[Ian Lancaster]

As I said in an earlier post, it's all covered by the Franchise Agreement.  A fundamental part of any Franchise Agreement is a section called 'Post Termination Conditions'.  These are conditions that continue after the Agreement is terminated (for whatever reason).  When an Agreement is entered into, both parties are fully aware (or should be - the onus is on themselves to be sure they understand it) of all the conditions they are legally agreeing to.  In my case the Agreement states that for a period of 12 months following the termination of the agreement the (ex) franchisee may not approach any persons he knows to be customers of mine with the intention of offering his services as their window cleaner within a previously determined area of 10 miles radius.  (This would obviously be the area in which the majority of the customer he had been servicing resided)

By signing the Agreement both the Franchisor and Franchisee accept all the terms and conditions of the Agreement and if any breach is committed by either party the other would have grounds to sue.  This includes the Post Termination Conditions as above.

In practice if a Franchisee broke his Agreement and tried to continue servicing my customers within the determined area in a time of less than one year after the breach I would take action against him for damages.  This could result in the (ex) Franchisee having to sell his house or any other property he may own in order to pay the damages and costs the court would award me.

What he does after a year is his business, but by that time I would have another Franchisee firmly established which would make it very difficult for him to poach my customers away.

Before anyone points out the obvious let me say that any sensible Franchisor would ensure that his Franchisees had some property (a house with some equity in it, for instance) before appointing  them.

As I said before, franchising has been around for a long time.  It would not have survived if it were as easy as Mick Kent believes to break the Agreement and simply carry on as before.

Think of Franchises like Dyno Rod or VIP Bin Cleaners.  If it were so easy they would all be changing the wraps on their vans and going it alone.

[WGB]

wish you all the best vin,

3year ago was that meeting in the carpark

Does Vin do dogging too?

Belter lol

[Chris Cottrell]

As I said in an earlier post, it's all covered by the Franchise Agreement.  A fundamental part of any Franchise Agreement is a section called 'Post Termination Conditions'.  These are conditions that continue after the Agreement is terminated (for whatever reason).  When an Agreement is entered into, both parties are fully aware (or should be - the onus is on themselves to be sure they understand it) of all the conditions they are legally agreeing to.  In my case the Agreement states that for a period of 12 months following the termination of the agreement the (ex) franchisee may not approach any persons he knows to be customers of mine with the intention of offering his services as their window cleaner within a previously determined area of 10 miles radius.  (This would obviously be the area in which the majority of the customer he had been servicing resided)

By signing the Agreement both the Franchisor and Franchisee accept all the terms and conditions of the Agreement and if any breach is committed by either party the other would have grounds to sue.  This includes the Post Termination Conditions as above.

In practice if a Franchisee broke his Agreement and tried to continue servicing my customers within the determined area in a time of less than one year after the breach I would take action against him for damages.  This could result in the (ex) Franchisee having to sell his house or any other property he may own in order to pay the damages and costs the court would award me.

What he does after a year is his business, but by that time I would have another Franchisee firmly established which would make it very difficult for him to poach my customers away.

Before anyone points out the obvious let me say that any sensible Franchisor would ensure that his Franchisees had some property (a house with some equity in it, for instance) before appointing  them.

As I said before, franchising has been around for a long time.  It would not have survived if it were as easy as Mick Kent believes to break the Agreement and simply carry on as before.

Think of Franchises like Dyno Rod or VIP Bin Cleaners.  If it were so easy they would all be changing the wraps on their vans and going it alone.

Ian did i imagine it or didnt there used to be a sticky post at the top of the forum where you had written a guide to franchising if so is this still availible

[roundbuilder]

Thanks for confirming that its not upto the customer who they have clean there windows under the franchise contract. It has interested me that franchising is such a safe way to operate over employing. Food for thought.

Cheers.

[Ian Lancaster]

As I said in an earlier post, it's all covered by the Franchise Agreement.  A fundamental part of any Franchise Agreement is a section called 'Post Termination Conditions'.  These are conditions that continue after the Agreement is terminated (for whatever reason).  When an Agreement is entered into, both parties are fully aware (or should be - the onus is on themselves to be sure they understand it) of all the conditions they are legally agreeing to.  In my case the Agreement states that for a period of 12 months following the termination of the agreement the (ex) franchisee may not approach any persons he knows to be customers of mine with the intention of offering his services as their window cleaner within a previously determined area of 10 miles radius.  (This would obviously be the area in which the majority of the customer he had been servicing resided)

By signing the Agreement both the Franchisor and Franchisee accept all the terms and conditions of the Agreement and if any breach is committed by either party the other would have grounds to sue.  This includes the Post Termination Conditions as above.

