Technology Feature Articles

Technology Feature Articles

Franchise Sector Showcase

Informative Technology franchise articles to support business buyers, franchisees, and franchisors.

Sure, you're measuring your advertising spending and marketing budget. But are you measuring the numbers that matter? Savvy franchisors who do are reaping bigger rewards at significantly lower costs.
  • Steve Olson
  • 8,987 Reads 1,023 Shares
As the "franchise world" turns toward technology that allows us to respond automatically through emails, send links to articles, and educate customers through "mass information" emails, we may be looking past a simple premise of selling such as "building a relationship."
  • Marc Kiekenapp
  • 3,691 Reads 6 Shares
Looking back at how technology has evolved in franchising, by far the most significant changes have taken place in the area of lead management. Some industry experts trace the first concerns over franchise lead management back to right around the invention of fire, while others maintain the issues arose later on in evolution, shortly after Nixon resigned. No matter. Franchise lead management and the use of technology for other mission-critical functions in franchising have come a long way in the past 20 years.
  • Dan Martin
  • 4,487 Reads 12 Shares
The franchise community landscape was dramatically different for executive search 20 years ago. When we began servicing the hiring needs of franchisors in 1983, the franchisor population was in the hundreds, with almost all franchisees, owners of individual locations. A very small number of U.S. franchisors had any international presence.
  • Doug Kushell
  • 3,530 Reads 5 Shares
So Franchise UPDATE is now 20 years old! When Ripley Hotch asked me to reflect upon developments in franchise law over the last two decades, I was honored. After all, I was there - the whole time and much before! I have been fortunate enough during my career to have served as a member of, a contributor to, or observer for, many of the groups that have influenced the direction of franchise law, and I have read hundreds of precedents that have made franchise law what it is today.
  • Rupert M. Barkoff
  • 3,656 Reads 1,014 Shares
Remember pulling up to the Jack in the Box drive-thru in the 1970s and placing your order through an over-sized talking Jack head where the voice on the other end sounded like a grown up from a Charlie Brown cartoon. You had no idea what the person on the other end was saying or how your order would turn out. Times have changed and the evolution of technology in the fast food industry is picking up the pace - and making the fast food arena one full of strong franchise opportunities.
  • Kerry Pipes
  • 33,849 Reads 7 Shares
Life was easier for a franchise sales person in 1987. There were fewer media, fewer regulations, and what prospects knew about your brand was mostly what you told them.
  • Steve Olson
  • 3,739 Reads
Twenty years ago, when you wanted to know what was happening in your stores, you might have called in mystery shoppers. They would clock how quickly your front-line employees were greeting customers, whether your store displays followed the plan-o-gram, and whether your operations manual was in play.
  • Bill Fromm
  • 3,682 Reads 9 Shares
From Mail Boxes Etc. to The UPS Store, a quick history; or, 27 years in 90 seconds or less.
  • Eddy Goldberg
  • 11,801 Reads 8 Shares
If history has taught us anything, it’s that not all good things from the past necessarily follow us into the future. Employee attitudes and work ethics that were around two decades ago are no exception.
  • Gloria Plaisted
  • 4,954 Reads 1 Shares
In professional sports, successful players and teams, can be made or broken by the quality of the coaching. It's no different in the business world. There are so many businesses and executives today who need help in sharpening up fundamental skills, coaching team members, or assistance in growing departments. As a franchise business consultant, you can provide some relief and help them make the right call.
  • Kerry Pipes
  • 2,652 Reads 4 Shares
Sonny’s BBQ
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Since 1653, when Izaak Walton published The Compleat Angler, "compleat" has come to mean many things beyond what Walton described as "a Discourse on Fish and Fishing." The dictionary tells us it means classic or quintessential. But compleat also implies mastery far beyond the basics, conjuring up words like visionary, leader, even master.
  • Debbie Selinsky
  • 4,268 Reads 7 Shares
This issue's Tech Talk takes a look into four ways franchise companies are using technology to improve their business: 1) integrating digital surveillance with POS systems; 2) contactless retailing; 3) protecting the brand in the online era; and 4) using an online service to track promotions and referrals.
  • 4,034 Reads 1 Shares
This issue's Tech Talk looks at two ways area developers can save time and money by using technology to improve their management and operations: 1) using Web-based software to conduct online meetings for all or some of their sites; and 2) using in-store cameras to improve operations on the fly and provide a digital record that can improve customer relations and protect employees at the same time.
  • Ripley Hotch
  • 3,059 Reads 4 Shares
Training: the second leg of the hiring, training, and retaining triathlon so many multi-unit operators struggle to complete every day. Area Developer asked training experts at three brands - Regis Corp., Little Caesars, and PuroSystems - about their training programs - and how an emphasis on a high-quality training program, incorporating innovation and technology, remains a cornerstone of their growth strategy.
  • Eddy Goldberg
  • 5,697 Reads
