Technology Feature Articles

Technology Feature Articles

Franchise Sector Showcase

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

The news is hardly surprising: another new domain name has been introduced. Yet this time, the news is different.
  • Lee Plave
  • 7,298 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
  • 5,078 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
  • 3,690 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
  • 3,803 Reads 18 Shares
Outsourcing has become an accepted method for companies to solve staffing needs. It's a strategy that allows firms to benefit from specific expertise--without the accompanying expense. Mostly, it's been applied to functions like HR, accounting, and payroll. Today, franchisors can outsource their franchise development.
  • Eddy Goldberg
  • 3,810 Reads 7 Shares
The human voice has remained notoriously difficult to capture and convert accurately into text using computers. However, superb programs exist today that, in their ninth and tenth iterations, are finally pretty accurate at transcribing your dictation - once they have been properly trained.
  • Ripley Hotch
  • 3,291 Reads 2 Shares
During the last few years, franchising has experienced an impressive growth in Spain, from 634 franchise systems in 2002 to almost 900 in January 2006, with over 54,000 franchised outlets now open. Accordingly, having access to accurate and relevant information regarding franchisors is very important for a growing number of prospective franchisees, consumers and future franchisors.
  • Laura Montoya Teran
  • 7,698 Reads 290 Shares
Computer technology seems to follow a fairly regular path: first, it automates operations, gaining some time and savings for large operations. Then it becomes cheaper, widespread, and more capable of handling routine tasks. Then it begins to change business functions themselves by enabling tasks that could never be performed before.
  • Ripley Hotch
  • 3,706 Reads 1,014 Shares
I have written often on the subject of the complexity of franchise agreements, and the clear trend over the past four decades to make them even longer and more complex. Why has this trend developed?
  • Rupert M. Barkoff
  • 4,738 Reads 24 Shares
Most small businesses, including franchises, are usually so busy concentrating on running their businesses that they don't realize the toll it is taking on their technology and environment. With limited staff and hours in the day, these businesses tend to grow organically without a specific design or technology plan. Yet these play an important role in how productive a business can be.
  • Jack Hamlett
  • 3,401 Reads 1 Shares
MaggieMoo's began in 1989 in Kansas City but didn't start franchising until 1996, when the company was purchased by its current ownership. Since then it's been steadily uphill for both franchisor and ice cream lovers alike. Today the brand has 190 units and continues its rapid expansion.
  • 4,854 Reads 135 Shares
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National franchise operations have marketed in the same ways for years and years. That is, the national budgets were applied to brand building and the local franchisees were charged with creating local lead flow.
  • John Federman
  • 3,245 Reads 6 Shares
Wouldn't it be great if you could call a home repair service, book an appointment, and be guaranteed they'd show up on time (and not within a four-hour window!), be courteous and respectful, and perform a reliable, professional job?
  • 3,616 Reads 11 Shares
The surest way to lose a good employee is to leave him or her up in the air about what the job is and how to do it.
  • Ripley Hotch
  • 4,246 Reads 3 Shares
Manuel Solorzano was frustrated with his drivers and their excuses. The owner of six Martinizing Dry Cleaning stores in Tampa, Fla. would call his drivers on their cell phones during the day and never know whether he would reach them or not.
  • Linda C. Ray
  • 3,631 Reads
The use of outsourcing continues to expand within the franchise industry. In addition to information technology outsourcing, service providers are being called upon to perform a number of business processes including accounting, call center operations, disaster recovery, human resources management, and sales training.
  • Milton B. Whitfield
  • 3,649 Reads 6 Shares
Web-based Performance Dashboards give you the power to analyze information about the performance of your business and the key activities you manage. As the name dashboard suggests, these are web-based tools that continuously display the current state of your key business metrics. And among the most vital signs of your business health are customer satisfaction scores and customer loyalty trends.
  • Jack Mackey
  • 8,477 Reads 144 Shares
