Doc Franchise Writings and Ramblings

I do not know a franchise company that doesn't attempt to train their franchisee's to create an organized and "intentional" marketing program. Part of that would be of course to create a calendar to organize by and then execute the calendared events.

Most do not create the events so that they don't feel badly about not executing on it. We must change this!

To all my franchisee, Action Coach Consultants and small business friends it’s 60 days before the end of the year. Let's finished the year strong.

I've made these sound as if they are "end-of-year." The truth is these ideas work around any time of year, but help when they are tied to significant dates or celebrations. Some of these are not tightly defined as "marketing" but perhaps sales & marketing campaigns. These are simple and straight forward. That was my intention. Pick only one or two of them. But, know that in doing so you could change your momentum and begin a very strategic start to 2010.

All the best...

1. Plan a year-end webinar series. Record the webinar, and sell both the live event and the replays. Or consider using it as a lead capture tool to bring people into your marketing funnel in exchange for free access to the webinar replay.

2. Share a compelling customer case study. This can be shared with new prospects, or those who just haven’t made a decision yet. Be aware of updated FTC guidelines especially as it relates to testimonials, endorsements, and disclosing any compensation. (I am not lawyer, and this is not legal advice. It is something to consider before investing in a case study.)

3. Issue a press release on anything that would be classified as newsworthy of your work, company or client successes for your market. There are both paid and free online press release services. Consider PRWeb.com or OpenPR.com.

4. Create a simple contact your best customer program (Minimum: Top 10 but a better number is 25-30) Mix a short survey in with a valued personal gratitude gift to them. Determine if there are special needs you can meet in their business by end of year. Take this opportunity to also connect with them on any social networks they may be on (Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc.). And please, remember, ALWAYS ask for referrals.

5. Prepare a Thanksgiving email message, expressing what it is you are grateful for relating to your work and your family. Provide a gratitude offer to them (You are making the special offer because of your grateful heart over their patronage).

6. This next one is a no-brainer P.R. driven ubiquitous opportunity: Celebrate “Black Friday” with a “Black Friday” themed campaign of your own. Since “Black Friday” is for retail businesses who are becoming profitable for the first time in the calendar year (going from red ink into the ‘black’), talk about how your product has helped customers be profitable from day one, or within NN days of purchase. Build a story around the success customers have had with the product. Refer to a case study (#2 above).

7. Consider a marketing campaign themed off of the 12 Days of Christmas. Perhaps build a tip list of the 12 essential tools necessary to get the job done. Some of these tools can be ones you sell, but don’t make it all about buying from you (yet). Offer value.

8. Cap off the 12 days campaign with a special 3 day sale of your tools. Done right, the campaign should help them understand how your product or service would benefit them, and an enticing offer to cap it off will help them make a decision (to buy).

9. As an end-of-year message tell your marketplace of your most successful product, or business activity so far this year. Then offer a special sale to commemorate the accomplishment. Use email marketing or social media — or both — to communicate this event.

10. CRITICAL: Set goals and objectives for whatever marketing activities you engage in for the next 60 days. This not only helps understand the results, but often yields better results (see Hawthorne Effect). It will also serve as a guide to future marketing activities, as you learn what your market responds to.

Happy Hunting!

- A Compendium of Info For Franchisor and Franchisee - Ergo Certainly not Exhaustive

A few weeks ago I promised I would develop some thinking about the Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) previously called the Uniform Franchise Offering Circular (UFOC). Let me clear the air about the FDD in a single sentence as it relates to how I feel about it: The FDD is a significant and important document.

Any franchise professional, franchise attorney, franchise company executive, franchise consultant...even franchisee should agree that it is a significant starting place in your understanding of the franchise you have under your review.

It is so important to me I would suggest you read 3 or 4 FDD's! More on this later.

Franchiser Key Point 1:If a franchise company has someone they believe to be a "hot" candidate and somehow the person drags their feet on the reading of the FDD, you should not shout for joy because they won't have to deal with the significant aspects of the business that might concern them once they are read and revealed. No, you should be concerned because they are taking are not facing up to A) the process of acquainting themselves properly with your concept and B) Operating by their gut which may or may not be in synch with your business model.

Now, to a thinking man, especially someone who revels in details and information, it would be unthinkable that someone would ignore this document. I am sure that it seems ridiculous, given the size of the investment, that anyone would just not pay attention to it.

But, the reason you read the FDD isn't why you might think. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) does in fact (regardless of what they might otherwise state) evaluate and approve every document. In fact, if you read 4 or 5 of these you realize that 80-90% of the content is identical one to the next regardless of the kind of franchise or brand. Why? Because they all need the FTC's approval. A Simple way to do this is to make sure that the language used by previous approval's is part of your document.

Franchise Candidate Point: You don't read the FDD to determine how the franchise company is attempting to trick you. They're not. They gain nothing by tricking someone into a multi-year business relationship! You read it to understand that particular franchise companies nuances. The document has no legalese and is written in 5th grade English. You can or should be able to understand it.

Franchise candidate even when considering a highly recognized national branded franchise opportunity, you still need to read all the franchisor's documents carefully, yes, every single page. Because you need to understand your responsibilities to operate your business and there minimum level of commitment to train and support your efforts.

If there is anything about the franchise business opportunity that you do not understand (you may be new to the field or to a form of marketing, etc.) you need to have it explained to you by the franchising company (and they will) or a franchise consultant (always a good idea) or maybe a franchise attorney (But it's kind of silly to have someone explain what is written in 5th grade English then charge you $1000-$7500).

There is a huge difference between franchise business opportunities to invest in and, typically those differences show up in the unique business proposition of the operating systems and the expenses of a particular franchise offering. The 15% unique content you find in an FDD is found here and you need to understand it thoroughly.

Franchisee Candidate Point: The terms, conditions, financing, equipment, exclusive territories and price will surely be different, sometimes by extremely wide margins from one franchise to the next. You will find this information within the FDD.

Some words of caution to everyone.

Consultants: Do your job and understand, deeply, the concept of the FDD. You do not have to know every franchise FDD that you might be associated with; particularly those consulting firms that evaluate and have hundreds in their inventory. You do have to be able to talk a candidate through each of the 23 points of the FDD so they know what it means. You also need to have enough knowledge to help them understand why certain language is used, how it protects the system, a part of which they are considering becoming. Otherwise they get stuck in "Us vs. Them" mode and the document appears to be written with the company only in mind and not with the entirety of the franchise system.

Franchise Companies:Every year you have to "re-up" your agreement with the FTC and with the 13 (currently) unique registration states. Use this time to consider ways to simplify the language and create an agreement that has more possibilities to develop "win-win-win" scenarios (You, the franchisee, the end-user). Anything you can innovate that gives your system an opportunity to rise to a higher level of relationship and client concern (franchisee's and end-users are both your client) will provide you with energy and positive momentum. You might consider using representatives within the franchise system to do this. If you have questions about this give me a call. I can help.

Potential Franchisee or Franchisee Candidates The Franchise Disclosure Document is meant to provide you with information relating to:

1. The business of the franchise company

2. The operating system and how it works, is trained and supported

3. Your involvement, responsibilities and expectations

4. The investment and ongoing expenses related to the business in their entirety as understood today.

5. How the franchise company, (with the support and help of the FTC) is attempting to ensure the survival of the holistic and entire organization. Remember, today you are on the outside attempting to protect your right and reduce your risk. But one day you might be a part of the organization. Ask yourself, what rules and regulations do you want the next guy to have to follow so that your business, good name and reputation and ongoing reasonable expectation of success is not diminished?

One last note to those of you looking at franchise disclosure documents, remember 438,000 +/- franchisee's operate in the United States today. They all signed franchise agreements having had to review an FDD or similar document (UFOC). These are not all dumb people. Do yourself, the franchise company, and perhaps the consultant who represents you (especially the consultant) a favor. Do not make yourself look dumb. Don't try and talk anyone into the notion that this document is some evil, diabolical trick to destroy you and your family to the 5th generation. Along those same lines you need to know that no one, operating a franchise in the USA (or Canada) goes to their place of business each day and opens up the FDD, reads it, so they make sure they don't brake a rule. The document information is common sense people. Owning a franchise, regardless of what goofy thing you hear is simply another way of owning your own business. Only you and your crew can ensure your success because you are the ones daily who are on the firing lines. The FDD simply gives you the parameters within which to operate that potential success.

Make the FDD work for you but then put it on the shelf. You'll be opening it again about 6 months prior to deciding whether you wish to re-sign your agreement! And that will be 3, 5, 7, 10, 12 years down the line.

