Providing Franchise Manuals for Step by Step Procedures

Franchise Consulting Services

Don’t waste your valuable time trying to reinvent the wheel. If we would have started our business using USG for guidance, Caruso’s Franchising Corp would have saved about three years and a lot of money. It only makes sense to learn a new business from people that have done the trial and error- it’s that what franchising is about? USG has created professional manuals, an innovative website, and marketing materials that give our company the tools that we need to be successful. USG has turned our ideas into reality.

Celle Caruso
Caruso’s Sandwich Company

USG is simply a cut above… I get a behind-the-scenes look at many franchise brands, and their work is impressive! USG’s franchise manuals provide exceptional documentation that’s motivating, easy to read and use. It’s just what new business owners need to start strong, and seasoned owners need to stay strong.

Cindy Anderson
Great Biz Plans

Getting Down to Business

Franchise manuals are critical operations tools needed for ensuring the proper launch of franchise units and maintaining consistency during developmental and expansion stages. Franchisors rely on Upside Group Franchise Consulting to write customized, step-by-step franchise operations manuals, along with a comprehensive suite of topic-specific franchise support manuals, then continue to use our franchise manual writing department to update these documents as needed, and write other manuals to meet the growing needs of the company.

No other firm offers these kind of customized and comprehensive franchise operating manuals. Many offer the basic components and a description of the general process. Upside Group knows very well that no two businesses are alike. While there are several elements that every franchise operations manual should contain, a business owner who sells shoes is going to need a different set of goals and strategies than a sandwich maker. Our experience has proven that to us, and anyone who says otherwise or offers a standardized franchise manual is likely to make a mistake that is sure to be costly in the long run.

Our streamline development process for franchise manuals was designed by franchisors and franchisees so materials are organized, formatted and developed according to common industry standards of order, clarity, style, and terminology, making them comprehensive and user friendly so detailed guidelines and instructions are clear for future franchisees, and the business being franchised is a replicable unit whose operation can be efficiently and effectively transplanted. Reproduction and distribution of printed and online versions of our franchise operating manuals is coordinated by Upside Group’s Franchise Operations Team to ensure an organized process.

Upside Group Manuals

Franchise Operations Manual

Upside Group’s streamlined manual creation process produces comprehensive Operations Manuals designed to help new franchisees navigate the day-to-day operations of running a business. This franchise manual contains tools that help answer questions and meet virtually all of a new franchisees needs, including information on effective business operations. This extensive information is compiled and transformed into user friendly franchise operations manuals through a proprietary Upside Group manual creation process. Through intimate knowledge of the franchisor/franchisee relationship, Upside Group has developed the most pain free process for Franchisors to transfer their most detailed and important business model information into easy to use franchise operations manuals.

Franchise Manuals: Jumpstart

Upside Group’s one-of-a-kind Jumpstart program is the primary reason franchisees get off to a fast start in their industry. The Jumpstart is a pre-training program that holds your hand through every detail of your new franchise start-up. Step-by-step, we take you from mundane tasks like obtaining your Federal Tax ID Number to more expansive assignments like competition research and the development of your customized marketing plan. The Jumpstart ensures that you maximize your time before training. But most importantly, it ensures that once you return from training, you’ll be ready to grow your business quickly.

Franchise Operations Manual: Marketing

Upside Group offers many types of Marketing Manuals. Whether you are interested in our manual on the Upside Group Corporate Marketing Plan, consumer marketing plan or our own brand of franchise guerilla marketing, we create easy to follow scenarios for growing your business. Our franchise marketing recipe is simple; we arm you with the best marketing materials, the best marketing plan, the best marketing training and the best customer service model to back it all up. During training, you’ll gain an expert level understanding of traditional advertising like print advertising and direct mail, as well as a deeper understanding of using the Internet, networking and referral relationships to market like no one else in the industry. Upside Group Marketing Manuals cover it all and put your franchisees on the path to success.

