When people talk about examples of turnkey businesses, a common explanation that arises is that an owner opens the door to the business one day and starts running it. Unfortunately, that’s too simplistic an explanation. The business owner still has to learn the operation, hire staff, and be trained on how the business functions in the future. Franchising is often considered turnkey because you’re buying a proven method of operating a business. You don’t have to create the business from scratch; the details you need to be concerned with are laid out in the franchise agreement, and the method of operating the business is described, in detail, in the operations manual. Both of these are available as part of the franchise disclosure document (FDD) that you see before becoming a franchise owner. In evaluating what is a turnkey business and what is not, here are three characteristics to consider:
1. The Foundation is Set
A turnkey operation saves you a lot of preparation time. You don’t have to source suppliers, find real estate, oversee construction, plan a logo, manage copyright and trademarks, and all the other aspects that go into opening a business. If you’ve researched what goes into starting a business, you have some idea of the things that have to be done, and it’s extensive. There is one more highly beneficial aspect of having all this legwork done for you: It’s done correctly. When you’re new in business, or even new to a certain industry, you can think you’re doing everything right and still make errors. With a franchise, that responsibility is on the franchisor, and the information supporting all of those details forms part of the FDD.
2. Opening Inventory Established
A turnkey operation also includes your full opening inventory. To give you some idea of what that entails, for a Merry Maids franchise, the opening inventory is more than 70 items! A true turnkey operation provides you with everything you need to open for business from the beginning. This also allows you to plan properly for reordering inventory and supplies for the future because you have an appropriate starting point.
3. The Operations Plan is Ready
A turnkey business also needs an operations plan. You can’t just be open; you also have to be operating. The Merry Maids operations plan covers every single aspect of the business. In our FDD, we detail the table of contents of the operations manual. Here is a look at some of the items addressed in operations:
- Confidentiality, values, partnership promise
- Annual and regional conventions
- Licenses, permits, tax registrations, and payments
- Required hardware and software
- Banking, electronic funds transfer, insurance
- Background checks, OSHA programs, recruiting, employee record storage, hiring handbook
- Full cleaning instructions and details
- Full sales planning, sponsorship, and co-op programs
- Reputation management, crisis planning, and referrals
- Budgeting, forecasting, billing, collections, tax reporting, and audits
As you can see, there’s a lot to know about starting a business. This is the level of detail provided to you in a turnkey business.
Growth Options Are in Place
All business owners may not have the same growth goals in mind, but a turnkey business still provides a path for those who want to see how far they can take the business. Growth options look different with every business – an expanded product line, more customer segments, increased sales area – but they are aspects of a business that should be present even at the start. Opportunities can arise at any time, and you need to be prepared to capitalize on them. Franchises also come with terms of operation that can be renewed. That sets up a perfect time for a review of how the franchise owner wishes to continue. With Merry Maids, the term of a franchise agreement is 5 years. This allows the franchisee time to experience the business and see the growth opportunities. They can then decide on increasing territory size, adding a national accounts program, and capitalizing on different marketing initiatives to grow other aspects of their businesses.
Merry Maids Is a Turnkey Franchise
When you join Merry Maids, you get everything you need to launch your business and that includes being prepared as a business owner. Our training covers not only cleaning but also marketing and business operations.
The Merry Maids cleaning franchise is dedicated to helping franchisees grow their businesses. We stay on top of industry changes, hiring practices, consumer trends, and business operations to ensure franchisees can stay at the top of a very competitive industry.
Contact us to learn how our franchise opportunity could be what you’re looking for as a business.