Are you interested in taking your career in a new direction but don’t want to end up in a similar place?
Are you a business leader who has grown tired of inter-office politics, expensive overhead costs and being stuck in a rut – or worse, in a cubicle? Then a mobile franchise opportunity may be perfect for you and your future.
What Is A Mobile Franchise?
Mobile franchise operators literally bring their products or services to their clients instead of the other way around. Their vehicles are their storefronts and their showrooms, and everyone in their territory
is a potential customer, not just people who stroll by their buildings.
Still not sure what a mobile franchise is? Then think back to when you were a kid and the ice cream truck would come down your block – that was probably your first interaction with a mobile franchise. Since then, mobile businesses have diversified and evolved. Today, they take many different forms and offer many different services. For example, there are trucks that move furniture, cars that deliver food, vans that provide pet grooming and trailers that host video gaming sessions (or workout sessions, if you prefer). There are even wagons that host weddings.
What Are The Benefits of Mobile Franchises?
Clearly, mobile franchises have become ubiquitous and numerous. Fortunately, they can also make you quite prosperous. That’s because they combine all the advantages of franchising — a proven business model, a built-in support network, established name recognition, territorial flexibility and enhanced purchasing power — with tremendous flexibility and substantially reduced expenses.
Compared with traditional brick-andmortar franchises, mobile franchises offer the following benefits:
Lower startup and overhead costs
One of the most expensive initial and ongoing components of any business is real estate. For retail and food franchises, real estate can prove especially costly as they need to be located in malls, shopping centers and other areas with heavy traffic – and heavy rents. If you also include the costs of renovating and maintaining a brick-and-mortar location, the price of real estate can prove astronomical.
Greater flexibility
When you’re a mobile franchise operator, every day is different. You won’t spend week after week staring at the same walls or locked in the same conference room — you can get out of the office! It’s important to spend time with customers, establish a presence in your community and otherwise allocate your time as you see fit.
Added customer convenience
Mobile franchises shift the burden of traveling from the customer to the owner, something that appeals to many people. In fact, for those who are unable to leave their homes – the elderly, the disabled, etc. – doing business with a mobile franchise isn’t just a preference, it’s a necessity. As a result, you can tap into under-served demographics and expand your customer base.
Vehicles
Most mobile franchises are centered on at least one vehicle and its ability to act as a rolling storefront. These cars, vans or trucks not only deliver services to the customer efficiently, but also positively represent the company to the customer or other potential clients. As a mobile Franchisee, you must ensure your vehicle (or Vehicles) is reliable and able to properly represent the franchise business. As such, proper maintenance and timely vehicle upgrades are essential. A franchisee needs to factor this into the business operating costs.
Hiring
Another inherent challenge faced by mobile franchisees is effective management of employees who are offsite on a regular basis. The nature of a mobile franchise necessitates having employees on the road, so the importance of training them to properly represent you and your brand is paramount. When hiring employees to work in the field, the receipt of a drivers record is not only helpful, but essential in choosing the correct candidate for the job. Mobile franchisees must be diligent in collecting and updating records for every employee who operates a company vehicle as infractions such as speeding and traffic tickets will contribute to the franchiees insurance costs. As a mobile Franchisee, insurance costs will always be your responsibility, so it is important to employ drivers with good records.
As you now know, there are many mobile franchise options, and there are many great reasons for investing in a mobile franchise. However, it is important to select the one that’s right for you. With the vast array of franchise business options available today, along with the variety of market span, it is essential that mobile franchise business owners understand and address the challenges they face. There are a number of highly successful mobile franchise businesses operating all over the world and their success is a testament to the franchisors and franchisee’s ability to address challenges and maintain profitable locations.
John Ferracuti is vice president and general manager of Bin There Dump That. With more than 20 years’ experience in the franchise industry — as an award-winning franchise operator, successful franchisee recruiting executive, marketing support manager and executive of a successful franchise organization — he offers insight into both sides of the industry: franchisor and franchise operator.
http://www.bintheredumpthatusa.com