Launching a Franchise Support Technology to enable effective communication and collaboration with franchisees is mission critical in the overall support plan for franchisors staying in sync with their franchisee business partners. The unification of all franchisees through a partner portal and utilizing Partner Relationship Management (PRM) best practices will improve efficiency, reduce expenses, and most…

MEGA Millions: 640 Million Reasons You're Already a Winner

Here's my take on it.

Franchisee management software has to be versatile and flexible. Franchisors need to be able to deliver the type of information and applications that best drive sales of their product. It's not the same for every company. What works for one type of product or one sales model may not work for another. At the same time, there are some features that every PRM technology should have to deliver the optimal tech-enabled…

Are their one or two reporters in your town that you are hoping to meet one day? Do you envision them covering your company and working on a glowing endorsement for your brand? Sometimes it’s hard to get your emails noticed or your phone calls answered if the reporter is busy and on deadline. But, why not approach them and ask them to meet you for lunch or coffee in order for them to get to know you or your company a little better? All reporters need to eat and many can’t pass up a free…

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A:  Many people often ask what is a press kit, and do I need one? A press kit is an information packet about a business or product. It is called a press kit because often times reporters from different media outlets request these kits to learn more about a company or product they are covering.  Think of a press kit like a resume for your business. Inside is a collection of company information. Many press kits include company backgrounders, fact sheets, bios of the executive…

Regardless of how great a business you have, if people can’t find you on the Internet it doesn’t matter.  That means one thing.  You have to be Google-able.

HOW?

• Set up a Google Places page. 
• Make sure that you associate your franchise with all of the appropriate business categories, and none of the categories that aren’t relevant (search engines recognize superfluous associations and discount your reliability…

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It’s been said that the best public relations professional is just as good as their media contacts. Knowing that, one of the most important tools when looking to get publicity about your company and or product is having a good media list. A media list is a targeted list of journalists, the outlets they work at, their beat assignments and their contact information. This specialized list is not something you can just build once and use over and over again; it is a constant work in progress. A…

Look, we’re all in a lot of trouble here. If you haven’t heard, the world’s labor market is changing. Boomers are getting older, there are not enough young people entering the workforce, Automation, Asian imports,  blah blah blah….

When I sat down to write this, I considered how I could add the most value. Well, I can do that by doing what I know how to do best. Think outside the box.

After all, that’s a Franchise Entrepreneur’s job. You can find a lot of the…

In the FAQ‘s called “How Can I Improve Sales”, “How Can I Improve My Close Rate”, “How Can I Improve My Average Sale”, and “How Can I Improve Sales Per Period”, we discussed The Way to Wealth Formulas.  As a franchise owner, those are levers you can pull to get more customers and increase top-line revenues.  Now let’s talk about other ways to improve the bottom line too.

Q.   In our other discussions, we talked about getting more customers, selling them more each time they…

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There are numerous legislative developments that will affect franchisees in 2012 and beyond, so it is more important than ever that you stay up-to-date both with federal changes and with your specific state’s requirements. Here are some of the most significant issues that you’ll want to learn more about:…

Q: I would like to run an ad in the local media, but don’t know where to begin with creating an ad. Any recommendations?

A: First, you should check with your franchisor and their communications and/or marketing department.  Many franchisors have already created a variety of print and online ads that can be localized and resized to fit their franchisees’ needs.  Don’t recreate the wheel if not necessary.  If there aren’t ads available, however, check with the newspaper,…

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…

Not all topics are worthy of a press release, but there are quite a few that you should share with your local media.  Beyond the grand opening announcement, be sure to develop press releases for expansions or relocations.  If your franchise is receiving a “face lift,” this is definitely newsworthy.  If you have been recognized in the industry or by your franchisor, then spread the word.  Do you have new personnel or management to announce?  Include this in your press release.  And, always…

http://frantopia.com/profiles/blogs/identifying-press-release-worthy-topics-1

       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…

There’s always more to do than time to do it these days. That’s why I love discovering new tools and apps that help me get it all done.

I also love to share what I find and so I teamed up with Hubspot to write The Productivity Handbook: 7 Apps That Will Change The Way You Do…

What if the local news station contacts you and wants to do an interview tomorrow morning at your location?  Would you be prepared?  If not, you may want to take note of some simple steps you can take to be as prepared as possible for your next interview.

Step 1:  Follow These Pre-Interview Tips

Prior to the interview, determine the key messages you want to convey during the interview.  For a broadcast interview, you’ll want to keep it simple with three…