“Help! I’m Confused!”
When researching how to franchise your business, you may come across so many ways it quickly gets confusing. Not to mention, you have franchise sales brokers calling themselves “consultants” now, trying to offer franchise development services…Beware! (Check out this ARTICLE to read more on that.) After the smoke clears, there are really only two choices: Franchise Developers (like The Franchise Maker) or Franchise Attorneys.
So Is There A Difference? Let’s compare:
First of all, you will need a Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) which is a set of required documents you must have prepared before you can legally offer or sell franchises. In order to create your FDD, it is very common that the franchise attorney will simply hand you a 50+ page packet for you to fill out, asking YOU to detail everything that you want covered in your FDD. Even though you would be paying this firm a premium, their job is more about correctly formulating the legal language of the document, and less about providing guidance and insight into the structure of your franchise system that is defined in the FDD.
Furthermore, an attorney is UNLIKELY to be of much help with the basics, such as: studying other like-and-kind franchise models, using a comparison to determine your franchising fees, how to define your franchise territory, franchise terms, etc. and more than likely, they will work off a template.
The Franchise Maker crafts your FDD and the process is a joint effort. Every step of the way, there are two-way conversations about your business and how to best position your model in the franchise industry. The Franchise Maker will provide research and analysis on similar franchise models to help better structure and define your franchise model. And if you don’t know what franchise fees or royalties to charge, no worries The Franchise Maker will provide that knowledge and insight.
Let’s Talk Money
When franchising, the services of an attorney are definitely required. Actually you will need different attorneys, like a transaction attorney, a trademark attorney, and other professionals, who specialize in various fields. It is NOT just one attorney for everything. And working with attorneys typically means paying an hourly rate.
The Franchise Maker has all of these attorneys and professionals, and everyone works at FLAT FEES. No need to worry about execssive attorney fees or being surprised when you get an invoice from an attorney, The Franchise Maker quarterbacks the entire process, keeping everyone on task, on time and on budget.
You need to get straight answers, that’s number one! There should be NO SMOKE & MIRRORS, just solid information for you to make the right decision. Not sure what to ask attorneys that you may be talking to about franchising? For a full list of questions that will help you determine who they are and exactly what they offer, Contact Us.