John is a 26-year professional in the franchise industry. He has been a franchisee, a franchise executive and an advocate/consultant to the public and to dozens of franchise companies. He is the founder and managing partner of Wilson Associates and can be reached at docfranchise@gmail.com. or direct office 480.838.1641

I recently got onto a plane, settled in with my computer case at hand, my ipod Touch at the ready - my Bose headset set up and my computer in my pre-planned position to swipe it out of said aforementioned case.

Then came the flight attendant.

He looked at me, grinned and asked if I would "be so kind" to switch seats with a husband who was needed by his wife so the two of them could keep their baby from exploding onto the passengers in and around where she was currently seated. Now, here I am. I am comfortable. I have perfected my environment. And this clown disrupts my mental zen. Further it will require some deliberate focus and nurturing to get me back on track once I have settled into my new digs.

This of course is a minor thing isn't it?

Imagine that same seat-swapping scenario occurring during a period of severe weather turbulence. Not only would you be anxious and feeling unstable in your current seat, you now have to collect yourself, mobilize without falling on your pa-toot with such concern related to spilling all over the passengers along the way and then get re-oriented in the new situation.

Organizationally change is usually difficult. It typically comes in the midst of failure and chaos. Change amidst instability is the worst. Yet many employees are feeling lost, anxious, hurt and confused lately as their companies reorganize, reallocate resources, cut costs and downsize staff.All the while, in the bigger picture, the economy searches for stabilization.

Franchisee's, are typically once-bitten victims of this kind of turmoil. Actually, many of them may have been bitten several times by downsizing or more generally, by being deeply and personally affected by change that caught them off guard in their previous careers.

It is then no wonder, now, at a time when they seem to have more control as business owners (often a significant reason they became business owners in the first place) when put into similar transitional scenarios in their franchise business, they resist strongly. They dig their heels in, shut their ears and just refuse change.

My experience also tells me that franchise organization must be better at forecasting and predicting change within the company and in the greater market than their corporate counterparts in business. This higher standard of expertise is something the franchisee, though it may be unspoken, is buying when he invests that fee into the franchise.

Franchises need to make a core competency out of looking at their current situation, considering options and executing on those well in advance of the changes needed. Franchise organizations, compared to companies that operate multi-unit/multi-regionally have many "owners." They have many decision makers and to get this distributed leadership onboard takes a significant communications effort. That effort must start sooner and create an atmosphere of listening, learning, hearing, training and teaching.

While we are at it, think of communication as the second core competency that every franchise desiring success must have or acquire. Period! Franchises must be communications experts.

If it typically is a 6-month ramp up time to changes required for a corporation then a franchise needs double that time. This time should be allowed for contemplation and preparation before transition can be deeply understood and welcomed. Occasionally changes are made under emergency circumstances. If this is the case, just know that success and acceptance is not likely to be 100% or even 75%. You will have to manage to another lower level of acceptance (and should you get better, because of your culture of trust then count it a blessing!)

To encourage employee buy-in, a executive I met recently shared how her company applied the "head, heart, hands" concept as an organizational imperative as they underwent some restructuring. I believe this kind of methodology is even more significantly exercised within a franchise since the cultures of franchises are so very personal (and the more personal the better in my estimation.)

Here's how it works:

Knowing that staff would find any change unsettling, the company's leadership created a unified plan to fully communicate and engage their teams before taking any action. Explaining all the logical and rational reasons for the change would enable staff to begin intellectually processing the information (head); acknowledging how the change would make employees feel before, during and after implementation would assuage their fear (heart); and outlining the tactical plan and ensuing goals would satisfy their need for action (hands).

Franchisers, remember, you have a very sensitive leadership team. They are your franchisees. They come in all shapes and sizes. They are however acutely concerned with change. Keep them abreast of unique opportunities or concerns in their area of concern (which includes the home office by the way.) Change, in our current climate may be inevitable but it does not have to be excruciatingly painful. Your leadership will make all the difference.

John is a 26-year professional in the franchise industry. He has been a franchisee, a franchise executive and an advocate/consultant to the public and to dozens of franchise companies. He is the founder and managing partner of Wilson Associates and can be reached at docfranchise@gmail.com. or direct office 480.838.1641

Franchises have it the worst. One corporate mast but many media experts; each one sure they know what is best for their market. Eeeesh!

Any successful brand is successful by standing for something singular in the mind of their users, clients, customers and potential customers. Getting those folks to see you different, what you stand, for is almost impossible unless you don’t stand for anything at all. In other words, a brand that is nowhere in the mind is a brand that can be changed. A brand that stands for something in the mind is a brand that is locked into its position.

In the cemetery of failed launches are thousands of products like Xerox computers, IBM copiers, Tanqueray vodka, Listerine toothpaste, Coca-Cola clothes, etc. These products didn’t fail in the marketplace, they failed in the mind. They tried to stand for something that didn’t fit the prospects perceptions about the brands.

Mind first, market second. You can’t short-circuit the process by taking a good product to market to demonstrate its superior performance and then, in the process, changing perceptions in the mind of the consumer.

I have been in more meetings than I can count where a franchise or association CEO or a CMO has said, 'Here is our product which out-performs our competition. Now it’s your job to communicate that superiority to prospects.'

Forget your objective reality. Forget product superiority. Marketing is a game of perceptions. The perception is the reality. Start with the mind of the prospect and figure out a way to deal with those perceptions, even if those perceptions are negative. Once you find that perception pound it to death!
• Avis is No. 2 in rent-a-cars. So why go with us? We try harder.
• The taste you hate, twice a day. Listerine.
• With a name like Smuckers, it has to be good.

Every one of those changed the message along the way. But we, as consumers, we never changed our minds.

Many marketing people don’t have the courage to deal with negative perceptions. Most franchisees get bored so easily they're worse than an ADHD Chimp locked in a cage with a case of Rockstar! They constantly change and they constantly create marketing positions that are ignored.

That’s understandable. But what’s not understandable are the number of marketing people willing to walk away from positive perceptions.

Take Pepsi-Cola, for example. Now, I have to admit, I love this case study. It is one of my favorites. What comes to mind when you think of Pepsi? Back in 1963, the brand launched an advertising program that has to be the ultimate cola campaign.

The Pepsi Generation.

This idea took advantage of a key psychological principle. The younger generation looks for ways to rebel against the older generation. Since the older generation was drinking Coca-Cola, it was easy to convince the younger generation that they should be drinking Pepsi.

How long did the Pepsi Generation slogan last? Just four years. For the next 16 years, Pepsi experimented with a number of different slogans.

1967: Taste that beats the others cold. Pepsi pours it on.
1969: You’ve got a lot to live. Pepsi’s got a lot to give.
1973: Join the Pepsi people feelin free.
1976: Have a Pepsi day.
1979: Catch that Pepsi spirit.
1981: Pepsi’s got your taste for life.
1983: Pepsi now!

Sixteen years wasted until, in 1984, Pepsi went right back to what made the brand a strong No. 2 to Coca-Cola.

Pepsi. The choice of a new generation.

Nothing is as vulnerable as a powerful advertising slogan. Year after year, creative hot shots take a crack at it, figuring that if they can topple the king, their reputations are made for life.

Finally by 1992, they did it. At the Super Bowl that year, Pepsi-Cola introduced a new advertising slogan with three 60-second commercials.

The new slogan: Gotta have it.

The TV commercials were loaded with celebrities including such old-timers as Yogi Berra, Regis Philbin and George Plimpton. At first, I was upset that all these old folks started drinking it, says one hip-looking teenager in one of the spots, and then I said, Hey, they’re people, too.

One of the biggest mistakes a marketer can make is appealing to everybody. If you appeal to everybody, you appeal to nobody.

In one of the commercials, a little girl notes, If the taste of Pepsi is so big, then everybody’s gotta have it.

Appealing to everybody didn’t work for Pepsi-Cola. ‘Gotta have it’ lasted about as long as a peanut M&M in my mouth. By the next year, it was back to the younger generation. Be young, have fun, drink Pepsi. As the years rolled on, Pepsi kept on -- changing its slogan.

1995: Nothing else is a Pepsi.
1997: Generation Next. (Close, but no cigar.)
1999: The joy of cola.
2002: The joy of Pepsi.
2004: Pepsi. It’s the cola.
2007: More Happy
2008: Something for Everyone

Tell the truth. Do you remember any of these Pepsi-Cola advertising slogans? Isn’t the only idea connected with the brand its appeal to the younger generation? Isn’t the Pepsi Generation the one slogan that most people remember? I think so.

