Page 86 - Business Plans that Work A Guide for Small Business

Industry: Zoom Lens on Opportunity • 77

• Careful site selection and equipment installation will translate into savings
of $2,000–$6,000.
I
• nexpensive financing through our vendor can save a franchisee $8,000
on an equipment lease.
• Our professionally designed vinyl van wraps are available at a lower price
and a higher quality than a franchisee could get on their own—saving a
potential $2,000 per vehicle.
• nstant integration into our search engine–optimized Web site will pro-
I
vide real-time info to customers, handle orders, and process credit cards.
Even a minimal Web site would cost a franchisee approximately $3,000.
But ours also saves another 20 hours/week of administrative work, or
$300/week at $15/hour.
• Our customer service personnel answer phones for franchisees. This
saves at least 10 hours a week—or $150/week at $15/hour.
• Catering to a student market means extreme spikes in Dan does a nice job
of laying out the benefits
demand during move-in times for setting up laundry ser- to the franchisee. Using
bullet points helps draw
vice and during move-out times for storage service. It is these favorable factors
out. Dan might also have
nearly impossible for a franchisee to staff up for these presented this as a table,
few weeks when call volumes more than quadruple. tallying up the total value in
savings that franchising with
Missed calls translate into lost sales, and even three lost Lazybones would provide.
Although this is effective,
customers mean $500 in lost revenues per semester. it really belongs in the
section under Company,
rather than Competition.
On a national franchise level our strongest advantages are
in our financial numbers: 15–20 percent net profit margins
and strong cash flows. Our systems and policies are designed around maximizing
these strengths. We utilize simple and affordable technologies and a structured
assembly line to maximize quality and minimize expenses. There are also very
few franchises that cater to college campuses. These are points we feel would be
relevant to franchisees with positive feelings about laundry, or a particular affinity
toward a college campus. Another great advantage on the national franchise
level is that Lazybones does not require a franchisee to have specific industry
experience or a college education. Thanks to our sophisticated centralized
systems and the simplicity of the basic business model, we can accommodate
individuals with a high school education, a strong work ethic, and strong common
sense. This is a tremendous advantage over businesses like restaurants and hotels
where prior industry experience is a prerequisite for opening a franchise.

Chapter Summary

The industry, customer, and competition section of the plan lays the plat-
form for you to introduce your vision. It is best to use a dispassionate