Franchise Articles

Moving your franchise business phone system to the cloud can increase employee productivity, improve customer service, and lower IT costs. Imagine a phone system that lets you change your system's outgoing message within minutes, not days; easily add and tie multiple stores or restaurants together; and enable field agents to use their business numbers to call and text customers from their smartphones.

All of this is possible in the cloud. Yet, most franchise businesses have not yet experienced these benefits. Many still rely on legacy on-premise business phone systems commonly referred to as a PBX (public branch exchange). These systems are designed for a 1990s work environment when employees came into the office every day; used desktops, not laptops; and made calls using desk phones, not mobile devices...

Executive review committees are typically composed of senior franchise executives who review a candidate's qualifications before granting them a franchise. If you are a founder just starting up your franchise, employ a close business associate, franchise consultant, or other trusted advisor to be a part of your committee. They can help in your decision-making process, and provide greater credence to your professionalism.

It is the committee's decision at the conclusion of Discovery Day whether to extend a franchise offer or disqualify a candidate. Successful franchisors prominently position this venue as the final qualifier in granting new franchises to prospective buyers. It's a legitimate "country club" approach that helps safeguard the future of both the organization and prospective franchisees...

Generation Y. You know they're out there. But are you still scratching your head trying to figure out what to do about Millennials?

Accept them or not, they are here to stay. They're entering the workforce in record numbers, taking their first jobs with your companies, rising up through your leadership tracks, looking at your franchise opportunities as investments, and becoming some of the fastest-growing multi-unit owners in franchising.

Truth be told, they're even launching competitive businesses--often because they don't feel like they can grow fast enough in other companies. That should make you wonder: What messages are you sending them?

With a passive approach, you will inevitably experience Millennials and their impact...

David Buckley, CMO at Sears Hometown & Outlet Stores, Inc., is a busy marketing executive. He's responsible for the development, planning, and execution of the consumer marketing strategies for not just one, but four retail chains under the Sears label. He also oversees marketing efforts for the brand's more than 1,200 locations. Before taking the CMO post with Sears, Buckley spent time as global director of advertising for the Associated Press, where he led the advertising strategy for digital assets, focusing on mobile and tablet technologies. For more of Buckley's views on the role of today's CMO, see the Q2 issue of Franchise Update magazine, available online by the end of May.


Describe your role as CMO.As CMO for Sears Hometown & Outlet Stores, Inc...

When Brandon Jones was in the third grade, his teacher asked the class to write about what they wanted to be when they grew up. "Most kids said things like 'Be a policeman or a firefighter,'" says the 33-year-old today. "I wrote 'Own a bar with my dad.'" It may have sounded funny to his teacher, but that's exactly what he went on to do.
Jones grew up in La Porte, Ind., a town of about 22,000. He was a hard-working kid who was throwing newspapers by age 13, earned enough money to buy his own moped at 14, and stayed busy doing various jobs when he wasn't on the athletic field or in the gym. When Jones was still a toddler, his father converted an old house into a small tavern, and it was here that Jones would finally fulfill his third-grade desire...

Rewarding its customers drives growth at Harrah's

I attend a lot of franchise conferences in Las Vegas. When you look around there, gambling seems to a very profitable business, right? But you also look around and see a ton of competition. And no matter where you play, it is basically the same games. By that description, the casino business is a commodity business. Same games, lots of choices.
What is really the difference between one casino and another?
Let me tell you a story about the unlikely little company that has become one of the world's most distinguished casino operators. The company started as Harrah's in Reno, Nevada. Over time, Harrah's was acquired by Holiday Inn and built casinos all around the U.S...

Using innovation and technology to compete

If you and your franchisees are currently making a profit, let me remind you: There are people who are dedicating their lives to taking that profit away from you. (And no, I am not talking about the government.) I am talking about innovators: people who break with conventional industry practices while most players just maintain the status quo. I just had an amazing experience with a company called Uber, which is killing competitors with innovation.
My story starts at an out-of-town event held at an executive's home. When I needed a taxi back to my hotel, my host said, "You should user Uber. They are very fast and reliable. You download their app, sign up with your name and your credit card information, and it uses your smartphone's GPS to know exactly where you are...

