Business To Business Franchises-5 Compelling Reasons To Own One

Author: Cory Barber

Those who possess good selling skills, enjoy building meaningful and productive relationships, and the challenge of interacting with fellow business owners and managers, rather than consumers, will find some excellent opportunities worth investigating in the Business To Business franchise category.

There are B2B franchise businesses out there that cover the full spectrum in terms of variety, such as property damage and restoration, business cleaning and janitorial services, printing, management and training, consulting, direct marketing, and employment and personnel services, just to name a few. So, you’re open to several different options, whether you have background in a white collar or a blue collar industry. B2B franchises offer several advantages and nice benefits, 5 of which I would like to discuss.

Develop Stronger Business Relationships. Those who pride themselves in possessing excellent “people” skills are at a major advantage when dealing with like-minded business clients. Your success rate escalates by utilizing your natural ability to see your customers as real people, instead of treating them as just a profit source. If you come from the corporate world, you will transition nicely into a B2B operation because of your strong background and experience in dealing with professionals.

Home Based. If you enjoy the idea of conducting business from a home based office, rather than a traditional brick and mortar outlet, this is ideal. Most B2B’s are operated from a home office, calling potential clients to set up meetings at their place of business.

Limited And Controlled Business Hours. You’re doing the majority of your business during family friendly, “normal”, business hours. You enjoy a nice balance of work and family life. Compare that to a typical retail operation, like a convenience store, which could be open 18-24 hours a day, or a restaurant, which does the majority of its business on weekends.

Some Business to Business franchises feature guaranteed, immediate payment directly from insurance companies. Have you ever considered industries in which the franchise business is compensated directly from an insurance company? What about floods and fires that businesses experience? You are assured immediate payment by the insurance company to clean up the water damage or rebuild after a fire and these repairs are imminent. Property damage results in thousands of claims each year. It’s a huge industry that is a necessity business and truly recession resistant with high profit margins.

No Industry Experience Required. All of the product or service training you need is provided by the franchisor. The major assets you need to provide are the strong belief in the overall concept, and, of course, the intense desire to succeed.

Business to business franchises are becoming increasingly popular, not only as a result of the above benefits, but also because more businesses today are choosing to focus their energies on their core strengths. They are willing to outsource for the expertise of the service provider, making B2B a very lucrative franchise option.

Find Your Perfect Business

About the Author:

Cory Barber is a professional franchise consultant affiliated with the world's top franchise broker network. His free, confidential consulting services help guide you through the entire process of purchasing a franchise based on your background, skillset, lifestyle, and financial goals. For more information about his free Franchise Consulting Service contact Cory at his office: 877-271-4305.

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - Business To Business Franchises-5 Compelling Reasons To Own One

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7 Elements Of A Highly Successful Franchisee

Author: Cory Barber

If you are at a point in your career where you’re entertaining the possibility of buying a franchise, you need to understand the psychology that is behind a franchisor’s decision to award a franchise to the “right” person. There are certain, essential skills and personality traits that encompass a “model” franchisee, and before you go any further down the road to franchise ownership, you had better do a self-inventory and make absolute certain you have them.

Obviously, if you are considering a handyman or home improvement franchise and you’ve never used a hammer or a saw, this could be a serious problem. Or if you are looking at a certain business to business franchise, but you hate selling, you are all but guaranteeing misery. But those aren’t the king of skills that I’m referring to here.

Regardless of which specific franchise you are considering, you need to possess and exhibit some basic, key skills that will fuel the overall potential for success of your franchise business. Franchisors have spent plenty of time and money researching what the profile of the ideal franchisee looks like. Here are 7 mandatory traits:

Commitment to following a proven system. Franchise systems are in place because they work. It’s that simple. If you’re nickname is “Genius” because of your brilliant, super creative ideas that you come up with daily, then franchising is not for you. Go back and read the previous sentence again. It is imperative that you are passionate about the product or service and are completely committed to executing the company’s marketing plan. If not, consider starting your own business.

Excellent People Skills. You need to enjoy working well with others as a team. If you don’t like interacting with others, you’ll become stressed, your employees and customers will sense it, and ultimately your business will suffer. Instead, display the positive behavior that you want your employees to model when dealing with your customers. A happy, positive, “customer is always right” attitude must prevail at all times by you, your managers, and the employees.

Strong Work Ethic. A must for any potential franchisee. If you don’t possess strong, disciplined work habits and have burning desire, you might as well work for someone else and punch a time clock. Any successful franchisee will tell you that they work until the job is done. They don’t quit when the whistle blows. They’ll do anything it takes to get the job done. Having true passion to work for yourself will tend bring out this work ethic automatically.

