The FTC requires that all franchises disclose their franchise opportunity by using templated legal documents. These documents are called Franchise Disclosure Documents or FDD’s for short.
Operations Manuals
To be a franchise, all processes and procedures need to be memorialized in an Operations manual. Usually, these manuals are hundreds of pages long and include everything from finding a location to hiring and marketing and everything in between.
Initial Training
When a new franchisee comes aboard, you need to train them. These days, initial training can be live or virtual, depending on your business. But, there does need to be a formalized training program complete with syllabus and supporting educational materials.
Franchise Opportunity Marketing and Lead Generation Program
In any business endeavor, you can build whatever operational infrastructure you want. But if you don’t know how to get folks interested in buying it, it’s all for nothing. The same is true with your franchise. Manuals and training are imperative. But, if you don’t have the marketing strategies and processes in place to promote your new franchise opportunity, you’ll never have a real franchise network.
Franchise Sales
Once franchise seekers are responding to your marketing and inquiring into your opportunity, you’ll need a comprehensive franchise sales process in place in order to educate those interested while, at the same time, ascertaining their fit for your business.
Sparrow provides all 6 pillars in 6 months
At Sparrow Franchising, we do all six of these pillars. That’s not the case with other franchise consultants or experts. Sparrow dedicates a team that provides everything you need to not only be franchise ready, but to actually sell and open your franchises with new owners. Having this done as one complete service doesn’t just save you time and effort bouncing from one company to the next to get franchised, it is the reason we are the most affordable way for you to franchise.
Sparrow is how to franchise a business
Let’s talk. We will glide you through the entire process, from wherever you are right now, all the way to your first (of hopefully many) ribbon cuttings.
Contact us today for a FREE consultation.
The basics of how to franchise
FRANCHISING 101
This is the first stage of the process and an important one. You are learning the basics and making sure your business is even franchisable.
Here are five of the most frequently asked questions with the answers you need to know. We offer a free consultation and no question is off the table.
What is a Franchise?
At its most basic level, franchising is simply a specific form of distribution for goods and services. But that’s a pretty generic and wholly unhelpful definition. So let's dig a little deeper...
Why should you Franchise?
With other expansion options available, how do you know if franchising is the right way to expand your business?
Alternatives to Franchising
There are other options to expanding your business other than franchising.
Is my business Franchisable?
You have a successful business and you’ve decided you want to franchise it. How do you know if your business would make a good franchise system?
How to Franchise a business
A good franchisor should train, guide and support a franchisee in every aspect of their business. That means a good franchisor’s training and support infrastructure will never stop expanding and evolving. But, when you start, here are the 6 foundational pillars you’ll need to legitimately consider yourself ready to franchise.
“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”
Thomas A. Edison
Some other helpful resources
Here’s a few very helpful links that help you understand the path and process of how to franchise a business.
This Guide is provided by The Federal Trade Commission, the nation’s consumer protection agency, to help you decide if buying a franchise is right for you. It also explains how to use the disclosure document that franchisors must provide. This is just one of the many documents Sparrow delivers for our clients.
The SBA Franchise Directory contains all franchise and other brands eligible for SBA financial assistance. The Directory will only include business models that are reviewed and found eligible under SBA’s affiliation rules and other eligibility criteria. Another big step in the process that Sparrow delivers for our clients.
SCORE’s business mentors and tools can help you start, grow, or transition your business to a franchise. While they don’t actually do what we do and can’t actually franchise your business, they can be a great resource for making sure you, and we, do it right. SCORE is available to you no matter where you are in your business lifecycle.
