FRANCHISE BROKERS vs FRANCHISING CONSULTANTS
Written by:
Ken Hollowell
Article Overview: Whether to use a "broker", consultant or in-house marketing team is always an issue with young franchisors.
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FRANCHISE BROKERS vs FRANCHISING CONSULTANTS
There are no set rules, procedures or guidelines that answer whether a broker or consultant will best meet your needs as a franchisor. What is important is who will get the job done?
View franchise consultants are what is consider marketing experts. A franchise consultant usually represents the system and how to develop the network but they rarely actually sale franchises. A franchise broker falls into several different groups. There are the "business brokers" that specialize in franchise sales and there are the independents that only represent franchisors and their offering. A business broker may be representing as many as 200 different franchisors and the question becomes whether or not you are receiving the proper representation?
Frankly, the fees are about the same with the business broker usually doing a minimal amount of work. Personally, I've considered the business brokers more of a lead generator than an actual broker. My own experiences after 30 plus years of selling franchises the business broker charges too much for their services. I personally suggest that a franchisor consider in-house marketing after one year or so of offering their franchises to the general public.
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About the Author: Ken Hollowell
RSS for Ken's articles - Visit Ken's website
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Ken M. Hollowell, founder of both Prfran Consultants, Inc. and National Franchise Services, Inc. and is a leader in the field of franchise development since 1980. Mr. Hollowell has lectured before many business organizations, Universities and Colleges on the subject of franchising and hosted a radio talk show of radio for years.
He conducts numerous seminars annually on franchise development and investing in a franchise business throughout the United States. He is regularly requested by the Small Business Administration in Washington, D.C., S.C.O.R.E., Learning Annex and the International Franchise Association to speak on franchising. Mr. Hollowell's well-rounded experience and practical knowledge in both development and marketing have led him to be one of the most sought after franchise consultants in America. Mr. Hollowell has written many articles on both developing a franchise network and buying a franchise. Mr. Hollowell sits on no less than a dozen boards of directors.
Click here to visit Ken's website

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Related Forum Posts
These maybe the coldest franchises out there:
- Here are the worst 15 performing franchises in regards to having the highest Small Business Administration (SBA) loan failure rates. The list is dotted with sub sandwich shops, fitness centers and car shops.
WORST FRANCHISE LOAN FAILURES Failure %
1 OBEE'S SOUP SALAD SUBS 55.56%
2 LADY OF AMERICA 41.94%
3 COUNTRY CLUTTER (BED & BREAKFAST) 41.18%
4 COPY CLUB 36.36%
5 ALL TUNE AND LUBE 35.71%
6 PICKERMAN'S 35.71%
7 PHILLY CONNECTION 35.59%
8 ROLY POLY ROLLED SANDWICHES 34.78%
9 COTTMAN TRANSMISSION 34.48%
10 HAIR COLOR EXPRESS 33.33%
11 LEE MYLES AUTOMOTIVE TRANSMISSIONS 33.33%
12 GODFATHER'S PIZZA 33.33%
13 SMOOTHIE FACTORY 33.33%
14 BLIMPIE 31.39%
15 GOLF U.S.A. (RETAIL GOLF EQUIP.) 30.77%
Source: Small Business Administration, SBA Loan Performance Within Franchise Code for the Period of FY 2001 - 2005
Information about doing franchise business in China
- CHINA’S FRANCHISE LEGAL SYSTEM
Introduction
Franchises has a history of more than one hundred years in foreign countries, now it has developed to be a mature business mode, and it is widely used in many countries, especially the developed ones. Recently, franchises has been developing fast in China, covering more than sixty industries and trades such as catering, retailing, clothes-washing, indoor decorations and gym. However, the market order of franchises is chaotic in some industries and areas. There are also some illegal and criminal activities under the guise of franchises. Under such circumstances, several important laws have been promulgated to regulate the commercial franchising activities.
Applicable Legislation
The main legislative provisions governing the commercial franchising in the PRC are:
the Measures on Administration of Commercial Franchises; and
the Measures on Administration of Archival Filing of Commercial Franchises; and
the Measures on Administration of Information Disclosure of Commercial Franchises
Qualification for Franchisors
According to the laws, the franchisors as those enterprises who own such business sources as registered trademarks, enterprise logos, patents and proprietary technology, and license these business sources to franchisees.
