It is February 1992.  Seven people from Denver, Colorado meet near Aspen to do some cross-country skiing.  This is an annual backpacking ski trip for these experienced skiers.  But the weather quickly changes as a winter storm blows heavy drifts of snow.  The skiers can barely see their own feet.  It is cold, dark, and dead.

Two of the skiers, Ken Torp and Elliott Brown, leave the others behind to find a safe path, but they become lost.  Richard Rost and Andrea Brett strike…

       When are two franchises better than one? When they market their services together! Franchisees often go it alone when it comes to marketing their businesses and sometimes feeling limited by approved or suggested methods from the franchisor. Building a marketing plan, funding, acquiring the target list to promote to, and implementing can take a great amount of effort, time and money. What if there was a way to leverage resources to increase the results from these efforts. Building and…

Q.  In the FAQ called “How Can I Improve Sales”, you talked about Way to Wealth Formulas.  I now understand that I can’t just “have more customers” – I have to increase my Marketing Leads or my Close Rate – but how do I improve my close rate?

A.  Recall the Customer Formula, which says this:

Marketing Leads  X  Effectiveness Rate  =  Customers

Assume that you have 100 Marketing Leads.  If your Effectiveness Rate (or Close Rate)…

Q.  So, how?

A.  It’s been said that low sales is the number one threat to a business.  Not lease expenses, not staff turnover, not the economy, not inventory carrying costs, not collections – but sluggish sales.  But, is this really the right question to ask?

Q.  You just answered me with a question.

A.  Yep.  For good reason.  Even though your biggest threat as a franchise owner is low sales, you can’t just “improve” or “fix” the problem. …