It is time to grow your successful business and scale new heights, and you are faced with the option of going it alone or going to a venture capitalist and offering them a certain amount of control in exchange for capital. Franchising the business opens up a larger market to the new businesses with lower investment and total control of the business. There are few fundamental questions you must ask yourself, before diving headlong into Franchising.
Can your business be franchised?
For a business to be franchised it must have a standing in the market. Good press, Goodwill, and good management are the basics. It is essential to know if your business can spread to other markets in its current form. Your business processes must be streamlined so that they can be taught in a few months. Reading prevalent market trends is a must. Franchisees generally end paying 4-8% in royalties and if they do not recover their investments, they will be displeased, leading to further issues.
Have you done your Due Diligence?
Due diligence refers to all and any appraisals undertaken before selling or buying a business. Make sure that your financials match up to your proposal as investors will check up on your financials too. Ensure that you have a concrete plan for growth. Investors will invest only if you are sure of how you plan to grow the business. Besides the financials, you must also be aware of all the legalities across the states. An understanding of standard franchise contracts, state registrations and federal and state franchising rules are a must. It would be advisable to involve a franchise lawyer at this point.
Have you set up operational standards?
Operational standards help retain quality at across all franchisees universally. A stand operational manual that explains and teaches the business processes are essential as procedures to deal with problems like negligence allegations and consumer liability. Regular checks on facilities are part and parcel of the franchise business, after all when it comes to quality, the buck stops with you.
Can you sell your franchise?
Finally, be prepared to sell and promote your franchise. Attracting potential buyers is an art as well as a science. DVDs and Brochures are just media that helps potential buyers understand what they are buying. At the end of the day buyers are buying the vision you sell them. Buyers must clearly understand your sales, compliance and disclosure dealings.
Managing a dealership is a demanding job. Several aspects need to be taken into consideration to run the business smoothly and effectively. Using business management software such as a dealer management system (DMS) can help ease this process. Efficient DMS can assist you in effortlessly managing different aspects of your business through unified software. This includes pre-sales, sales, purchases, post-purchase, financial accounting, inventory management, CRM, human resources, and more. Read on to learn more about DMS.
What does a dealer management system do?
The main objective of a dealer management system is to ease operational tasks and enhance operational efficiency. It takes the load off of excessive paperwork by streamlining and providing a centralized location for all your important data. A good DMS will also improve communication across different departments within your organization, encouraging better business awareness for your employees.
Dealer management systems can help you with the following:
Inventory management
This is a crucial feature for dealerships with large inventories. It can help you store records in a single location and retrieve them at the click of a button. It can also help you monitor your expenses for reconditioning and flooring and provide industry-standard book values.
Customer management
Instead of looking through physical records for each of your customers, a DMS can help you store and access customer data more smartly. Some software also allows you to call or chat with your customers in real-time. These software applications are generally equipped with features that allow you to record conversations and categorize your contacts to easily follow your leads.
Accounting
DMS can help you automate all your accounting tasks, such as inventory, point of sale, and transaction costing. This will enable the quick generation of financial reports that can be shared with the rest of the team. It can also help you develop an operational budget, monitor performance, and analyze the profitability of every aspect of your business.
Service management
Your DMS can also help you organize and manage the dealership’s service schedule to help you meet deadlines. It can help you streamline the service write-up process, schedule service work to maximize billable hours, allow your team to clock in and out easily, and make repair and warranty claim handling easier.
Features to look for in a dealer management system
The goal of an effective DMS is to improve your service capabilities while offering a great experience for your customers. While all businesses do not operate in the same manner, here are some standard DMS features that every business could benefit from:
Inventory management
Integrated accounting
POS and retail management
Reporting tools and analytics
Customer relationship management (CRM)
Service scheduling and productivity tracker
Repair order and billing estimates
Deal structuring, forms, and contracting
Lead management quoting
If you are keen on a DMS that offers more, look for the following features:
Multi-location management
Embedded text messaging
Slips and storage management
Cloud hosting
Employee training
IT support
Price file updates from major manufacturers and distributors
Availability across major phone/computer operating systems
Integration with third-party solutions (such as CRM, ERP, Chatbots, RMA reporting, and smart search features)
Prices for dealership management software can vary depending on the features offered, setup fees, number of systems installed, inventory list, and other factors.
Tips for choosing the right dealer management system for your business
If you’re in the market for a new dealer management system for your company, following these tips can help:
Prioritize the list of features
Classify all the features into three categories: needs, wants, and nice-to-have. This will help you prioritize your requirements and choose a DMS that is suitable for your business.
Needs
These are the non-negotiable features that a potential DMS must have. It may include inventory, unit tracking, sales, management, scheduling, accounting, etc.
Wants
Although these are not crucial for the functioning of your business, these features can help improve efficiency and provide insights. Some common features companies want include CRM, sales pipeline management tools, automation tools, sorting, report generation, and third-party integrations.
Nice-to-have
These may be considered frill features by many. While they can help improve your experience with the DMS, you can also comfortably continue your operations without them. Some nice-to-have features include training tools, mobile functionality, internal communications, cloud-based software options, and accessible customer support.
Create a list of vendors
This can help you find the right vendor for your business. Create a list of vendors that meet your priority list. You can scour the web for businesses, speak to your friends, colleagues, and acquaintances for suggestions, check industry publications, read online review listings, or even post on a public forum. Once you have a list of potential vendors, it is time to start shortlisting.
Request a demo
Conduct a thorough vetting of your list of vendors. You can reach out to their contact person and ask for more details to make an informed decision. Request a demo session once you have shortlisted two or three potential options. A formal demo session with the vendor can help you fill any remaining gaps in your knowledge about their offering and ensure the provider meets all their claims.
Once you have finalized your vendor, it’s time to make a proposal. The ideal DMS will help you streamline and support your business as you scale it to greater heights.
When it comes to printing, some mistakes can prove more costly than others. It is important to learn to recognize mistakes early and correct them so that you can get the best quality prints. From leaving the right margins to choosing the correct print quality, being aware of minor details can help. Here are four common printing mistakes and ways to avoid them, so you get a quality print each time.
Not creating bleeding space
Even though machines have become far more precise in cutting artwork to its intended size, you may still find 1-2 mm of inconsistency. Not adding bleeding space will result in a thin white border around your artwork. To rectify this, create a bleed or extra space of 5 mm around your image, so even if the paper moves, there won’t be any white space on the print.
Printing in RGB
If you’re wondering why your print doesn’t match the colors on the screen, it may be because you are printing in RGB color mode. Artworks and documents set in RGB are meant for digital viewing, whereas those set in CMYK are meant for print. To avoid this error, ensure that the color mode of your design is set to CMYK.
Typos and errors
Grammar, spelling mistakes, missing fonts, and smaller font sizes can hurt your print’s appearance. Documents with these errors can appear unprofessional or even illegible. To avoid this, set the smallest font size of the document to at least 6 pt. You can rasterize or convert your text to a Smart Object, if you are using Photoshop, or to outlines, if you are using Illustrator. Proofread your document several times. You can even ask a friend to do it for you, or use an online spell check program to avoid any spelling mistakes and grammatical errors.
High ink coverage
Images that require too much ink to print can cause the paper to bruise or wrinkle since the paper’s ink absorption capacity is limited. Avoid this mistake by using a preflight tool to check the ink coverage of your artwork. This tool checks which images require too much ink to print, so they can be edited accordingly. You can also opt for preflight tools that are specially designed for lowering the ink coverage of an image.
It’s important to remember that there is always space to make edits while printing. Double check your work before printing or sending them to a printing shop to get the best quality prints each time.