Business Plan

[Arashtip]

Hi,

I want to buy a franchise in IT and they told me one of the required documents for the application is Business Plan.

Is it usual? I was under the impression that when I purchase a franchise all of these matters have been taken care of. If I have to do market research, studies or competitors' analysis why would I have to pay for the franchise?

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Nochexman]

From the Princes Trust website: "A business plan is a formal statement of business goals, reasons they are attainable, and plans for reaching them. It may also contain background information about the organization or team attempting to reach those goals."

I think they are asking you to demonstrate that once you have your franchise that you will be able to run it successfully. Presumably you have a clear idea about what you will do once you have your franchise and what you plan to do with it to make it a success for you? That is what they are asking you for.

 

[Arashtip]

But am I wrong in assuming that many of these items should be researched and prepared by the franchise company? As a franchisee my hands are tied in making any major alteration to the business model. I have to obey they model and pay the relevant fees. So, it is a bit irrelevant how I think of the market and what would be the strategies. I just follow their model and actually act as their agent. Is it wrong?

 

[Nochexman]

What isn't irrelevant is the approach you plan to take to running your franchise. What are your goals for your franchise? And how do you plan to achieve them? Presumably you won't be sitting on your hands and waiting for the franchise itself to take care of business? They want to know what your contribution will be over and above the franchise itself. For example, will you be generating any business leads yourself or are you entirely dependent on your franchisor?

 

[marble_pars]

Buying into a franchise is usually more a process of buying the rights to use an established brand, so they are charging for the franchisee license and still want a business plan to see if you are a good fit to be a franchisee.

 

[Gecko001]

It does seem a little strange to me. If you didn't do a business plan, would they really refuse to grant you the franchise if you were able to pay their up-front fees and meet other possible requirements such aso not being in a location close enough to compete with existing franchisees.

 

[The Byre]

A proper business plan (or something very much like it) is a part of every good franchise application. Try getting a McDonald's or any other notable fast food franchise!

They want you to show them that you are serious about the business and they want to make sure that dead-beats don't 'infest' their brand.

At the same time, you need to check that the franchise is all that it is cracked up to be. That is called due diligence and it means you check on their turnover, profits and the entire business history of all and every director and associate and talk to existing franchisees.

This forum is full of postings from dead-beat franchisees who have just paid some footling sum for a dead-beat franchise from Dowee, Cheatem & Howe and lived to regret it. Don't please be one of them!

 

[Mark T Jones]

First and foremost, you should want to do a business plan to be sure that the franchise will work with you

The franchiser should be working with you on this

 

[profitxchange]

Have you done any research into how successful other franchise owners are? can you talk to them?

 

[APW]

Yes all valid documents are seriously required to buy a franchise in IT. To start a new franchise Facility Management is very much needed now. Facility Management as practiced today is an oxymoron. True facility management requires accurate, and actual, utilization data.
For more details you may visit at http://dctfacilitiesmanagement.co.uk.

Tried to use google translate however they don't have gibberish as an option.

Care to actually use words instead of corporate buzz word nonsense?

 

[Krystsina]

I think that having a business plan is quite reasonable when getting a franchise. I understand your expectation, but I believe that it is necessary to understand that you can't buy a business plan along with a franchise as nobody can write your goals, your vision of business development, your budget, etc. instead of you. Getting a franchise is basically getting a package of rights and tools to use already existing brand, but a request to introduce your business plan doesn't seem weird to be honest.