Creating a customer-focused culture requires strategy and constant review. Each year you should review your goal setting and organizing efforts. Take the time to apply these same disciplines to your customer focus. I suggest going as far as renovation and retrofitting.
I encourage you to look at two areas - processes and people - to strengthen your customer focus.
Organizations' processes and systems can get complicated. Too often businesses have an internal focus that can create hassles for the customer. Customers want ease, simplicity, and responsiveness. No matter how the customer contacts your business, hassle free is their desire. Look at your website, social media, call center, phone handling, and in person contact. Where are the interaction points that can cause glitches, delays, and frustration? Evaluate how hard it is for the customer to reach you and get a timely response...

Themes of resiliency and optimism within the franchise community permeated the air at this year’s Multi-Unit Franchising Conference at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, March 27-29. As the event’s theme implied, these individuals are not only driven but believe the best is still ahead.
There were more than 1,200 conference attendees this year – several hundred of them franchisees. They represented food, service, and other retail concepts. They came seeking knowledge, networking opportunities, and looking for additional brands.
General sessions at this year’s event featured heavy hitters like Hollywood mogul Peter Guber, who has served as studio chief at Columbia Pictures and co-chairman of Casablanca Records, and today heads up Mandalay Entertainment, and Mark Kelly, former astronaut, Navy pilot, and husband of US Representative Gabrielle Giffords...

All employees are unique in what motivates them to perform to their capacity and excel in their profession. Most will do what is expected of them, but the motivated employee will go to great lengths to exceed expectations. The key is for managers to discover what truly drives their people. Once their motivation is understood, leaders have the power to get the most out of their employees.
Managers often feel there is no need to motivate their employees as long as the pay is adequate. Yet research has demonstrated that the majority of personal motivation is based upon a host of other significant factors such as achievement, recognition, responsibility, personal growth, and advancement.
Compensation is certainly a motivating factor, but it is often linked to these more prime motivators...

Kelly Saxton remembers his very first job flipping burgers at his grandfather's diner in South Hutchinson, Kansas. "I guess that means that I've been in the restaurant business my whole life! I come from several generations who have worked either in restaurants or in the food industry."
Today he is founder and executive chairman of The Saxton Group, a Dallas-based company that is the largest franchisee of McAlister's Deli, and operates 50 of the fast casual restaurants in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas, and four Pinkberry frozen dessert locations in the Dallas area. Recognized by Southern Methodist University's Cox School of Business as one of the top Dallas companies for dynamic growth, the company has earned McAlister's Deli Franchisee of the Year and Developer of the Year awards numerous times...

Does recent history give us a good basis for what to expect for franchise development in 2013? Certainly there is some guidance that can be taken from the past few years. After all, we're 3½ years past the technical end of the Great Recession, and we have data for the first 2½ years of the "recovery." (We're just starting to compile the 2012 results.) So let's see what the data might suggest for 2013.
Based on a sample representing more than 70 percent of all franchised units at the end of 2011, the number of franchised units increased at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2 percent between 2005 and 2011. As we know, and as the graph clearly shows, growth significantly slowed starting in 2008, the year the financial crisis hit...

Different types of international franchises are being granted today for U.S.-based education, food and beverage, retail, and service franchises. The level of franchisor investment and control for each type of franchise varies. How do you know which method to use when expanding internationally? Master franchises, area developers, company-owned stores, or joint ventures? We look at the five types in use today and the pluses and minuses of each.

Master franchise
Five to 10 years ago, the master franchise was the most common international type, used about 90 percent of the time. In this model, the franchisor grants exclusive rights for a country to one franchisee, often with the right to sub-franchise once the franchisee has shown they can operate the business correctly in their country...

CMOs and branding executives looking for ways to more effectively engage customers online are frequently hamstrung by the relative newness of the technology and different social media platform, as well as by a shortage of time to "do it right."

