Franchise FAQ

how to sell my franchise business

by Zoe O'Kon Sr. Published 1 year ago Updated 1 year ago
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14 Tips to Selling a Franchise Fast

  • 1. List your franchise for sale on FranchiseFlippers.com. ...
  • 2. List your franchise on other online business listing websites. ...
  • 3. Reach out to fellow franchise owners in your franchise system personally. ...
  • 4. Talk to your employees. ...
  • 5. Ask your franchisor about previous franchise inquiries. ...
  • 6. Network through word of mouth. ...
  • 7. Offer a referral bonus. ...
  • 8. Hold an Open House. ...

Selling Your Franchise in Three Simple Steps
  1. Step 1: Prepare Your Franchise for Sale. Start by contacting your franchisor. ...
  2. Step 2: Market Your Franchise for Sale. Most business brokers use online portals and their own proprietary databases to market businesses for sale. ...
  3. Step 3 – Negotiate and Close the Deal.
Mar 2, 2017

Full Answer

From this website

Others also have their unique reasons on why they buy a franchise business. One of the few good reasons of buying a franchise business is that it lets you avoid all those potential risks experienced by other start ups. This is also a one way of being smart.

From this website

  • Matches your financial resources
  • Provides you with the lifestyle you imagined
  • Uses your particular skills and experience
  • Provides a recession-resistant product or service
  • Has a majority of happy and successful franchisees
  • Employs an experienced and enthusiastic staff of personnel who will help you achieve your dreams of business ownership success

Should you buy a franchise business?

Buying a franchise is very different from starting a mom-and-pop business. Since there is an already established system in place, there is a higher likelihood of success. If you invest in a proven franchise opportunity and follow the system the franchisor has put in place, you should be on your way to running a successful business.

What are the steps of buying a franchise?

  • Present Your Business to Potential Franchisees. After identifying your goals, you may now sell your franchise business model to your prospective franchisees.
  • Provide Hands-On Training. If you have a vision for your franchise business, your franchisees must share the same objectives with you.
  • Work On the Ground. ...
  • Implement The Organizational Culture. ...

Should I buy a franchise or start my own business?

How to successfully franchise your business?

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How do I sell my franchising?

Whether you are ready to sell or you are just considering it, here are our top tips for selling an existing franchise:List your franchise for sale on FranchiseFlippers.com. ... List your franchise on other online business listing websites. ... Reach out to fellow franchise owners in your franchise system personally.More items...

How much should I sell my franchise for?

Franchises are often valued based on a multiple of revenue, cash flow, or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA). As the name implies, the EBITDA method adds back some expenses to the earnings total, and a franchise can be valued at 4 to 5 times EBITDA.

Can a franchisee sell their franchise?

For most franchise owners this reward means selling their franchise business to a new owner for the greatest price and at fair terms. But, once the decision to sell your franchise operation is made, it doesn't take long for franchise owners to realize there are multiple paths to consider.

How do I sell my first franchise?

Here are some effective ways to sell your first franchise:Talk to Customers.Get Signage and Physical Presentations.Focus on Social media.Offer incentives to your employees.Sell Opportunity by Being Early.

How long does it take to sell a franchise?

The average franchise sales cycle is 12 to 20 weeks On average, the total time to close a franchise sale can be up to 20 weeks.

How can I sell my business fast?

How to Sell a Business Fast: 7 Steps for Selling Your Business QuicklyReview of Accounting Records. ... Business Operations Documented. ... Have a Marketing Plan. ... Hire a Business Broker. ... Plan to Target Buyer Prospects. ... Plan for Due Diligence. ... Collaborate for Successful Transition.

Who can sell my franchise?

Hiring a broker to help you sell your franchise can make the process easier, help you find qualified buyers willing to pay top dollar, and simplify what can otherwise be a challenge for both franchisors and franchisees.

Can franchise be sold?

A franchise is an investment. So long as you have a franchise agreement in place you will have the right to sell your business and the franchisor cannot unreasonably withhold their consent to the sale. Like any business, the more profitable and successful your business is, the higher the price you can sell it for.

Can a company buy back a franchise?

Franchise contract agreements vary by corporation, but some franchisors will buy back the franchise directly. Other franchisors may help locate a new buyer qualified to purchase your franchise operation.

Can I sell my McDonald's franchise?

McDonald's requires that the buyer of an existing restaurant pay a minimum of 25% cash as a down payment, and the balance must be financed for no more than seven years. Each franchise applicant must have at least $500,000 in liquid assets in order to apply.

How do you get people to buy a franchise?

