Franchising Mistakes and how to avoid them

COMMON FRANCHISING MISTAKES AND HOW TO AVOID THEM

Use this list to get ahead of the learning curve and avoid problems before they happen.

Franchises have been around for a long time. If you are starting a new franchise business, you’ll often be confronted with problems and situations you’ll have to work very hard to solve. But don’t worry, you aren’t reinventing the wheel here. The kinds of problems you are most likely to encounter have been handled by people just like you, and you can learn from their mistakes. We’ve come up with this list of some of the most common franchising problems so you can avoid them before they happen.

1. What did you do wrong? One of the simplest things you can do to avoid some of the most common franchising problems is to talk to other franchise owners, as well as the franchiser. Just ask them what they did wrong when they started, or what they wish they would have done differently. Though the specific situation they handled may not exactly apply to you, you can use their advice to learn to spot problems before they happen.

2. Know your franchise agreement? The devil is in the details, and one of the most important things you can do is to know your franchise agreement inside and out. What does the franchiser require of you? Do you have to buy specific equipment from a certain manufacturer, or can you purchase after-market goods? What about employee pay, or inventory suppliers? What can you personalize, and what are you specifically barred from doing? Knowing all this beforehand will go a long way in heading off disaster down the road.

3. Marketing pitfalls. A new business is a great opportunity, especially for those who want to sell you marketing. They’ll come to you and promise the moon, the stars and everything under the sun. Newspapers, radio, periodicals, TV and internet advertisers will want you to listen to them so they can get you the best exposure around. Be very careful here. Your franchiser probably has a standardized marketing plan already laid out for you, and you would be wise to follow it. Remember, companies that want you to advertise with them do so because that is how they make money. You want to be sure your advertising dollar is well spent, and following the advice of the franchiser is almost always the best way yo go.

4. Rental Space. When you start a new business it takes time to grow it into a successful endeavor, and anything you can do to minimize your expenses goes a long way. One of the simplest ways to do this is to get the best lease possible. Getting your new landlord to give you the first few months free, getting the rent as low as possible and ensuring maintenance fees and taxes don’t overwhelm you are some of the best things you can do to get going. Worrying about having enough cash flow to cover the costs of the lease is no way to focus on growing your business, so do everything you can to minimize these costs.



Franchising Mistakes and how to avoid them - To learn more about this author, visit Ian Macleod's Website.

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