Moving Packing and Shipping Store Franchising ( The Definitive Help and Tip Guide )
Las Vegas Crating and Logistics has teamed up with Jenny Child at Franchiseyou! to try and bring you the most comprehensive guide on Franchising your local business.
We are in the packing , shipping , moving , and logistics space with a packaging store that offers ready to ship materials and custom boxes and crates.
Expanding outward is never easy, but with a professional franchising expert we can cover the topics that are the most important and offer excellent
valuable tips and tricks on starting your franchise
As you can see our industry of packing , shipping , and moving is one of the largest growing area’s of franchise growth
Questions You Should Ask A Franchise Consultant
Many people go into a franchise business search with no clue about what kind of business they want to start.
With today’s technology, you can easily “Google” franchising, or visit a few franchise websites and peruse through hundreds of franchise opportunities.
There are about 3700 franchises out there
and it can be easy to get overwhelmed with all the options and information.
It is so important to you align yourself with a franchise that will give you the best chance for success. There are a lot of great franchises out there that offer a wealth of support, but, like any other industry, we do have a few “bad apples”. How do you pick which franchises to research? How will you know which ones will best match your skill set? How will you know which franchises have the potential to meet your business and financial goals? This is where bringing in the expertise of a franchise consultant, like me, can be very valuable to you. Here are some questions you should consider when working with a franchise consultant:
What is a franchise consultant and how can they help me with my franchise search?
A franchise consultant is someone who acts as a “guide” to help you navigate the franchise industry and to match you to the best possible franchise to meet your personal and business goals. One of the best analogies for a franchise consult is that they work much like a real-estate agent does. Think back to when you bought your last house. You probably found a real-estate agent and provided them all the parameters for what you wanted in a home. You told them the area you wanted to live in, your price range, the number of bedrooms you needed, the types of amenities you preferred, and so on.
After taking all your information, the real-estate agent lined up a list of houses for you to preview. They probably found out what other homes had sold for in the area and educated you on the process of purchasing a home. Once you had found the house of your dreams, the real-estate agent put together an offer to purchase and tried to get you your best deal. Once your offer on the house was accepted, the real-estate agent then guided you through the home inspection (they often have people they can refer you to) and they may even have helped you work with a local bank for financing. Ultimately, they guided you through all the steps to closing and purchasing your new home.
A franchise consultant works the same way. They will find out things like: Why do you want to start a business? What does your skill-set include? What your interests are How much money do you have to invest? What kind of income do you need to eventually earn? Where you would like to operate your business?
After learning about you, they will go out and research potential franchise “fits” and present you with options that meet your criteria. Once they have presented you with franchises for your consideration, they will then prepare for you the process of investigating a franchise.
A good franchise consultant will also provide you with valuable educational resources along the way. In addition, you will probably need some sort of funding, so a franchise consultant should have relationships with funding companies to aid you with the financial aspect.
Once you complete your franchise due diligence and choose the right business for you, then the franchise consultant will prepare you for approval by the franchise and for the legal process of signing a franchise agreement. As a franchise consultant, I will have my clients work with a franchise attorney (another resource I refer) to review the agreement and make sure everything is in order before signing their agreement and officially buying the franchise.
Moreover, the company I am affiliated with — FranchiseYOU! -helps professional moving and storage companies near you with advice and guidance that is often only available to clients upon their request AFTER they purchase a franchise – not to answer the “day-to-day” questions of managing their franchise (their franchisor is now there to help them with this), but to help them adjust to ownership in general and to learn strong, proven small business practices.
How much does it cost to hire a franchise consultant?
A franchise consultant should never charge you a fee.
Their fee is paid by the franchisor once you sign the franchise agreement.
Let’s refer back to our real-estate agent example: a real-estate agent represents you to get you the best deal on a home and when they are successful and you close on your house, their fee is paid by Seller, not you. A franchise consult works the same way, with their fee coming from the Franchisor.
As a franchise consultant, I often will refer to myself as a “buyers agent” as I represent my clients to get them the deal that is best for their particular needs.
How do I know if my franchise consultant is only showing me franchises that pay them a higher fee vs. franchises that will meet my goals?
