Facts, not Fiction, Lead to Franchise Success

The following is an article submitted by Guest Author, Katryn Harris. Katryn is the CEO of Open Box, a company focused on helping franchisors use technology to build their franchises. She brings her background in management, business strategy and communication as well as her team of technical experts to work with franchisors, ensuring that their technology fits their business strategy and moves their franchises forward. Be sure to check out Katryn’s blog.

Feedback Loops and Franchise Success
By Katryn Harris

A few days ago, I was talking with Greg Nathan from the Franchise Relationships Institute about his software product that helps franchisors select franchisees who are the most likely to succeed.

In brief, the Franchise Relationship Institute does this by benchmarking characteristics & traits of past successful franchisees and then providing a system that compares new applicants with those traits and characteristics.

Greg is a trained psychologist and works strong in the scientific tradition; hypothesize, measure, analyze and then compare results with hypotheses. One of his current projects is the validation of the exact extent to which is product is successful in predicting new franchisee success and, not surprisingly, his results will be fact based & very precise.

Listening to Greg talk about the validation project, I was struck again by how vital these feedback loops are to franchise growth.

Successful franchises implement the best programs and systems they can come up with, but then they measure, analyze and adjust based on the numbers and results (rather than what they ‘think’ is happening). And the faster they can complete this cycle (and then start it up again), the more likely they are to be successful in the long term.

From 1-800-GOT-JUNK?’s Net Promoter measurement tool to calculation tools for attrition rates to sales performance indicators, business growth is fueled by knowing exactly what is actually happen so the best actions can be taken. One of our customers ties client satisfaction records into payroll bonuses for their employees, which is a great motivator to get everyone in the company on board in trying their hardest to keep the clients happy – you can imagine what that has done for their referral and return customer rates.

What are your best scientific tools to create feedback loops and do more of what is working & change what isn’t?

Introducing “Virtual Franchise Events”

Virtual Franchise Events, Inc. is a joint venture of Strategic Growth Concepts and franchisEssentials. The mission of this organization is to utilize the latest technology to assist the franchise industry in achieving growth.  This is accomplished thru the implementation of:

• Virtual Franchise Fairs
• Virtual trade shows for individual franchise organizations
• Virtual franchisee training programs
• Virtual franchisee recruitment seminars
• Franchisor executive presentations to the franchise network
• Franchise product development sessions

Virtual events are conducted entirely online with event organizers, presenters, sponsors, exhibitors, and attendees exchanging information and networking from the convenience of their computers.  These events look and feel remarkably similar to their in-person counterparts while delivering the same knowledge-sharing and personal interactions at a significantly reduced cost and requiring less investment of time and staff resources.

An additional benefit of virtual events for the sponsors and exhibitors is the rich marketing data that they deliver – far more than can be obtained at their in-person counterparts.  The anonymity of attendees roaming the in-person event evaporates; instead, sponsors and exhibitors receive detailed marketing data about attendees, much better than any other marketing vehicle available today.  Further, many virtual event organizers see many more C-level executives than at a physical show because attending a virtual event requires less of a time commitment on their part.

For event attendees, it’s much easier to gather information without having to deal with someone hovering to obtain their business card.  In fact, studies show that attendees are more apt to interact with an exhibitor, speaker or another event attendees online than in-person.  New technologies, including the most business-applicable elements of Web 2.0 and social networking, make it extremely easy for professional networking to occur in virtual events.

Click HERE to download a Virtual Events Fact Sheet.

Click HERE for Virtual Event case studies and industry information.

Soon To Be Announced:

A schedule of national and international virtual franchise industry events. Check back soon for more information.

If your firm would like to learn about the benefits of sponsorship for any of these upcoming events, CLICK HERE for information about the variety of sponsorship opportunities available.

Franchise Facts for Canada

As I continue to work with franchise organizations north of the border, I’m excited by the facts about franchising in Canada.

-The Franchise industry in Canada represents over $100 billion in sales annually
-Franchised businesses account for 40% of all retail sales
-There are over 78,000 franchises across Canada
-Canadian Franchise Association membership grows at a rate of 10% per year
-Franchising directly employs over 1,000,000 people
-Every year, thousands of Canadians are improving their lives by becoming franchisees
-Franchising accounts for $90 billion per year in sales nationally or 10% of Canada’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
-Franchising has been reported to account for one out of every five consumer dollars spent in Canada in goods and services

About the Canadian Franchise Association

With almost 500 corporate members nation-wide, representing many of Canada’s best-known brands, the Canadian Franchise Association is the national voice for Canadian franchising and works with all levels of government to ensure the development of industry-made solutions. The CFA promotes ethical franchising and educates Canadians about franchising, specific franchise opportunities and proper due diligence through its many events, programs and publications.

