Finding good employees has always been a challenge - but these days it's harder than ever. And it is unlikely to improve anytime soon.

The so-called quit rate - the share of workers who voluntarily leave their jobs - hit a new record of 3% in September 2021, according to the latest data available from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics. The rate was highest in the leisure and hospitality sector, where 6.4% of workers quit their jobs in September. In all, 20.2 million workers left their employers from May through September.

Companies are feeling the effects. In August 2021, a survey found that 73% of 380 employers in North America were having difficulty attracting employees - three times the share that said so the previous year. And 70% expect this difficulty to persist into 2022.

Observers have blamed a wide variety of factors for all the turnover, from fear of contracting COVID-19 by mixing with co-workers on the job to paltry wages and benefits being offered.

As a professor of human resource management, I examine how employment and the work environment have changed over time and the impact this has on organizations and communities. While the current resignation behavior may seem like a new trend, data shows employee turnover has been rising steadily for the past decade and may simply be the new normal employers are going to have to get used to.

The economy's seismic shifts

The U.S. - alongside other advanced economies - has been moving away from a focus on productive sectors like manufacturing to a service-based economy for decades.

In recent years, the service sector accounted for about 86% of all employment in the U.S. and 79% of all economic growth.

That change has been seismic for employers. A majority of the jobs in service-based industries require only generalizable occupational skills such as competencies in computing and communications that are often easily transportable across companies. This is true across a wide range of professions, from accountants and engineers to truck drivers and customer services representatives. As a result, in service-based economies, it is relatively easy for employees to move between companies and maintain their productivity.

And thanks to information technology and social media, it has never been easier for employees to find out about new job opportunities anywhere in the world. The growing prevalence of remote working also means that in some cases employees will no longer need to physically relocate to start a new job.

Thus, the barriers and transition costs employees incur when switching employers have been reduced.

Greater options and lower costs to move mean that employees can be more selective and focus on picking jobs that best fit their personal needs and desires. What people want from work is inherently shaped by their cultural values and life situation. The U.S. labor market is expected to become far more diverse going forward in terms of gender, ethnicity and age. Thus, employers that cannot provide greater flexibility and variety in their working environment will struggle to attract and retain workers.

Employers now have a greater obligation than in the past to convince existing and would-be employees why they should stay or join their organizations. And there is no evidence to suggest this trend will change going forward.

What companies can do to adapt

It has been estimated that the cost to the employer of replacing a departing employee is on average 122% of that employee's annual salary in terms of finding and training a replacement.

Thus, there is a large incentive for businesses to adapt to the new labor market conditions and develop innovative approaches to keeping workers happy and in their jobs.

A May 2021 survey found that 54% of employees surveyed from around the world would consider leaving their job if they were not afforded some form of flexibility in where and when they work.

Given the heightened priority employees place on finding a job that fits their preferences, companies need to adopt a more holistic approach to the types of rewards they provide. It's also important that they tailor the types of financial, social and developmental incentives and opportunities they provide to individual employees' preferences. It's not just about paying workers more. There are even examples of companies providing employees the choice of simply being paid in a cryptocurrency like bitcoin as an inducement.

While customizing the package of rewards each employees receives may potentially increase an organization's administrative costs, this investment can help retain a highly engaged workforce.

Managing the new normal

Companies should also plan on high employee mobility to be endemic and reframe how they approach managing their workers.

One way to do this is by investing deeply in external relationships that help ensure consistent access to high-quality talent. This can include enhancing the relationships they have with educational institutions and former employees.

For example, many organizations have adopted alumni programs that specifically recruit former employees to rejoin.

These former employees are often less expensive to recruit, bring access to needed human capital and possess both an understanding of an organization's processes and an appreciation of the organization's culture.

The quit rate is likely to stay elevated for some time to come. The sooner employers accept that and adapt, the better they'll be at managing the new normal.

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Ian O. Williamson, Dean of the Paul Merage School of Business, University of California, Irvine

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Global shortage of shipping containers highlights their importance in getting goods to Amazon warehouses, store shelves and your door in time for Christmas

Anna Nagurney, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Take a look around you.