This is a great question to ask a franchise consultant.
A good franchise consultant should tell you they request the same fee from every franchisor for placing a client into their franchise. This way you are ensured that it doesn’t matter which franchise you pick – that consultant will get the same fee no matter what.
Can I get a discount on a franchise fee if I go directly to the franchise instead of using a franchise consultant?
Simply stated, no. Franchises are required by law to provide you a Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) which will state their franchise fee to buy their franchise and rights to their name and operating system. They can’t change, or discount, that franchise fee if you are referred to a franchise through a franchise consultant. Frankly, many franchises prefer to work with candidates that are referred through a franchise consultant as a franchise consultant has already pre-screened the candidate to ensure they have the skill-set and meet the financial requirements for their franchise.
Also, a franchise consultant preps a candidate on how to conduct a proper franchise investigation and provides that candidate many resources to aid them in their decision. Most franchisors will say that a candidate that works with a franchise consultant is usually preferable to work with, as they are a better-educated and prepared potential investor.
How long will it take me to investigate and find the right franchise?
A good franchisor will have a process to teach you about their franchise and complete all the research within 4-8 weeks. However, this will mean dedicating about 10-15 hours a week per franchise you are investigating during that period to meet that timeline. Of course, at the end of the process you and the franchisor should be determining whether you are moving ahead or not. So, the timeline will really depend on YOU.
Over the years I have worked with a variety of people in all different stages of their career. Some of my clients have been laid off and they don’t want to go back to working for someone else, so they tend to want to move faster to find the right business and have the time to dedicate to researching their next career move. Other clients I have worked with have had full time jobs and are looking for a business they can manage semi-passively so they can have the extra income of a business while they are still working. While other clients will tell me they no longer enjoy working for someone else, or are no longer growing in their career, so they want to explore transitioning from their job to business ownership. So, it could take a little longer to go through the process pending your work situation. I do caution my clients that if they are not showing a franchisor, when working with them, that they are consistently making progress and completing the action items that the franchisor requests in a timely manner, that, more than likely, the franchise will start to think they are not a serious investor. Your lack of progress could be interpreted by the franchisor that you have a lack of interest, and this could result in the franchise stopping the process with you and never offering you a francise.
Don’t forget that investigating a franchise is a two-way street…you are interviewing the franchise to make sure it is the right fit for you, and they are interviewing you to ensure you can follow a process and will be a good franchisee that can represent their brand well in the marketplace. The best thing to do is be prepared to take time each week for your investigation. If you think you will move a little slower during certain steps of the investigation process, or that you may take you longer due to work or personal obligations, then you need to communicate that upfront. Sometimes, based on your timeframe, a franchise may suggest you hold off starting the investigation process with them until you have more time to dedicate to learning about their opportunity.
On the flip side, no one should be rushing you through your franchise investigation. If things are moving too fast or you are feeling pushed through the steps by a franchise, you need to communicate that to your franchise consultant. A good consultant will communicate on your behalf to the franchise and let them know they need to slow down. Again, you are making a major investment and your franchise consultant should ensure that you have the time to “turn over all the rocks” and get all your questions answered so you can make a sound business decision.
How does my franchise consultant ensure the franchises they are presenting to me are solid business models with good track records?
Unfortunately, many “franchise consultants” do not screen the franchisors to make sure they are “playing by the rules: and have happy and successful franchisees. You need to ask your franchise consultant what process they take in screening franchises.
Let’s not forget, there are 3700 franchises and there are some ‘bad apples’. A successful franchise system should provide a lot of support, such as: training, marketing and operations. And, as a result, those franchisors should have several successful owners.
At FranchiseYou, we take the process of researching franchises very seriously. We get called by 4050 franchisors a month that would like us to represent their franchise concept to our clients. However, before we would even consider presenting their franchise to one of our clients, they have to pass the scrutiny of our Brand Committee. Our Brand Committee, consisting of our most experienced consultants, will read through their Franchise Disclosure Document to ensure their franchise meets all Federal and State laws, as certain states have some special requirements that have to be met.