For a multi-unit franchisee, the relationship with a customer doesn't end with the sale. Each purchase of an item or use of your service is a single transaction between an individual customer and an individual employee. Whether it is a quick meal at a sub shop or a thorough home cleaning, this transaction should be the beginning of a long-term relationship with your customer. After the transaction, the relationship must be grounded in not only the quality of the product or service, but also in the strength of your response to customer needs. How do you gauge and evaluate your quality of product, service and response beyond the price tag?
  • Thomas J. Winninger
  • 3,536 Reads 16 Shares
The franchise industry's shift from the paper to the electronic age has been slow and steady, with the lion's share of today's franchise organizations now operating their systems much like the rest of modern civilization: in real-time.
  • Dan Martin
  • 3,522 Reads 1,023 Shares
Successful franchise selling must employ 1) an effective and qualifying process; 2) strong relationship-building with candidates; and 3) a compelling system for closing the deal. These three triggers are universal within any franchise recruitment program.
  • Steve Olson
  • 4,631 Reads 5 Shares
When Linda Burzynski was offered the CEO slot at Liberty Fitness, the franchising veteran says she hesitated, in part because she didn't feel she was in the best shape, physically, to head up a health and fitness organization.
  • Debbie Selinsky
  • 5,606 Reads 23 Shares
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Once there were day spas, places for women (and a few brave men) to spend time being pampered and rejuvenated with lotions, potions, and massages. Today there are medical spas, or MedSpas, which take all the comfort and care of day spas and add the latest in medical technology. MedSpas provide services in comfortable retail settings, services once confined to medical settings and performed by dermatologists and plastic surgeons.
  • Eddy Goldberg
  • 6,320 Reads 448 Shares
Franchise UPDATE, a franchising industry powerhouse, recently rolled out an inventive and client-friendly recruitment system through its website, Franchising.com. Benjamin Foley, webmaster of Franchise UPDATE, developed the new website with improved franchise recruitment features that are unmatched in the industry. Launched in January 2006, the new offerings at franchising.com allow clients to easily view their web stats, adjust filters for potential franchise leads, and post recent company press releases and media placements. "Franchising.com features innovative technology that adapts to our clients' ever-changing needs," said Gary Gardner, CEO and co-founder of Franchise UPDATE. "The simple interface offers an easy way for our clients to increase their exposure on the web, at no cost to the client."
  • Fishman Public Relations
  • 2,906 Reads 10 Shares
Before he even served his first sandwich, Bill Duke signed a contract with an outside human resource organization to handle all his personnel issues. And after one successful year as a single-store franchise owner, Duke is pleased with his decision.
  • Linda C. Ray
  • 3,669 Reads 17 Shares
Much has been made of the benefits of web-based technology as it applies to the franchise corporate office and how it can easily and effectively collect financial data from its franchisees.
  • Kerry Pipes
  • 3,314 Reads 3 Shares
Many area developers are under tight time pressure to open new units. Often, area developers will agree to growth provisions in their franchise agreements that can be unrealistic to all but the most sophisticated operators. Franchisors will, of course, prefer to grant territorial rights to those who promise rapid growth. Once you have been awarded those rights, you may have the best intentions and plans to meet your growth requirements, but you may discover early on that it takes much longer than expected to open each store. The realization sets in early with most that they stand to breach their franchise agreement’s growth requirements and find themselves struggling to catch up. Like a swimmer who panics, a lot of splashing occurs but little in the way of real movement happens.
  • Jeremy Behar
  • 3,185 Reads
Business supplies are like the air we breathe: they're all around, necessary for life, and noticed only when missing. Where would we be without our business cards, business forms, stationery, logo-ized pens, printer and toner cartridges-not to mention all the computing and communication gear and gizmos-that keep the wheels of commerce turning? And don't forget the signage on everything from delivery trucks to the booths of trade shows.
  • Eddy Goldberg
  • 2,735 Reads 7 Shares
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...
  • Franchise Update
  • 5,126 Reads 2 Shares
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.
  • Lane Fisher
  • 3,634 Reads 2 Shares
Quick lube shops may seem to be on every corner of most major American cities, but that's not true overseas in places like China and even north of the border in Canada.
  • Kerry Pipes
  • 6,544 Reads 422 Shares
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