Our Services

FEASIBILITY / ASSESSMENT
We specialize in the design of CUSTOM expansion programs for both new and existing franchise companies. (eliminate paragraph break)
Our services are the core architecture for the expansion programs of hundreds of worldwide organizations.
Our services are customized for each client for the following reasons:

  1. Every company is very different from the other.
  2. Every company develops its own unique "culture"
  3. Every company develops its own unique operating "style"
  4. Franchising requires its own different set of "rules"

Franchising is a totally different business than the "core" business which is going to be franchised. A separate company may even be necessary or desirable to accommodate franchising. Successful franchising requires that the "core" business be:

  • Defined
  • Refined
  • Disciplined
  • Documented
  • Computerized
  • Electronic
 

Our services, much like those of an architect, are designed and implemented from the bottom up and not the top down.

Our philosophy is very simple . . .

"Without a strong foundation, a franchise program will not stand."

Our FRANCHISE ARCHITECTS process is the only franchise consulting program that successfully integrates all of the necessary aspects for successful franchising.

Franchising may not be the best expansion model for every type of business. Franchise Architects also has extensive experience in helping businesses expand through other forms of Indirect channels of Distribution such as dealerships, distributorships, partnerships, joint ventures and licensing programs.

The first step is an on-site Feasibility Assessment.

We will spend time with you reviewing your business and identifying the critical areas that will cause success or failure. Please call us to learn more about this initial step.

Without an on-site visit there isn’t anyone who can advise you as to whether you or your business is ready to grow through an Indirect Channel of Distribution, such as franchising.

     
PHASEONE – Action Plan for Growth

Once the decision to expand a business is made, the first step of the actual development process begins.
The focus of PHASEONE is on creating an “Action Plan” and "pouring" the foundation for the entire development and implementation process.

We begin by using the information collected during our initial assessment and project into the future.
The strategic planning process becomes "THE FOUNDATION" for our "FRANCHISE ARCHITECTURE" process.

High Performer Profile – it is in this initial stage that we will create a High Performer Profile for you based on the science of Franchise Navigator. We have developed profiles for well over 120 different franchise and business

opportunities in virtually every industry. Your inbound candidates will be compared to this profile to ensure they have the “right stuff” to execute your business and perform at the level of the highest performing franchisees or owners. Please view www.franchisenavigator.com for further information on how Franchise Navigator works.

Accordingly, this is the most important aspect of the entire franchise development process.
Once the foundation is in place--and everyone involved thoroughly understands the key operating challenges and opportunities ahead--we proceed to designing the "STRUCTURE AND TOOLS" necessary to support your company's franchising system. Without this foundation, an expansion program will be constructed upon a weak foundation and is subject to potentially costly mistakes.

This PHASE is the first and most important part of the entire franchise development process. It is the creation of the "blueprint" or the Franchise Action Plan.

This "blueprint" serves various functions. One of the most important is the fact that it creates the "path" that all of the various consultants and specialists will follow who work on the development project.

This includes the lawyers.

Another very important function of this process and a significant result is the the document we produce becomes an Operations Manual for the franchisor on how to be a successful franchisor.

The sorry fact is is that there are so many franchise companies who clearly have never been advised on how to be a franchisor.

PHASETWO – Create Tools and Structure

Once the THE FOUNDATION is in place we can focus on the structure and tools necessary to ensure stability and consistency in your franchise expansion program.
Our operations consulting professionals will assist you in developing and/or refining formats and documents to ensure that all franchisees manage their business properly, according to standard, uniform and consistent operational procedures.

With standardized and consistent procedures, you are assured that each of your franchises will operate their business with the same high level of quality that you have established.
The operational formats become essential elements of Standard Operational Controls and Manual(s).

Our specialists will develop and/or refine:

  • Operational Manual(s)
  • Pre-opening Procedures
  • Grand Opening Procedures
  • Field Support Manuals
  • Real Estate and Site-Selection Manuals
  • Internal Financial Control Systems

During this PHASE, we will be coordinating the work of many of our experienced professionals.

Our team will implement an efficient internal financial system to effectively monitor and reduce costs, manage cash flow, create and analyze budgets and control inventory. In each one of these important areas, experienced professionals who will design the right system for your business, one that provides timely information for sound and efficient decision making.

Using innovative and well tested methods to improve white-collar productivity, our professionals will ensure that your people have the tools and procedures they need to work efficiently. Also beneficial are the services of our professionals who help companies recover from financial distress. They can identify areas where potential financial problems might occur-and recommend ways to ensure they don't.

PHASETHREE – Organizational Development – How To Be A Franchisor

How successful an organization is at achieving its goals depends, to a significant extent, on how well it is designed, structured and staffed. Franchise companies today must be deliver high-quality products and services, and respond quickly to organizational crises as the result of expansion.

Effectively responding to new developments in the company's market and the ability to master innovations in technology are also imperative to remain competitive.

To do this requires flexibility, speed and innovation--all the advantages that a professionally managed business environment offers. Many entrepreneurs quickly discover that their organization must be structured differently and possess talented professionals in order to expand properly. In fact, the franchise expansion program is a new business operating concurrently with the core business.

Therefore the way in which the growth program is structured requires careful consideration. As a business grows, it risks losing its competitive edge because excess management layers, departments with overlapping functions and overly formalize procedures often result in large, bureaucratic organizations.
In this phase, using our own, innovative, "Franchisor Life-Cycle"TM model for successful growth, we will assist your company in making the transition to an expansion organization by developing the right structure--a structure that can accommodate growth and provide the professional skills in each of the vital areas to effectively support the franchisees. Specifically, we will develop detailed organizational charts and diagrams at various stages of growth, job descriptions and profiles of the key executives needed to perform day-to-day functions.