In his book, Adcult USA, James Twitchell tells a story about Rosser Reeves. An executive of Minute Maid once complained about Reeves refusal to fiddle with the advertising, saying ‘You have 47 people working on my brand, and you haven’t changed the campaign in 12 years. What are they doing?’

Reeves replied: ‘They’re keeping your people from changing your ad.’

To all you erstwhile wizened sages of the franchise wars, be smart, do yourself a favor; find what works, use what works, get to that point and then allow creativity to shine through that singular filter.

John is a 26-year professional in the franchise industry. He has been a franchisee, a franchise executive and an advocate/consultant to the public and to dozens of franchise companies. He is the founder and managing partner of Wilson Associates and can be reached at docfranchise@gmail.com. or direct office 480.838.1641

Everyone has heard of it by now. Very few know how to use it and I suggest that many franchises are still missing out on a major marketing process by continuing in the dark ages by ignoring it. I am talking about Search Engine Optimization.

Search Engine Optimization or SEO is a powerful Internet tool aimed to increase brand, product and service visibility and your business presence on the web. Since the Internet is now the primary source of information and goods for multi-market and Top 100 regional market companies and service providers, it only makes sense to be as visible as possible in order to attract and meet the needs of your prospects, clients and customers.

There are many ways to approach SEO efforts, and it can be difficult for businesses just starting out. Luckily, there are many resources available to assist in SEO efforts, especially for small businesses. Here are my quick tips for effective SEO marketing and your franchise.

1. Set a Goal

Search engine optimization efforts (SEO) will not go far without a specific goal in mind for your overall branding efforts. What words do you want to own on the web? How do you wish to be positioned on the web? If you have a strong competitor or competitors and they already have established a high presence using certain terms and owning a particular place in the minds of customers you need to ask yourself, "what can I own? What position still exists that would service our company and our branding?"

Before you dive head-first into your market position efforts, develop a strategy for what you want to accomplish. Perhaps it already exists in your current marketing plan. Is that plan transitional to the Internet? Secondly, create objectives that relate to your planning. Whether it’s to increase the number of views to your website or landing pages each week, increase your franchisees page rank, expand your customer base or have a newsworthy story picked up by a certain number of information outlets, having a goal for market positioning and goals for constant web presence and position improvement within your field will assist you in improving your brand, and also provide something to compare and measure your results against as it relates to your current efforts.

2. Add a Blog

I want to keep this simple today but so here is the simplified version of understanding web presence. Research has consistently shown that a static Web site (create once - walk away) will have little lasting effect on improving your marketing efforts. A blog is a way to change that. Even having a blog (ongoing messages about you, your business, your business partners, the market you are in and the market trends) as your main SEO priority can help drive traffic to your Websites.

And oddly enough a blog also adds credibility to your company, shows customers that you’re Web savvy, and can help your company stay on top of current trends. Like every other part of your marketing game make sure the blog has an over all purpose and is providing content that will attract readers from the beginning. Again, site credibility is a key for a webblog. One word of caution, Blogging is a commitment. Make sure you realize you are in it for the long haul. Have it determined that you can add contact to your blog at least once and more would be better times a week.

3. Produce Valuable Content

There is an increasing trend for companies to form with the intention of making money simply through advertising and second-rate content. While these companies do provide keyword-rich content, they do it for all of the wrong reasons. Search engines respond to the number of times a term is repeated on a site, as well as the number of other sites that are linking back to it. Inbound links from these sites are what really drives up your page rankings. This is what many SEO link builders focus on the most. Don't get stuck just yammering on about particular key words or links. Providing interesting and valuable content that will stand out from the fake sites is surprisingly easy to do.

Google offers this insight for webmasters:

“The best way to get other sites to create relevant links to yours is to create unique, relevant content that can quickly gain popularity in the Internet community. The more useful content you have, the greater the chances someone else will find that content valuable to their readers and link to it. Before making any single decision, you should ask yourself the question: Is this going to be beneficial for my page’s visitors? “

4. Use Free Resources

The Internet provides a number of resources and tools for analytics and web marketing, and many of them are free. Again, for brevity sake, I simply refer you to Google, do a search for SEO analytics. As a matter of fact our favorite web search tool has it's own free tools. Installing tools such as Google’s Analytics can help you track traffic, and also give reports of where visitors are coming from, how often they visit, and the keyword searches (What did they search for that brought them to you?) that bring them there. Additionally, Twitter has long been a tool for Web marketing and SEO efforts, because of the number of people one can reach at just the click of a button. The Twitter community has amazing and free tools to capture who is viewing you, from where and from your efforts get a sense of why. Can you imagine how that helps you to understand how the market, potential clients and competitors might see you and your brand?

NOTE: You can get a sense of your current status by typing “link:yourwebaddresshere” into Google; the results will show what sites are currently linking to your site, and you may discover some sites and users you were previously unaware of. Analyzing the results can help to target certain audiences and build a base for developing future tactics and content.

5. Establish Relationships

For my money Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn are the top 3 social networks every business needs to hook into. You can create relationships with similar companies in your field, market partners, influential writers, PR professionals and journalists as well as people who are interested in your company. Establishing these relationships, will gain you a community that are willing to distribute links to your site and often link back to your site from their web addresses.

Within those web tools mentioned above there is a second way to improve your product, service and company message. Participate in discussions, and join forums within those web sites and their tools. Linking to others’ content can highlight your company, your brand, your service and your content.

The extended value of this last methodology provides you a professional platform and process within a more ubiquitous arena of interest. Your inks will be displayed from credible, influential Web sites that will add valuable traffic to your site.

Learn more about SEO on your own. Don't just leave it to the so-called professionals. Most of them are less than 24 and know nothing about your business, what you are attempting to accomplish through your web presence or know how to ensure you attract the right viewers to your websites. What they do know is the general information I just shared with you here. It's up to you to add the particulars.

John is a 26-year professional in the franchise industry. He has been a franchisee, a franchise executive and an advocate/consultant to the public and to dozens of franchise companies. He is the founder and managing partner of Wilson Associates and can be reached at docfranchise@gmail.com. or direct office 480.838.1641

Life has a way of manipulating the circumstances and the conditions. Often executives and those vulnerable to economic downturns (finance, technology, real estate, mortgage industry, and manufacturing come to mind) turn to consideration of business ownership.

I'm often asked when I speak to groups, "Are there some hard and fast rules of doing a proper examination or investigation of the various kinds or brands? Can you better understand the business if you do certain things?" The answer is mostly yes. The more you actually know the more confident you are once you make a decision.

But there are dangers as well. Often we study so much the line becomes blurred between what is factual and actual and what is someone's overly blustered and inaccurately stated opinion or random thoughts.

Here are some things I recommend to you that you DO:

1. Investigate franchise opportunities by getting first-hand information. By visiting a franchise trade show or contacting a franchise consultant or broker you will get direct information; point A to Point B. Don't start by studying the fringes.

2. Talk to the present owners of the franchise. Ask them how pleased they are with their decision, are they progressing as anticipated, what were the surprises and would they do it again. Inquire if the franchiser is responsive to their needs and whether the training was adequate. It is important to determine the integrity of the franchiser in following through on promises to provide strong initial training and to supply immediate technical assistance when problems arise. Find out what the top values they are receiving as a franchisee.

3. Consult professional and seasoned franchise advisers as opposed to just anyone who is willing to provide an opinion. I would include a small business CPA amongst your advisors. If you do not have one ask the franchisees themselves. On the legal side you will find most franchisee's have not used a lawyer simply because franchising is so highly controlled and regulated. If you feel you want a lawyer make sure it is truly a franchise attorney. Franchise law and business law are Venus and Mars. Don't pay your attorney to learn franchise law by having him come in and make you look like an idiot to the franchise companies because they want you to demand changes that cannot be made.

4. Read the Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) with understanding. This is where having a franchise consultant can be a great help. A seasoned professional will be able to let you know what is standard, boilerplate franchise language and what you need to be sensitive to. Most often you need to be sensitive to Items 3,4, 5, 6, 7 and 19 and recognize the rest relates to general business standards.

There are exceptions however. The good news is that an FDD is written in fifth grade English and is free of all legal jargon. You will be able to read it and understand it. That "easy-to-read" too is a mandate by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and must be adhered to by the Franchise companies when they develop their documents. And, just so you know, the Federal Trade Commission requires all franchisers to supply prospective franchisees with a FDD at least 10 days before they are presented with agreement documents.

I will create an entire blog to the topic of reading and FDD soon.