Well-Capitalized. Obviously, franchising costs can be significant. Franchisors will not move forward with candidates that are under capitalized. You’re facing an initial investment, the franchise fee, and ongoing royalties due to the franchisor. Most small to medium sized franchises require a franchise fee of $5,000 up to $30,000. Royalties are usually a percentage of the income that your business generates, which you in turn pay the franchisor, typically ranging from 3%-7%. Don’t let these costs scare you, though. In return, you are receiving the use of the “brand”, which is significant in that you’ll attract customers immediately. Many franchisors offer assistance with financing. Also, you’ll tap into the volume discounts on product purchases you’re entitled to as a result of being a franchisee.

Willingness To Ask Questions. Asking great questions is a true sign of strength. A successful franchisee will ask the franchisor’s support team or another franchisee for advice when he/she is stuck or unclear. You must be coachable and be prepared to implement the advice you receive.

Risk Averse. While it’s true that there is no guarantee that you will be a successful franchisee and there is some risk involved, your chances of failing are substantially reduced with a franchise, as opposed to starting your own business from scratch. Statistically speaking, U.S. Department of Commerce states that franchise businesses are exponentially more likely to succeed than individual new start-ups.

Finally, research, research, research. And seek out assistance. It’s virtually impossible to conduct a thorough franchise search alone. A seasoned franchise consultant can arm you with the knowledge you need to make an educated decision on the business that is the closest fit to your specific requirements.

Franchising is a great business model if you have the necessary skills and mindset to follow a winning formula. If you truly possess the characteristics spelled out above, chances are you have a solid foundation for success as a franchisee.

Find Your Perfect Business

About the Author:

Cory Barber is a professional franchise consultant affiliated with the world's top franchise broker network. His free, confidential consulting services help guide you through the entire process of purchasing a franchise based on your background, skillset, lifestyle, and financial goals. For more information about his free Franchise Consulting Service contact Cory at his office: 877-271-4305.

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - 7 Elements Of A Highly Successful Franchisee

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PRINCE2 Training: Myths & Misconceptions

Myth 1: PRINCE is an acronym for Projects in Non Commercial Environments

PRINCE2 began life in the public sector and, as a result, many people perceive PRINCE as not being relevant to the private sector; or at best only to organisations providing services.

In fact, PRINCE stands for ‘Projects In Controlled Environments’. Crucially, its purpose is to provide a structured project management method which can be applied to any project situation. This can then be scaled to suit projects ranging from office relocation to the building of a nuclear power plant.

Myth 2: Only project managers looking for a job study PRINCE2

Because an increasing number of job advertisements specify the need for candidates to have successfully completed PRINCE2 training, a culture of cynicism has been directed towards the scheme.

My own experience is that the primary driver for people to embark on PRINCE2 training is their existing employer. Very often they have concluded that delivery of project benefits is inadequate so training is provided to enable employees to learn a more rigorous, and beneficial, approach to project management.

As PRINCE is taken up by more organisations, a secondary result is that employers find it more efficient and convenient to recruit managers who are already PRINCE trained.

Myth 3: PRINCE2 training marks you out as a competent project manager

• The PRINCE2 Foundation qualification marks you out as someone who has invested time in understanding the structure and terminology of a PRINCE2 project. You will be able to act as an informed member of a PRINCE2 project team.

• The PRINCE2 Practitioner qualification marks you out as someone able to apply the principles of PRINCE2 to practical real life scenarios.

Training for these qualifications alone does not make you a competent project manager.

In theory, the PRINCE2 training could be successfully completed by a student with zero project experience. However, it’s the combination of theoretical understanding and years of practical experience across a range of projects that truly signifies a competent project manager.

Myth 4: PRINCE2 training involves a three day Foundation course and a two day Practitioner course

The majority of people studying PRINCE2 undergo training in this format but it is not the only way.

The PRINCE2 Foundation exam is normally taken on the final day of a three day instructor led training course.

The PRINCE2 Practitioner exam is normally taken after a further two or three days training. In many cases, the training takes place over five consecutive days with the Foundation exam on the Wednesday, and the Practitioner exam on the Friday.

A number of accredited training organisations now offer instructor led training in alternative formats to suit differing learning styles and diary commitments. These include:

Four plus One - Foundation training for three days - An initial Practitioner training day - Final Practitioner training day and exam held one week later giving time for additional self study

Weekend - Foundation training of three days from Friday to Sunday - Practitioner training and exam undertaken over the following weekend (Saturday and Sunday)

It is also possible to take the exams at independent examination centres following self study of the PRINCE2 manuals, or having studied an accredited distance based learning pack.