Our professionals know franchising and how to create an efficient proactive organization. Based on the initial assessment and goals from the strategic planning PHASE, we will design an organizational structure to promote productivity and quality, and ensure a steady stream of innovative and professional services to your franchisees.

In order to expand successfully through franchising it is imperative that the company be properly designed, structured and staffed. This PHASE, conducted by organizational designs specialists who understand franchising, involves the creation of the organizational charts, job descriptions and profiles of the key executives involved in the franchising process.

Because, as we previously stated, "franchising is all about people doing business with people," it is also essential the right organizational ‘ culture’ exists in order for franchising to be successful.

We have spent considerable efforts researching and developing tools for implementing the appropriate ‘ culture’ to conduct a franchise expansion program.

PHASEFOUR – Training and Education Programs

At the heart of every successful organization are effective training and education programs. Your distribution system participants, employees and professional staff all must possess skills needed for outstanding performance.
As leaders in education and instructional design, we apply our resources to establish practical and effective training programs for you, the franchisor, your franchisees, as well as your franchise sales team.
Our training professionals employ proven techniques based on an in-depth understanding of your business and plans for expansion. Your training and education occurs in two stages:

  • Training Design and,
  • Training Implementation.

Training Design begins by identifying and documenting the skills your employees and franchisees need to succeed. We create a precise "BLUEPRINT" for each course to be developed. Course specifications serve to guide our educational advisers as they develop the entire training program. Course content and activities are carefully designed to meet all training objectives to actually transfer the new skills to the job.

In the Training Implementation stage, we focus on building effective courses from the blueprint created during the design stage, which involves writing, thoroughly testing and implementing training materials. We will recommend logistics and procedures so that your company can assume control of the training program, and successfully maintain this important function. Many of these training programs can become online, on-demand.

We firmly believe that the time invested in developing the skills and talents of all your employees and franchisees is crucial to your success. Our objective is to help you attract and retain highly motivated and qualified personnel and franchisees who will excel and become one of your chief competitive advantages.

PHASEFIVE – Franchise Recruitment Design

In this phase, the Franchise Architects team of marketing, graphic design, advertising, sales and financial professionals help your expansion policies, formats and support services come to life.
A well-designed, “profile-based” franchise recruitment and marketing plan is vital for success. This PHASE brings together all of the elements of your value proposition into a cohesive and “Profile-based” growth strategy.
Our marketing professionals will develop and help implement the following:
We will develop all the sales and promotional materials your organization needs to reach your target market, including:

FRANCHISE SALES BROCHURES:
Dynamic, informative and graphically appealing brochures are produced by writers and designers to stimulate interest in your company and franchise and help create the right image. Please view www.portfolio.franchisenavigator.com to see many of the “profile-based” franchise recruitment materials we have created for our clients.

FRANCHISE SALES PRESENTATIONS:
Effective sales presentations designed to attract your High Performer Profile are critical to success. Using a variety of marketing aids, including audio-visual presentations, we will help you organize and produce presentations that are professional, informative and focused on your market.
Some of our clients have been successful using carefully positioned newspaper and magazine advertisements, while others have used public relations programs, direct mail, trade shows, business opportunity shows and television.
Used in conjunction with electronic eBrochures and other marketing materials, video productions are one of the most cost-effective means of reaching your market and creating the right conditions for sales.

Our production team offers top quality presentations at competitive rates. More and more organizations from all industries are using our videotape productions for corporate communications and training programs with impressive results.
We will your recruitment materials on the High Performer Profile we created in PHASEONE.

This gives Franchise Architects clients a distinct competitive edge over the other franchise companies which have never made this distinction.

It is also at this point the legal documents can be created as we have developed the entire process which is then memorialized in the legal documentation.

PHASESIX – Franchise Launch

The first five phases of the development program are designed to assist in structuring your franchise offering. Providing these phases are carefully completed, you are now in a position to begin soliciting prospective franchisees or operators.

WE CREATE DYNAMIC FRANCHISE SALES PROGRAMS
We can assist your company in the selling process in many ways. After we create the sales formats in PHASEONE, Expansion Strategic Planning, our sales professionals help our clients hire and train existing and new personnel, using the commission and compensation structures from the strategic plan.

All of the previous PHASES were concentrating on the preparation of the company and its franchise offering for the marketplace. In this PHASE the company can proceed to the marketplace and begin its expansion program.

If Franchise Architects has been responsible for developing the program you can be assured that the "Foundation" will be secure and that you can avoid costly positioning and marketing errors which many companies experience.

PHASESEVEN – Ongoing Support

This final phase is designed to assist you with the critical transitions of becoming an expansion company. In most cases, the creation and implementation of a competitive growth program will place you in a new service-oriented business, and may even require a totally separate operating entity. This transition must be effective and smooth with lasting results.

If a company expands too quickly, growing pains and operational crisis can jeopardize the organization's unity and the quality of its products or services. Because transitions must be implemented smoothly and with long-term results, we guide our clients through the expansion process at a comfortable yet effective and affordable rate.

We're ready for the challenge...
we hope you are too!

We can't promise your growth program will be easy to implement. In fact, it will be challenging. Each of our phases serves as the essential building blocks for developing a competitive growth program and is tailored to individual client needs for both short-term objectives and long-term strategies.

Our approach also makes this exciting and complex process easier to understand, implement and control. It increases your probability for success.

At every step of the development process, we are prepared and available to provide franchise and business consultation beyond the scope of our assignment.

Our team can help you implement programs, monitor sales and marketing programs and fine-tune your business system long after the formats, manuals, agreements, disclosures and other materials have been developed.
In fact, the average length of time we work with our clients is two years or more.

 


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