SUNBELT's FREE Franchise Services

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SUNBELT Business Brokers has partnered with premier Franchise organizations to offer prospective buyers the ultimate in opportunity.

SUNBELT's Franchise personnel are committed to provide buyers a no-cost personal consultation to determine if opening a new franchise is the right decision for you and your career path.

FRANCHISE INFORMATION
The ABC's of Franchising
Our Program
Types of Franchise Agreements
The Buying Process


The ABC's of Franchising

According to The International Franchise Association (IFA):

Total U.S. franchise sales in 2000 were over $1 trillion.

Nearly 50% of all domestic retail sales were from franchise businesses.

U.S. franchisors are doing business in over 70 industries.

1 in 12 U.S. business establishments is a franchise.

A new franchise opens every 8 minutes of every business day.

There are approximately 3,300 Franchisors and over 500,000 franchise units.

The total number of people employed by franchising is 8 million, with 8 to 14 employed per business.

Franchised businesses create more than 170,000 new jobs each year.

Franchising is the backbone of the U.S. economy.

According to the U.S. Commerce Department, fewer than 5% of Franchises were terminated on an annual basis.

In a study by Arthur Anderson & Company of 366 franchise companies, nearly 97% were still in business after 5 years.

In contrast, a study by the U.S. Small Business Administration revealed that 62.2% of all new businesses FAILED within their first 6 years of business.

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Our Program

At SUNBELT, we believe in and know about franchising because all of our offices are owned by franchisees. In fact, SUNBELT is the number one rated and largest Business Brokerage franchise company in the world (we are consistently ranked #1 by Entrepreneur magazine in our category).

Last year, SUNBELT acted as the intermediary in business sales totaling over a billion dollars. With thousands of business buyers walking through our doors, we discovered that nearly 90% of qualified buyers were looking for a business with the same characteristics - different kinds of businesses but the same characteristics. They were looking for a business that could be bank-financed, and that offered on-going marketing, training and support for the life of the business. Are you looking for a business with these characteristics? If so, you are looking for a franchise.

As the largest business brokerage firm in the world, SUNBELT is regularly contacted by franchisors looking to expand their concept. Hundreds of these franchisors have come to us because of our national presence and our ability to bring qualified buyers to the table. Consequently, we are constantly pre-screening franchises to determine whether they meet our high standards of excellence, integrity, and quality. As a result, we are able to present you with the top franchise opportunities currently on the market.

Our ultimate goal is to help you find an opportunity that will be good for you and your family. We provide you with guidance throughout this process, but you never pay us for any of our work, before or after the purchase of a franchise. Our income is earned by commissions paid by the franchisors for referring qualified and educated buyers to them.
Our number one goal in the franchise evaluation process is to help you find an opportunity that will be good for you and your family. Of course, franchising is not for everyone. If at any point in the franchise evaluation process you believe a franchise is not in your best interests, you are under no obligation to continue the process.
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Types of Franchise Agreements

Before you consider what kind of franchise to investigate, it is extremely helpful to find the right entry level of franchising. Franchises are usually classified into four different categories or levels. Choosing the right level of franchising for personal and professional satisfaction is almost as important as choosing the right franchise.

Single-unit Franchises
A single-unit franchisee has the right to operate one franchise unit. Most franchisees enter the world of franchising by owning one unit. It is an excellent way to gain an understanding of the franchise system before considering additional units.

Territory: The single-unit franchisee may have a small radius of exclusive territory to operate within. If it is a retail store, it may be a two or three mile radius around the store. If it is a home-based business, it may be a few specific zip codes.

Level of participation: The single-unit franchisee is very involved with almost all operations. Because of this level of involvement, these franchisees are also known as owner-operators.

Multi-unit Franchises
The franchisee acquires more than one unit of the franchise usually at reduced initial franchise fees. A good sign of the health of a franchise organization is that many of the franchisees are multi-unit owners.

Territory: There is usually no exclusive territory where the franchises must be opened. The franchisee may have one unit in one part of town with a surrounding radius of exclusivity and another unit in another part of town 15 miles away or even in another county with its exclusive radius of operation.

Level of participation: The franchisee is less involved with each unit's operations but is managing multiple operations and will need to have some level of supervision in each unit. The franchisee acts as a general manager. If many units are opened, a general manager and additional administrative and training staff may be needed.

Area Development Franchises
This license usually grants the franchisee the right to open a certain number of franchises in a given area. There is usually a production schedule where the area development franchisee must open a certain number of franchises during a certain period. As long as the area development franchisee stays on track in opening franchises in the area, he/she has an exclusive area where no other franchisees are allowed to open a franchise. Area development franchisees also typically pay reduced franchise and royalty fees.

Territory: The area development franchisee maintains an exclusive geographic territory as long as the opening schedule is maintained. The territories range from a small city to parts or all of a larger city.

Level of participation: The area development franchisee will be very involved in the opening of the first store to ensure its success. Another important function will be to look for qualified real estate to open the next few locations. Once several locations are open, the area development franchisee will need assistance to manage the units.

Master Franchises
Sometimes called a regional developer, a master franchisee has all the rights of an area developer and usually assumes a larger area. The main difference is that the master franchisee, in addition to opening franchises at reduced franchise and royalty fees, can also sell unit franchises, multi-unit franchises and area development franchises, and profit from those sales. The master franchisee usually receives a part of the ongoing royalties paid by each franchisee. There may be additional income available from distribution of products through the franchisees in the area and possibly some real estate interests in franchisee locations. The master franchisee will usually operate at least one unit for income generation, for use in franchise sales, and for use as a training facility. Master franchises are rare, and when they are available, they are usually sold quickly. Because of the multiple revenue streams associated with a master franchise, the potential return on investment is substantial.

Territory: Usually is a large metropolitan area, an entire state, or even several states or country. It is an exclusive area and will remain exclusive as long as the master franchisee meets the development schedule of franchises in the territory.

Level of participation: The master franchisee will usually open at least one unit and use a manager to manage it while selling other "sub-franchises" and helping them to operate properly. Very rarely is a master franchisee "hands on" in a unit franchise. They generally spend more of their time operating as a business consultant or coach to their franchisees to help them become successful.

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The Buying Process

Once you have expressed your interest to us in exploring franchise opportunities, the franchise evaluation process involves the following four major steps:

1. We will contact you to arrange a meeting, to discuss your goals and desires and to get more detailed information about you and your background with respect to business ownership. This is accomplished through a series of questions and answers during a thorough discussion.

2. We will use the information gathered to develop a model for you that will be used in evaluating franchises. This customized model will contain the elements you feel are important in a business. The model will be used to identify opportunities that meet your requirements.

3. We will present several franchise opportunities to you that match your model. We will then meet with you to discuss these opportunities and find out if you would like to research any of them further. We will introduce you to the franchise companies that you have expressed interest in so that you can begin to learn more about them in greater detail.

You will conduct a complete and thorough investigation of any franchise opportunity that you feel may be right for you. Though we cannot do your research for you, we will assist and guide you throughout this process. If you decide to buy a franchise, we can help you locate financing sources, franchise attorneys, CPAs and other resources you may need.
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