If the franchisor cites any litigation in the FDD, our committee investigates that litigation to make sure this franchise is “playing by the rules.” Some of the people on our Brand Committee have been CFO’s for some major franchises so they review the financials of the franchise to ensure they are financially sound. Finally, the most important people on our committee are the ones that call the franchisees within that franchise system. They ask those franchisees numerous “validation” questions, such as: “Did they get the support and training they were promised? Are they happy with the franchisor? Are they making the kind of money they thought they would make? If they had the chance to do this all over again, would they?” If, and only if, we hear a lot of positive feedback by the majority of franchisees, and we see that they are financially and legally sound, then we know we have a franchise we can present to one of our clients. Interestingly, as all of our prospective clients also “validate” with franchise owners when they are investigating a franchise, they continue to provide us with feedback – and we also “drop” a franchise from our portfolio should they not maintain performance standards.
Bottom line,
you are about to put your hard-earned money into a major business investment, and if your franchise consultant doesn’t “vet” the franchises they are showing you, then you need to find another consultant.
How do I know I have found the right franchise consultant?
This is a VERY important question!
You are about to make a major investment and a life-changing decision,
make sure you get a franchise consultant whose priority is about YOU and YOUR needs.
There are numerous groups out there that call themselves franchise consultants or franchise coaches, but many of them have had little-to-no experience in franchising, and are really no more than “brokers.” Ask them a few of these questions to learn about their experience: “How many years have you been in franchising? Have you ever worked for a franchise company and, if so, in what capacity? Have you ever owned your own business? How many people have you assisted getting into business?”
If the so-called ‘franchise consultant’ has never worked in franchising or owned a business, you may want to question whether they are going to have the expertise to guide you on the journey to business ownership.
Also, question the process they are going to take to learn about you and present you appropriate franchises. If they are going to try and present you franchises after a short 30-minute call then this person isn’t a true franchise consultant, but just someone looking to make a commission off of you. At my company, The You Network, we have you first complete a profile that will provide both us and you with helpful tools for matching you to the right businesses.
We even have tools to test your core competencies, and what motivates you as an investor. Understand, there is a bit of a ‘science’ to helping you find the right business, so it is crucial to collect as much information as we can to help us better determine the types of businesses or industry you would most likely thrive in. Also, we spend several hours going over your profile with you and asking you questions to ensure we understand who YOU are and what is important to YOU.
Interestingly, some of the most experienced business people tell us that they wished they had found us earlier in their business search as they realize without our expertise they may have made some serious errors in choosing the right business.
And finally, a franchise consultant with a lot of experience in franchising has probably made a lot of connections in the franchise industry.
A seasoned franchise consultant is not only going to be able to provide you resources like franchise attorneys and funding companies BUT they are also going to use their connections to help you get into a franchise.
Let me provide an example of how this is valuable to you: most franchisors will tell you they get hundreds of inquiries each month regarding their franchise opportunity. These franchisors will have to prioritize who they will spend time with, and, as a result, they don’t always respond to all those inquiries. Similar to an executive recruiter, a franchise consultant with a lot of industry experience has probably worked with and built relationships with the founders and key executives at these franchise companies. This means if you have an interest in a particular franchise then that franchise consultant is going to call the key people at the franchisor and tell them how great you are and why you would make a wonderful franchisee for their system.
This gets you to the “top of the list” at the franchise
SPECIAL THANKS TO SENIOR FRANCHISE CONSULTANT
Jenny Childs has dedicated her career to working with business owners and has helped hundreds of people recognize the true benefits of business ownership. She is uniquely qualified to assist potential business investors as she has worked in all facets of franchising over the last 15 years including: franchise development, franchise operations and franchise funding. Having worked for several top franchise companies, she understands what is required to properly investigate a franchise and how franchisors will evaluate a potential candidate for their franchise system. Also, she has an extensive knowledge-base to guide someone through the financial and legal aspects to purchasing their franchise and getting operational. Jenny was formerly a Vice President and Sr. Franchise Consultant at The You Network, which is a consortium of 20 senior-level franchise executives. FranchiseYou consultants work with people all over the United States and Canada to help them learn about franchising. She uses a very proven method that she has developed to help her candidates investigate a large number of franchise companies with the goal of placing them into a franchise where they will have the best chance for success.
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