What most prospective franchisees want to be sure of is that the franchise you are considering is a good opportunity – that everything needed for success exists. Here’s a checklist based on many years of franchise experience.

If you want to know that you’re looking at a solid franchise opportunity, check the following factors carefully:

1. Responsiveness – You want a quick, professional and thorough response to your enquiry and questions about the franchise. It is not a good sign for your future business if responses are slow, incomplete or unprofessional when you enquire.
2. Growth – This is especially important in the current economic climate. Are franchise unit sales growing? How have tough times affected the business? Have new franchises opened in the last year or two? What opportunities are there for your business to grow within the franchise, e.g. start from home, build to a commercial operation or own multiple units?
3. Product/service – The customers need to give rave reviews about the franchise’s products / services – check out client testimonials here. To stand still is to fall behind. Does the franchisor regularly introduce new products or services? How does the range of products or services compare to other franchises in the sector? See how Smart compares
4. Management – Check the franchisor has enough experience as a franchisor and business owner to give you the support you’ll need in a new business. Make sure that you’ll have easy access via email, skype, phone, etc. to management at the franchise office – and that you can work with them. Check out an experienced Management team here.
5. Visits & meetings – You’ll have the best chance of success if the franchisor visits the franchisees on a regular basis and provides improvement suggestions, and has regular meetings to get feedback from franchisees – weekly skype or phone calls, monthly franchise owner conference calls, a regular schedule of visits to your franchise and an annual conference.
6. Comprehensive training – You need to make sure that the franchise training program covers all that you’ll need to successfully operate the franchise. You’ll need operational training to learn how to deliver the product or service, and you’ll also need to learn general things about running a business – marketing, sales, employing staff, payroll, how to manage the business accounts. What software and technology does the franchise use to improve business efficiency and results? Make sure these areas are all covered in training so you are completely prepared to run your new business.
7. Marketing - What does the franchisor do to help generate leads for your business, and what flexibility will you have for local marketing and advertising?
8. The attitude of the existing franchisees – This is the most important indicator. In a good franchise the majority of franchisees are happy with their business, satisfied with the training and support, the marketing, the results they are achieving and the relationship they have with the franchisor. Are there a number of franchisees that have been there for a long time? Check out franchisee feedback.

When you find a franchise that scores well on these indicators, you have indeed probably found a solid franchise. Any other signs you would add to this list?

Over the last six months we have been contacting bookkeepers throughout New Zealand to gauge interest in our office based franchise. Did you know there are more than one thousand bookkeepers working from home?

The feedback we got was that although working from home has a lot of positives, it can be quite isolated. It also seems more difficult to develop and grow a home based business when you’re doing everything including the work, finding new clients, keeping existing clients, developing systems and keeping up with the latest trends and technology.

When we talked with bookkeepers working from home questions were raised about a home based Smart model.

This got us thinking! We already have a proven office franchise with franchises open in Auckland, Hawkes Bay and Christchurch and a growing client base,  so why not consider a home based franchise alongside to support bookkeeping administrators who want to work from home?

We gathered a team of experts and developed the Smart home office franchise.

Now there’s a Smart escalator programme with two ways to enter the Smart franchise system – you can start from a home office, or from a commercial office. You can evolve from home based owner/operator to head of a business empire as you grow.

Click here to find out more

Other articles you may be interested in:

Fewer jobs, more self employment

New Year – a popular time to set up a new business

How to buy a franchise

Will a franchise suit your lifestyle?

Do you love to watch the kids play rugby every Saturday morning? Does your club meet every Thursday evening?  You may well not be able to do that with a retail business.  Do you want a seven day a week business, or your weekends free?

Our franchisees enjoy lifestyle hours

Choose which of the following two options will suit your lifestyle and business aspirations:

As a Smart home office franchise owner you work the hours and days you choose from home. You don’t have to have a retail location and need very few employees, if any.

A Smart commercial office franchise is open during normal business hours, five days a week with weekends off. You can have employees to deliver the services while you manage the business.

Not 24/7. Not retail or mall hours.

All Smart franchises close over the Christmas and New Year period so you can relax and unwind with your friends and family…and prepare for the next year in business.

