Blog | Franchise Grade Team (15) | FranchiseGrade.com, Inc.

Don’t Get Stuck in Reverse!

December 18, 2014

It's hard to hit a target facing the wrong direction.

What’s the Right Royalty Rate?

December 15, 2014

Most franchisees pay franchisors a royalty, typically set as a fraction of the franchisee’s gross sales, in return for using the franchisor’s brand name and business format in the operation of their businesses. This royalty rate varies substantially, even across franchisors in the same industry. So how do franchisors decide what royalty rate to charge?

How to Inspire Loyalty and Boost Your Staff Retention (Part 1)

December 12, 2014

A business succeeds or fails because of the people involved.

Maybe You Shouldn't Buy a Franchise

December 10, 2014

In 1977, the senior execs at 20th Century Fox made an astonishingly bad decision. They signed over all merchandising rights for all Star Wars films to George Lucas in exchange for a $20,000 cut in Lucas’ studio paycheck. The combined revenue from Star Wars merchandising is estimated to have now exceeded three billion dollars, and continues to grow annually.

What Drives Your Desire?

December 5, 2014

When was the last time you were obsessed with something?

The Power of First Impressions

December 3, 2014

First impressions are lasting. Frontline hourly employees are not. Before they’ve been on the job just six months, over 50 percent are gone. Some were probably not a good fit for the job in the first place, but some productive, dependable, hard-to-replace employees bolt too.

The Right Industries for Franchising

December 1, 2014

The franchising business model works better in some industries than in others. That’s why more than half of all franchisors are concentrated in just ten industries. Would-be franchisees would do well to consider the fit of the franchising business model to the industry they are thinking of entering when deciding whether or not to buy into a system.

Knowing Your Break-even Point

November 24, 2014

One of the biggest mistakes entrepreneurs make is not knowing the amount of sales required to break-even. This is especially true with start-up business. So very often start-ups and in a lot of cases, established businesses, take on too much overhead too soon in anticipation of future sales. Before taking on more overhead costs, you must determine your sales break-even point.

Franchisee Support and Assistance

November 21, 2014

Franchisors often need to offer support to their franchisees. After all, the business model depends on providing industry novices with enough training and assistance to run their own businesses successfully. This post looks at four types of support and assistance that franchisors often offer to their franchisees to enhance their success: training, ongoing support services, real estate assistance, and financing. When deciding on the amount and kind of franchisee support to offer, franchisors must balance the need make their systems attractive to prospective buyers against attracting the wrong people to their systems.

Defeating the De-Motivator, When seeds of doubt creep into consciousness!

November 20, 2014

The sweet strains of a Puccini aria cut through the Saturday night clatter of the busy Italian restaurant in New York City, but it wasn’t coming from the aging voice of the Sicilian baritone who was hired to belt out favorites like Funiculi-Funicula. It was a soprano whose crystal clear voice filled the room. Within moments all the ambient noise came to a halt. Diners stopped eating and talking, busboys stopped clearing tables, the cooks even came out of the kitchen.