Here are a few suggestions to help you assess your business and determine if you’re giving your customers what they’re expecting.

1. They’re Saying What?!: The first place you must start in your analysis is your telephone.  Make it a priority to thoroughly train everyone who might ever come into contact with a customer.
2. Listening In: Make numerous calls to your business, answering service, or call center over a period of days and record them.  Ask all sorts of questions and conduct yourself in various manners, all in order to capture a response to many different situations.  Then analyze the tapes and make necessary changes.  As a business you absolutely must have weekly meetings not only to stay on top of what is going on, but to let the manager know you are paying attention.
3. Sweat the Small Stuff: It’s not just what they say, nor just how they say it; it’s also their ability to give the prospect sufficient information in a coherent and understandable way  that the prospect is about to make the decision to take the next step and make an appointment or a purchase.  You and your employees are so accustomed to being in your space that it is all but impossible for any of you to see it through a customer’s eyes.  Fresh eyes not only look for problems, they also identify additional opportunities to create, reinforce, and maintain the image you want your customers to have of you and your company.

By conducting a basic audit of your business, you will be improving your sales conversion rate by addressing all the loose ends.  If you don’t remember the old saying, “A confused mind always says no”

One of the most important areas a potential franchisee will look when researching a franchise opportunity is the franchise training program.  Most franchises don’t require or prefer that potential franchisees don’t have experience in the field; therefore a good training program should cover not only the product or service but also setting up the business, marketing,employee management, business procedures, reporting, etc.

Franchise training program should include:

• Everything potential franchises need to know about the product or service
• Everything about using/protecting the brand
• How to find a new business location
• How to negotiate a lease
• How you complete the permits and buildout
• How to find, hire, and manage employees
• How to market your product or service
• How to keep books and records for the business
• The reporting requirements and processes
• Where to get the equipment needed for the business
• How or where to buy supplies and inventory
• How to get help when they have a problem

The best way a potential franchisee will find out about the scope of the training program is to ask existing franchisees.  They will ask the existing franchisee what stood out about the training they received and what they feel could have been covered more completely.  They will also ask how prepared the current franchisee felt when they opened their business and what ongoing training they have been provided.  Many times a training program that was find in a company’s early days is now out-of-date.  Be sure current franchisees are aware of and understand the type of training new franchisees will receive therefor an accurate assessment of its value is made.

Reevaluate your training program today and be sure everything is updated!

How do we judge if a math-learning center is successful? It depends on what types of learning centers. There are many types of math learning centers.  Some learning centers mainly prepare children for tests, some are for total skills training including thinking skills. It also depends on what parents want? Some parents only look at if there children’s marks have improved, while some parents also like to see if the math program can improve their children’s thinking skills. To put in a nutshell, a successful learning center is a place where children like to go and also enjoy it.

A successful math learning center is a place where children are smiling and happy while they are learning at the center and then come home telling their parents what they have learned and are happy to go again. A successful math-learning center makes kids learn in a happy mood.

A successful math-learning center will not be successful if their materials are boring and inhuman. Why will children be happy if all they do at the learning center is just drilling on math worksheets even it means their computation ability have improved? The untold negative side effect is they will not have fond memory and experience with this kind of learning center, I have my students in my class telling me that they “hate” this kind of math learning center but some of their parents “forced” them to go.  One thing I can say is these unimpressed children will not send their own kids to this kind of learning centers again when grow up to be parents one day.

I have done some research and also personally observed on what kind of math as pressure as their old brothers or sisters to just wanting to get high math marks for universities so these young children are happier to go to a math learning center where they do not just sit there and do pure math work.  The problem is most of math learning center cannot offer what these young children want. I know what kind of worksheets children like to work on since I have offered them choices and I have the chances to observe their reactions and feedbacks.

Children like to be entertained while learning; learning while having fun is a great way for children to learn.

We cannot turn math learning center into a circus so children having lots of fun but doing very little math. This is not an idea of integrating fun and math learning.

Many children like puzzles but not math work, so how do we “trick” them to do puzzles while they also have to do math work? We are not talking about computer games or computer-based learning here. We also are not talking give children some separate puzzle worksheets in a math class. We are talking about pencil, paper and re-printable “game, puzzles, and math” integrated worksheets.

If a math learning center can integrate math, game such as chess, and puzzles all into one worksheet then this is what children prefer to do rather than traditional type of math worksheets.

How to deliver these fun worksheets in a systematic way such that they will also increase children’s math marks is very important to make a math-learning center succeed.

A successful math-learning center must have fun worksheets and these fun worksheets also foster the environment of thinking.

A successful learning math-learning center offers something that children like and the end results are children are happy to learn and their math marks also improve while having fun.

Author:  Frank Ho, Canada certified math teacher and founder of Ho Math and Chess.

The number of businesses listed on the site has reached 2,700 and continues to increase daily. The number of brokers that have listed with site has been increasing steadily. The number of franchise opportunities that are listed in the site has also increased in the site showing the effectiveness of the company’s very active marketing campaigns. In Nov 2009, we attended the IBBA show in Reno, Nevada for the first time and received a lot of recognition from the broker community.