5. Use a franchise consulting service. Franchise consulting services earn their keep by doing two things that make the life of a potential candidate easier. First, they evaluate franchise companies. It is critical for the consulting firms to understand the level of success and the profile of the best franchisees within a particular franchise companies system. How else can they provide that company with the right potential candidates? You can see how this serves your interests as an investigant.

Secondly, they also assess the candidates to determine their strengths, skills, education, prowess, passions and interests. The combination of those assessments creates powerful synergy for success. With our technology today there is no need to study thousands of franchises to reduce it down to a few. Allow the experts to do what they do best and assist you in your efforts to find just the right company.

6. Compare other franchise systems in the same field. Look for franchises that are solidly managed, well financed, and are positioned in a growth industry. Investigate any regional franchises that are doing well but have not yet gone national in their distribution. Remember, the biggest is not always the best. The biggest franchises may also reduce your chances of success and growth because the territory and sites available are limited. Look for businesses that have a record of success that have recently begun to franchise. Remember, the franchise could be new but the parent business could be 3, 5, 10 years old or more and be rock solid.

7. Evaluate yourself and see if franchising is really for you. Franchisee, regardless of what you think you read in an FDD or franchise agreement is simply another name for independent businessperson. Nobody from "Headquarters" shows up to open your doors of business each day. If it is going to get done YOU and YOUR staff who are the ones to get it done.

Most people aren't ready for business ownership mentally or emotionally...at any level. They can't imagine paying a fee to someone so they can "maybe" make a living. Can you see how if you start with that thinking you aren't even in the same game as a business owner?

No, if that is you, come back once you realize what business ownership can provide to you.

If you are not ready for franchising I guarantee you will suck at being a fully independent business owner where everything is your responsibility (Operations, Training, Hiring, Marketing, Sales, Administration, Finance, Accounting, Technology, Visionary Assessment, and MUCH more). Franchises provide you the guidelines for all of that and much more without requiring you make key decisions in areas you are not expert at.

8. Count the cost associated with entering into the business.I was never concerned with anything about the finances but three things: Do I have the liquid capital to invest in this business that I deem as reasonable and prudent for my life situation? Will it provide me with the kind of living I would anticipate based on the investment level and my personal needs? Will I have a salable asset when the time comes for me to exit the business and will I be pleased with that potential selling price? Most of the thinking processes need to be on the first item. Only put out in liquid capital what you want to afford and only sign off on a business where the full investment is in your comfort zone as well. Most businesses have a financeable component plus the cash needed. Make sure you understand them both.

9. Check the history and experience of the franchise's officers and managers. The FDD in Item 2 contains a disclosure of all officers, their experience, business history, criminal or material civil litigation currently pending or completed against the franchiser involving any alleged allegation of fraud, misrepresentation or any violation of the franchise laws. This explanation goes back 10 years and includes any business dealings they have had that relate to the current business. If you find one with little or no litigation, mediation or arbitration it tells you the officers of the organization view business practices on a personal level and are not prone to throw lawyers at you when disagreements occur...and they will occur.

10. Research, research, research. Buying a franchise is a significant life decision. It is up there with Marriage, Buying a House and Having Children. The difference is you didn't take nearly as much time or concerted effort as you will on this one. More good news is that all the information will be delivered to you. The more professionally you go about your investigation the better your decision is likely to be and the less risk you will be exposed to. Ultimately it is your decision to choose or not choose a business. At the end of the day make sure you have as much personal confidence your choice will provide your expected potential outcomes.

Here are the things I recommend that you DON'T:

1. Shotgun approach to your investigation. Keep things in order. Understand the business components of the business, within their categories, thoroughly. Review the market the business is in. Review the FDD and your relationship with the franchise company. Go through a high level discussion on training, operations, marketing and sales. Spend time with franchisees to get an insiders look at the business. Take what you've learned and assemble it into a plan and perhaps a business proforma.

2. Overextend your finances. Establish a budget prior to your investigation. The budget should be based on your comfort level of investment as well as your comfort level relating to how much credit you are willing to extend. You may be able to afford 2 or 3 or 5 times more than the actual costs associated with a business but the key is what you are willing to extend yourself to do. By the way, just so you know, the more established a franchise, the less risk it "might" carry but the higher the investment needed. The McDonald's, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Pizza Huts now require steep investments. Even some well established home-based franchises may have royalty fees that are steeper because they've earned the privilege of higher earnings for the corporation. Always plan for more expenses than you think you'll have and typically in a start up franchise that might be $10-50,000 more than stated. This is where talking to the franchisees helps.

3. Skip consulting the professionals. Skimping on a good small business CPA and their fees or a seasoned franchise consultant will deprive you of critical information. By the way, most franchise consultants cost you nothing. They are paid by the franchises. You pay not one penny more than you would had you gone directly to the franchise.

4. Take just anyone's word. It's your risk and opportunity. Learn of current marketing trends within industries that indicate potential opportunities or weaknesses such as price wars or huge fluctuations in raw material costs. Also, try to know how economic factors and changes in the society (e.g. aging population) could potentially stimulate or affect any specific industry. I do not care if Uncle Sal once owned "one of these." No he didn't and you are not Uncle Sal. Keep it objective!

5. Settle. Get the business that will provide you with the level of satisfaction you desire. The business you want may be a compromise from your passion but ultimately will satisfy your needs both professionally, personally and financially.

If you are looking for a business and franchising is a good place to start, I hope you find this general information of interest. My firm works with a number of franchises and profiles and reviews candidates on a daily basis that we present to them. Give me a call and let me know if Wilson Associates can be of service to you individually.

John is a 26-year professional in the franchise industry. He has been a franchisee, a franchise executive and an advocate/consultant to the public and to dozens of franchise companies. He is the founder and managing partner of Wilson Associates and can be reached at docfranchise@gmail.com. or direct office 480.838.1641

One of the things that often slays me about coming up on someone's freshly designed website is just how much content they attempt to jam into the homepage.

Similarly, receiving coupons, whether paper or electronic with multiple messages also leaves me and virtually every other consumer albeit household or business...they leave us flat.

Franchises and small businesses have a real challenge. Common sense dictates to us that it is important that our potential clients and customers know precisely what we do.

The problem is what seems to make sense falls flat in practice.

First, if you want your brand positioning to resonate with prospective clients and potential franchisees, it's essential that you appeal to their emotions in some way. Fail to grip them emotionally and you are simply tossing money down the tubes.

Effective positioning sells your vision, company, or services. It may not be terribly creative, but if you can package some good creative content into your message that appeals to a strong need or want within your target audience, it will certainly create awareness. Effective positioning creates brand awareness and is convincing. It engages prospects as if you were speaking to them face-to-face, and when you succeed in making this connection your prospective client's perceptions and thinking processes about you become your brand at the individual level. If you can intuitively make the transition to branding and positioning from advertising check out Advertising Basics for Small Businesses for some pointers.

Secondly, should you achieve the enviable position of having a compelling position execution within your market, a stimulating message, your work has just begun. In fact, in branding and in any market segment the work is never over.You must expose your customers, prospective customers, and suspects (those who aren't currently interested in your company or product, but who might be shortly) to the same messaging over a prolonged period of time has two effect. The first is powerful. The second a willer. The first one is long after you are bored with your message they are still wrapping their arms around it. Keep it up. Here in Phoenix, Arizona Discount Tire Company still plays an ad from the 70's they created showing an older woman tossing a tire through a window, returning her tire for a full refund or replacement for the life of the tire. That is now a 39 year old ad. People just now are "getting it."...still!!!

The second is that an ad that is much less impactful in its delivery; where the emotions are not raised to such a high level, can lead to stagnation of your brand position. Test and measure. Obviously the folks at Discount created a very cheap (it even looks cheap) but powerful ad was created four decades ago and yet it lives and still helps them to keep a market position they value. An add for buy 3 and get one free has long since died. Why? No emotional tie!

Coke, one of the world's most valuable brands, reinvents its messaging and image when it decides they have begun to lose effectiveness. We often need to re-say the same thing in a new and vitally relative way as the years change to keep up with cultural adjustments. Apparently that isn't so true of the tire industry.

Creating an Effective Market Positioning

So how do you create an effective branding strategy? I want to suggest one effective strategy. It is the single benefit methodology. It could also better be described as the singular position technique. This concept directly links your brand to a single benefit. If your product is more environmentally safe, you shout it out. This is a characterization or personification positioning. It should involve, from a marketing strategy bringing a character to life (like our dissatisfied Discount Tire Company lady). They express product benefits or intriguing (defined here as socially powerful) personality traits in living terms. They are associated with the brand positioning. They show up wherever the message is being delivered.