Other articles that may be of interest:

Finding the right franchise

Smarts escalator programme – from home to commercial office

Hawke’s Bay Today  Tuesday, May 4, 2010

It’s a successful business founded in Havelock North in 2003 and while times are tight for most businesses Smart has actually come into its own as more employers look to outsource business services.

Smart founder and director Adrienne Pierce designed the business to be franchised from the outset and says it’s exciting to build a brand and expand.

Smart saves business owner’s time and money by offering a range of services that are cost effective, confidential and help put the business owner in control. Outsourcing business services is a very cost effective alternative to employing part-time or full-time staff, Adrienne says. Using the services of Smart can cost 50 to 70 per cent less than the cost of employing someone.

However, until recently they have found some small to medium employers a little slow to grasp the concept of outsourcing, probably because there hasn’t been a local option like Smart before.

The Smart concept challenges traditional business methods but younger employers understand it’s a virtual world where you don’t necessarily need to see personnel working in the office, Adrienne says.

Business services is one of the fastest growing areas within the franchising industry with huge potential for expansion, Adrienne says. It offers a great opportunity for those at a crossroads in their careers, or who have been made redundant, to consider a Smart franchise.

When building a franchise system corporate values become more important because people are looking to invest in what you’ve developed and work alongside you for a long time. For this woman that is the exciting part about Smart.

“We love franchising and prospective buyers like the fact we are experienced franchisors,” says Adrienne.”We give them the recipe and it’s a real buzz supporting people to grow in their own businesses.”

Smart franchises are available nationwide and the last one available in Hawke’s Bay is Napier. There are branches in Christchurch and Auckland with several more due to open very soon. Click here to register your interest now

Your choices are simple. You either:

1. Stay where you are.
2. Change careers and start again at the bottom or
3. Become your own boss.

Once it was common to keep the same job from ‘cradle to grave’, but not any more. Most people now change careers several times in their working life. They change because their careers don’t provide them with enough money, control or opportunities – or simply because they want a new challenge. They may be well paid, but never have the opportunity to take ownership. They may be frustrated exceeding for someone else and want greater control over their future.

Managers and Executives remove their suits and open professional office based businesses, provide business services, become café moguls and get remade as mortgage brokers. How do they make the transition? By joining a franchise!

Let’s imagine a person who has been in a management position for some time. They may have sales or marketing experience, have managed a team of people, been responsible for delivering a budget or managing cost centres, and built up considerable business acumen. And they have a burning desire to own their own business rather than run someone else’s. But they don’t want to start from scratch. What can they to do?

Provided they have the finance, would-be business owners could have their own business in just a few months if they buy a Smart franchise and take advantage of the training and support offered.

Smart offers help in important areas like: site selection, premises layout, supplier relationships, initial training, comprehensive operations manuals and systems, customised software, a state of the art server environment, field support, opening assistance, national branding and local marketing tools, on-going support and encouragement. Smart become your business coaches and cheerleaders as you establish your new business.

If you are thinking about a career change, don’t overlook the advantages of letting someone else do much of the work for you. Smart offers you the opportunity to own your own business – or even several businesses with an area development option. Consider it a “shortcut to success.”

If you have sales and management experience you have all the skills you need. Get the rewards for your skills and expertise.

Click here to find out what makes smart a top franchise

Adding phone, reception and general office administration gives you more ways to make money.

“The great thing about Smart is that we don’t just do bookkeeping or call answering or payroll or admin – we do it all. Whereas other outsourcing franchise businesses concentrate upon the financial side, Smart has tapped into the big potential of running every aspect of business administration. That offers huge advantages to franchisees as well as clients.” – Thomas Botha, Franchisee, Havelock North

Whatever our clients need, we can help. Whether they have a bookkeeping backlog, their accounts could do with a tidy up, their payroll needs sorting or they simply need calls answered we have the trained staff ready and willing to help.

If your business in only you – you can only sell your time once, which limits income. With Smart you buy a franchise business, not a job, and leverage uncapped income from your own efforts AND your employees.

Are you an office or accounting guru looking for an opportunity to own your own business doing what you love?

Create the business and the lifestyle you want using Smarts proven system and support you can trust.

There are 100,000 SME businesses in Auckland and they’re enquiring about Smart services.

We need franchises in Auckland to cope with demand. Smart franchises are available in Auckland’s North Shore, West Auckland, Central Auckland, East Auckland and South Auckland – see what regions are available in the Franchise section of our website.