Business-to-Business franchises are franchised companies that provide either a product or service to other businesses. Some examples of service franchises include personnel staffing agencies, printing/packing/shipping stores, industrial cleaning businesses, business coaching and training, as well as advertising, marketing, and direct mail companies. Product B2B franchises provide items as varied as signs and banners to industrial flooring, and from office supplies to outdoor lighting.
B2B Benefits
There are several benefits to owning a B2B franchise but the most obvious one is that, as an owner of a B2B franchise, you will be working with other business owners in your community and providing them with a product or service they both want and need. Your key role as a franchisee is to build relationships with other business owners. Then, by providing excellent customer service, you build your own business while helping others to grow theirs.
Some of these businesses require storefront locations, such as a printing and shipping company or one that provides signs and banners. But there are several B2B franchises, particularly service franchises, which allow you to work from a home office. Home-bases businesses, of course, generally have lower start-up costs and lower overhead.
Another benefit to B2B ownership is that the business is usually only open during the week and with normal business hours. Less hours of operation could mean fewer employees and less overall operating expenses. Not to mention that you would have evenings and weekends free!
Business-to-Business franchises also have an advantage in that their customers come looking for them. Today more than ever, business find that outsourcing help makes good economic sense, and they are always looking for ways to improve their bottom line. Also, the Internet has done a remarkable job of bringing businesses together and the result is that eCommerce for businesses greatly exceeds consumer eCommerce. However, your customers find you, the web, the phone book or down the street, as a B2B franchisee you will have the built-in advantage of customers who want what you sell.
Are YOU Qualified?
One of the major values of franchise ownership is that you do not necessarily need to have experience in a particular field to become a franchisee in that field. Franchise systems provide extensive training and help so that the right person can be successful without prior industry experience. A fireman can find new life as an owner of a pest control franchise and a CFO may find a second career providing window blinds to office buildings.
What can be more important than experience is that you have certain personality traits needed in that business. As a B2B franchisee you will obviously need to be very comfortable with meeting people and networking with other business owners. General sales or marketing experience may be helpful in many businesses applications but even more, a firm belief in your product or service will help you sell its benefits to your clients. Of course, hiring a sales person to drive in business may be a good strategy if you lack sales experience.
A willingness to follow the franchisor’s systems and processes is a necessity for any franchisee. If you like to reinvent the wheel at every opportunity, you won’t be happy or successful as a franchisee. Those most likely to be successful franchisees understand that the franchisor’s business model has been constructed for the sole purpose of providing the franchisee with the greatest chance for success.
Franchise Wise
If you are interested in business ownership, there’s probably no better way than to become a franchisee of a stable, well-established, and vital franchise company. You will find all the training, help, and camaraderie that you’ve been looking for and their business models and operating systems will get you up and running quickly. But when thinking of franchise opportunities, don’t overlook the growing area of B2B franchises. Whether product or service, the business-to-business arena is booming, and the possibilities are endless.
