Whether you’re an experienced franchisee or on the lookout for a first-time franchise opportunity, you should consider a business plan. Creating a business plan will not only help you but it may also be essential in the initial stages of the business. You may be asked for a business plan, for example, in order to get the capital that’s required when you’re launching the enterprise. So they make sense for both charting your potential successes and in the acquisition of start-up cash.
An advantage to acquiring a franchise is that you do not have to reinvent the wheel and feel like you are all alone. Your franchiser will be there to help you every step of the way starting with a business plan for your new opportunity. The success of your new franchise is a two way street because the franchiser also has a vested interest. As for helping you with the business plan, the franchiser is the best person to guide you because there is a lot of information that you would not know at this time. It is important to do the business plan properly if the franchiser is not able to help you in other aspects of the business.
Prioritizing is so much easier with a business plan. It guides you in achieving what is important instead of focusing on what is not. Over time you will notice how a conventional business plan is different from the information that is given to you by the franchiser. New franchises are unique and because of this the franchiser may offer to be there to support you with the other aspects of the plan.
There are a number of features consistent with a franchise business plan:
The abstract is the introduction of your business plan, is shorter than an executive summary and provides key concepts of the business plan. The summary is a description of the company and related details about the business comes next. Overview of the franchise is at this point, where you discuss the franchise. This part of the business plan is put in place of the traditional “industry analysis” section of a conventional business plan.
Competition is everywhere and the challenges you will face in this particular market are discussed in the next section of the business plan. How to manage a marketing plan, attract customers thru advertising and come ahead of your competitors are all covered too.
All businesses need employees to run an organization and, therefore, the busines plan for the franchise has also a management and human resources section. In this section, the different staff and management positions are discussed as well as the qualification of the people required for these positions. The organizational structure is also discussed.
Your financial objectives and projections are another important aspect of the business plan and very necessary as with other conventional plans.
There are also exhibits or appendices which substantiate the information provided in the business plan. Examples are results of a market research or survey. Depending on how exhaustive these exhibits are, they can be part of the overall business plan document or are in separate binder.
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