In 2010, we will be rolling out a new Marketing Campaign that will increase our presence within Social Media and continually increase our search engine ranking. We have introduced a Winter Promotional Offer where Business Brokers can register and renew their membership for $199 which includes a full year’s Featured Broker Membership and all the benefits the featured membership offers.

“The sites unique design, ease of navigation and clear and crisp content makes it a very user friendly site”, says a leading business broker. In addition, Franchisors appreciate the sites clean design and highly navigable interfaces. “We have invested a lot of time and resources in marketing the site, and we are very gratified with the growth and excellent feedback we have been receiving from our customers” said Sweta Shah, Marketing Director for BuyTradeBiz.com.

BuyTradeBiz.com is internet’s newest businesses for sale and franchises for sale listing website. Designed using the latest Web 2.0 concepts buyers and sellers are increasingly adopting the site as their favorite platform to buy a business and sell a business. Privately held BuyTradeBiz.Com, was founded by veterans of the software industry, to create a new paradigm for the business marketplace.

With the economy shedding countless jobs every month, franchise inquiries have increased as many more individuals have decided to start a business.  Most will try to leverage their current assets to start some form of a consulting business but many will decide to buy a franchise.  With the number of franchises increasing on a daily basis, others are starting to wonder why franchise when you can own your own business?  Below are few of the benefits franchising can provide.  As as franchisee:

1. You can benefit from operating under the name and reputations of the franchise, which is already well established in the mind and eye of the public.
2. You will incur less start up expenses, because franchises have their own pilot operations and buying power.
3. You will receive training from the franchise in all areas of the business including manufacturing, preparation, account, business controls, marking, promotions, and merchandising.
4. You can tap into the bulk purchasing power the franchise has
5. You will have access to services of the field operational staff of the franchise who are there to assist with any problems which may arise
6. You will have a defined territory of operation within the franchise, which can protect you from direct competition.

There are countless benefits to owning a franchise.  Why not find a concept you are interested in and contact their franchise development staff today!

Over 200 franchise concepts are going to be showcasing at Franchise Expo South 2010 in Miami, FL this weekend.  Entrepreneurs from throughout the southern US, Latin America, and the Caribbean who are seeking franchise opportunities will be attending the three-day show (January 15-17, 2010) sponsored by the International Franchise Association.

This is a rare opportunity to meet face to face with suppliers, franchisees, and propective franchisees.  This show will allow franchisers to reach thousands of visitors in only one weekend and give them a competitive edge.

Don’t miss out, click here to attend!

Recently I have read and written a lot about franchise business as the best way for aspiring business owners to own or start a business.  There are several well documented reason for this, including proven business model, established operating procedures and the support system that comes with any franchise business just to name a few.   There are several other reasons that easily come to mind, but I am sure the overwhelming majority of business minded people have no arguments against the premise.

Now let us address the question I have proposed int he topic of the article.  Is there a ‘best fitting’ franchise business – franchise owner scenario?  And if there is such a scenario, how does one go about fiding the best fitting franchise business for a prospective owner.

Click here to continue reading.

Senior home care for baby-boomers is a rapidly growing concern and quickly escalating need in this country. In the next two decades, there will be more than 70 million people over the age of 65.  Caring for the growing elderly population is going to be an important service in the coming decade. These franchises can provide that care and safety for loved ones, while keeping them happy and healthy during their golden years.

“More than 12.8 million people around the country rely upon care from others, and in a recent study 80 percent of this group said that they would prefer to remain in their own homes,” says Debbie Reis, president of AmeriCare Alliance. “We provide a unique service that maintains the dignity and respect for those who need extra help while remaining in the comfort of their own home surrounded by their personal effects and their own community.”

AmeriCare Alliance is one of many new franchises which will help you hit the ground running in this industry.

VetFran(Veterans Transition Franchise Initiative), an International Franchise Association program is offering discounted franchise fees to veterans who are looking to transition into the world of franchised small businesses.

“The VetFran program is our way of saying thank you to veterans for their service,” said Matthew Shay, president of the IFA. “They deserve our help in pursuing the American dream of business ownership because without them to protect our nation, such opportunities would not exist.”

Is your franchise one of the more than 160 IFA member companies are participating in this program?  If not, keep in mind that to date, 360 franchises have been sold through the program and an additional 126 are in various stages of negotiation.  This could be the key to your next franchisee.

The current financial conditions facing franchise owners can only be described as extremely difficult.  Recent reports show that SBA loans for franchises are at a record default rates in 2008-2009.  Compared to 2009 the default rates have gone up 43% and have cost the SBA over $93 million last year.

So, what can franchise business owners learn from the above statistics regarding recent SBA loan default rates?  What should a franchisor do in this environment?

It is crucial for franchisors to maintain their current base of operators and expand their base cautiously.  Nothing is more valuable to a franchisor than a demonstrable track record of success as evidenced by their customer base.  A large number of failures and defaults does not inspire confidence in a potential franchise opportunity seeker.  there are several things the franchisor can and should do.  Speak to your customer base regularly and poll them on their market situations.  Provide advise and counseling where appropriate and direct them to financial resources when needed.  When selecting new franchise owners, have a higher standard, for financial and capital requirements, so they can withstand the market forces longer.  Make sure to provide adequate training in operations so they are more successful in operating their business.