In practice if a Franchisee broke his Agreement and tried to continue servicing my customers within the determined area in a time of less than one year after the breach I would take action against him for damages.  This could result in the (ex) Franchisee having to sell his house or any other property he may own in order to pay the damages and costs the court would award me.

What he does after a year is his business, but by that time I would have another Franchisee firmly established which would make it very difficult for him to poach my customers away.

Before anyone points out the obvious let me say that any sensible Franchisor would ensure that his Franchisees had some property (a house with some equity in it, for instance) before appointing  them.

As I said before, franchising has been around for a long time.  It would not have survived if it were as easy as Mick Kent believes to break the Agreement and simply carry on as before.

Think of Franchises like Dyno Rod or VIP Bin Cleaners.  If it were so easy they would all be changing the wraps on their vans and going it alone.

Ian did i imagine it or didnt there used to be a sticky post at the top of the forum where you had written a guide to franchising if so is this still availible

I think that may have been at the top of 'another forum'

I did a seminar at Windex several years ago and the PowerPoint presentation was available for some time afterwards.  It was fairly basic, just a series of pointers really, to help me with the talk.

[Ian Lancaster]

Thanks for confirming that its not upto the customer who they have clean there windows under the franchise contract. It has interested me that franchising is such a safe way to operate over employing. Food for thought.

Cheers.

To clarify: the customer has every right to choose who they want to clean their windows, it's just that in this instance, the one they may want to choose doesn't have the right to do it!

[WGB]

Would you care to share this info ? .............. I have heard it said that you work on ratios ?? ...... Ive always been a knock on the door type of person but now just going over to leaflets so any insight would be appreciated 

Nothing secret about it.  There are plenty of threads where I do discuss it.

The core is keeping track of what you do.  If you just pop out and drop off a few leaflets you're working in the dark when calls come in.

I keep very accurate records of how many leaflets go out, by what method and where.  Then when someone calls we always ask exactly where they heard of us.  If it's a leaflet I know how it was delivered.

So, I know that overall, if I have 225 leaflets delivered solus (lots of posts on here about how I do this), I'll get a customer (not an enquiry, a customer).  Doesn't matter if it's an area I've covered before, I'll still get 1 per 225.

If I have leaflets delivered with the local free rag, I get one customer for around 800 leaflets.  However, those cost about a third as much to deliver as solus, so the cost isn't too far out.  It's also a lot quicker and easier to do.

The numbers in anyone else's area will be different, so don't base anything on this set.

So, if I need, say 200 customers, 45,000 leaflets will do it.

I hope that answers what you were looking for.

Thanks,

Vin

Absolutely brilliant Vin, have been reading some of your other threads on leafleting and is main reason im going for mass leaflet drop this year!

[Steve Sed]

Would you care to share this info ? .............. I have heard it said that you work on ratios ?? ...... Ive always been a knock on the door type of person but now just going over to leaflets so any insight would be appreciated 

Nothing secret about it.  There are plenty of threads where I do discuss it.

The core is keeping track of what you do.  If you just pop out and drop off a few leaflets you're working in the dark when calls come in.

I keep very accurate records of how many leaflets go out, by what method and where.  Then when someone calls we always ask exactly where they heard of us.  If it's a leaflet I know how it was delivered.

So, I know that overall, if I have 225 leaflets delivered solus (lots of posts on here about how I do this), I'll get a customer (not an enquiry, a customer).  Doesn't matter if it's an area I've covered before, I'll still get 1 per 225.

If I have leaflets delivered with the local free rag, I get one customer for around 800 leaflets.  However, those cost about a third as much to deliver as solus, so the cost isn't too far out.  It's also a lot quicker and easier to do.

The numbers in anyone else's area will be different, so don't base anything on this set.

So, if I need, say 200 customers, 45,000 leaflets will do it.

I hope that answers what you were looking for.

Thanks,

Vin

Absolutely brilliant Vin, have been reading some of your other threads on leafleting and is main reason im going for mass leaflet drop this year!

Wasn't it Lee Pryor that was mass dropping?

[Joe Martin]

Good luck Vin, hope it all works for you.

[Perfect Windows]

Wasn't it Lee Pryor that was mass dropping?

Lee does indeed mass drop.

I have done mass drops in the past but then moved onto drip drops; steady, regular streams of leaflets going out week after week.  When I was filling up they were perfect, as I'd end up with a manageable number of first cleans each week.

One memorable mass drop got me thirty (IIRC) new customers in one day and left me in something of a state of panic.  The steady drip of calls was much more pleasant.

The good news about maintaining statistics on your drops is that if you want, say 20 customers, you have a good idea of how much to send out.  You won't end up with 5 and desperate or 40 and wondering how you're going to manage.

And, back on the subject of franchising, the franchisee doesn't have to worry about any of this; I do.  That's part of the expertise they are paying for.

