April 2014 Archives

Reach, More on Franchise Owners Assessment & Biz Ops, Revisted

Ok, this was an amazing week.  Last week's 3 top influencers repeated - in the exact same order.

Do you know your Brand's reach?  Worth the cost to franchise owners?

Start using franchise assesment to select high performing franchise owners.  Do it right. Get a Candidate to fill out a Situational Assessement.

And, just what would You Say to a Client who Wants to Buy a Business Opportunity instead of a Franchise?

1st Story 

2405+ LinkedIn Readers (2nd week)

Franchisors have to Pay More to Reach their Facebook Fans

I loved this story - it appeals to my love of chicanery.  

Here is the simple formula for building a social platform.

First, convince your fans to form groups, say like a town.  You promise to link the groups together, say like a railway.  But for free!

Keep promoting your free railway - say that you want everyone connected.  Make it mantra.  Like a religious chant.  Look saintly when saying it.

Finally, when the groups or towns are big enough, re-think your tarriff rate.

Start charging the heck out travelling between towns.   

Comments on Facebook Fans and here also.  More on Facebook fans, and here too.  

2nd Story (2nd week)

2300+ LinkedIn Readers

How to Pick High Performing Franchise Owners

Fred's argument - get rid of personality testing when selecting or recruting franchise candidates - is unremarking in the serious recruiting world.

But in franchising it still generates hostility & confused responses.

Personality tests, any derivatives of Myer-Briggs or DISC, are simply the wrong tools for recruitment.

Get the right recruitment tool - or stop complaining about your lousy operators.

Comments on Selecting Franchisees, and here also.  More on Selecting Franchisees, and also here.  But the best thread is in the Franchise Brokers group, click here.

3rd Story 

1588+ LinkedIn Readers

What would You Say to a Client who Wants to Buy a Business Opportunity instead of a Franchise?

This was article generated some great discussion in the franchise groups - especially by people who are in the business of helping people transition from a corporate career to franchise ownership.

Personally, I find that there are very few real business opportunities.  Most of them run afoul the FTC and State laws.

Comments on Franchise Owners, and here.  More on Franchise Owners, and also here.

Expand Your Reach & Find  More People You Could Do Business With

Facebook, Personality Testing, and Biz Ops

 Why are Brands paying more to reach their fans on Facebook?  Worth the cost for franchise brands?

Stop using personality tests to select your high performing franchise owners.  Do it right. Get a Candidate to fill out a Situational Assessement instead.

And, Just what would You Say to a Client who Wants to Buy a Business Opportunity instead of a Franchise?

1st Story 

1815+ LinkedIn Readers

Franchisors have to Pay More to Reach their Facebook Fans

I loved this story - it appeals to my love of chicanery.  

Here is the simple formula for building a social platform.

First, convince your fans to form groups, say like a town.  You promise to link the groups together, say like a railway.  But for free!

Keep promoting your free railway - say that you want everyone connected.  Make it mantra.  Like a religious chant.  Look saintly when saying it.

Finally, when the groups or towns are big enough, re-think your tarriff rate.

Start charging the heck out travelling between towns.   

Comments on Facebook Fans and here also.  More on Facebook fans, and here too.  

2nd Story

1173+ LinkedIn Readers

How to Pick High Performing Franchise Owners

Fred's argument - get rid of personality testing when selecting or recruting franchise candidates - is unremarking in the serious recruiting world.

But in franchising it still generates hostility & confused responses.

Personality tests, any derivatives of Myer-Briggs or DISC, are simply the wrong tools for recruitment.

Get the right recruitment tool - or stop complaining about your lousy operators.

Comments on Selecting Franchisees, and here also.  More on Selecting Franchisees, and also here

3rd Story 

1169+ LinkedIn Readers

What would You Say to a Client who Wants to Buy a Business Opportunity instead of a Franchise?

This was article generated some great discussion in the franchise groups - especially by people who are in the business of helping people transition from a corporate career to franchise ownership.

Personally, I find that there are very few real business opportunities.  Most of them run afoul the FTC and State laws.

Comments on Franchise Owners, and here.  More on Franchise Owners, and also here.

Expand Your Reach & Find  More People You Could Do Business With

Learning, Silent Killers, and More Scams

Interesting discussion about how what search on a smartphone means for local marketing.