Create a brand position that attaches your product or service to your target markets emotional high ground.Using the Discount Tire Company model we can play off their fear of buying the tires and shifting to a scene with our character, 6 months later, having a blowout, attempting to take it back to XYZ Tires and having the guy, cigar in mouth, shrugging and laughing versus her brining it back to Discount Tire for full satisfaction.

Although a calculated and well thought out advertising campaign may do a good job of creating brand awareness, it may fall short of inducing product preference or, the end goal, purchase. For this reason, don't rely on advertising as a complete solution. Instead, support it with marketing and sales promotion to help trigger a purchase. Branding comes together when positioning, marketing strategy (high level thought processes), advertising and the sales message and method are in alignment.

Apply the following criteria to test the effectiveness of your advertising message:

1. The brand position statement intelligibly and simply states a single message.
2. The Marketing Campaign evokes a specific and consistent, acute emotion throughout all the delivery methods.
3. The advertisements themselves are presented in a space (place where your market expects to find them and/or visits) where it will likely be noticed.
4. The overriding message is clearly evident and is easily projected at the customer service and support level.

Finally, understand that even a carefully thought out, highly creative campaign with a strong, concise message will fall flat if you do not stay true to the mission of the brand alignment-marketing-advertising-sales-support process for a massively long period of time. Time is your friend. Provided you have a product or service that is desirable you owe it to yourself and your business to stay the course and ensure everything you do will get you the place in your market you desire.

I hope this message rings true with my franchiser friends who have changed up their message 10 times in 10 years. You need to settle down, settle in and get out there and drive the emotions for your products straight to the cash registers of your franchisee's.

John is a 26-year professional in the franchise industry. He has been a franchisee, a franchise executive and an advocate/consultant to the public and to dozens of franchise companies. He is the founder and managing partner of Wilson Associates and can be reached at docfranchise@gmail.com. or direct office 480.838.1641

Looking for franchise opportunities you are interested in is a bit trivial, especially if you are presented with literally thousands of franchise opportunities, online and particularly if what you "think" you are interested isn't what will meet your needs.

Nonetheless, to help you save time on searching for franchises to buy, I have 8 online resources to recommend you, along with the reasons why you should consider visiting them.

Why do I only recommend 8 online resources?

While many other resource sites can be added into the list, they are, in my opinion, offering pretty similar information with the rest of franchise resources, thus making them less useful compared to those listed in the top 8 below.

Without further ado, here is the list.

8 franchise for sale and franchise opportunities online resources

1. IFA’s Franchise Opportunities
   
   IFA (International Franchise Association) is the first place you should visit whenever you think about franchising. With 1200+ franchise opportunities, it is the most recent and comprehensive franchise resource of all. What’s more, you can access wealth of information on franchising from trusted providers, including joining as a member, accessing members-only resources.
2. Entrepreneur.com’s Franchise 500
   
   Entrepreneur.com (and the off line version, Entrepreneur Magazine) is a well-respected resource for entrepreneurs. Its coveted Franchise 500 has been around for 30 years and the list contains the top 500 franchises, categorized by industry (2009 #1: Subway.) The ranking system is very useful, indeed – It helps entrepreneurs to weigh their decision in choosing a franchise to invest in.
3. Franchise Gator
   
   Franchise Gator not only lists franchise opportunities, but also non-franchise business opportunities. It lists 1000+ businesses that you can browse by industry, investment or location. It also contains useful articles on franchising.
4. Franchise Direct
   
   Franchise Direct offers less search features (search by industry and by location.) However, it offers a useful categorisation that many don’t, such as low-cost, International, green, mobile and SBA-approved franchises. Franchise Direct’s Top 100 Global Franchises can help you learn the big picture of franchising worldwide.
5. Franchise Opportunities
   
   Franchise Opportunities, LLC is IFA’s Supplier Forum Member, so it’s pretty much credible in the information they offer. The highlight is on the International site they have, focusing on local and International franchises in respective countries, such as India, Australia and United Kingdom.
6. Bison
   
   Bison’s main features are the “My Request List” – containing a list of franchises you are interested to receive more information from, and Popular Franchise of the day list – containing the top 5 franchises which info was requested the most by site visitors.
7. BusinessForSale.com’s Buy A Franchise
   
   BusinessForSale.com is actually a business for sale marketplace that offers a category of franchise for sale. While the “real” franchise for sale (established franchise units) is actually on the business for sale section, this section contains a list of franchise opportunities, that are not only categorised by industry, but also by specific region: Global, US, UK, Canadian, Australian, Irish, and Spanish.
8. BizBuySell’s Franchise For Sale
   
   Similar to BusinessForSale.com, BizBuySell.com has a category that list franchise opportunities categorised by industry, US state and capital requirement. It also has an info request list that shows you to which franchises you are requesting more info from. Again, to find the established franchise for sale you need to go to “Buy A Biz” section.

There are others. Some with some slick tools to determine whether what you are looking for meets your criteria for investment, results, and lifestyle/workstyle experience. You can start with these and see if what you are looking for and if in fact franchising makes sense for you at all.

Be Well!

Hopefully this list can help you to pursue your dream in investing in a franchise.

John is a 26-year professional in the franchise industry. He has been a franchisee, a franchise executive and an advocate/consultant to the public and to dozens of franchise companies. He is the founder and managing partner of Wilson Associates and can be reached at docfranchise@gmail.com. or direct office 480.838.1641

Good Morning World! I’m covering some overarching advice today as I believe small business owners and marketers need to think strategically about social media use, perhaps before they ever start to discuss tactical use.

1) Integrate – Don’t treat your social media activity as something separate from your other marketing initiatives. Feature links to your social media profiles in your email signature, on your business cards, in your ads, and as a standard block of copy in your weekly HTML email newsletter. In addition, make sure that links to your educational content are featured prominently in your social media profiles and that Facebook fan page visitors and blog subscribers are offered the opportunity to subscribe to your newsletter and attend your online and offline events. Make your social media profiles a part of your address copy block and you will soon see adding them to all that you do as an automatic action.

2) Amplify – Use your social media activity to create awareness for and amplify your content housed in other places. This can go for teasing some aspect of your latest blog post on twitter or in your Facebook status, creating full blown events on Eventful or MeetUP, or pointing to mentions of your firm in the media. If you publish a bi-weekly newsletter, in addition to sending it to your subscribers, archive it online and tweet it too. You can also add social features to your newsletter to make it very easy for others to retweet (tweetmeme button) and share on social bookmark sites such as delicious and digg. I would also add that filtering other people’s great content and pointing this out to your followers, fans and subscribers fits into this category as it builds your overall reputation for good content sharing and helps to buffer the notion that you are simply broadcasting your announcements. Quality over quantity always wins in social media marketing.

3) Repurpose – Taking content that appears in one form and twisting it in ways that make it more available in a another, or to another audience, is one of the secrets to success in our hyperinfo driven marketing world we find ourselves. When you hold an event to present information you can promote the event in various social media networks and then capture that event and post the audio to your podcast, slides to Slideshare, and transcript (You can use Castingwords for this) as a free report for download. You can string 5 blog posts together (like this series) and make them available as a workshop handout or a bonus for your LinkedIn group. Never look at any content as a single use, single medium, act.

4) Lead generate – So many people want to generate leads in the wide world of social media, but can’t seem to understand how or have met with downright hostile reactions when trying. Effectively generating leads from social media marketing is really no different than effectively generating leads anywhere – it’s just that the care you must take to do it right is amplified by the “no selling allowed” culture. No one like to be sold to in any environment – the trick is to let them buy – and this is even more important in social media marketing. So, what this means is that your activity, much of what I’ve mentioned above, needs to focus on creating awareness of your valuable, education based content, housed on your main hub site. You can gain permission to market to your social media network and contacts when you can build a level of trust through content sharing and engagement. It’s really the ultimate two step advertising, only perhaps now it’s three step – meet and engage in social media, lead to content elsewhere, content elsewhere presents the opportunity to buy. To generate leads through social media marketing, you need to view your activity on social sites like an effective headline for an ad – the purpose of the headline is not to sell, but to engage and build know, like and trust – it’s the ultimate permission based play when done correctly.

One glaring exception to this softer approach for some folks is twitter search. I believe you can use twitter search to locate people in your area who are asking for solutions and complaining about problems you can solve and reach out to them directly with a bit of a solution pitch. People who are talking publicly about needing something are offering a form of permission and can be approached as more of warmed lead. The same can also be said for LinkedIn Answers – if someone asks if “anyone knows a good WordPress designer”, I think you can move to convincing them that you are indeed a great WordPress designer.

