Through endless repetition soldiers commit to muscle memory every detail of each maneuver so they can perform without thinking in the mind-numbing chaos of battle. Managing the crises that threaten franchisors' brands and systems requires no less preparation. Advance planning enables franchisors to contain and limit the threat posed by sudden adverse events. Conversely, establishing a crisis management team, choosing its members, crafting effective talking points, and selecting a spokesperson only after the press comes calling is a recipe for certain disaster.

Establish a team now
Crises don't run on schedule. To respond effectively when a crisis arises, a team should be ready to act at a moment's notice. Forming a crisis team in advance ensures that key members are available, know their role, and are prepared to formulate the franchisor's crisis response and execute it...

Consumers have an infinite number of ways and places to talk about your brand. Social media platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, online blogs, podcasts and YouTube are fundamentally changing the way we work and interact with each other, with an increasing blurring of business, commercial, social and personal communications. As a result, these social media platforms can provide beneficial (and inexpensive) ways for franchisors and franchisees to market and promote their products and services.
While social media can provide great brand promotion opportunities, it also can be very dangerous. Social media is often viewed as a fast and informal means of communication, and given the fast-paced nature of social media, one can easily get caught up in the rapid back-and-forth responses inherent in the social media environment...

This is Part One of a three part series presented by Haynes and Boone, LLP exploring franchise sales growth in 2010.

2009 was a difficult year for most franchisors, but 2010 is a new year and many franchisors are again looking to grow their businesses. Developing and implementing a "non-traditional" franchise program is one of several key growth vehicles that we will explore in our three part series.

What makes a franchise offering "non-traditional"? The easy answer is that it differs from your standard prototype offering, but there are degrees of differentiation and the "non-traditional" nature of the offering can be derived from: (1) the location (i.e., captive customer audience locations such as airports, hotels, motels, casinos, sports arenas, stadiums, convention centers, hospitals, universities and schools, museums, theme parks, aquariums, military and governmental facilities and shopping mall food courts); (2) the operator (i...