Great discussion on whether to spend more on your hiring budget on managers or entry level employees. 

And, more people wanted to read about attorneys who got scammed -wonder why?

1st Story 

2230+ Readers

Do You Need to Learn about Mobile Marketing, Now?

Mobile web adoption is growing 8 times faster than web adoption did in the 1990s and early 2000s.

One in three mobile searches have local intent versus one in five on desktop computers.

Meaning people perform different types of searches depending on the device they are using and where they are.

Given the mobile growth rate, brick-and-mortar companies really need to evaluate their mobile strategy.  

Comments on Mobile Marketing. and here also.

2nd Story

1800+ Readers

Learn How You Defeat The Silent Killer of Your Business

Every successful businessperson knows that you're only as good as the employees that represent you.

But, even when you've taken the time and hired the best employees you can, the next item on the agenda is how to keep good employees.

Turnover is a killer on your bottom line.

Comments on Silent Killer, and here also.

3rd Story (2nd Week)

1,110+ LinkedIn Readers

Advance Fee Scam Aimed at Franchisor Attorneys was a good introduction to the world of scams aimed at franchise lawyers.  

Matthew does a good job of explaining the fraud & how lawyers can avoid it.  

I would caution people to understand that a bank may "clear" a cheque and later claim that it was dishonored. So you are still liable to the bank for the funds that "cleared".  

This is also the first wave of this type of fraud, it will grow increasing sophisticated.  We are now seeing these types of frauds using LinkedIn email.

Comments on Scammed.

  Expand Your Reach  

Two weeks ago, Joe Caruso wrote up an overview of How Important Franchising was to the US Economy, based on Steve Caldeira's presentation to CAFA.

I have looked at the presentation further, to find out what the IFA was doing at on the legislative level.

Here is an overview of the IFA's top concerns.

Now, I found it very interesting that the IFA, which is mostly comprised of franchisors, would be interested in "Workforce Regulations".  

My experience as a franchisor is that franchisors are very reluctant to discuss with their franchise owners anything do with HR compliance.  

Franchisors leave it to franchisee owner's to obey all state and federal workplace laws.

Even more puzzling to me was this slide:

Ok, I get why franchisors are worried about anything that extends the jurisdiction or reach of the NRLB.

But, why are franchisors worried about David Weil, "the nominee for Wage & Hour Division Administrator"?

Wage and Hour violations happen at the franchise owner level, unless the franchisor has significant units not in compliance.

The audience didn't get an chance to ask Steve more about this, so I am putting this out there.  

Why should the franchisor be worried about more Wage and Hour violations, unless their own units are not in compliance?  

Why is the franchisee's failure to comply with local state and federal Wage and Hour laws a concern for the franchisor?  I don't get it.

Sharing, Legal Scams & Crisis

This was a fun week.  Last week's topics were still interesting, but they flipped in order.  

Sharing trumped crisis management & people wanted to read about attorneys who got scammed.

1st Story (2nd Week)

2359+ LinkedIn Readers

Frances Leary's See How Easily You Can Share the Right Type of Content across the Social Media Platforms was a good reminder of how different the big 5 social platforms are.  It was also very interesting because when we emphasized the "sharing as good business'" in the title, we pulled 10 times more readers! Always important to have the right headline for your audience as part of your content marketing strategy.

2nd Story

1,444+ LinkedIn Readers

Matthew Kreutzer's  Advance Fee Scam Aimed at Franchisor Attorneys was a good introduction to the world of scams aimed at franchise lawyers.  Matthew does a good job of explaining the fraud & how lawyers can avoid it.  I would caution people to understand that a bank may "clear" a cheque and later claim that it was dishonored. So you are still liable to the bank for the funds that "cleared".   This is also the first wave of this type of fraud, it will grow increasing sophisticated.

3rd  Story (2nd Week)

1,202+ LinkedIn Readers

Richard Solomon's The Art of Crisis Avoidance was a neat introduction to why smart executives continue to make dumb mistakes when a crisis looms.  Richard has a gruff persona, which hides his deep appreciation for the foibles of humans and institutions.  On our phone call, Richard revealed which executives usually see the crisis coming but are handcuffed into inaction.  

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