Yet, as social media evolves, more automation and off-the-shelf solutions will continue to appear. Hubspot – an inbound marketing pioneer serving 8,000 companies in 56 countries – has created The Ultimate Library of Inbound Marketing Templates, which contains 11 free, downloadable templates to ease the burden for a variety of publishing and marketing tasks.

The 11 templates are:

David Buckley is a busy marketing executive. As CMO for Sears Hometown & Outlet Store, Inc. (NASDAQ: SHOS), he's responsible for development, planning, and execution of the consumer marketing strategies for not just one, but four retail chains under the Sears brand. He understands traditional media while embracing the advantages that digital media have brought to the marketplace. Before taking the CMO post with Sears, he served as global director of advertising for the Associated Press, where he led the advertising strategy for digital assets, focusing on mobile and tablet technologies.

Describe your role as CMO. I am responsible for the consumer marketing strategies for four unique formats: Sears Hometown Stores, Sears Home Appliance Showrooms, Sears Appliance and Hardware Stores, and Sears Outlet Stores...

The following article, which appeared on the Forbes.com website earlier this month, explores the ongoing shift in the balance of budgetary and decision-making power from CIOs to CMOs - and highlights the need for marketing and branding executives to expand their role and work more closely with IT to achieve their company's marketing goals.

The chief marketing officer is now in control of IT marketing spend. A few years ago it might have been the CIO but no longer, to hear the industry tell it.

"The era of the CMO is now here," Larry Bowden, vice president of portals and web experience with IBM told me a few weeks ago. The CMO is, it is now widely assumed, best able to determine what technology will once and for all identify what customers really truly want, what trends are lurking below the horizon that will affect the company and, for good measure, the meaning of life...

Spend your social media time more efficiently: a 10-step plan
Small businesses seeking to take advantage of social media face the same problem they have with everything they want to do that isn't absolutely necessary to keep the business going: time. There simply are not enough hours in the day to do everything that needs to be done and interact on social media - even though they know it's important, and that their customers expect them to be there. This 10-step action plan from blogger Heidi Cohen aims to help small businesses maximize their social media efforts and use their time more efficiently.

The "Three S" model of content marketing: search, snack, and share
Internet users receive an average of more than 3,000 brand impressions every day...

I've often heard this comment by franchisees: "I keep my own books to save money, but I really hate the process!" Just as often, I've made the following response: "Business owners/managers should do what they do best; focus on making it and selling it."
If you really do hate bookkeeping (and I know I do), there's a predictable outcome: at 10 p.m. on the last day of the month, you'll still have 3 or 4 items you're not sure where to put--so you'll just "shove them in somewhere."
After a few months, your books and records will be riddled with inaccuracies. Since all of my previous articles have focused on using the powerful tools of Profit Mastery to make better, more strategic financial decisions, the lack of accurate financial information will render these financial tools useless because the data you're using is not accurate...

When one brand just won't do, growth-hungry franchisees add new ones. And why not? Operating multiple concepts provides power in numbers--units, brands, territories, and cash flow--plus the additional security of spreading risk across different brands and territories.
But as experienced multi-brand operators will quickly tell you, it takes an efficient infrastructure to successfully manage more than one brand. Their organizations have talented people at all levels who know how to work well together to benefit the company, its employees, and its customers. Then there's the leverage multi-brand franchising creates, the economies of scale in advertising, market penetration, and buying power, to name just a few areas.
We've again asked FRANdata for their latest data on multi-brand franchising...

"What's your best advice for women in business?"
It's a question I hear frequently as more and more women strike out on their own, whether it's to start their own company, write a book, turn their great idea into a product, or otherwise monetize their talents. The number of women-owned businesses in this country is growing 1.5 times faster than the national average. From 1997 to 2011, they increased by 50 percent.
I love seeing this surge of confidence! Putting yourself out there is risky, but it's better to try and fail then to spend a lifetime wondering, "What if?"
Yes, I do have a favorite piece of advice for women in business but first, a word about self-employed women. Did you know that our businesses added 500,000 jobs over 10 years while other privately held firms lost jobs? That in 2007, we accounted for $1...