AMEX Reassessing Policies for Small Business Saturday

Looks like we’re making progress on the issue of American Express excluding franchising from its Small Business Saturday event which took place this past Saturday, the day after Black Friday. The following is an article that was posted on Entrepreneur.com earlier today.

Should Franchisees Participate in Small Business Saturday?  BY DINAH WISENBERG BRIN

American Express’s second annual Small Business Saturday promotion, which the company declared a success, also spurred a one-man complaint storm over the exclusion of franchised business locations. Now the giant card issuer is reassessing its policy for the program, which is designed to entice holiday shoppers to independently owned enterprises.

Franchise marketing consultant Paul Segreto, who heads franchisEssentials, deserves much if not all of the credit for airing the issue. He recently took to social media and other Internet forums to complain that “franchising, supposedly the cornerstone of small business and as many claim, the driving force behind economic recovery in America, has been excluded from the event.”

Small Business Saturday offered $25 credits to shoppers who patronized qualifying mom-and-pop stores on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

Segreto noted that American Express solicits franchise brands and franchisees to accept its card and exhibits at franchise trade shows. On Saturday, Segreto tweeted: “I bet #AMEX wouldn’t be very happy if all of #franchising didn’t accept AMEX Cards … even for just one day.”

An American Express spokeswoman says the company is arranging a conference call for this or next week with both Segreto and the International Franchise Association.

Small Business Saturday focuses on small, independently owned and operated businesses that do not benefit from national marketing campaigns funded by a larger corporate entity, according to the spokeswoman. “It’s not our intent to exclude anybody,” she says. The company only recently learned that smaller franchises wanted to participate.

IFA President and CEO Steve Caldeira says it’s a common misperception that franchises are not small businesses, even though most meet the standard definition.

“I’m confident that the franchised business community will play a role in future AMEX initiatives,” he says.

Segreto says he became aware of the exclusion this year after recommending to several franchise clients that they participate in the event; he was astonished when one of them sent him the eligibility requirements.

“That is when I started posting about the situation,” Segreto says, “and when I saw I had support from others within the franchising community, I kept increasing my efforts.”

Technology As The New Norm – Are We There Yet?

As we wind down the year, it’s essential we look forward to the New Year and establish goals and objectives. But, too often we don’t take into consideration how we’re going to achieve those goals and objectives… understanding what’s involved, doing the necessary prep work, learning about technology that will help, etc.

As the world rapidly moves towards “everything digital” it is vitally important, and absolutely essential we stay on top of technology. This cannot be stressed enough! It is reality and is paramount to any type of business success. The key is not to look at this from a negative perspective. Instead, embrace it for what it is, and for what it can do to help grow your business. Technology is not the enemy. It truly is your friend and one that can help you in more ways than you could ever imagine.

Imagine doing business today without computers? Without the internet?

Many business owners in the late ’80′s were reluctant to embrace computers and many thought the internet was a fad and would wither away. Many of today’s business owners have the same thoughts about social media and digital technology. Heck, many are still complaining about Web 2.0, when Web 3.0 is already here!

I guess the most important thing to realize, and probably quite different than looking back at technological advances in the ’80′s and ’90′s is the fact that today’s consumer has embraced technology and has incorporated it into their daily routine. Of course, let’s not lose sight of the younger generations that utilize technology because, quite frankly, they don’t really know any other way of doing things. It’s the norm to them. Actually, many in the younger generations don’t even look at it as technology!

So, back to today’s consumer… As they have embraced technology at a quicker pace than in the past, they demand, correction, expect, brands to have embraced it as well. They also expect brands to be ahead of the curve, and at the very least, ahead of where they are as consumers using technology. I guess a key question to ask at this time is, “At what point does today’s and tomorrow’s consumer meld together and eliminate the transition stage?” I ask that because the transition stage is today’s business owner’s comfort zone. It’s the comfort zone relied upon that minimizes the sense of urgency to embrace technology. It’s the comfort zone that has many business owners stating, “I have time. I’ll check it out next year.” or, “Our customers are older. They don’t use this new stuff. I’ll worry about it when I have to.”

Understand, today’s consumer, regardless of age, has embraced, or at the very least, accepted technology. Their expectations are growing by the minute, and most have ventured far beyond their own comfort zones. Add to this the influence of younger generations that in the past would have been considered to be bringing up the rear, that are now pushing forward, and pushing hard. Before you know it, the transition stage, the comfort zone, will be gone, and business owners that have not embraced and accepted technology will not survive.

Here’s the link to a great article about today’s most popular social networks and who is on them. It’s really a very enlightening article. I highly recommend reading this article and taking a few moments to click on the links to some of the supporting materials.

What Happened To Our Dreams And Goals?

This post was originally published on this site January 2010, but still very relevant today!

I recently came across an interesting discussion in one of the social networking groups that I found quite intriguing, and downright enjoyable to read. It wasn’t about franchising. Nothing about social media. There was no mention of business. Money or finances weren’t a major part of the equation. And, surprisingly, just a few mentions about the poor economy. The discussion was actually about the concept of dreams and goals. It was enlightening that there were over one hundred responses in a relatively short period of time. Definitely a considerable amount when compared to other discussions within the same group. Often, the responses were being posted one right after the other. It seemed like people wanted to talk about their dreams and goals, almost as if they had been prohibited from doing so before.