However, if you follow these simple tips you will be on the right track!Position Your Brand as an Expert in its Domain. ... Make Yourself Appealing to Franchisees. ... Strong Communication with Your Current and Potential Franchisees. ... Use Existing Franchisees as Brand Evangelists. ... Create a Strong Web Presence.More items...•

How much money do you make owning a franchise?

According to a survey done by Franchise Business Review involving 28,500 franchise owners, the average pre-tax annual income of franchise owners is about 80,000 dollars.

How do I value a franchise?

Multiply the net cash flow. The number of times it should be multiplied depends on a couple of factors, including the stability of the business's cash flow and the forecasted business growth. To give you an idea, a profitable business is usually valued at between two and five times the net cash flow.

What is the failure rate for a franchise?

Coincidentally when I was with NatWest I managed the survey for the last 22 years. Pretty much every year the survey has been conducted has shown between 8-12% of franchise businesses left their franchise each year. This is for a variety of reasons, including retirement, selling, ill-health and financial failure.

How much does a franchise cost?

Franchise startup costs can be as low as $10,000 or as high as $5 million, with the majority falling somewhere between $100,000 and $300,000. The price all depends on the industry, location and type of franchise.

What is the most profitable franchise to own in 2022?

Most Profitable FranchisesDunkin'7-Eleven.Planet Fitness.JAN-PRO.Taco Bell.Orangetheory Fitness.Great Clips.Mac Tools.More items...•

Selling an existing franchise

For franchisees who are ready to sell their established businesses, here’s a piece of good news: According to a study conducted at Palm Beach Atlantic University’s Rinker School of Business, franchise resale prices are higher than those of non-franchise businesses.

Step 1: Prepare Your Franchise for Sale

Start by contacting your franchisor. There is no reason to keep the sale confidential from your franchisor who is accustomed to their franchisees exiting at some point. Ask if they can help you with a resale or transfer. Find out the extent of assistance they offer. The process varies significantly from franchise to franchise.

Step 2: Market Your Franchise for Sale

Most business brokers use online portals and their own proprietary databases to market businesses for sale. If your franchisor does not aggressively market the sale of your business, a business broker can do this for you.

Step 3 – Negotiate and Close the Deal

Once you’ve found a buyer who is interested in both your business and the franchise model, you can negotiate a price and begin with the closing process.

Selling your franchise opportunity

Every franchisor knows that the success of a franchise system is dependent on franchisee success. So simply selling a franchise is not enough. It really comes down to awarding a franchise to the right person. For franchisors who want to grow their brands with quality candidates, here are three simple ways.

Step 1 – Work with Quality Franchise Brokers

Working with quality franchise brokers is an effective and popular way for franchisors to find ideal candidates. In fact, franchise referral consultants (a.k.a brokers) have been found as the top source for lead conversions.

Step 2 – Exhibit at Trade Shows

Exhibiting at trade shows is a great way for franchisors to get in front of potential candidates face-to-face. Trade shows allow franchisors to market their brands to a large number of qualified prospects at one time. This in-person opportunity gives both parties a chance to get to know each other in a casual setting.

What do you need to do before selling a franchise?

Before the sale of a franchise business, the buyer must sign a franchise agreement created by the franchisor. This is the same agreement that the seller had to sign when they first started the franchise business. In addition, the current franchisee (seller) must settle all debts and payment defaults related to their franchise business ...

Why would a franchise owner want to sell their business?

There are two main reasons why a seller would want to sell their franchise business. Either the business is very valuable and they want to cash out or they simply aren’t running the business well and they want to get out before they lose everything. Since there’s a steady flow of buyers who want to purchase franchise businesses, ...

Why are franchisors important?

The reason these rules exist is because the corporate office wants to maintain their company image and they don’t want a franchisee to tarnish that with a business model that is different than their own. Franchisors are always involved in every big decision that a franchise business makes, including the sale of the business. Since franchisors must approve when someone starts a franchise business, they also have to approve the buyer who is purchasing the franchise business from the seller. Like with the original owner of the franchise, the franchisors want to make sure the new buyer is capable of running their proprietary business model and implementing their methodologies into it the same way the seller did before.

What happens after a franchise is sold?

After the sale of a franchise business, the franchisee will still have some obligations left after the transfer of the business has been made. A lot of these obligations must do with what businesses or jobs they can and cannot take after the completion of the sale.

What do franchisees do?

So, what a lot of franchisees do is build up their franchise business to the most profitable and successful that it can be and then they sell their franchise business to another buyer. Then, the franchisees move on to another franchise business and try to make that successful so they can do the same thing there.

How long after selling a franchise can you start a competing business?

Most franchise agreements have non-solicitation provisions and non-competition agreements which outline that franchisees cannot start a competing business for the next 2-3 years after they sell their franchise business.

What are the biggest franchises?