Vin

[Perfect Windows]

Good luck Vin, hope it all works for you.

Thanks, Joe.

The good news is that enquiries are starting to come in.

Vin

[Pro-Poler]

If I was a franchise and I told a customer that I have had a disagreement with the franchise holder and informed the customer who I have built up a trusting relationship with that I have to return their job to the franchise holder and the customer expressed a wish to stay with me not a franchise holder who doesn't clean their windows and they have not built a trusting realtionship with I think I'm pretty confident in saying it's up to any residential customer who they want to clean their windows.   

[Pro-Poler]

Thanks for confirming that its not upto the customer who they have clean there windows under the franchise contract. It has interested me that franchising is such a safe way to operate over employing. Food for thought.

Cheers.

To clarify: the customer has every right to choose who they want to clean their windows, it's just that in this instance, the one they may want to choose doesn't have the right to do it!

How is this policed?

[Ben wood]

The customer could go with you yes. But I bet the franchiser could then take you to court and get money out of you for breaking the agreement.

[Perfect Windows]

Thanks for confirming that its not upto the customer who they have clean there windows under the franchise contract. It has interested me that franchising is such a safe way to operate over employing. Food for thought.

Cheers.

To clarify: the customer has every right to choose who they want to clean their windows, it's just that in this instance, the one they may want to choose doesn't have the right to do it!

How is this policed?

This has been answered pretty comprehensively by Ian in the post above: http://www.cleanitup.co.uk/smf/index.php?topic=165222.msg1386903#msg1386903

Partial quote:

"...it's all covered by the Franchise Agreement.  A fundamental part of any Franchise Agreement is a section called 'Post Termination Conditions'.  These are conditions that continue after the Agreement is terminated (for whatever reason).  When an Agreement is entered into, both parties are fully aware (or should be - the onus is on themselves to be sure they understand it) of all the conditions they are legally agreeing to.  In my case the Agreement states that for a period of 12 months following the termination of the agreement the (ex) franchisee may not approach any persons he knows to be customers of mine with the intention of offering his services as their window cleaner within a previously determined area of 10 miles radius.  (This would obviously be the area in which the majority of the customer he had been servicing resided)

By signing the Agreement both the Franchisor and Franchisee accept all the terms and conditions of the Agreement and if any breach is committed by either party the other would have grounds to sue.  This includes the Post Termination Conditions as above."

I hope that clarifies.

Vin

[dave0123]

If I was a franchise and I told a customer that I have had a disagreement with the franchise holder and informed the customer who I have built up a trusting relationship with that I have to return their job to the franchise holder and the customer expressed a wish to stay with me not a franchise holder who doesn't clean their windows and they have not built a trusting relationship with I think I'm pretty confident in saying it's up to any residential customer who they want to clean their windows.

He's not saying the customer cant choose.. course they can they can have anyone want to clean there windows. but the person they would like to use who is the ex franchisee has signed a contract that he will not encroach or steel any customers that belong to the franchisor! .. how hard is it to work out :s its the same in a lot of employment contracts as well.

How is this policed?

How you mean how is it policed??? simply buy if you see him cleaning windows on the round you .. proceed taking him to court.. its legal both parties have signed up to it.. go and read the small print on an online shop - terms and conditions - no reads them but theres all sorts of clauses in them you agree by ticking the box wen buying something.

[Pro-Poler]

The customer could go with you yes. But I bet the franchiser could then take you to court and get money out of you for breaking the agreement.

This would be very hard to get to stand up in court, ultimately surely the occupier of the property has every right to select who ever they want to carry out work for them?  

[Perfect Windows]

One thing to stress that is perhaps being missed in all this talk of legalities is that if you get to the point of waving the franchise agreement around to back up an argument you're stuffed.  The secret, as in all relationships, is to keep talking and keeping everyone involved content with what's happening.

Frankly, if I ever had to get the franchise agreement out of the drawer, I'd consider myself to have failed in some way.

Vin

[Perfect Windows]

The customer could go with you yes. But I bet the franchiser could then take you to court and get money out of you for breaking the agreement.

This would be very hard to get to stand up in court, ultimately surely the occupier of the property has every right to select who ever they want to carry out work for them?  

As has been said several times, you are absolutely correct.  The occupier of the property can choose whomever they want to clean their windows.

The ex-franchisee, however, will not be able to carry out cleaning without breach of contract, so won't be cleaning the customer's windows unless they want to breach the contract. 

Vin

[dave0123]

This would be very hard to get to stand up in court, ultimately surely the occupier of the property has every right to select who ever they want to carry out work for them?

It would quite easily stand up in court actually ive seen it happen in another business with regards to franchise some were made to pay a lot of money and went bankrupt through it. Its a long process and seen people loose weight over it from worry.. it certainly isnt something you'd want to do.