Technology companies have always searched for a way to integrate functions in various devices or programs. The advantages to a provider are obvious: more functions mean more charges that can be made, or greater customer loyalty.
  • Ripley Hotch
  • 6,204 Reads 1,014 Shares
In 2007, chances are there's a sign franchise near you--offering customers a wider array of choices than ever before, thanks to continuing technological advances, especially in communications and digital imaging.
  • Eddy Goldberg
  • 3,072 Reads 43 Shares
David Asarnow, 38, might make a good case study in the genetics vs. environment debate. His great'grandfather and namesake, David Bauer was an Eastern European immigrant who opened the first discount pharmacy in Newark, NJ in the early 1930s (according to family lore). But it was his grandfather, Jules Bauer, who also built a successful business, who set the 5'year'old David on the business track.
  • Eddy Goldberg
  • 6,478 Reads
As highlighted in last quarter's Investment Insights column, most of us are not particularly suited to be wise investors. In fact, neuroscientists are increasingly proving what veteran investors and asset managers alike have long suspected: Individuals make a lot of not-so-rational choices when it comes to dealing with their money, investments and financial affairs.
  • Carol Clark
  • 3,366 Reads 1 Shares
"Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night stays these courageous couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds." That's a slogan most of us recognize when it comes to the mail. And while the U.S. Postal Service is functional, it offers limited services, restricted office hours, and is not exactly known for its efficiency of service. (It's not called "snail mail" for nothing!)
  • Kerry Pipes
  • 3,214 Reads 1 Shares
Financial experts agree it’s a good idea to help existing and future franchisees find the best financing methods to launch or expand a franchise. While you may not be able to offer franchisees a financing package, it makes good business sense to provide as much practical information as possible concerning where to apply for and successfully land business loans.
  • Joan Szabo
  • 3,940 Reads 24 Shares
MSA Worldwide
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Google can search the equivalent of a stack of paper 70 miles high and find any piece of information in that pile in less than half a second. And it's better information, more relevant information, than any other search engine. That's why people love it.
  • Jack Mackay
  • 3,102 Reads 1 Shares
Franchising is founded on the concept of replicating success at the unit level. But Mary Rogers is taking that premise one better: she's replicating success at the franchisor level.
  • Eddy Goldberg
  • 5,033 Reads 22 Shares
"Franchise development simply requires a solid process, it's really not rocket science." That's what Steve Olson, publisher of Franchise Update Media Group, said as he opened his presentation of this year's Mystery Shopper Survey results at the company's recent Franchise Development & Leadership Conference in Atlanta. It's true. A consistent system of quick response and lead qualification can separate the wheat from the chaff and ultimately lead to more sales, more quickly.
  • Kerry Pipes
  • 3,704 Reads 13 Shares
Franchisors know the Internet is a valuable and necessary tool for generating leads. But for many, that's where the certainty ends - and the questions begin.
  • Eddy Goldberg
  • 3,981 Reads 10 Shares
Everyone's heard of mystery shopping. It's that practice where an unknown "customer" checks up on a business when they're not looking. Mystery shopping can uncover successful practices and, unfortunately, embarrassing deficiencies. But the good news is that the collected information can be used to help those operations and procedures that need improvement and correction. The data also can provide affirmation for those practices companies are performing well.
  • Kerry Pipes
  • 4,347 Reads 4 Shares
The news is hardly surprising: another new domain name has been introduced. Yet this time, the news is different.
  • Lee Plave
  • 7,439 Reads 1,023 Shares
Where are franchise leads coming from? What’s the cost per lead? What recruitment tools work best? Those were just a few of the questions asked in Franchise Update Media Group’s 2007 Annual Lead Generation & Sales Survey, presented this past October 4 - 6 at the 8th Annual Franchise Development & Leadership Conference, held this year at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Atlanta.
  • Kerry Pipes
  • 5,175 Reads 1 Shares
Mr. Rogers, of children's television fame, would have felt right at home at the Franchise UPDATE's 8th Annual Leadership & Development Conference--The Playbook: Winning Strategies for Franchise Success. No one would have raised an eyebrow at the close of the conference if they'd heard his reassuring voice in the hotel lobby singing those familiar words: "It's such a good feeling..."
  • Kerry Pipes
  • 3,767 Reads 1 Shares
It's human nature to want to be recognized and appreciated. After all, those kinds of accolades help to determine how we feel about ourselves as well as our careers. It's certainly no different in the franchising world. Franchisees want to know that they're more than just another cog on the wheel. They want to feel valued. When they feel like they play an active role in the decisions affecting their business, they're going to work harder. When they work harder, they're generally going to be more successful. And, of course, more successful franchisees mean a more successful franchise organization. So say the franchise executives who are really tuned in to their franchisees.
  • Kerry Pipes
  • 3,909 Reads 18 Shares
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