Firstly, the franchisors shall be enterprises, excluding other economic organizations and individuals.
Secondly, the trademarks which can be licensed to franchisees shall be registered trademarks. According to the Trademark Law, the trademarks, whether registered or not, are protected under the laws, though there is difference in the vigor and extents of protection. It seems that the Ministry of Commerce has restrictions in recognizing trademarks, since it only provides “own trademarks to be licensed to others” at large, which causes chaos in practice. In the cases relevant to franchising disputes which we provided legal service to, all of them involve the situation that the franchisors granted licenses of non-registered trademarks or the trademarks which were in application to others, and when there was infringement on trademarks, the franchisors were unable to prevent infringement on trademarks. Then the interests of the franchisees could not be realized. What’s more, franchising activities with non-registered trademarks also, to some extent, encourage commercial frauds.
Thirdly, the logos, patents and proprietary technology of enterprises are included in the business sources to be licensed to others for the first time, which enlarges the application scope of franchises and will improve the development of franchises.
Requirements to be Met in Carrying on Franchising Activities
In addition to the condition that only the enterprises will be allowed to carry on franchising activities referred to above, the franchisors shall also have mature business modes, and are able to provide business guidance, technology support and training. The enterprises which copy the manuals, websites and enlisting documents of others, and have no service abilities for providing business guidance, technology support and training shall be excluded. What needs pointing out is that even these enterprises that are allowed to carry on business may face with the suits claiming them for unfair competition and infringements on intellectual properties. In addition, the Measures clearly request that the franchisors shall operate at least two directly operated shops, and the period of operation shall be more than 1 year, which aims to prevent frauds by the way of franchising.
Information Disclosure Requirements and Regulation on Franchisors
Information disclosure system is the core system of franchising. The laws provides that the franchisors shall establish and implement a perfect information disclosure system, and provide the relevant information and franchising contracts in written form, at least thirty days before execution of franchising contracts. It also sets out the specific provisions on the information which shall be provided by franchisors, including the basic conditions and commercial reputation records of the franchisors and their legal representatives, business sources owned by franchisors, abilities of franchisors to provide service to franchisees and management and supervision on business of franchisees, franchisee fees and the payments, and budgets for investment in franchising shops. To the franchisors that violate these provisions, the authorities in charge of commerce will order them to rectify, charge penalties and make public statements.
Archival Filing and Public Announcement Systems
To protect the franchisees’ lawful rights and interests, considering the asymmetric information between franchisors and franchisees, in addition to intensifying information disclosure requirements and regulating the activities of franchisors, the Measures also bring in the archival filing and public announcement systems. The Measures provides that the franchisors shall make a filing with the commerce administrative department within 15 days after the execution of franchising contracts for the first time. Anyone who intends to engage in any commercial franchise activities within a province, autonomous region, or municipality directly under the Central Government shall go through the archival filing formalities in the commerce administrative department of the people’s government of the province, autonomous region, or municipality directly under the Central Government where the franchisors are located. Anyone who intends to engage in any commercial franchise activities beyond a province, autonomous region, or municipality directly under the Central Government shall go through archival filing formalities in the commerce administrative department of the State Council. Any franchisor having been engaging in franchise activities before May 1, 2007 shall apply for archival filing at the commercial administrative department.
The Ministry of Commerce has established the national network for archival filing work relating to commercial franchise. Any franchisor shall go through the archival formalities through the government website. The general public may obtain the following information through the government website of the Ministry of Commerce: (1)The registered trademark(s), enterprise mark(s), patent(s), know-how and other business resources of the franchisor; (2)The franchisor’s archival filing date; (3)The location of the legal business place, contact information and name of the legal representative of the franchisor; and (4)The location of the business place of the franchisee(s) within China.
The authorities in charge of filing will cancel the archival filing if there is any following activities of franchisors, and make public announcement on the government website: (1) the business licenses of the franchisors have been withdrawn by the registration administrative authorities for illegal business; (2) the authorities in charge of filing receive judicial suggestion letter on cancellation of archival filing from the judiciary for illegal business by franchisors; (3) the franchisors conceal the relevant information or provide false information, which has been proved; (4) the franchisors carry on cancellation by themselves. In addition, the illegal activities of the franchisors will be announced to the public.
By Erex Chen, a Chinese lawyer based in Shanghai.
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