Franchise Operating Manual: Grand Opening

A proper Grand Opening is critical to early financial success and sustained profits for years to come. Upside Group has identified the most comprehensive and lucrative grand opening procedures in the franchise industry. It is during your grand opening phase that you will reap the benefits from the thorough completion of your Jumpstart items. The techniques and programs of the grand opening are designed to provide maximum exposure for reasonable costs. The detailed preparation and execution of all the grand opening issues is critical to the success of the program.

Franchise Operating Manual: Anniversary

Anniversary celebrations and specialty events are vital components of the marketing and growth of any business. Upside Group will create manuals that provide a step-by-step recipe for franchisees to follow in order to experience a successful Anniversary or Specialty Event.

Franchise Manuals: Employee Handbook

Employee Handbooks are also often called Policy and Procedures Manuals. The Handbook/Manual is a statement of the policies of the business and how the business is to be conducted. The company employee handbook is one of the most important communication tools between your company and your employees. Not only does it set forth your expectations for your employees, but it also describes what they can expect from the company. It is essential that your company has one and that it be clear and as unambiguous as possible. Misunderstandings or misstatements can create legal liabilities for your business. In legal disputes courts have considered an employee handbook to be a contractual obligation, so Upside Group, with the approval of our attorney partners, will create an Employee Handbook that fills this important role. The company employee handbook and related personnel policies should be one of the first formal communications that you will have with an employee after they are hired. We make sure that first impression is a good one. Similarly, in the event of a dispute or poor performance review, this will be the first place that the employee turns. The handbook should contain enough detail to avoid confusion, but not so much as to overwhelm.

Franchise Manuals: Sales Development

Upside Group are the franchise sales management experts. The franchise sales process is like no other and Upside Group, in conjunction with its sales training expertise, has created Sales Development Manuals to walk your franchise sales employees through every step in the process. Whether you are looking to give your franchise development services department an extra competitive edge or just starting the process of franchising your business, Upside Group has created a manual to fit your needs. Upside Group Sales Development Manuals not only cover the mechanics of the sales cycle but also discuss the successful philosophies behind them. Our Sales Manuals were written by some of the most successful and experienced franchise sales professionals in the industry. These manuals are like a recipe for sales success, written by sales people for sales people. We include strategies for handling different types of prospects, sales scripts to follow for each phase of the sales cycle and closing techniques honed during decades of franchise sales management experience. Sales is the engine that drives every business and Upside Group provides your franchise organization with the sales tools to beat the competition.

Franchise Operations Forms

Professional print and online forms provide an easy and accurate means of collecting and submitting information, and eliminate errors and oversights in organizing critical data used for developing databases used in day-to-day operations. Upside offers more than 100 general and industry-specific, and standard or customized, easy-to-use forms for inclusion in franchise start-up manuals, or as stand-alone documents. Each form is designed to be easily submitted via fax, or by simply clicking on “submit” online.

Upside Group Industry Specific Forms

Industry specific forms are available for many sectors of the franchise industry and can be customized to any industry. Restaurant industry-specific forms, for example, may include:

Alcohol Comp Sheet
Bread Order Form
Customer Comment Card
Daily Sales Form
Food Waste Log
Liquor Order Form
Smallwares Opening Order
Waiting List

Upside Group Standard Forms

Standard forms used by franchises in any industry include:

Advertising Checklist
Announcement Letter Form
Business Entity Form
Business License Form
Business Personal Goals Form
Checking Account Set-Up Form
Competition Evaluation Form
Corporate Marketing Form
Credit Card Account Set-Up Form
Direct Mail Coupon Form
EIN Form
Employee Availability
Employee Schedule
Financial Team Set-Up Form
Franchise Evaluation Report
Gift Card Form
Hiring Assignments Form
Job Application
Location Request Form
New Franchisee Form
Orientation Checklist
POS System Form
Proof of Insurance Form
Public Relations Form
Purchased Sundries Form
Radio Broadcast Form
Sales Tax Form
Vendor Participation Form
Yellow Pages Form