The Leader Board

Franchise organizations cite these conventions as a vitally important part of their success. Traditionally, the meetings have provided an opportunity to bring franchisees together regularly to share system information and offer training. But these "family" get-togethers are continuing to evolve as franchisors look for new and refreshing ways to attract, motivate, and energize their franchise operators and send them back to their stores full of information and inspiration.

In 1991, Jeff Johnson wife Carol were successful multi-unit franchisees for Schlotzky's deli. They had three units of their own in Lincoln, Neb., and area developer rights for a five-state region in the upper Midwest.

For those of you who have been living under a rock for the past 10 years, I have a newsflash: Since 1995, The Federal Trade Commission has been involved in a rule- making process to amend the FTC Rule (the "Rule") to change certain disclosure requirements and to recognize certain changes to the franchise business sales model and use of technology in the franchise sales process. What we know is the likely substance of the changes; what we don't know is when they'll be implemented.

Time for my annual "just got back from the IFA Convention" column. I saw lots of my lawyer friends while there-also met a lot of suppliers, franchise consultants, academicians, journalists, and franchisees. Occasionally, I even came a cross a franchisor. Didn't see too many psychologists, however. Why not?

For Don Cape, franchising came as an afterthought-and a good one. Cape, 34, who grew up in a family that developed land in Montana, focused his education and early career almost exclusively in real estate, finance, and development.

This fall, Franchise UPDATE conducted its eighth annual lead generation and sales survey. Once again, the Internet received the lion's share of budgets and generated the most leads. We are noting the continuing strong trend toward broker networks-almost everyone is making some use of these networks.