Franchising
Although modern-day franchising originated in the USA, the concept is well established in South Africa. The history of its local pioneers can be traced back to the mid-1960s when George Halamandaris established Steers and a number of other brands. During the 1970s, other sectors entered the franchise arena and today, franchising is used as the preferred vehicle for expansion by companies active in fields as diverse as automotive products and services, food, entertainment and leisure activities, home maintenance and repairs, business services and retailing. When one examines the South African franchise sector, two things stand out: The fact that around 90% of South Africa’s franchise opportunities are based on locally developed concepts. This is in contrast to most countries outside the USA where foreign brands tend to dominate the market. This did not happen here because at the time when franchising took roots, trade sanctions prompted many of the international brands to adopt a wait-and-see attitude, giving South African firms time to develop. The high level of professionalism displayed by bona fide franchisors. This is based on the good work done by the Franchise Association of Southern Africa and its affiliated members who kept abreast of international developments and introduced them to local franchisors. Seen from a prospective franchisee’s point of view, both these factors are extremely important: The advantage of operating under a local brand is that the product has been designed from scratch with the local conditions in mind. For the same reason, local franchisors are best positioned to monitor changing consumer expectations on an ongoing basis and stay at the forefront of developments. It is clear that only a professionally managed operation can be relied upon to deliver on the implied promise of franchising. This is an all time first in the online media where a tried and proven method of website design and marketing has been made available to other entrepreneurs who want to make a go of it but are unaware of all the inherent pitfalls of running an online business. This franchise will allow the franchisee to hit the ground running so to speak and be able to make sales right after training. A force to be reckoned with In keeping with international trends, franchising has evolved from very modest beginnings to become a substantial contributor to South Africa’s economy. Growth has been impressive, with annual growth rates hovering consistently around the 25%+ mark. It is noteworthy that this growth was maintained throughout periods of near-recession. Needless to say, franchising’s growth outstripped inflation by a comfortable margin. Today, about 400 bona fide franchisors, operating through around 25 000 franchisees, serve the local market. Why not make today the day you join the ever increasing ranks of entrepreneurs who have made a success of this way of making a living.
The Gdsyn Franchise:Start-up Pack: • Stationary: Letter heads, complimentary slips, business cards, brochures. • All relevant paperwork, covering pages etc.. • Digital SLR kit. SLR camera body and lens, lighting: Studio Kit and two floodlights. • Tripod • Laptop or tablet • Ulead & Photoshop software. • Training manual. • Pano head. ( for creating panoramic photos and virtual tours); the software will be issued to the franchisee and will be part of the confidentiality clause. • Confidential marketing/ sales stragedy. • Website for franchise holder which will be hosted by Gdsyn . Onsite training and backup. Leads provided, along with a marketing stragedy, the designs will be done centrally. Monthly news letters to all franchise holders updating them on new products and services. Training in marketing as well as enlisting resellers will be included. During the training the prospective resellers will be invited to meet the local franchisee and to sit in on the products training part of induction course. There are a wide range of products in the way of what Gdsyn can afford the client and can provide a sort of one stop shop in the way of services. ( see below). All design will be centrally located to ensure that standards are upheld. The franchise holder will be using the Gdsyn website to market off and the standard seen at this site will need to be maintained. All relevant documentation will be issued to the Franchisee in the way of a CD which contain sales agreements, pricing structures, packages, marketing and sales techniques which are unique to Gdsyn. The Gdsyn branding will be synonymous with a certain way of doing a design or a website. The website will also be used for marketing reasons as well, often the client has gone to the website and decided from that which site they want to go along with and this can speed up production. The franchise agreement will also be reconsidered once every year. (See franchise agreement). The cost of entering this arrangement is R185 000.00 once off and non refundable. The monthly costs are R3500.00 which includes the website design, brochures, virtual tours , business cards and all that it entails. There is no percentage of turnover charges, the franchisee can decide on how best they would like to market their services within the framework of the franchise agreement. Reseller:This is for anyone who wants to make extra commission on referrals. If the reseller sends Gdsyn a deal that becomes qualified he or she gets remunerated as soon as the deposit is received. The reseller will refer the lead to the Franchise holder in the area via Gdsyn. Ideally the reseller will be either a representative from SA Tourism or Brabys who can steer business the way of the franchise holder either in the form of SME deals or Guest Houses. The reseller will have none of the formal training or infrastructural input from Gdsyn, but will have access to using the website and personal for marketing and trouble shooting. The reseller will get their commission as soon as the deal becomes qualified, in other words, as soon as the deposit is paid into Gdsyn’s bank account and has been registered as a legitimate payment, then the commission will be paid immediately. An arrangement can be entered into between a local franchisee and a reseller with the above taken into consideration. The commission structure is confidential and will be an arrangement between the franchisee and the reseller independent of the franchisor. Products:
|
|---|
The Concept:
The question is; Why a franchise? Why invest so much money into something that you could perhaps start up yourself? The answer is simple. You will gain ownership of a proven and trusted brand in the industry as well as a working model that has adapted to the needs of the online market. Gdsyn was registered in 2007 and was built around the skills of its founder Greg Groenewald as a photographer to present the website design for the hospitality industry in the best presentable format possible. The portals www.kzndurban.co.za and www.pietermaritzburgtourism.co.za were also developed to give value added service to its existing clients in the form of banner advertising to drive more traffic to their sites as these portals receive thousands of visitors on a monthly basis. Other products and services have since been developed such as Search Engine Optimization, Social Media Profiling and marketing; the Facebook profile for kzndurban has over 4000 members and the figure is growing daily. Adding social media profiles as well as Twitter, Instagram, Google + and Pintrest are all methods used to broaden the clients electronic footprint. Gdsyn has over the years entrenched itself as a preferred service provider for virtual tours and photography to Wakefields, SEEFF Umhlanga as well as Pam Golding Umhlanga and it is the purpose of Gdsyn to extend these services to other estate agents via the franchise holders. In addition to providing a service to the Bed & Breakfast industry in the form of hosting, photography, website design, online marketing and mailbox accounts, Gdsyn has developed products that encompass the SME market as well which is a vast untapped resource often overlooked by other ISP’s as being individually too small to focus on. This market would include the businesses who have one shop or owner who want to compete on an equal footing with the bigger companies with regards to online visibility. Gdsyn has adopted a hands on approach to its clientele and subscribers in the form of regular courtesy calls, newsletters and phone calls in order to keep ones clients up to date on products as they get developed which increases ones overall client retention ratio. This business model has been tried and tested to good effect and is a hallmark of Gdsyn and what it stands for. It is the wish of anyone interested in becoming part of the Gdsyn branding to employ the same methodology and grow one's own business in this highly competitive market. The whole purpose of the franchise is to get other parties involved in order to expand and grow the brand. For more information on this please contact myself: Greg Groenewald on 083 491 4436 or email me on info@gdsyn.co.za
|
|---|
.png)