When setting up a franchise, you will have to show investors that you know what you are doing and where you are going. One of the best pieces of franchise advice you can be given is how to handle a business plan. A clear and confident business plan should successfully communicate your business ideas, and inspire confidence in you and your franchise.
Like a student writing a dissertation, your business plan isn’t going to be any good if you leave it until the night before to throw it together. They’ll be kicked out of the university and you’ll be kicked out of the bank manager’s office. We’re here to give you franchise advice, so remember; putting together a business plan should be the work of weeks of careful planning, research and thought. In some cases, it might even take months. You can’t over invest.
Turn the idea around in your head. Some of your best breakthroughs might come during the idle contemplation of the morning commute. Consider all the problems that might come your company's way and how you are going to deal with them. You can’t stop lorry drivers blockading the fuel refineries again, but you can certainly work out how your meal delivery business will continue working if they do. If you’re planning to set up a franchise and you’re seeking franchise advice, then you obviously care about your new business and so you’ll be thinking about it a lot anyway. Just make sure to harness that idle contemplation and get your ideas down on paper.
In amongst all of this careful thought about business opportunities and contingency plans, remember that the first thing bankers and investors will be looking at is you. No one is more likely to make your enterprise a soaring success or a snivelling disaster. You can have the most carefully laid out business plan in the world, but if you don’t inspire confidence then it won’t count a jot. Treat it like any other job interview. Run through all the potential questions that might arise and formulate answers. Even if those exact questions don’t come up, it’s great franchise advice because it will do wonders for your confidence. Prepare your CV, highlighting your key strengths in relation to your business proposal. This can be a deal simpler if you are a franchisee as the franchisor may provide training and support. This will help to reassure investors but it’s not something you should rely on. You still have to inspire them with the confidence that you are someone who can take on that training, understand it and fully exploit the knowledge you gain.
If you or your management team lack a particular skill set, detail how you intend to remedy the problem, e.g. getting a financial advisor in to handle the company’s accounts if you lack sufficient experience.
Do your market research and listen to it. We’ve all seen those episodes of “The Apprentice” where contestants conduct focus group research of their product and then completely ignore it. Don’t fall into the same trap. Your clients know more about what they want than you do. You have to show potential investors that the market for your product or service exists. Where possible, directly quote the feedback you receive from your research. Your banker may not believe you when you say Harry, Dick and Jane want a new fast food outlet, but he’ll believe Harry, Dick and Jane when they say it.
Without a business plan there is no business. All the franchise advice I can give you depends on your being able to follow it and see it through. Put yourself in the place of your investors, and ask and answer all the questions they will ask. You’re the first investor you need to convince.
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