While franchisors have specific needs that differ from one company to another, there are some basic needs that remain the same for all franchise organizations. Franchisors need both speed and accuracy in keeping their documents in step with the current marketplace. Experience and flexibility are critical. Walco is structured perfectly to meet these needs.

From a singular document revision to a Full Development Program, Walco adapts to meet the needs of each one of our clients. We have the resources and experience to assess a problem, offer solutions and implement them in a timely manner, all under one roof.

• Strategy
• Legal
• Operations
• Marketing
• Sales
• Training

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Strategic Planning

A lawyer might say that first you must comply with franchise laws. But that’s not really the first step. To start with, Walco recommends the formation of a business plan. Walco will help you decide, based upon your own presence in the marketplace and the strength of competition, where to sell franchises and who to sell them to. (What is the profile of your prospective franchisee?)

Walco will also assist, based upon similar criteria, what the franchise fee and royalties will be and what percent of sales franchisees must contribute to regional or national advertising. Once a plan is formulated, Walco will develop professionally crafted programs and materials as outlined below.

Senior Consultant On-Site Analysis
A Senior Consultant will visit the business to be franchised to review its operational characteristics and recommend policies and procedures, aimed at enhancing the franchise program. The Senior Consultant will also identify operational elements of the business critical to the legal, operations, and marketing aspects of the franchise program, and relay this information to appropriate Walco personnel.

Senior Consultant Analysis
At Walco offices, a Senior Consultant will review and recommend policies and procedures aimed at enhancing the franchise program.

Franchise Structure
Walco will make recommendations relating to the critical business decisions that become the foundation of the franchise program and that are incorporated into the legal, operations, and marketing documents and strategies. These issues include policy formulation, market potential, speed of expansion, the franchise structure best suited to the Client’s situation, and current company resources available to meet franchise goals.

Franchise Owner Profile
The ability to identify specific characteristics of the target franchisee is essential to structuring a franchise program. Qualifications, such as financial resources, previous experience, and business skills, will be addressed, based on the needs of the Client and Walco’s knowledge of the franchise marketplace.

Type of Franchise Offered
A franchisor may offer individual franchises, multi-unit franchises, or sub-franchises – or all three – depending on such factors as unit investment, complexity of operation, cost and nature of support programs, and expansion goals. In addition, a franchisor may offer a start-up franchise or a conversion franchise (to a compatible existing business) or both. Walco will recommend a franchise program designed to meet the Client’s needs.

Determination of Territory
Based on the nature of the Client’s business, competition and other factors, Walco will suggest whether or not the franchisee needs an exclusive territory and the degree of exclusivity. If it does, Walco will analyze available territorial and demographic data from the Client’s existing business and prioritize appropriate criteria, such as population, competition, income levels, size of the market needed to support a franchise, industrial base, or business base.

Franchise Support Programs
Walco will identify the type and scope of services to be provided to franchisees, including initial training, supervisory visits, site selection, and advertising support. In this manner, a comprehensive support program can be planned and the cost of that program anticipated.

Internal Staffing
Walco will assess human resource needs for implementing the franchise program and will determine how best to meet the needs, whether by expanding the roles of current staff members, or by creating new positions. Walco will also review the Client’s organization structure, assess its adaptability to franchising, and recommend changes, if necessary.

Franchise Revenue Sources
Walco will review the Client’s revenue options and recommend appropriate revenue sources that may contribute to the Client’s income and profits. Among the available revenue sources are the following:

Initial Franchise Fees
Franchise fees will be determined after weighing various factors, among them the marketability of the franchise at various price levels, competition from other business opportunities available to potential buyers, and the cash flow produced by the business. The recommended initial franchise fee will be structured in light of a number of factors, such as front-end selling expenses, advertising, commissions, training, site and start-up assistance costs, market needs, and other variables.

Royalties
Royalties will be recommended after a review of the Client’s business and in light of the needs of franchisees and current industry practices. They will be based on the need to maintain sufficient corporate cash flow, to support general and administrative costs and franchise services, and to provide ongoing income for the continuing operation of the franchise. They must also be affordable for franchisees.

Advertising Fees
Local, cooperative, and corporate advertising fees will be recommended after an evaluation of the amounts currently spent for advertising in operating units and the type of advertising needed at the unit level. Corporate advertising fees required of franchisees will be based on the need for finished advertisements in their various forms.

Addition Income Sources
Some franchisors derive income from other sources as well, including the sale of products and services, leasing of assets and real property, and financing. Walco will assist the Client in determining which sources are appropriate and practical.

Franchise Business Planning
Following the Senior Consultant’s analysis, team members assigned to the Client’s project will review all critical decisions and weigh the impact of these decisions on key aspects of the franchise program. Walco will complete detailed pro formas and financial projections which contain a five-year cash flow analysis of individual operating units and the franchisor organization. In addition, Walco will make final recommendations relating to the business, legal, and marketing characteristics that impact on the success of the franchise program.

Finally, Walco will formalize its recommendations into a franchise business plan. This plan provides key franchise business decisions, assumptions, and financial projections needed to set short and long term goals. Clients can use this plan in presentations for financial institutions or for corporate planning.