Perhaps you're snacking on a banana, sipping some coffee or sitting in front of your computer and taking a break from work to read this article. Most likely, those goods - as well as your smartphone, refrigerator and virtually every other object in your home - once were loaded onto a large container in another country and traveled thousands of miles via ships crossing the ocean before ultimately arriving at your doorstep.

Today, an estimated 90% of the world's goods are transported by sea, with 60% of that - including virtually all your imported fruits, gadgets and appliances - packed in large steel containers. The rest is mainly commodities like oil or grains that are poured directly into the hull. In total, about US$14 trillion of the world's goods spend some time inside a big metal box.

In short, without the standardized container, the global supply chain that society depends upon - and that I study - would not exist.

A recent shortage of these containers is raising costs and snarling supply chains of thousands of products across the world. The situation highlights the importance of the simple yet essential cargo containers that, from a distance, resemble Lego blocks floating on the sea.

Trade before the container

Since the dawn of commerce, people have been using boxes, sacks, barrels and containers of varying sizes to transport goods over long distances. Phoenicians in 1600 B.C. Egypt ferried wood, fabrics and glass to Arabia in sacks via camel-driven caravans. And hundreds of years later, the Greeks used ancient storage containers known as amphorae to transport wine, olive oil and grain on triremes that plied the Mediterranean and neighboring seas to other ports in the region.

Even as trade grew more advanced, the process of loading and unloading as goods were transferred from one method of transportation to another remained very labor-intensive, time-consuming and costly, in part because containers came in all shapes and sizes. Containers from a ship being transferred onto a smaller rail car, for example, often had to be opened up and repacked into a boxcar.

Different-sized packages also meant space on a ship could not be effectively utilized, and also created weight and balance challenges for a vessel. And goods were more likely to experience damage from handling or theft due to exposure.

A trade revolution

The U.S. military began exploring the use of standardized small containers to more efficiently transport guns, bombs and other materiel to the front lines during World War II.

But it was not until the 1950s that American entrepreneur Malcolm McLean realized that by standardizing the size of the containers being used in global trade, loading and unloading of ships and trains could be at least partially mechanized, thereby making the transfer from one mode of transportation to another seamless. This way products could remain in their containers from the point of manufacture to delivery, resulting in reduced costs in terms of labor and potential damage.

In 1956 McLean created the standard cargo container, which is basically still the standard today. He originally built it at a length of 33 feet - soon increased to 35 - and 8 feet wide and tall.

This system dramatically reduced the cost of loading and unloading a ship. In 1956, manually loading a ship cost $5.86 per ton; the standardized container cut that cost to just 16 cents a ton. Containers also made it much easier to protect cargo from the elements or pirates, since they are made of durable steel and remain locked during transport.

The U.S. made great use of this innovation during the Vietnam War to ship supplies to soldiers, who sometimes even used the containers as shelters.

Today, the standard container size is 20 feet long, eight feet wide and nine feet tall - a size that's become known as a "20-foot-equivalent container unit," or TEU. There are actually a few different standard sizes, such as 40 feet long or a little taller, though they all have the same width. One of the key advantages is that whatever size a ship uses, they all, like Lego blocks, fit neatly together with virtually no empty spaces.

This innovation made the modern globalized world possible. The quantity of goods carried by containers soared from 102 million metric tons in 1980 to about 1.83 billion metric tons as of 2017. Most of the container traffic flows across the Pacific Ocean or between Europe and Asia.

Ships get huge

The standardization of container sizes has also led to a surge in ship size. The more containers packed on a ship, the more a shipping company can earn on each journey.

In fact, the average size of a container ship has doubled in the past 20 years alone. The largest ships sailing today are capable of hauling 24,000 containers - that's a carrying capacity equivalent to how much a freight train 44 miles long could hold. Put another way, a ship named the Globe with a capacity of 19,100 20-foot containers could haul 156 million pairs of shoes, 300 million tablet computers or 900 million cans of baked beans - in case you're feeling hungry.

The Ever Given, the ship that blocked traffic through the Suez Canal for almost a week in March 2021, has a similar capacity, 20,000 containers.

In terms of cost, imagine this: The typical pre-pandemic price of transporting a 20-foot container carrying over 20 tons of cargo from Asia to Europe was about the same as an economy ticket to fly the same journey.

Cost of success

But the growing size of ships has a cost, as the Ever Given incident showed.