Some of the biggest franchises that are out there include McDonald’s, KFC, Burger King, Subway, 7 Eleven, Pizza Hut and the list just goes on. Many of the restaurants, gas stations, and fitness clubs that you see are likely franchise businesses which each have separate owners. Of course, they must pay royalties to the corporate office which owns the rights to the business. The corporate office is the headquarters of the company where the owners, or franchisors, manage the overall business and all the franchisees they’ve given licenses to.

What is a franchise agreement?

The franchise agreement that is executed by the franchisor and the franchisee contains, among a lot of other detailed requirements, strict and copious rules and restrictions for the transfer of the franchise rights. Specifically, if you own a franchise – whether it be for burgers, healthcare, fitness, hotels or any other franchise system – there ...

How long do franchise rights last?

Franchisors typically award franchise rights to a franchisee for a minimum of five years and many times quite a bit longer. Most sales of existing franchised units happen in more mature franchise systems rather than in very young ones; though occasionally, a new franchisee realizes early on that they are in over their heads and need to be bailed out – usually by the franchisor.

Why do franchisors have in-house programs?

Some franchisors have in-house programs designed to assist their franchisees in selling their existing units. This is particularly true for a mature brand. One reason for this is that most franchisors award territorial franchises; that is, each franchisee, for as long as it meets minimum operating standards (including sales targets, inspection scores, etc.) has the exclusive right to operate that franchise in a specific territory (subject to the other terms of its franchise agreement). If the franchisor has another qualified candidate for that specific territory, the franchisor is likely to assist its existing franchisee in selling its franchise rights.

What is the importance of knowing what the other fees a buyer will be obliged to pay?

This is particularly pertinent when establishing a price for your business.

Can a franchisor sell a franchise?

Some franchisors will contract with unrelated firms such as Worldwide Business Brokers to sell existing franchise units. This does not eliminate or reduce the resale restrictions in the franchise agreement but only takes the franchisor out of the re-sale business. The existing franchisee that wants to sell and the potential franchisee that wants to buy still need to meet all the requirements outlined in the franchise agreement and the franchisor still needs to approve the sale.

Do you vet a potential buyer before selling a franchise?

All of this means that you would be wise to vet your potential buyers early on – before you even disclose any financial information – by finding out what your franchisor’s requirements are; or enlist the assistance of a business broker with experience in the sale of franchises. Such experienced brokers know the ropes, understand the FDD ( Franchise Disclosure Document) and work with legal counsel that specializes in franchise law, all to your benefit.

Do you have to have the same training for a franchise?

The buyer and its managers will have to meet the same educational requirements, meet the same financial and net worth qualifications, attend the same training classes, go through the same franchisor vetting process, sign a new, current and possibly more onerous franchise agreement and essentially meet all the franchisor’s standards that you did; and maybe more, if those standards have changed which, if your franchise is more than a couple of years old, is probably the case.

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Rules and Restrictions

  • The important thing to understand about franchise businesses is that they all must abide by the rules and standards set forth by the franchisors. The reason these rules exist is because the corporate office wants to maintain their company image and they don’t want a franchisee to tarnish that with a business model that is different than their own. Franchisors are always involv…
See more on exitadviser.com

Benefits

  • The main benefit of selling a franchise business is that you’ll likely have a lot of interested buyers already available to choose from. Since franchises are usually attached to companies with great reputations, buyers are always eager to purchase them because they figure it will be easy to make them successful and profitable businesses. Often times, franchise businesses are in central loc…
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Tips For The Sale

  1. Studies have shown that franchise owners tend to get higher prices for their franchise businesses when they sell them early on. Newer listings will motivate potential buyers into grabbing a hold of...
  2. Before you go ahead and hire a broker to list your franchise for sale, get an appraisal on the value of your business first. That way, you’ll know the right selling price to ask for. This is not …
  1. Studies have shown that franchise owners tend to get higher prices for their franchise businesses when they sell them early on. Newer listings will motivate potential buyers into grabbing a hold of...
  2. Before you go ahead and hire a broker to list your franchise for sale, get an appraisal on the value of your business first. That way, you’ll know the right selling price to ask for. This is not on...
  3. Another very important thing to remember is to not neglect the operation of your business. Even though it is for sale on the market, that doesn’t mean you can just forget about it and only focus on...
  4. Of course, you should keep the franchisor in the loop about what is going on with your sale. Y…

Post-Sale Obligations

  • After the sale of a franchise business, the franchisee will still have some obligations left after the transfer of the business has been made. A lot of these obligations must do with what businesses or jobs they can and cannot take after the completion of the sale. Most franchise agreements have non-solicitation provisions and non-competition agreements which outline that franchisee…
See more on exitadviser.com

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