Franchisee resource center

Whether it is a “Discovery Day” or other term that the franchisor uses, most franchisors require prospective franchisees to visit their corporate headquarters as a pre-requisite to buying a franchise.

How can you be sure it’s the right choice for you? We asked Glen Kaufman, Managing Director at American Securities, a private equity firm with a consistent track record in the industry. The middle-market firm invests in companies with revenues ranging from $100 million to $1 billion.

The reason why anyone would choose being an Area Representative is that they are paid a certain portion of the initial franchise fee of each new franchisee they solicit as compensation. Aside from the sales commission the area representative may get paid by the franchisor a portion of the royalties received for servicing franchisees. In some cases, franchisors will pay the area representatives a portion of the fee received from new franchisees in the reps’ territory even though the area representative may have had nothing to do with the screening or recommending that particular franchisee. However, all these and other contingencies- such as compensation for furnishing many of the pre-opening and on-going services to the franchisee- should be covered in the area representation agreement.

Even the most honest and forthcoming franchisor can’t tell you what it’s like to be a franchisee. You should take the time to call existing franchisees and get some candid answers to your questions. Be careful that you don’t get a limited list of hand-picked contacts. It would be a waste of time to talk only to the most successful operators or those who are coached to give the “right” answers. Calling franchisees at random will give you the clearest picture of what you’re getting into. Here are some questions you should ask.

Most of the franchises offering Product oriented goods have very stringent rules. Since their brand is associated with a tangible good they must guarantee the desired quality from the consumer’s expectation. Franchisees must purchase the goods from a designated supplier and must keep items in their inventory as suggested by the franchisor. This can be company regulated policies or simply to help the franchisor launch some of their new products.

No matter what's going on, people still get sick and injured. Some studies have also shown that healthcare needs increase during recession due to the associated stress.

But, once the original operating system is established, it must be refined and tweaked as changes take place in its industry and within the company. An ongoing challenge for every business, not only franchise companies, is how to improve their operating systems in order to better manage results.

Jesse: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by, and welcome to the FranchiseHelp, Inc. Understanding the FDD for Franchisors Conference Call. During the participation, all participants will be in a listen only mode. Afterwards, we will conduct a question and answer session. If you have a question, please press the 1 followed by the 4 on your telephone. Your line will be briefly accessed from the conference to obtain the information. If at any time during the conference you need to reach an operator, please press star zero. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded Wednesday, May 7th, 2008.