Myth 5: The new multiple choice exam is dumbing down the value of PRINCE2 training

In September 2007, a new format for the PRINCE2 Practitioner exam was introduced to replace the former essay based exam.

Although the new exam follows a multiple choice format, it is undeniably thorough in its range of questions. It still lasts three hours, and still tests a student’s understanding of how to apply PRINCE2 principles to real life scenarios. However, it is no longer possible to refer to any material other than the PRINCE2 manual during the exam. Find Prince2 Training Courses at Focus on Training

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Steve Twine is founder and Managing Director of Focus on Training. Focus is a fast growing training organisation that specialises in project management. It works in association with most of the leading accredited providers of ITIL, PRINCE2, APM and MSP training.
Find ITIL Training at Focus on Training

Source: http://www.articletrader.com

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MLM/Network Marketing Company Check

When it comes to choosing a network marketing company, there are just too many to choose from. There are about 50,000 network marketing companies in existence today. New companies open up each day. With the coming of the internet, network marketing industry changed forever. Anybody could literally start a network marketing company from their home.

Internet has made it so much easier to start an online business, and network marketing business is not an exception. However, that also caused some problems. There are many people who don’t know anything about business, but with the power of the internet, are able to start a new work-at-home scheme and collect large paychecks.

The concept of network marketing is very powerful in promoting a product. It’s a fact that businesses grow much, MUCH faster, when using the multi-level marketing approach, rather than using traditional methods. With the power of the word-of-mouth and the power of the network, these companies can reach the $1 billion mark in revenue in only a few years.

However, not many MLM companies do. Almost all network marketing companies go out of business within their first year of existence.

Traditionally, starting an MLM business meant working for 2-5 years and then retiring with a yearly income of $1 million dollars. But if the company you partner up with goes out of business in a few months, all your efforts go down the drain, and that’s not fun.

So, how do you choose a company that will get you there, and not go bankrupt on you? Here are some pointers.

Learn about the company founders. Network marketing is a business, and needs people who are knowledgeable in the area of business to run it. Research how much experience in the business world the founders of a company have. A lot of MLM companies are started by former distributors who got tired of working for another MLM company. But just having a little bit of experience as a distributor, doesn’t mean you’ll be able to run a full blown business.

Training. Does the company have a good training system, that will enrich you as an individual, or is it simply using you to sell their products? A lot of times, even if you fail in network marketing, the knowledge you get from the training is well worth the investment of your time and money. Does the company have regular training webinars? Some good companies will have webinars almost every day. Does it provide you with the tools necessary to succeed? Can it teach you how to sell?

The product. Does the company offer good products? Ask yourself, if this product could be sold retail, instead of through network marketing, would I be able to sell it? The most successful companies have products that change people’s lives. A good point to consider is whether it is better when a company has a catalogue of products or just one product. It seems like the more products you have, the more revenue you get, right? Not really. Did you know that Redbull has only one product? Yet it’s the number one selling energy drink. That is because they can concentrate all of their advertising efforts on just one product and be the best at it. So when you go out and try to convince people to join your company, it’s much easier when you have only one good product, rather than trying to make a two-hour presentation on all the products your company offers.

Time in operation. While it may be tempting to jump from one hot new thing to another, to gain the top position in the company, it usually is not a good idea. Keep in mind that most companies don’t survive even their first year in business. Some people just jump from one thing to another, and never make any money, because their new company that promised so much, ended up going bankrupt in several months. You want to choose a company that has proven stability. Find out if the company at least paid off their start-up loans. Having debt is such a shaky ground to run a business. However, joining a company that has been around for 50 years may not be a very wise choice either. People who joined decades ago made a smart move, but new people might end up at the bottom of the ladder for a long time. If a company has been around for too long, chances are people have heard about it and tried its products, and there aren’t very many potential customers left for your share. So choose a company that is not brand new, but that also has a potential for future growth.

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Aleksey is the owner of www.mlmcomparison.info, a social networking site that has a goal of reviewing the multitude of MLM companies in existence.

Source: http://www.articletrader.com

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Dynasty Resources BPO Services

Availing the benefits of Dynasty Resources Data Entry services can make a lot of difference in the performance standards of your business, whether small or big. Dynasty Resources BPO allows you to increase the rhythm of your business activities in a rapid pace, save time, save money and gives you many other competitive advantages. Dynasty Resources Data Entry have the industry experiences along with the flexibility to accommodate the needs of our clients. Dynasty Resources BPO provide quick and accurate data entry services for any business that needs data to be extracted from any source.