5) Learn – One of the hangups I encounter frequently from people just trying to get started in social media marketing is the paralysis formed when they stare blankly at twitter wondering what in the world to say. The pressure to fill the silence can be so overwhelming that they eventually succumb and tweet what they had for lunch. If you find yourself in this camp, I’m going to let you off the hook – you don’t have to say anything to get tremendous benefit from social media participation. If I did nothing more than listen and occasionally respond when directly engaged, I would derive tremendous benefit from that level of participation. In fact, if you are just getting started this is what you should do before you ever open your 140 character mouth. Set up an RSS reader and subscribe to blogs, visit social bookmarking sites like BizSugar and delicious and read what’s popular, create custom twitter searches for your brand, you competitors, and your industry, and closely follow people on twitter who have a reputation for putting out great content. And then just listen and learn. If you do only this you will be much smarter about your business and industry than most and you may eventually gain the knowledge and confidence to tap the full range of what’s possible in the wild and wacky world of social media marketing.

John is a 26-year professional in the franchise industry. He has been a franchisee, a franchise executive and an advocate/consultant to the public and to dozens of franchise companies. He is the founder and managing partner of Wilson Associates and can be reached at docfranchise@gmail.com. or direct office 480.838.1641

What? LinkedIN as a Sales Funnel?

I know that there are many frustrated franchise sales and development types out there who use LinkedIn. After several months or a year or two on it they are wondering what all of the ruckus is about? In all their time on LinkedIn they haven't generated one lead.

What's the problem? Well, the problem is that they are not using it effectively. They haven't discovered effective lead generation techniques.

LinkedIN is not about the most connections necessarily. Contrary to many users’ beliefs, whoever has the most connections does not win (unless your only reason for being on LinkedIn is to get a lot of connections). In addition to friends, family and secondary business contacts on LinkedIN, all of whom are mirrors of you and your services. I desire several hundred targeted connections of people interested in me, my services/products, or helping promote my business. Perhaps this happen-chance method is great for Twitter but LinkedIN has much to much content about you (or potentially) for it to be a drive-by experience.

I’m going to share with you 3 lead generation techniques that I regularly recommend. However, they are not all equally effective. If you are in the position where you will only implement one technique, then focus on the first technique I discuss.

Lead Generation Technique #1 – Groups

I've helped many people with their LinkedIn profiles and one of the biggest mistakes I see is ineffective use of groups. First, people are only involved in a few groups. Secondly, the groups they’re involved with are personal professional groups filled with people who do the exact same thing they do. From experience it is good to have a few of these to refer to; to determine what the rest of the market is talking about and perhaps pick up on a new method or technology. Rarely do they provide you with potential leads or even (in all sincerity) great strategic alliances. Why? The others in those groups, regardless of how different you may be, still view you as a competitor.

Ask yourself, who is my target market? What are their interests? (Jobs, careers, professions other than yours, executive improvement and skill sets, etc.) Join those groups – LinkedIn allows you to be a part of 50 groups at the free level.

Be active within those groups - in the right way! Post content that references their interests and not your sales message. You'll be labeled a spammer and discussion board leaders dislike having them in their LinkedIn groups. So, what is active in a good way? Start by answering questions – whether they are directly or indirectly related to your business. Ask thought-provoking questions around the issues and problems addressed by your products and services. If you start a discussion, make sure you follow-up with it and respond to comments.

Become an authority within groups. Share important news articles from other sources that relate to the needs of the group. Remember, not everything has to be about you. Meet their needs. Be a good discussion group member. Having said that, if you write a blog, submit your new blog posts as news articles to your groups. NOTE: Post these in the new section of the discussion group and NOT in "New discussions" or questions. Now, if you post a discussion question relative to the blog post, you can add the link to the bottom of the post as additional information, but the discussion item should be able to stand on its own. I think it is very rude when people essentially just say, “read my blog post, here’s the link, don’t forget to comment!”

Finally, become the authority in the group. Normally you cannot do this within an existing group. Of course many groups are so universal in scope they have sub-groups. Typically this is not true. You become the expert by starting your own group. Just remember, if you start a group, make it interesting to a wider audience than just you. You come across much less salesy if you create greater scope. If your franchise is a "Fast & Fresh" Mexican Food concept then add additional restaurant territory along with it. A title like, "Future Franchise Food Concepts" might d the trick. Be creative. Ask other creative types. Often indirectly related to your business is much more appealing and still allows you control of the forum.


Do Not recreate the wheel...er...forum! You may have to research what groups are already out there in the LinkedIN world. If you find another similar group but it has very few members, I would recommend going forward with your offering as long as you have a more compelling proposition. This requires some work as you can see. The work involves promoting it in other groups where there would be potential members, pre-inviting LinkedIn connections to join, and using your email list or sales database outside LinkedIn to promote it.

Something else to consider - you want to get the group growing as quickly. No one will initially find it on their own. On LinkedIN group search results are listed in order of group size and there are a ton of tiny groups. If you prepare you won't get lost in the jumble. If you do start out slow and build more slowly just be prepared to get lost in the search results until you have enough members to move you into the higher echelons.

Lead Generation Technique #2 – Introductions

The introduction feature of LinkedIN is rarely used. This is terribly unfortunate. If you know the LinkedIN story you'd know it is one of the main reasons that LinkedIn was created.

The free level of LinkedIn allows you to have 5 Introductions active simultaneously. The introduction feature is basically traditional prospect research made easy. Most members allow their connections to see their other connections. So, spend time reviewing all of your 2nd degree connections to find people of interest and request an introduction. The advanced people search will show you people who are 3 degrees away. Again, when you find someone of interest, request an introduction!

Lead Generation Technique #3 – Become an Expert


The Answers forum in LinkedIn is not just a place for you to look for advice. You should consider it your own professional forum. It is a place where you can become an “expert” in the eyes of the entire LinkedIn Community. Further, it’s also a place where people self-identify themselves as being interested in and wanting specific products, advice, and services.

When someone asks a question in the Answers section, they can specify up to 2 categories that are related to the question. After the question has been open for 6 days, the questioner can then identify one of the answers as the “best answer”. The person whose answer is selected then gets an expert point in those categories. Pick a couple of categories to regularly monitor in order to find people asking for your business and to answer questions that could score you expert points.

So John, what's next?

Well frankly group, that's my coaching for the day. In all sincerity, the rest is up to you and your promotional, marketing and sales skills. Generate the activity above and you will interact with many people you wouldn’t have otherwise found. Those are your leads and strategic alliances. Connect with those people. Begin building relationships with those people. And, ultimately sell to those people.

I hope you find this useful -

John is a 26-year professional in the franchise industry. He has been a franchisee, a franchise executive and an advocate/consultant to the public and to dozens of franchise companies. He is the founder and managing partner of Wilson Associates and can be reached at docfranchise@gmail.com. or direct office 480.838.1641

Most likely if you are over 30 and live in the USA, you have lived a life that has been in support of franchise chain businesses.

I recall the drives between my house in the Chicago area down to my grandmothers' in St. Louis and Terre Haute, Indiana and counting all the Howard Johnson's and all the Shell Stations and all the Aamco Transmission shops in the towns as we passed through. But mostly I waited for the "big 3," McDonald's, Dairy Queen and A&W Root Beer stands! Reflecting back most of those succeeded (at least for as long as they wished); some of them failed, but all of them fought passionately for the my attention.

Today I realize there are hundreds of factors that dictate a franchise’s success. Master your franchisee training but fail to maximize the value of your territory and that franchisee is in for a world of hurt.

This leads me to my point. The branding of any franchise continues to be one of the most essential ingredients in a franchise’s profitability; from the corporation down to the single unit.

I can still remember walking into an Applebees in Long Beach for the first time. There was just something authentic about it. It "felt" like the local or neighborhood bar & grill. Clearly, someone in their corporate offices had gotten all the small details right and the result was a memorable franchise experience.

Today I realize that branding is often the difference between whether a franchise rises into the public consciousness or if that business, as good as its products and service may be, drifts away unsuccessfully into oblivion.

Janet Muhleman, the president of re:group, has gathered together her belief set on branding in the latest edition of Franchising World. Here are her seven tips to improve your franchises branding:

1. Listen to your customers

2. Tell your brand story, what you believe in, why you do what you do.

3. Create a brand personality that people relate to and want to engage with.

4. Make believers out of your franchisees and their front-line staff so they can live the brand.

5. Engage your customers consistently and openly at every possible touch point.

6. Measure your performance and be prepared to embrace change and innovate to stay current and relevant.

7. And finally, as you listen to your customers also remember to be genuine and lead with your heart.... Now, re-read - Return to No. 1!

