Franchising today is fraught with problems brought on by the fact that so many companies are mature and are losing the revenue stream that used to come from new franchise sales and their initial fees. Such companies are, more and more, competing with their franchisees and raising their fees and other charges to replace the initial fee revenue that is drying up. Few franchisors have had the foresight to replace initial fee revenue through diversification and sales of new franchise concepts. That will change for the better in the future, but, for now, there is a very real threat to franchisee profitability and investment value.

Franchisors are also turning more and more to “Power Franchising”, an approach in which their lawyers are instructed to make their franchise agreements, as much as possible, a license to kill, and in which the franchisor attitude is “do as I say or I can and will take away your business”.

What we bring to the table is the ability to show franchisees how to deal with this; how best and most effectively to protect their investment through professionally managed group action. No franchisee or small group of franchisees has the clout to accomplish effective restraint upon franchisor aggressive behavior. Loosely organized groups run by the franchisees themselves are always undercapitalized for the required effort, and franchisees need to pay attention to running their businesses, not struggling to keep the franchisor at bay.

There are several dimensions upon which the franchise relationship can be influenced, and we know how to configure them for your franchisee group’s concerns and how to manage the effort. Why place so critical a mission as defending your equity in the hands of amateurs. You know how to run your business. We know how to manage the franchise relationship from the franchisees’ perspective.

We can evaluate whether yours is a group that can be helped, based upon financial strength and membership profiling. We can teach the attainable and distinguish the real from the unreal. There is no touchy-feely whining about fairness, good faith, level playing field, or any other buzz words that franchisee groups are always chanting and then never producing tangible results. This is real world relationship management, practicing the art of the possible at a very intense level.

Your identity will be protected to prevent retaliatory tactics by your franchisor. In our program you become anonymous. You speak through us as a group, so that none of you becomes a scapegoat for retaliation. There is no good franchised business that, on a per store basis, cannot easily afford to have this facility at their disposal. If you believe you could use our assistance to effectively manage your group’s franchise relationship, come see us or have us come see you.

If yours is a business in which collections are an issue, your franchisee association is the best clearing house for a customer credit history data base. No longer will customers be able to leave one of you with a past due account and open another account with another franchisee without their knowledge of the arrearage history.

If your franchisee association has it's own web site, your password access message board will be your most efficient communications route. Important messages and warnings can be posted with anonymity if you like. With enhanced capabilities, meetings can be had on your association site through chat capability.

Your franchisee association can limit its benefits to its paid up membership in almost every instance, so that supporting the association through paid up membership becomes a valuable asset to every franchisee. No free riders.

If your franchisor's management has run amuck, and field reps and operations people are acting like the Gestapo to assert their programs and agendas through unfair inspection, other quality control abuses, telephone line tie-ups and retaliatory games that are interfering with the normal conduct of your business in a professional manner, your franchisee association is the vehicle to deal with that so that you or a few of you do not make targets of yourselves.  

If you cannot obtain critical approvals for important projects due to sloth or abuse from franchisor management, and your requests for more professional attention to business are not responded to in a positive manner, your franchisee association, properly managed, knows what to do to correct that. 

If important opportunities are missed, especially franchise re-sales, for any improper reason, or if spin has replaced reality and lack of truth is wrecking any chance of getting important things accomplished, only your franchisee association should handle that confrontation. 

Your franchisee association can take the heat for any issue resolution incident, without you or a few of you making targets of yourselves and inviting retaliation. All public and other statements representing the views of the franchisees should come from the franchisee association and save franchisee leaders from franchisor revenge. All survey type inquiries should be handled by the franchisee association, as you can never tell if they are genuine or just the franchisor trying to set up a retaliation opportunity.  

If it becomes necessary to report a franchisor to a law enforcement agency (the FTC, the attorney general, the local prosecutor, and administrative agency charged with correcting abuses), only the franchisee association should be handling that, for your individual protection.

Your franchisee association will have better influence with your vendors than any individual or small group of you.

Your franchisee association can do a better job for you in banking, lending and other critical relationships than your franchisor will do. No bank, lender or other financial service provider will be compensating your franchisor for your business and adding the cost of that to your expenses when your franchisee association is making your financial institution group protocol agreements. It won't make a bad credit risk right for any individual, but it will make life better for the creditworthy.

When your franchisee interests are being addressed by legislative committee hearings or a pending piece of legislation that could influence the quality of your life, a professional presentation at those hearings by your franchisee association will always be better received than individuals going up to the hearings with individual or small group complaints. There is simply much more credibility in presentations by franchisee associations. That's why franchisors do that through their own associations, like the International Franchise Association.

Your franchisee association will provide you with immediate access to highly experienced franchise specialist legal counsel who is knowledgeable about your particular franchise system. Your initial conferences will be without charge, and, if you need further legal assistance, or for your own local attorneys to have further specialist assistance, that will be available at reduced rates. His knowledge of the particulars of your business will make professional services much more cost effective compared to someone who has no experience dealing with your franchise system.