Franchising is the
most popular system for growing a business in the United States today.
According to every government survey, franchising has experienced explosive growth
since the mid-70s and is expected to be the leading method of doing business in
the new century.
In the United
States, there are over 2,500 franchise systems. These systems have in excess of
534,000 franchise units, which represent 3.2% of the total businesses. This
3.2% of all businesses controls over 35% of all retail and service revenue in
the U.S. economy.
Franchising's
advantages over going into business for yourself include; opening quicker,
experiencing success sooner, developing a customer base faster, having less
risk and being more profitable.
Your success as a
franchisee is based on the proven success of the franchisor to operate company
units and upon the success of existing franchisees.
A company
franchises because it wants to quickly and in great numbers replicate its
successful company operations without significantly increasing its debt.
Because it has been successful at teaching its own employees to operate the
business, the company believes it can repeat the same success by teaching
others to do it.
In franchising,
the operating system becomes identified with the brand or trade name that you
license as a franchisee. Each franchise system uses precise methods to service
and satisfy the customer. By documenting these practices, the franchisor
institutionalizes the buying experience. Because customers don't like surprises
this consistency in operations, unit to unit, builds customer loyalty to the
brand.
Franchising is
successful because we Americans are people of habit and are brand-driven when
we purchase goods and services. We trust brands that we see everywhere, every
day. We tend to be loyal to a product or service delivered to us the same way
all the time.
By: Bob Gappa
Reference: Franchising.com