Branding is local for most businesses in North America. You have to convince YOUR customer (and not just the universal position) of who you are and what you do...so stop the self defeating self-talk about the company and what they should do. YOU OWN YOUR MARKET.

I welcome your thoughts on this topic - Do you have anything else to add?

John is a 26-year professional in the franchise industry. He has been a franchisee, a franchise executive and an advocate/consultant to the public and to dozens of franchise companies. He is the founder and managing partner of Wilson Associates and can be reached at docfranchise@gmail.com. or direct office 480.838.1641

As a small business owner, you know how difficult it can be to compete for one of the ten hot spots on the first page in search engine rankings. Large companies have the resources, traffic and inbound links to be recognized as trusted and therefore rank higher. Long tail keywords with geographic targets is a great way to get started in the local search however we know that keywords/on page SEO only accounts for roughly 25% of the ranking process. Local searches have become increasingly popular as when people begin their search, many are looking to weed out the large companies and seek local businesses. Creating and/or claiming your business on the local directories in conjunction with long tail geographic keywords will improve your local rankings. With so many to choose from, which ones are best?

While it is inviting to create or claim your business on every directory, this can be counterproductive as these sites rank very high and will push your actual site to the 2nd or even 3rd page. The following is the top sites to create your local business listing.

5 Top Local Directories

1. Google Local. This I find to be the best as you are required to have a Google user account however once you create and then create your listing, it provides statistics such as impressions, actions (# of driving directions requested, #of clicks to your website). Listings are set up quickly and an automated call is placed to verify your information through a pin that they send.

2. Yahoo Local. As with Google local, you do need a Yahoo account to set up your company. They will verify the information via review of a human as they term this and once verified, the listing is submitted.

3. Bing/MSN. Quite similar to Google and Yahoo however despite reading that you can verify via telephone, I am set up to receive a postcard with a pin number on it.

4. Yellowpages.com. Free listings tend to get lost on their site as paid listings will rank higher for each category but on the search engines, your site will be recognized and rank well on the search engines.

5. LinkedIn. Creating a company page further enhances your rankings on the search engines. Traffic to the site may not be the most abundant but it is another way to rank.

These are the top online directories. Others such as Superpages and Kudzu will increase your rankings on search engines as well. If you are unsure and want to add your company listing to additional sites, be sure to do a search on them to see if others have provided feedback. This will help to determine if their site is the right place for your company.

Be sure to be consistent with your company description as many times your listings will appear one after another on searches and it can be confusing if you promote different parts of your business on each site.

Any additional directories that have worked for you? Ring me up and let me know!

This is a continuation of yesterdays article, "Franchisors, Here's a Criteria You Might Have Missed!"


Due to the tragic problem of ignorance and passivity in our world today, I've been extolling the benefits of reading. Yesterday, we talked about number one: reading sweeps the cobwebs away; it expands us. Today, I'll note three additional benefits.


2. Reading increases our power of concentration.

Through the discipline of reading, the mind is programmed to observe and absorb. It replaces the "Entertain Me" mentality with "Challenge Me." The eye of a reader is more observant, alert, probing and questioning.

After I left home for the last time I found myself in a house full of party animals. Since I lived with just my mom I had become comfortable with solitude and with solitude I found reading. One day, when the house we rented was uncharacteristically quiet I lay on my bed and began reading a book my sister had given me, In His Steps by Robert Sheldon. As I read it was changing my life. Suddenly I realized I was being watched. One of my roommates was at the door staring at me. Finally he spoke up, "So I guess this is why your mind is so much calmer than the rest of us huh?" It struck me that he was probably right.

3. Reading makes us more interesting to be around.

Small wonder the boredom factor in social gatherings is so great! After you've run through the weather, the kids, the job, and your recent surgery, what else is there? Being a reader adds oil to the friction in conversation. Furthermore, it opens to the businessman new avenues of approach to the outside world. It helps to meet the inquisitive and those needful of our products and services on their own ground or expansion of places they wish they could go. We need to read widely, including some periodicals as well as the classics.

4. Reading strengthens our ability to glean truth from Inspired Reading.

In the Bible, in the New Testament section there was one of Jesus followers. His name was Paul. Paul was a late player to the "Party of Jesus" but become one of its greatest advocates. If you have any sense of the Christian faith at all it most likely has much to do with Paul. He was what you might call a true warrior. At one point Paul's faith in Christ had gotten him tossed in the pokey. Only this was serious. This was probably going to be it for Paul. Paul was in the dungeon awaiting death, he asked his friend to - bring the cloak which I left at Troas . . . and the books, especially the parchments. - 2 Timothy 4:13

The "parchments" referred to the sacred manuscripts, copies of what we think of as Biblical Scripture.

But what about "the books"? What books?

Obviously, those volumes he was reading prior to his imprisonment. Right up to death, that capable spokesman for God - that master of logic - was reading. He certainly would have agreed with another great Christian of letters and of reading John Wesley:

Either read or get out of the ministry!

I think the same holds true of businessmen, of franchisees especially. We have the opportunity to be on the cusp of our market segments but we can lose that edge if we don't keep up. Franchisors you need to create a preferred reading list for your franchisees. You need to have a book of the month club.

Can't find the time? Come on, now . . . not even fifteen minutes? Don't know where to start? How about the library? Most every town has one. Heck, go to the second hand book store. They're filled!

They probably even have books with pictures in 'em. (For your kids, right?)

...and I hope I'm sending this to the ones who will read it and comprehend how powerful it is!

The three R's have stood the test of time as reliable criteria for a dependable education. They are poised like disciplined sentinels against one of man's greatest enemies: ignorance. The original blocks of granite, unimpressed by educational styles, unmoved by change, these three solid friends are trustworthy to the end. Like salve on an open sore, they reduce the fever of panic, giving stability when so many voices demand obedience or other voices, just as demanding elicit panic.

But there is a fly in the ointment . . . one chunk of granite is beginning to crack . . . the sentinel is getting sleepy. The enemy has found the chink in our armor. He has discovered that the first "R" is up for grabs in the twenty-first century. And he is smiling.

"Send me a man who reads" is no longer the clarion call of industry or management . . . or sales, for that matter. Nor is the professional person necessarily known today, as he once was, for his breadth of knowledge . . . and that includes franchisee's and franchisor's.

Few current tragedies pain me more. It is now a fact that one half of the students who graduate from college never read another book. Even though a Ph.D. is virtually obsolete in five years unless he or she continues to read, many of them opt for an easier out. It would shock us all if we knew how little the person reads who defends us in court or does surgery on our bodies or gives us financial counsel. Aside from daily doses of TV Guide, a chuckle at "Peanuts" on Sunday, and a quick skim over the sports section, many an American never cracks another magazine or book.

It's amazing! Before kids are in school, they can give you the day, hour, and channel for a dozen different TV programs, but have trouble struggling through Dick and Jane Play with Spot into the second and third grades. Little Leaguers can spit out the batting averages, RBIs, and stolen base totals for each of their favorite baseball pros (er...so can I for that matter) . . . but stick a copy of Tom Sawyer in front of them (or their parents!) and boredom strikes like summer monsoon lightning in Phoenix, Arizona. A growing number of California high school grads have trouble comprehending basic application forms for employment.

Enough about the problem; let's consider the benefits. I can think of four and will give them to you in two parts. Here's the first:

1. Reading sweeps the cobwebs away.

It enhances thinking. It stretches and strains our mental muscles. It clobbers our brittle, narrow, intolerant opinions with new ideas and strong facts. It stimulates growing up instead of growing old.

Francis Bacon's famous rule is so true, so good:

Read not to contradict or confute, nor to believe and take for granted, nor to find talk and discourse, but to weigh and consider. Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.

Reading expands us. It scratches those itches down deep inside. It navigates us through virgin territory we would not otherwise explore. Tomorrow I'll share three additional benefits. Until then, try reading something expansive!

Part of the challenge many franchise organizations have is that the franchisee's they have do not even review the documents, the training's nor the many magnificent business tomes that would enrich their experience and create greater awareness and savvy for their chosen work.

Until next time, someone out there pick up Greg Nathan's paperback, The Franchise E-Factor. You'll be better for it.

