Franchise Manuals Interview with David Bullock Part 1

I am talking to David Bullock, the Director of Sales at Franchise Manuals LLC http://www.franman.net/ .

David, you are on the front lines with our potential client base. That means that you hear the good, the bad, and the ugly. One of the things I like to do from time-to-time is to visit with you about the responses and reactions to our product line.

Kit: David, for the sake of the reader, describe the companies that you spend the most time talking to. Are they smaller start-up franchisors, or are they the more established franchisors?

David: The majority of the businesses that I speak with are the more established franchisors. Many of them operate several different brands as well.

Kit: When you talk to them about their manuals, what are their major concerns?

David: You may be surprised to hear that most of them have the same concerns. The difficulties of keeping the manual updated ranks pretty high on the list, if not at the top.

Kit: Why are manual updates so difficult for the companies you speak with?

David: The reality is that most companies don’t have a system in place for accomplishing manual updates. In addition, these companies simply don’t have the human resources to devote to a manual update project. Most employees are already overloaded with a full workload. When the manual update project is added, there just isn’t enough time in the day.

Kit: What is the typical approach by a franchisor for updating their Operations Manual?

David: Typically, a company will pull personnel from other areas of the company in order to complete the project. The problem with this approach is that whenever you delegate the manual update project to different departments, you have multiple authors and it becomes a patchwork set of documents instead of a cohesive Operations Manual.

Kit: What have you heard about our newest product, The Online Manual by FranMan www.franman.net/onlinemanual.html

David: People tell me that the Online manual by FranMan is an incredible product. They love how user friendly the online manual is compared to the traditional paper manual. They also tell me that they love the real time updates feature that keeps their franchisees current on all the system standards. In addition, they say that the system eliminates the added expense of printing and distribution of manual updates.

Kit: David, if anybody reading this has any questions for you, how can they contact you?

David: They can call me at 214-448-6291, or they can e-mail me at david.bullock@franman.net