| Franchise and Business Services |
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"Where Ideas Converge ... And Businesses Grow"
333 N. Canal Street, Suite 2903 Chicago, IL 60606 Ph: 773.251.0700 contact@rivernorthconsulting.com |
Learn about your growth options with customized consulting services. Each expansion strategy has advantages and disadvantages
for your particular business model and industry.
offers comprehensive
solutions to assist you in
every aspect of your
business allowing you to
launch your franchise
program both in a timely
and economic manner.
The combination of our
staff and business provide
the resources necessary to
simplify your franchising
process. Regardless of
corporate structure, we
are able to tailor your
franchise program to fit
your specific needs.
Interested in an analysis of your opportunities, risks and potential if you choose a particular method of growth? Wondering which distribution or customer channel would benefit you more? We'll help you benchmark revenues and expenses using substitute and comparable products and services. Feasibility analyses are much like business plans with a focus on the potential of your concept. In cases in which concepts do not appear to be feasible, we'll suggest changes to help you fill market gaps. A Franchise Feasibility Study can also be used as a basis for a Franchise Business Plan if the concept fits with franchising.
Standard Business Plans have multiple uses. They can help raise funds. They will focus your attention. They tie your loose ends together. Depending on your needs, we'll create a custom plan for the greatest value.
If you want to attract investors or funders, we'll deliver a plan to help you sell the concept. If you want to anticipate staffing and operational needs, we'll focus on projections. If you want to sell your concept to
shareholders, we'll show them how your unique advantages fill open market spaces.
The Franchise Business Plan is a business plan for emerging franchisors. In addition to projecting operational, staffing and financial
implications of various growth models, they'll help you make decisions needed to create the Franchise Disclosure Document and position your offering with respect to competing franchise companies. Items that are discussed in the
franchise business plan include territory, target franchisee characteristics, earnings claims, franchisee pro formas and much more.
We will engage in a thorough review of your existing business as well as analyze potential
competitors or similar businesses that are currently franchising. This will help us to determine how to structure your franchise program’s fees and payments, exclusivity, startup costs, and vendor requirements. During this stage we
also identify potential revenue streams for you as a franchisor, including franchise fees, royalties, vendor and product rebates, product sourcing, software and other possibilities that may be unique to your industry.
The strength of your marketing program and sales team will drive the success of your business and help you achieve your growth objectives. Therefore, it is important to constantly review both to assess their viability.
Our
assessment will look at the people, systems and strategies in your sales organization. We will shed light on potential problems with your hiring criteria, the effectiveness of your sales management efforts, whether your management
team is on the same page, whether your salespeople are capable of executing your strategies, how comfortable your salespeople are with your model for going to market, and business being lost as a result of weaknesses among your
salespeople. In addition, we will identify the salespeople who should be performing better and what you must do in order to help them reach their potential. You'll also learn who is trainable, how much training they'll need
and the kind of help from which each will benefit.
Growing your business is a worthy goal and a necessity for your business’s survival and your economic well-being. What can you do to get your business beyond the bare sustenance level? There are many ways of growing your business that have been successfully used by other businesses and, with some planning and investment, will work for you. Getting more customers and/or clients is just one way of growing your business. And while it's certainly the most obvious, it may not be the best way to grow your business. A different medium and a different business model calls for different growth strategies. Sure, some of the growth strategies that will work for any business will work for you, but what are the best growth strategies for developing your business?
The key to a successful franchise concept is to understand and implement an appropriate sales strategy that will meet your defined growth objectives. One of the most important issues to be addressed is how you will handle franchise
sales. There are many options to explore such as generating and tracking sales leads, implementing the appropriate Contact Management or Customer Relationship Management system, managing the Discovery Day process, and deciding who will
be involved in the sales process. Sales can be handled from within using your own personnel or using outside sales people or sales brokers to manage the sales process. You will also want to determine if your growth strategy
will include single or multi-unit franchise operators.
Our team will help you address all of these issues to help insure your growth strategy is on target and you have the right personnel to implement a successful franchise
program.
Manpower planning is a process by which management ensures that the right number and the right kind of people are at the right place at the right time and are doing the right things (for which they are best suited) for the achievement of
organizational objectives. It is a dynamic process which enables the growth of an organization through the optimized used of its most important asset - its employees. It is a process that defines staffing requirements &
maintains the same through promotions & hiring of fresh talent.
We will review your existing personnel and assess their strengths and weaknesses relative to your business plan and organizational objectives. We will evaluate
how well they are performing the tasks and responsibilities identified in their job descriptions. We will also determine the right number of employees you should have to meet your objectives. We will also analyze your
production and sales budgets, time study and work scheduling.
Think about it. Have you ever left a training program dumbfounded as to why the facilitator actually got paid to deliver such a poor program? Have you ever taken time out of your busy schedule to attend an "intensive" training
program only to find minimal substance? Or worse, have you ever personally developed an excellent pre-approved curriculum only to have the client ultimately say it did not meet their expectations? Are your franchisees making these
comments about their initial and follow-up training programs being provided by you? Your goal is to make your employees or franchisees successful and profitable in the quickest manner possible.
We will work with you
to assess your training goals, success factors (how do we know it works), and franchisee satisfaction with the content. Your training program is intended to allow your franchisees to learn your concept, implement successfully, and
sustain their business in a profitable manner. It is also intended to keep your franchisees in compliance both operationally and contractually.
If your training program needs to be revised we will work with you to analyze where
improvements are needed, design, develop, and implement the new training where required. We will also evaluate the new program’s effectiveness in meeting your objectives.
Once you've prepared for your new venture, you need an Implementation Plan. Using benchmarks of successful companies, we'll help you focus and assign your implementation budget. Topics included are an explanation and analysis of media options and other lead generation activities available to you, marketing materials, how to leverage your uniquenesses to motivate prospects to buy, the sales process and more.
SBA’s new Franchise Registry is a good example of helping small businesses owners through cooperation between government and industry. The dedicated efforts of SBA employees, franchisees, franchisors, and lenders have led to
streamlined eligibility guidelines and operating procedures that will reduce costs and processing time and help SBA serve its customers better.
The Registry lists names of franchise companies whose franchisees enjoy the benefits
of a streamlined review process for SBA loan applications. Loan applications for registered franchisors can be reviewed and processed quickly and efficiently. Small business owners get better service and quicker loans. An advantage to
quicker loans is the franchisees will be able to open their businesses sooner and, therefore, generate a royalty stream more quickly to you. Another advantage to the Registry is it gives your concept more credibility during the
sales process due to being pre-approved by the SBA.
The Franchise Registry will help SBA and its participating lenders make consistent eligibility decisions, speed access to SBA financial assistance, streamline processing and
recognize industry-specific factors during the loan review process. The Registry enables lenders and SBA local offices to verify a franchise system’s lending eligibility through the Internet. This reduces red tape, time and costs
for all concerned.
Our team is available to assist you applying for and managing the Franchise Registry process.