Are All UK Business Franchises Good Opportunities?
The simple answer to this question is no and I will explain why. There are 2 types of UK business franchises which I personally do not think are good opportunities to buy into and they are:
1. A made to franchise business (although exceptions may occur)
A made to franchise business is where a bod has came up with the idea of creating a business based around the franchise model. They have no intentions of running the actual business themselves to ensure it all works and no past history of a tried and tested method which is what franchising is supposed to be about. Instead they create a franchise business model and almost immediately start to advertise and market for franchisees. Many people do this in an honest way but being honest still does not make it right. A franchise should be built around an already sucesfull business and is a good way of expanding nationally or internationally, by creating a made to franchise business people are bypassing the tried and tested method and going straight to franchise with no hostory of success. although there are a few franchised businesses out there who have made a success of this way of franchising, there are dozens that have not and even more that never even got it lifted off the ground. However, as well as the hoest people there are also people out there who know that with the right marketing they can sell anything to anyone and at 10,000 – 25,000 a pop for their franchise they know they can sell 20 in a year and make a killing, not caring whether the system works and not caring that they are essentially stealing peoples life savings. These you really have to watch our for and is exactly the reason why you need to be careful and do your research when buying any UK business franchises, or any other franchises in other parts of the world for that matter.
2. MLM Masquerading as UK business franchises
Multi Level Marketing – My pet hate. The MLM industry has had a battering in the past ten years, everyone has heard of it and everyone knows to avoid it. So where have all these MLM “opportunities” gone? Well, many have re branded and came back trying to sell themselves as uk business franchises. However, with a little research you should soon be able to discover their true form, and that is simply selling the same opportunity. simply, recruiting people to sell the same package you just bought. Although technically this could be called a franchise, the fact is that it is only ever successful for the parent company and a few high powered sales people who work within the company, they have thousands to spend on marketing, in some cases tens of thousands, and are very experiences in getting their schemes out there and very persuasive in getting you to purchase from them. The people behind these MLM schemes have in most cases got 10-20 years experience in MLM and as such know exactly what they are doing and every trick in the book. you however, having bought into their system, have a limited budget, no MLM sales experience and a complete rip off of a package where you simple try and get people to buy what you just bought. Avoid these like the plague and again, with the right research they should be easily spotted. For a start you will not receive much for your franchise other than a few e-books, a really terrible website and possibly so off line marketing materials such as leaflets etc. In the past MLM packages were sold on quite cheaply but now as they are pretending to be franchises they think that with a box full of leaflets and a few e-books chucked your way they can charge 10,000 to 20,000 pounds, promising riches for you, a complete waste of your money though and you could create and replicate their system for a few hundred pounds.
Saying all this – it is a very small % of UK business franchises which are not good opportunities to buy into and as such you should not be too sceptical with every opportunity you research, however at the same time do be aware that there are people out there that will take you money and leave you high and dry with nothing but a dead end opportunity not worth the money you paid for it. So, be careful, be diligent, and make all the right choices and it could be the any UK business franchises you buy into work for you, for life.
About the Author
Matthew Anderson is a franchise consultant and founder of The Franchise Shop, a UK business franchise directory featuring
UK Business Franchises
advice and help
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