Dynasty Resources BPO specially trained operators are experts in handwriting analysis and keyboard operating skills. Dynasty Resources Data entry undertake data entry projects of any volume. Dynasty Resources Data Entry offer high quality, cost effective data entry services. Dynasty Resources BPO solutions will surely fit your needs whether it is a one time need or an ongoing project.

Data is the backbone of any organization. Whether you are planning, analyzing , every stage and every level of person in the organization requires data. Data as such is not of any use, even if the best of the data is available. The data is required to be transformed into Information to get the best out of it. Today for the industries like IT that creates huge data processing everyday, Data Entry is very difficult and requires huge investments as well as lots of time to keep the records up to date. It is now very important to outsource data entry jobs. For more details http://www.dynastyresources.net


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Representing Dynasty Resources BPO Services in the website http://www.dynastyresources.net

Source: http://www.articletrader.com

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Which class of mobile phones do you really need?

There was a time when people mostly wanted and needed only basic mobile phones, with the possibilities to talk, send and receive SMSs, and perhaps a speakerphone. Colour screens and polyphonic ring tones were what the upper class had to offer, and at the very peak of mobile phone technology were models which had some low resolution cameras, or even mobile Internet access. Today, all of these characteristics are to be found in most entry level mobile phones, except for the camera. So, the question really is, what do you need from all the features offered today in the mobile phone market, and which class of phones should you go for?

Truth is, having a mobile with a colour screen and Internet access is sufficient for most people, they can put in their colour background, phone and send SMS, download new ring tones. What can't they do? The one feature separating the entry level from the middle class of mobile phones is MMS capabilities. And it will be frustrating that sometimes someone sends you a picture of the important thing they are doing, and you can't receive it. Of course, there is the round trip of scaling it down and posting it to a WAP Internet site for interchanging pictures for you to see it, but it is too much trouble for the person to do, and then for you also. Also, having a camera always handy is a great possibility. And what about playing music and recording videos? For that, the higher segment of the mobile market is reserved. Playing mp3's is something even some entry level phones do, but only those which are more expensive have enough memory space to carry your music around. Mid level phones, without possibilities to expand their memory capacity, usually have enough space just for one song, which can be sufficient if all you want to do is just play that one song to your friend. You rarely have the need of playing more songs to people, and having the possibility of playing Java j2me games on the mid class mobile is another vote in favour of it. For those having separate cameras and mp3 players in their possession, or having no need for them, getting anything above a mid class phone is a waste of money. And when you calculate how much those service provider deals cost, you may find that it is better to buy cheap mobile phones and go prepaid, than having Vodafone, O2, Orange or any of the rest own you for a year or two.


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If you would like more information on cheap mobiles, why not see the great offers available at www.mobiles2yourdoor.co.uk today!

Source: http://www.articletrader.com

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Mobile Phones - Mobile Phone Books

All the rage in Japan though yet to take off in the UK is books published directly to your mobile phone. They are called, surprisingly enough, Mobile Phone Novels. Each chapter is an individual text message. It started in 2003 with a somewhat risqué novel called Deep Love. We won't go into any of the details here, but it went like a storm in Japan and nearly three million copies were sold to mobiles. It was a great example of viral marketing as it spread like wildfire through social groups and networks.

Authors can distribute the books chapter by chapter as they write it. The readers can even participate in determining the direction of the plot by sending messages to the author, who may or may not bow to popular demand. Alternatively there are currently hundreds of books available for purchase.

Testimony to the growing popularity of mobile phone novels is the fact that in 2008 they made up half of the ten best selling novels in Japan.

Although they are very popular, they mainly tend to be lacking in literary merit and have been severely criticised by more traditional authors and critics. However there are others who believe the phenomenon to be a great movement forward in encouraging creativity. Many people who have never before written anything creative are now churning out popular novels.

Many of the authors achieve cult status, and can achieve massive circulations and kudos though not necessarily a great deal of money.

It is probably unlikely that this will become big in the UK. The Japanese youth culture is heavily into Manga and other comic books featuring mainly adventure, romance, fantasy and adult themes. The mobile phone novels lean heavily on this culture, and build on similar themes. It is an interesting phenomenon but probably not for us, not yet anyway.


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The growth of the mobile phone industry has given rise to a host of online mobile phone shops - leaving the consumer inundated with prices, ranges and information on new releases, may phone shops now offer insentives such as Free Nintendo Wii etc


Source: http://www.articletrader.com

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