In light of the economic troubles surrounding us today, it seems the subject of dreams and goals has hibernated like bears for winter. During good times, dreams and goals are out in the open, shared by many. Actually bragged about by some, and the end results, often materialistic, flaunted by others. It’s ironic that we’re taught that in order to achieve a goal, a key element in doing so is to enlist the assistance of people that can help us achieve the goal. Yet, in the current economic climate, discussions about dreams and goals have subsided, and almost disappeared. It’s almost like we feel guilty to have such discussions at this time. Or, that we should just be thankful for what we have and dismiss our dreams and goals as frivolous. What about the dreams and goals that are not financially driven or rewarding? Why have they been put on the back burner? Well, to all of this, I say “enough is enough.” Yes, enough of the poor me attitudes. Enough of the pity parties. And, enough of the social “rubbernecking.” (Social rubbernecking is when people excitedly talk about other people’s miseries – i.e. neighbor lost his job, their house was foreclosed on, he was having an affair – it’s just like slowing down to look at the horrific car wreck!)

NOW is definitely the time to put all the negatives aside and re-ignite the passion behind our dreams. It’s the perfect time to pull out those lists of goals and remember why we wrote them down in the first place. Why they’re important. How they’re important to people close to us. And, how our lives would be positively affected upon achieving our goals and making our dreams come true. Certainly, it’s time to face the realization that it’s up to us to make our dreams and goals a reality. They’re ours. We own them. No one can take them from us. To paraphrase a quote I’ve seen many times (in many different forms) in discussions about success, “There are people that make things happen, some that watch things happen, and others that wonder what the hell happened?” Could you tell which group of people are most successful at achieving their goals and making their dreams come true?

Franchises Excluded from Small Business Saturday – AMEX Responds!

Well, I am happy to say that I have been in touch with AMEX as one of their VPs contacted me directly and apologized for their exclusion of franchising. They just missed the boat on franchising being an integral part of small business. They never even considered franchisees as Moms and Pops investing their money in a small business of their own. All their thoughts were focused on the giants of franchising and not the smaller franchises. Although, I did communicate that even the McDonalds franchisees are small business owners themselves. The long and the short is that AMEX knows they committed a huge blunder in excluding franchising.

Rosa Alfonso, the AMEX VP that contacted me directly, wants to set up a conference call next week with several other AMEX VPs to start down the road of getting franchising involved in next year’s Small Business Saturday. I am so excited they took notice and are willing to do something about it.

As much as I would love to be front and center on this, I recognize that it should not be without the IFA. This is about franchising being recognized as an essential component to America’s economic recovery, as IFA President, Steve Caldeira has promoted since leading the IFA. It’s about continuing to educate, not only the masses, but even the giants of business like American Express. I’m sure Steve and his staff could think of many ways this can further benefit franchising.

To that end, I have reached out to Steve Caldeira and will defer to him and the IFA staff in moving forward. Of course, I look forward to being involved as I am passionate about franchising!

Was Franchising Slapped in the Face by American Express by Accident?

As mentioned on this site, and within several social media and various discussion groups, American Express has excluded franchising from its Second Annual Small Business Saturday campaign. It’s really unclear as to their motive behind the exclusion.

One theory is that franchising is associated with large corporations and brands much the same as big brand retailers like Macy’s and JCPenney. Another theory is that franchising is not considered to have Mom & Pop proprietors running businesses at the local level, right next to and often not much different than independent Mom & Pop businesses.

Still, another theory points towards franchising as only the well-known brands of the likes of McDonalds, Burger King and Taco Bell. There’s even a theory that franchisees are really employees, not business owners, and as such should not be included in the campaign. Yes, the theories are many, and then there were the thoughts (and perception) of individuals outside the franchise community that clearly state that franchising is not small business at all and is nowhere close to the cornerstone of small business in America today. Obviously, there are statistics that prove otherwise.

Below are some of the comments from the franchise community…

“I think that people forget that MANY franchisees are small business owners just the same and still need the support. I think it is a common mis-conception by the public that a franchise = large corporations.”

“Big mistake by Amex! If the franchise owners of america said fine…exclude us and we will stop accepting the Amex card… you can bet their attitude would change!”

“I wonder, then, if a small business (that is not a franchise) that relies on providing a nationally recognized service or product would also be excluded. Are distributors or those with licensing rights excluded?… It’s too bad that franchisees are not recognized by Amex as the hard-working, dedicated, small business owners that they are.”

“Interesting…when I attended the West Coast Franchise Expo in Los Angeles earlier this month, AMEX had a booth and they were handing out fliers to franchisees. When I asked if franchisees could participate in the Small Business Saturday event I was told “yes.”"

“This is very ironic. AMEX is a HUGE business that is more than eager to suck as much profit (or add to the losses) as possible out of small businesses (including franchises) with their outrageous fees. This event has nothing to do with helping small business, but rather is a self-serving promotion for AMEX, which obviously doesn’t even comprehend what small business is all about since they’ve excluded franchises.”

“Not a good idea! Many small businesses are franchisees. In fact, numerous franchisers are small businesses. More research would have been appropriate!”

“Wow – I feel it’s a BIG mistake on AMEX’s part. But it exposes one of the issues Franchising faces. People’s perception of Franchising is Fast Food as represented by the Huge National Chains. Fast Food is only 20% of all franchising. There are over 75 Industries represented in franchising. As a Self-Employment Coach (which includes franchise consulting), I spend a huge amount of time demystifying and demythifying franchising. A franchisee is locally owned and operated and as such should be able to take part this Saturday in Amex’s event!”

So, where does franchising go from here? How does it address this debacle with AMEX from happening again? How does it get AMEX to stand up and take responsibility for making a huge mistake? And, maybe even more importantly, how does franchising continue to educate people that franchising really is small business, and a huge part of it at that?