Maritime shipping has grown increasingly important to global supply chains and trade, yet it was rather invisible until the logjam and blockage of the Suez Canal. As the Ever Given was traversing the narrow 120-mile canal, fierce wind gusts blew it to the bank, and its 200,000 tons of weight got it stuck in the muck.

About 12% of the world's global shipping traffic passes through this canal. At one point during the blockage, at least 369 ships were stuck waiting to pass through the canal from either side, costing an estimated $9.6 billion a day. That translates to $400 million an hour, or $6.7 million a minute.

[Over 110,000 readers rely on The Conversation's newsletter to understand the world. Sign up today.]

Ship-building companies continue to work on building ever larger container vessels, and there's little evidence this trend will stop anytime soon. Some experts forecast that ships capable of carrying loads 50% larger than the Ever Given's will be plying the open seas by 2030.

In other words, the shipping container remains more popular - and in demand - than ever.

This is an updated version of an article originally published on April 5, 2021.

Anna Nagurney, Eugene M. Isenberg Chair in Integrative Studies, University of Massachusetts Amherst

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Ghost kitchens are not new.

Commissaries are well known & failed to scale.

Why well it be different this time?

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Here is the obvious point: most restaurants cannot make money on delivery.

Domino's with its industrial strength pizza and 20 years of technology is the exception.

Joe Caruso

Not at confiscatory commissions they can't Michael (Mike) Webster

Robert Blackwell

Jimmy John's should be added to the exception list, and they have the industries best POS technology supporting them! In house delivery is easy...and very profitable!

Jeremy Theisen

Robert Blackwell I know that Jimmy John's has made very bold statements about Third party delivery but my gut says this will all change with the acquisition by Inspire brands.

Groups like inspire that have shared service IT teams tend to like to standardize over time across brands for the purposes of costs and efficiencies.

To this point Jimmy John's has basically followed in the footprints of Panera as it relates to digital and delivery. I could be completely wrong but I would not bet against it.

---

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How Effective are Your Email Campaigns?

Converting those prospects into franchise sales appointments? Or could you use some help?

New templates, perhaps?

"Our own sales teams at LinkedIn swear by these: five core templates to suit different prospects, different situations, and different stages of the buyer journey"

Personally, although I love LinkedIn's platform, I have serious doubts that I would ever respond to this type email, favourably respond.

I am more likely to swear at it, and not by it.

"Lost for words? Here's your starting template for inspiration:

Subject line:

[Prospect Name], Jessie recommended I reach out

Blah, blah and who cares what the message is. Because, in my experience, these types of messages never end well -- for me.

And sure enough, if morbid curiousity drove me on, I find the following "offer", which is to do someone's homework for free.

Message:

Hi [Prospect Name],

Our mutual connection, [connection name], and I were talking recently about [hot topic]. She said you were an expert on this issue.

I'm writing an article about [hot topic] because it's relevant, timely, yet confusing to many of my customers. Can I include your perspective, [Prospect Name]?

Regards, [Your Name]

Sure, here is my perspective: Read and quote any of the 18 articles I have written on the topic. And no, I don't want coffee.

(Note to self: disconnect from "Jessie" as soon as possible.)

So, if not LinkedIn templates, what is the powerful sales too you might be missing out on? Conversational talk -- because you would never use any of these words, or the sentences, in this template when talking face to face. So, don't use them in an email. You are welcome, no coffee required.

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Here are (3) dangers lurking with the delivery apps.

1. Traffic mismatch. The guest can use your brand's app or a 3rd party delivery app. If the latter, your brand has to pay a commission.

2. The delivery app is going send your customers to a nearby competitor, if they can make a food delivery sale.

3. When something goes wrong with the order, your brand will be blamed -- even if you aren't responsible for the delivery.

What are the alternatives?

1. "Jimmy John's is satisfying customers one sandwich at a time -- but what if you don't live in one of chain's highly coveted zones?

Well, the sandwich maker might just buy you a house.

Jimmy John's announced its "Home in the Zone" contest this week, a first-of-its kind competition where a deserving superfan will win a new home within one of Jimmy John's famous five-minute delivery zones."

2. Panera is accessing new customers from the aggregators, but not using their delivery service.

"We're open to it now because it's additive and, very importantly, the customer experience is protected.