Source: Canadian Franchise Association

Franchise Success: The New Formula

Recently, as I was preparing for the Frantelligence Webinar series with Franchise Business Review, Lizette Pirtle, the author of various blogs including Small Biz Franchise and International Expansion Experts, contacted me to discuss franchise client support, and being able to provide information to her franchise clients. I could immediately tell that she had a definitive passion and desire to help her clients and provide them the resources necessary to continue to build their brands.

Since then, Lizette introduced me to her new blog and book, Franchise Success: The New Formula. Clearly, Lizette is an expert in franchise operations and training at franchisee and franchisor levels. Her more than 20 years franchise experience is expansive covering daily operations, marketing, communications and training. She is passionate about designing franchise operational and training systems that allow franchisees and franchisors achieve the success they seek. With a knack for breaking concepts down and creating efficient and effective processes, Lizette derives tremendous joy in assisting her clients discover and implement their vision. A preview of the book confirmed my thoughts about Lizette’s passion and desire. The book is a definite must-read for anyone in franchising.

Would You Like a Complimentary Copy?

To download a complimentary copy of the book, please click HERE. Once you’re directed to the “Get the Book” page, scroll down to the “Do You Have a Gift Code?” section and look for the “Courtesy of Paul Segreto of franchisEssentials” link. Click the “Download” button and when prompted, type in the case-sensitive Gift Promotion password, “franchisEssentials1” to receive your complimentary copy. All we ask is that once you read the book, please let Lizette know your thoughts, comments, suggestions or stories HERE.

Would you like more than an e-copy? If so, the actual book may be purchased on Amazon.com!

Local Business Listing, Search Engine Rankings and Mobile Devices

The following article has been submitted by Guest Author, Melih (“may-lee”) Oztalay. Melih is CEO of SmartFinds Internet Marketing, an internet marketing company known for developing very creative marketing strategies. Before starting SmartFinds, Melih ran one of the Detroit Metropolitan area’s premiere Internet Service Providers (ISP), SpeedLink, from the early 1990’s where he served for nearly a decade as President and CEO. In the new century he has pursued taking the creative and marketing services from his experience in the 1990’s to businesses via SmartFinds Internet Marketing. franchisEssentials is honored to have Melih as one of its Guest Authors.

Local Business Listing, Search Engine Rankings and Mobile Devices
by Melih Oztalay, CEO at SmartFinds Internet Marketing

There has been an ongoing difficulty for small local businesses to benefit from the Internet. Particularly if they are completely dependent upon the local market. Yes, those businesses still do exist and will continue to exist. As technology has been developing, there is an answer for the local business. It comes in the form of the major search engines having free local listings.

What Are Business Local Listings? In summary this is your free yellow page listings by Google, Yahoo and Microsoft. Do you still need to advertise with the Yellow Pages? This need is definitely dwindling. The upcoming generations are using the Internet and their mobile phones. Most probably are not familiar with the hard copy yellow pages. Baby-Boomers are a growing group of mobile device users…and certainly EVERYONE is using the Internet.

Why Use the Local Business Listings? There are a number of reasons why the Internet local business listings are important to the local business.

1. Listings can show up in search results
2. Helps advertise business for free
3. Helps promote any discounts, offers, promotions
4. Displays on Mobile maps (e.g. iPhone)

The benefits help to increase your exposure through the Internet with this free listing. It can help you reduce your yellow page costs and makes sure you can get in front of your customers when they need you through the Internet or their mobile devices as they are around town.

Additionally these local listings help give you the opportunity to get more information in front of your customers than the yellow pages can ever offer. This would include your menus, your products, services, photos, videos, coupons, offers, promotions to mention a few.

Did we mention this was a free listing? Did we also mention you can update this listing anytime you want? And, lastly, you get statistics about your statistics. Now we’re confident the yellow pages cannot provide statistics. The benefits far outweigh the costs from the hard copy yellow pages.

Do you need your own website? No. Would it benefit you? Possibly, but dependent upon your business. Your free local business listing could be your website. The reason for having your own website would be because the free local business listing is not allowing you to add everything a customer may wish to see.

Like everything else on the Internet, it is best to work with a professional firm that can help get this setup for you. You have to be sure to have the right keywords for your business, along with knowing how to get the listing up to date so it benefits with immediately. Once the local business listing has been updated you can either maintain the information yourself or continue having a low cost monthly fee to have it maintained and monitored for you.

Monitoring your listing is very important as customers have the ability to post reviews about your products, services and business. Of course their ability to review you are not limited to the local business listing and include everything from Angie’s List to Complaint Boards on the web. While this may sound like a negative, you can turn customers with problems and complaints to long term relationship. You have to address their concerns and have them reach out to you instead of the Internet with their emotional frustrations.

Whether you are a single store, have multiple locations, are a franchise or a bank with multiple branches, you will want to learn more about local business listings. Learn more about Local Business Listings and submitting them to the search engines and other local related business websites and directories at SmartFinds Local Business Listings.