Page 93 - Business Plans that Work A Guide for Small Business

84 • Business Plans that Work

In this paragraph, of the business, optimize cash flows throughout the year, and
Lazybones lays out its value
proposition for potential narrow the demands on a franchisee to allow control of the
franchisees, namely high bottom line.
profit margins and proven
operations. The following sections summarize who our ideal franchise
customers are, what franchisees will receive in return for
their $125,000 upfront investment (which includes our $35,000 franchise fee),
and explain how the fees have been chosen.

Franchise Customers
This section lays out
the psychographics of a Franchise buyers tend to be eager to run their own business
typical Lazybones franchisee. and be their own boss, viewing this as a better source of job
Understanding your cus-
tomer will help you devise security than working for a large corporation. They want
a strategy to reach your regular interaction with their customers, not an isolated desk
potential customer. It would
also be useful to identify job. They are looking for a reasonable income, rather than an
likely demographics, such age,
gender, net worth, and so on opportunity to get filthy rich—though they certainly don’t
to gain a deeper picture of object to getting rich.
your customer.
The Lazybones franchisees we want share these
Starts to suggest one characteristics, plus a few more. They are looking for a hands-
demographic is experience
(or lack thereof). The fact on role, and are eager to get their hands dirty. In other words,
that the person doesn’t need they want to run the franchise themselves, not hire a manager
experience suggests that
younger people, perhaps re- to do it for them. They are looking for a business where they
cent college grads, would be
one prime demographic (this can deliver a tangible product. Perhaps what is most unique
matches the experience that about Lazybones, though, is what we do not require of our
the founders had when they
started their first Lazybones). franchisees. Many franchises, like restaurants, require that
In addition, this operation their franchisees have significant prior experience in that
might be attractive to older
career changers or people industry. This is not true for Lazybones; we have no need for
who have been displaced
from their career. franchisees to have experience with laundry or storage. In
fact, we have no specific minimum education or experience
requirements.
Some investors will Anyone who has demonstrated the ability to be a
see this as a double-edged
sword—inexperience will self-starter, has a great work ethic, and can raise the
increase training cost and relatively modest investment required to start a Lazybones
could affect quality. The
entrepreneurs need to is a worthy candidate. We are confident that the great
understand both edges of the flexibility we demonstrate in our franchisee requirements
business model component
and be prepared to answer will allow us to find great candidates more quickly and easily
questions. Subway is an
example of a franchise that than our franchise competitors.
doesn’t require experience
and has had phenomenal
success.