I'm often confronted with people who have had relatives and friends who had made attempts into business, some with a more entrepreneurial bent into their own, independent business and others that became franchisees. If I am presenting them with an opportunity in franchising most invariably the acquaintance had a bad experience or was in the midst of one. Typically after a long and protracted exposition on this person's accomplishments, skills and education a question follows relating to what happened.
I have no response about the person because hearing someone's monologue about someone they know, like and perhaps admire is never the whole story. What I will do with them is provide them with components that I believe every business person must possess in an attempt to get them to do a gut check to see if they have these or have displayed them in the past. I will tell you without them and you will have a challenge succeeding. Here they are:

Are you a decision-maker?: I put candidates through a process sale and I make them follow each step. I do this to determine A) Can they follow a system/instructions and B) Will they come to conclusions about the homework they complete. Can they make decisions. In small business decisions constantly need to be made, and many times you don’t have the luxury of time to digest all the information you would like in order to do it. You will have employees and vendors who will look to you to be confident and timely and provide the resources necessary to accomplish the objective set forth in your decisions. Are you a decision maker or do you over-think and procrastinate your way to nowhere?

Do you have learning and adaptation capacities and some basic business skills?: There are so many skills critical to business success–sales, marketing, accounting acumen, communication, delegation (NOT abdication) and leadership come to mind. You must be able to execute a daily game plan that translates into a monthly strategy and into a quarterly development and then read what just happened. The ability to learn and adapt is a trait some have and others simply do not. The franchise system provides you with the 90% solution but there is always real life and it requires your ability to adapt and use what you brought to the table in order to create the right response. In the military you are taught to start and finish a task by understanding the steps to the end game. They are taught a code of conduct that establishes their baseline, and on top of that they’re taught their military occupational specialty, leadership development, and other skills that they can lean on in business. Hopefully in your business background you had similar experience. If so, a franchise or small business ownership situation will tax that training, skills and learned responses.

Do you persevere or procrastinate?: Every business owner should realize that between successes and accolades there are dark days. Much of this foreboding occurs right at the outset, when you are a brand new franchisee. Do you have the mental toughness to stick it out? Are you a complainer? If so, do NOT become a franchisee. Just don't. Stop now. I mean it. You need to see the situation for what it is; a current condition that has solutions and you must determine you, your resources, skills and presence of mind are bigger than the situation and you will do what it takes to succeed.

Look if owning a business was an easy decision to make, everyone would do it, but being the boss isn’t for the faint of heart. Frankly, most people never get out of the blocks because they want life laid out for them and somehow they feel paying a fee means someone will just turn on a cash machine for their paltry efforts. I hope this isn't you.

A veteran franchisee understands that a firm and focused desire to succeed is critical to any operation. This means defining the goal and the primary milestones or objectives in accomplishing that goal–and learning to keep your focus as you continue to strive for that goal even when you face unforeseen obstacles or impediments.

There are many great franchises out there. Some have amazingly well put together strategies, training, and business systems. But businesses are driven by people with vision, skills, perseverance and determination. Is that you? If it is then get on board, daylight is wasting!

John is a 26-year professional in the franchise industry. He has been a franchisee, a franchise executive and an advocate/consultant to the public and to dozens of franchise companies. He is the founder and managing partner of Wilson Associates and can be reached at docfranchise@gmail.com. or direct office 480.838.1641

Owning a franchise doesn't qualify you as a better entrepreneur. What might be the things that provide you with the right foundations to succeed in your business and other businesses in the future?


A good friend and franchiser that I know told me recently, "John, we're in the business of finding already qualified franchisee's or successful multi-unit business owners and putting them into our business. You'd be doing us and them a favor if you could point out the things that create the best-looking franchisee's; someone we and other development franchises and Master Licensee's would be attracted to.

This is my first attempt at it. It is based on my years as a Covey Certified Trainer. That training, though somewhat faded through the years has always stuck with me. I've found that a person can rarely handle more than 5 or 6, maybe 7 steps in a process or strategy (though many are broken down into many further subsets it is a great place to create top of mind memory). Besides, if most franchisee's would get just 2 or 3 of these right they'd improve their business 100 fold.

The second component of this was my own personal experience and hundreds of hours of discussion with other multi-unit and area development franchisee's as well as a few Master Licensee's. Their revelations as they moved along the maturity continuum has been revelatory.

1. Create and nurture a positive relationship with the franchiser.

The fact is that a franchisee only benefits from the relationship with their franchise company if they realize it is symbiotic and fraternal. You got into this for your definition of "the long haul," and they brought you into their system in the hopes that you would be a value to the brand. Start with realizing that creating unity will serve your personal purposes more fully than constantly driving wedges between the two of you.

2. Walk in their moccasins a few miles on a regular basis.

It is natural when things are not going our way to aim our scorn and criticism at the big target, the franchise company. But, you need to be mature enough, bright enough, and for the sake of point 1, intelligent enough to realize understanding their position and perspective will help feed the mutual benefit paradox more than simply aggravating them and your own nervous system by another trip to the "whine" bar.

In the midst of pressure I've often watched as franchisee's revert to a completely and fully non-tenable position, "Franchiser YOU got me into this! YOU fix my problem." No! First, no matter what, just like you don't want the government owning companies or running health care (and NO! You don't if you ever want a car that runs or not have to wait 6 months to get into the doctors office!) you do not want to be even more beholden to your franchiser. Secondly, it's your business! You are in business for YOURSELF just not by yourself. They system works best when the franchiser coaches and not acts as partner/operator with you. Every franchise should have a huge sign at the entry of their business opportunity, "No Childish behavior tolerated!" Act as an independent business person and be proactive relating to your business issues.

3. Use the benchmark tools your franchise system provides - benchmark against success and NOT failure!.

If you are in trouble you do not need to be comparing yourself to the other losers in your system or similar systems. Spending time on BlueMuaMua.com doesn't help your situation. Review your systems successes regularly. Check with them to determine what action steps they've taken in order to ensure their successes. Adapt winning business strategies to fit your businesses needs.

4. Take every opportunity to be involved in your franchises gatherings, conventions, meetings and training's.

Commit to being a part of discovery and mentoring in your franchise system. There is always someone who needs your help (not your whiney) and there are always great business solutions shared or available in meetings. Take copious notes. Ask for clarification. Redundantly resound all those aspects of the meeting that touched off positive thinking processes within you and blow off the negative. Take the high ground and use it to your advantage.

5. Be a source for affirmation and solutions - Eventually you will need to offer your skills and talents to your franchise system

Look, it's obvious that a new franchisee enters their system more needy at the start. That's to be expected. But you should also come into the system realizing, (again) this is YOUR business - YOU open the doors every day - YOU pay the bills (everyday) - YOU hire and fire and YOU benefit from the quality of your ability to absorb solutions. for the franchisor’s support. Ultimately, (here is a lesson in walking in their moccasins) the franchise companies prays your involvement in the system makes the system that much better. That takes your involvement. It takes you moving from diapers (deep needs assistance) through training pants (I can walk and feed myself thank you) to maturity. The goal is maturity.

6. Be a systems based franchisee and not a talent pool slave.

Most franchises have employees (though, admittedly, not all) And, though you hire for success, never abdicate the success of your business to the people within it. Franchising sets itself apart, regardless the market, product or service offered by the franchise system. Revert back to that system, which includes employee, human resource and management policies and make sure that the system is adhered to in the face of pressures by the individuals to change the business. Often sadly, people will come and go in your business. The business itself must live and thrive! Stay the course of the business system.

7. Be a positive and shining light in the community where your businesses live.

Your business, and its physical presence should create warmth and a smile to the residents of that area. What do you do in order to win their hearts? What are their concerns? How do you marry your business to their interests; their work; their families and their success as a community? You want better employees? Be viewed as a place where good attitudes, good responses, good works and deeds and good things (to be interpreted as things I as a member of this community value) happen. Find time to sponsor, to donate and not just money and things but make sure that your face and that of your employee team, even your personal family are given to do good things.

You wish to be in control of your business? I want that for you. You want to grow? You should! You want to be viewed as successful? Then take positive, affirming steps. Listen, Learn, Ascribe yourself to those who are successful. Take control by acting like the owner of your franchise business. Take responsibility for it's successes and figure out how you can prevent going back through failure again. Hopefully these 7 things will give you a basis for that success. - impacting your own franchise units, the franchisor, and other franchisees is a sure-fire strategy for your current and future successes.

John is a 26-year professional in the franchise industry. He has been a franchisee, a franchise executive and an advocate/consultant to the public and to dozens of franchise companies. He is the founder and managing partner of Wilson Associates and can be reached at docfranchise@gmail.com. or direct office 480.838.1641