A franchise contract template serves a valuable function of moving you into the document preparation phase and the rest is up to you.
July 5, 2011 by Fran
Filed under Franchise Articles
The franchise contract template is sometimes referred to as a franchise kit. The preparation of franchise contracts and documents is often one of the baffling phases that you must get through when franchising your company. But get through it you must to get to the fun part which is recruiting new franchise owners, getting them up and running and, of course, collecting those fat franchise fees.
Three questions often come up when a business is faced with putting together their franchise documents. Should you use a franchise contract template? Should you prepare the contract documents yourself? Should you have franchise lawyers involved in the process as well. The answer to all three questions is, yes. Each of these elements has a roll to play in preparing your important franchise documents. But none of them are sufficient as the only way to accomplish the goal of having an arsenal of franchise contracts ready to roll out to your prospective franchise owners.
There are some that claim that a franchise contract template should not be part of the process because it is not specific to your business or even to your specific area of business. It is true that franchise agreements and the other contracts will be very unique depending on your line of business. A franchise disclosure document for a dry cleaning company will be drastically different than the same document for a grocery store franchise chain.
Nonetheless, you could use the exact same franchise contract template for both of these industry specific franchise efforts. That is because the franchise contract template is not the end of the process, it is the beginning. If you use the franchise contract template to give you a general structure that you then take and customize and make your own, then you are using the tool correctly. If that same franchise contract template gets you off of your hands and overcomes that “stalled out” place many people hit when they try to create franchise documents, then that franchise contract template is doing you a tremendous service and that is how it fits in the cycle of developing a new franchise campaign.
The franchise agreement is a legally binding document so let there be lawyers.
The franchise contract template is no substitute for your involvement in creating those franchise documents. It is your business and how well those franchises run reflect on your good name and affect how quick the franchising boom will cause your bank account to overflow. Neither the franchise contract template nor the lawyers who help you will write any of the franchise contract or operations manual documents. You simply are going to have to roll up your sleeves and do it yourself or it will never get done right.
But you also should not think about saving a few bucks and leaving the lawyers out of the process. When that franchise agreement is signed, it is a legally binding document. Franchise law is nothing to sneeze at so be sure you have a crack team of franchise lawyers that understand franchise law inside and out and who understand every nook and cranny of your business and market as well.
Letting the lawyers give their final blessing on the franchise documents is the last step after you start with a franchise contract template and after you do all the hard work of writing those documents yourself. But when everybody does their job well, you will have a vault full of outstanding franchise contract documents you will be proud of and that will support your attack on the franchising world in grand style.
Using a format of a franchise agreement sample is smart because you have so much of the hard work done for you.
June 20, 2011 by Fran
Filed under Franchise Articles
A big step in starting your franchise business is preparing the documents which is why the format of a franchise agreement can be such a huge help to you. The franchise agreement is one of the most important steps that will happen to take the franchisee and franchisor from two parties negotiating to the partner stage in lighting speed.
The franchisee is the party that gets things rolling. That gives you the high ground but it also puts a big pile of responsibility to get it right on your shoulders. When that potential investor in buying one of your hot franchisees starts to you about taking that plunge, they may or may not have a clue of what is about to happen. Rock solid franchise documents can serve as spring training for your franchisors.
The franchise documents serve to nail down the huge number of details of how the franchise will work. They also serve as an education to everybody in the game how it all is supposed to work. That is where a format of a franchise example becomes are real miracle document to bail everybody out if they need that help.
Using a good sample of the format of a franchise agreement can keep you legal.
The franchise agreement is the legal document to end all legal documents when it comes to the universe of franchising. It is the marriage license of franchising because once you and your franchisor sign it and set it in stone, the franchise relationship is underway. That is why starting with a format of a franchise agreement is smart because you can find a template that will incorporate every subject area required by franchise law so you know you are dotting every i and crossing every t to make this important document picture perfect.
Nothing can put a cloud over the honeymoon period of a new franchise than a dispute over a mistake in the franchise documents. Using a format of a franchise agreement to start out will cut the possibility of potential mistakes like nobody’s business. A good template helps this crucial document spell out in bold letters the financial relationship as well as who does what and when. The result is that the risks of failure will plummet and the potential of huge success and very happy and prosperous franchise partners goes through the roof as well. That makes taking the time to review a rock solid format of a franchise agreement one of the most savvy business moves you will make this year.