Business View - January 2015 61
FRANCHISE
franchisors and loan experts, funding today is increas-
ingly becoming available for first-time franchisees.
“We have noticed financial institutions loosening their
financing requirements in the last 18 months,” said
Shelly Sun, CEO and co-founder of BrightStar Care.
“Candidates with lower credit scores and less equity
are now being considered.”
It is important to note that BrightStar Care is an es-
tablished franchise. First-time franchisees seeking to
fund a young franchise concept still may need to have
up to 30 percent equity and a credit rating of 700 or
more.
6. Technology has and will continue
to be a big game changer.
The digital age has had an incredibly significant im-
pact on franchising.
Some franchises such as Blockbuster were hurt by the
rise of digital competitors including Netflix and Redbox
kiosks, while others changed their business models
to embrace technology. For example, CruisePlanners
used to book business via travel agencies and now
does so only online.
Less than a decade ago it was impossible for a fran-
chise to affordably launch hundreds of autonomous
web sites for each of its franchises or monitor them
for brand compliance. Today franchises can affordably
grow their market share by leveraging and maintaining
control of their brand marketing online, via email and
mobile devices.
Technology has also made it possible for franchisees
to do business faster. The survey results for our 2015
Guide to Today’s Top Franchises show that 76 out of
the 200 franchises that were surveyed are primarily
mobile.
“Our franchisees enjoy mobile offices thanks to iPads
and tablets,” said Brian Mattingly, president of Wel-
comemat Services.
Many also get leads and set appointments in real time
via technology platforms set up by their systems.
7. The recession was a good
thing for franchising.
The recession showed that franchises are more likely
to survive and even succeed during tough economic
times due to the support of their system than other
small businesses. Most franchisors also shifted their
focus away from expansion to improving how they do
business during the recession. The result is that many
franchises emerged from recession healthier and
poised for growth.
“We’ve grown every year for the past five years despite
the recession,” said Shacka. “When the recession
hit we invested money to eliminate our inefficiencies.
Even though the industry as a whole was moving fewer
people at the time, we were capturing more revenue
and market share.”