Walco will develop a Franchise Structure Report
This report includes comparisons of similar franchise companies or business models. It also summarizes recommended structures, fees, royalties, financial projections and pro formas that define the concept as a franchise.

Walco will develop the Franchise Structure and Assumptions
Financial projections and pro formas are developed along the way with the information needed for the drafting of the franchise documents.

Legal Services

Every franchise must have a franchise agreement that thoroughly describes the offering made to the franchisee. In addition, F.A.S.A. requires that franchisors present to prospective franchisees a Disclosure Document, which contains detailed information about the franchise company and its principal executives.

Individual Franchise Agreement
Walco will draft and submit to the Client’s attorney for review and approval, a Franchise Agreement defining the contractual relationship between the franchisor and the franchisee. This Agreement will developed in conjunction with input received from Walco ’s program analysis and recommendations, and will be based on current industry practice and recent developments in franchise law.

Disclosure Document
Walco will draft and submit to the Client’s attorney, for review and approval, the disclosure document required by F.A.S.A. This document will contain required information, arranged in the format stipulated by F.A.S.A. guidelines.

Franchise Registrations and Filings
After the Client’s attorney has approved the final drafts of the Franchise Agreement and Disclosure Document, Walco will prepare the franchise registration applications required. Applications will be based on information provided to Walco by the Client and will be submitted to the Client’s attorney for review and approval. Included in these applications are materials such as the Franchise Registration Application, Supplemental Information Form, Salesman Disclosure Form, Consent to Service of Process, and Corporate Acknowledgment and Certification Page, as well as copies of advertising materials and the Disclosure Document. Applications will be prepared and processed for registration.

Operations Services

Walco will develop a comprehensive Operations Manual that lists in detail all of the tasks required to operate the business, from unit opening to unit closing. The Operations Manual serves as a vital reference tool for franchisees once training is complete.

Initial Analysis and Outline
Walco will develop a preliminary outline that identifies and describes the topics that should be covered in the comprehensive Franchise Operations Manual. Based on discussion at the initial Client meeting and material supplied by the Client, this outline will reflect Walco ’s initial understanding of the issues relevant to the franchisee and will be specifically tailored to the franchise concept. It will also indicate the points at which the manual should cross-reference the provisions of the Franchise Agreement and will delineate the areas for which systems must be developed to monitor the operations of the franchisee. The outline is designed to aid the process of implementing the franchise program and will further serve as the agenda for the field visit of the Operations Consultant.

On Site Analysis and Consulting
An Walco Operations Consultant will visit the Client’s place of business to observe its operations first-hand and to discuss the preliminary outline. Subject to Client approval, the Consultant will determine the manual’s style, scope, and format, and will document procedures, collecting any materials that are to be included in the manual.

Franchise Operations Manual
Walco will create a customized, comprehensive manual incorporating information essential to the operation of the franchise. Its content will be based on data obtained in meetings with the Client, the observation of the business, the final franchise documents prepared for the program, and Walco’s extensive experience.

Manual Outline and Editorial Review
For Clients who prefer to draft their own manuals, Walco provides the Client with an outline and will edit the Client’s manual.

Advertising & Marketing Services

Having decided where you want to sell franchises in the planning stage, and having drawn up a profile of your prospective franchisee, you must now determine how to get your message to these prospects. Some of the ways include media advertising, appearance at business opportunity and trade shows, seminars, direct mail and Internet advertising. You must also create the materials that will contain that message, including advertisements, a franchise brochure or DVD.

The Franchise Marketing Plan
Walco will develop a comprehensive plan for generating franchise sales leads. This plan, based on an understanding of the Client’s expansion goals and the profile of the target franchise owner, will recommend specific marketing activities and will include appropriate creative materials— such as direct mail letters and copy and layout for franchise sales ads—that can be utilized in the franchise sales campaign.

The Marketing Plan will incorporate specific media suggestions, a budget for the campaign, and a timetable for implementation. It will also contain useful information on topics such as legal constraints on franchise marketing, how to obtain publicity, and whether to conduct seminars and participate in trade shows. Copy for the ad and letter will be developed within the context of Walco’s experience, with guidelines established by the industry norms, and by various regulatory agencies whose approval is required before any advertising materials can be used in connection with the offer of a franchise.

Franchise Brochure
Walco will develop copy and layout for a four-color brochure of approximately six to twelve pages, plus cover, designed to describe the Client’s franchise and to build enthusiasm among prospective franchisees. The brochure will describe in detail the distinctiveness of the concept, the benefits of the franchise program, and the market for its products and services.

Franchise Sales Training

While Walco doesn’t function as a broker for our clients, as part of our Franchise services, Walco provides franchise sales training to new and existing franchisors. Attendees are taught by industry experts with numerous years of franchise sales experience, receive a “how to” manual and personalized instruction on how to sell effectively. On an ongoing basis, Walco provides implementation consulting to ensure that the lessons learned in the classroom work effectively in achieving sales.

Franchise Management Training

Walco conducts a two-day Franchise Management Training course designed to educate the Client’s management team on the complexities of operating and managing a growing franchise organization.

Detailed and comprehensive manuals are provided to all attendees on all course segments:

• Building the Franchise Organization
• Training Your Franchisees
• Providing Effective Field Support
• Marketing as a Franchisor
• Franchisor Compliance
• Franchisee Relations