You’ve decided to turn your business into a franchise. After some research into the process you decide to “do it yourself”. You may be able to find or buy a template for the Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD). Seems simple, right? Perhaps it is a fill-in-the-blank style.
Unfortunately, such templates do NOT address all aspects that are unique to your business, your services or products. A template does not offer you any guidance, perform a market study, evaluate other similar businesses already franchising or help you with all the other aspects of franchising. Of course, that’s the challenge with ‘one-size-fits-all’ template documents (see more on the topic of using templates when franchising). In contrast, when you are looking to work with someone to help you to franchise, you will want to be sure that your FDD is put together from scratch, and NOT from a template!
But you’re determined. You somehow manage to put together an FDD and figure out how to submit it in your state. (Good luck with that!) You mail it off and a few weeks later, it comes back ‘DENIED‘ with a bunch of comments. So now what? You’re stuck!
The Attorney
“Alright,” you say, “I’ll hire a franchise attorney to help me.” So you hire an attorney; one you found on the internet. More than likely the attorney will need to rewrite your documents, so the first thing they do is hand you a 50+ page packet to fill out, asking YOU to detail everything that you want covered in your FDD (check out our article on using a franchise attorney to franchise your business). This catches you off guard. It sounds like you are starting over. And you are paying this firm A LOT of money. Why are you filling out a huge packet? Aren’t they supposed to work WITH you to provide guidance and insight into this whole process? Aren’t they the experts? WRONG!
“We are a legal office,” they say. “We don’t provide marketing research, business advice or analysis. You tell us what you want, and we will write it up.” An attorney is UNLIKELY to be of much help with the basics, such as data on other like-and-kind franchise models, how to position your franchising fees aggressively, how to define your franchise territory, etc. That’s where a franchise development company, such as The Franchise Maker, really plays a critical role (find out what to look for when picking a company to franchise your business).
Am I Done Yet?…….Am I Done Yet?…….How About Now?
Finally, your FDD is done and the attorney’s office is ready to submit it. However, there are still a bunch of pieces missing (see a quick list of all the steps required when franchising a business). What about help with trademarking? Who will prepare your audited financials? Where will you learn how to qualify franchisees? What do you need to have ready for new franchisees? Who will create your franchise marketing collateral? How about a website? If you have a facility, who will help it look like a national brand? When do you start advertising? What if you have questions and need a mentor to talk with about your franchise issues as you move forward? The attorney’s office offers an hourly consulting rate, but are they really the best option at this point?
The Entire Solution
The process to franchise is much more than just preparing your Franchise Disclosure Document (read why franchising is about more than a set of documents). There are specific steps to the successful completion of these documents. The Franchise Maker has proven strategies which result in comprehensive documents that not only meet federal requirements, but are easy to read and understand. Beyond these basics, The Franchise Maker brings to the table several relationships that will help you far beyond your initial franchise development.
Think of it as building a house. Yes, you could build your own home. But an experienced general contractor will build it faster, better and with fewer headaches than you could do on your own simply because they know their craft; they know how to lay the right foundation and they make what can be a confusing project, simple. Turning your business into a franchise is exciting and when partnered with the right team, can quickly take your business to the next level.
Save yourself the grief!
If you’re serious about wanting to turn your business into a franchise, then you really need the help of an experienced franchise development company to get it done for you. We have teams of attorneys (such as transactional, patent, trademark and franchise attorneys) waiting to service you (see other professionals on our team). Call us at 1-877-615-5177 or simply send us your contact information for a full overview how to franchise your business and how we make franchising Easy, Fun and Affordable for you.
