​services for established franchisors

Practice is important for everyone, especially ​in the business of franchising. There are many moving parts to running and maintaining a franchise​, which is why at MSA we employ a diverse set of disciplines including branding, retailing, operations, sales, marketing, training, and finance.

Serving Franchising for over Twenty-Five Years

MSA-Worldwide-GFA-Award-2023-2022-vt.pngMSA Worldwide has served franchising as a franchising consultant for over 25 years. During this time we’ve helped hundreds of clients expand their businesses, craft leading-edge strategies to increase productivity, resolve conflict, and implement change. As franchising consultants, we ​bring a diverse set of disciplines including branding, retailing, operations, sales, marketing, training, and finance.

Clients appreciate our franchising advice because it makes sense and is practical, effective – and can readily be implemented by the franchisor’s staff.

Our goal is to ensure that our clients have the systems, structures, and resources to grow and effectively manage their franchise system. Services we provide to established franchisors include:

   

Franchise Program Development

Because each franchising opportunity is different, MSA takes the time necessary to ​construct a franchise development program that truly uncovers the success factors for an organization’s business.

As a trusted franchise consultant, part of our examination looks at whether your business is suitable for franchise development, or ​whether another method of expansion ​is more appropriate. If franchise development is appropriate, then we’ll work with your management team to develop a strategic plan that will serve as a road map for franchise development.

Some crucial areas in our strategic planning process include:
  • Franchise development opportunity and value proposition
  • Franchisee profile and classes
  • Territory and real estate requirements
  • Operational structure and support
  • Brand position and marketing strategy
  • Franchise development expansion strategy
  • Upfront investment and fee structure
  • Gap analysis based on real-world examples
  • Financial modeling and assumptions

Don’t wait. Get the upfront expertise you need to for program development.

Franchise Information Packaging

MSA is keenly aware of industry trends and best practices that make a franchised package offering more marketable. Whether your franchising program is just being developed or has been established for 10 years, MSA can ensure its terms are relevant and competitive in today’s market and that achieve franchising success.

By thinking about your franchise information offering differently, you will see how simple changes to your fee structure, franchising relations policies, franchisee obligations, and franchisee classes can have a dramatic impact on your franchising recruitment process and closing ratios. Best of all, we’ll work with your staff and attorney to implement the franchise information changes that we propose.

Moreover, you will be able to monitor, refine and measure the impact of your franchise information to ensure its maximum effectiveness.

Franchisee Recruitment Strategies

With fewer qualified candidates for franchisee recruitment and more franchising businesses competing for their investment, well-developed franchisee recruitment strategies are more important than ever.

MSA has the experience to design and execute franchising growth strategies for domestic or international expansion. We develop comprehensive franchisee recruitment strategies – or assess and recommend improvements for specific areas of an existing process.

Pulling together the right combination of elements to promote your franchising business requires an approach and execution that should be as unique as the concept itself. Work with us to develop the right franchisee recruitment strategies for your organization. Our services include:

  • Defining value proposition
  • Identifying franchising business profile and class
  • Reviewing and developing process steps and materials
  • Developing lead generation strategies
  • Establishing tracking and reporting methods
  • Creating a Decision Day presentation
  • Developing infrastructure and training staff

System Audits for Franchise Development

The evaluation of a franchisor’s operations system is an invaluable service that MSA provides. We help franchisors assess the company’s bench strength, its anticipated growth, available resources, and various programs of franchise support – and how they will impact franchise development in the future.
 

MSA’s franchise development consultants guide franchisors with staffing plans that expand the infrastructure at a pace slightly ahead of expected growth. Having roles and responsibilities of those who work within a supporting infrastructure evolve in advance of franchise development will ease transition.

MSA also proposes franchise development services that addresses unit location growth challenges while strengthening the franchisor’s position in the market – and their franchise offering. Proposed services may include:

  • Franchise offering and support system
  • Cooperative programs and structures
  • Franchisee reporting requirements
  • Operations manuals and training programs
  • Local marketing programs

Franchise Operations Support

Whether provided in the field or within the home office, operational support is key to promote, reinforce and rejuvenate the standards of your brand. Each member of our franchise consultant team possesses an unrivaled depth of knowledge for developing training and operations programs that can provide immediate benefit to your home office and field operations teams. Our services include:

  • Systems support and operations management
  • Headquarters and field support methods to improve effectiveness and profitability
  • Franchisee opening support programs
  • Market introduction and grand opening programs
  • System advertising guidelines and bylaws
  • Cooperative programs and structures
  • Establishing franchisee reporting requirements
  • Situation audits of franchised operations
  • Best practices review
  • Site visits and customer surveys
  • Field staff support evaluation

Mutual Respect Leads to Good Franchisor-Franchisee Relations

The foundation of any successful franchisor-franchisee relationship begins with a spirit of mutual trust and respect. To achieve this, a franchisor must be diligent about creating a culture of exchange and open communication that reinforces their commitment to a long-term relationship and to meeting the personal, financial and professional goals of both franchisor and franchisee.

MSA assists franchisors in establishing programs that project a consistent message to their franchise community, while tapping into the passions and business savvy of their franchisees through the formation of advisory committees and programs of recognition.

Some methods to establish and improve franchisor-franchisee relations are:
  • Franchisee Advisory Council structure and implementation
  • Communications programs
  • Franchisee incentive and motivations programs
  • Operations and other manuals and training programs designed to protect the brand, either in print, web-based, or electronically
  • Intranet and social media programs

Franchise Help: Litigation Support

When your business faces the likelihood of litigation, lining up an expert witness on your behalf can make the difference of winning or losing important decisions. MSA’s Managing Director Michael Seid has a record of achievement that passes the toughest scrutiny and has allowed him to offer franchise help as a qualified expert in federal and state courts – and arbitration. He and other members of MSA provide help to clients by testifying for both franchisors and franchisees in cases involving:
  • Franchisor-franchisee relationship
  • Vicarious liability
  • Business structure of franchising
  • Standards of practice and performance
  • Roles, responsibilities, and obligations of franchisors and franchisees
  • International franchising
  • Damages

By authoring numerous published articles, serving as lecturer and contributing writer for ABA Franchise Forum and the IFA's Legal Forums, as well as being a frequent conference speaker for the International Franchise Association, universities, law schools, and retail organizations, MSA is an excellent choice for franchise help in the form of litigation support.

Do you have questions about improving the performance of your franchise system?

MSA can help ensure you have the systems, structures, and resources to grow and effectively manage your franchise system.

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