There's a standard of quality that we believe in, and the economics work for us and very importantly, for our franchisees, which a lot of these models don't," Wegiel says.

He says delivery companies told Panera it was one of the top search brands on their sites. Panera was only willing to partner up, however, if aggregators agreed to some conditions.

The company wanted to ensure a deal would add incremental volume instead of cannibalizing what it had already built, which was confirmed through testing."

3. Domino's, the acknowledged leader in pizza delivery, says: "Despite the pressure, Dominoʼs is not planning to partner with a delivery site.

Allison said that he doesnʼt think partnering with third-party platforms creates incremental sales, and that those platforms will end up hurting restaurant profits."

For more, see the discussion on LinkedIn, below.

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For new franchisees, their grand opening is the biggest event that they will put on.

What are your tips for getting it right?

Here are some ideas on grand opening signage, from FASTSIGNS.

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Two years ago, Jim Cramer declared, about the deal Yelp in which Yelp sold Eat24 to GrubHub.

""I think this partnership has the potential to give both companies a major shot in the earnings arm," Cramer said."

Now, 2 years later, we find out that Yelp/Grubhub have trying to trick users to order food from Grubhub controlled telephone numbers, instead of the restaurant's number.

Yes, that will boost their earnings -- until people find out about it....

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Should we expect the vegan revolution to be different this time around, since it is marketed as "plant-based" food?

(In which case, all plant eating animals might qualify.....)

Dr. Sylvain Charlebois thinks that this time is different.

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Why do people consistently order using 3rd party aggregators, instead of using the restaurants's own website or app?

Interesting discussion, have your say.

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How Important to are Environmental Certifications, like Arooga's being a Certified Green Restaurant to the restaurant crowd, do you think?

Do guests care about a restaurant being Certified Green? Or, is it just a Marketing gimmick?

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I am not sure what natural stupidity is, so I am less clear on the obverse idea: artificial intelligence.

It appears that I am not alone...

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The POS hardware industry in restaurant franchising is lucrative. Franchisee have to spend $2,000 - $6,000 yearly on service contracts.

That might come to an end -- when the guests show up with their own built in POS devices, their iPhones.

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Our partners, Prompt Cuisine, have spent 3 years getting a smartphone mobile app to comply with the rigorous privacy rules required by Europe.

Now, you can become a member, and jump to the front of the line.

Here is how it works.

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Is the smartphone generation going to accept that they have to order off a menu?

Or is it more likely that they will demand that they be able to use their smartphone?

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In 2013 How Do You Roll - HDYR sushi made a big splash on Shark Tank.

However, the match with HDYR & Kevin O'Leary was not to be.

And did not make it past the post-show deal closing round and due diligence.

The fast-casual, create-your-own sushi restaurant franchise, How Do You Roll, was pitched on Shark Tank in 2013.

Yuen Yung and his brother Peter learned the restaurant business from their parents who ran a mom and pop restaurant in Chinatown, New York.

After college, the brothers opened the first How Do You Roll restaurant in Austin, Texas. On Shark Tank, they made a deal with Kevin "Mr. Wonderful" O'Leary -- $1 million for 20 percent equity."

"The deal with O'Leary fell through and the Austin restaurant closed, as did two Chicago locations.But there are still two How Do You Roll locations open - in Fort Myers, Florida and North Hollywood, California. " - Source August 2, 2016, 2paragraphs.com

HDYR was not deterred by their Shark Tank fiasco of getting a deal with a Shark only to lose it after the show.

They went on to sell franchises.

In fact, they inked a 25 unit development deal for Washington D.C., Maryland, Delaware, and part of Virginia with great fanfare.

Then from a QSR magazine article:

"How Do You Roll? currently has ten units open in Arizona, Florida, and Texas. The company has signed franchise and development agreements for more than 400 units over the next twenty years."

These agreements span Arizona, Arkansas, California, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, the Middle East, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Texas, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington, D.C., and Western Canada." - Source January 17, 2014, QSR

What went wrong with these aspiring sushi franchise tycoons?

Here's the Yung's Shark Tank pitch on the ABC show.

Lots of Unanswered Questions

What's the status of HDYR franchising today?

What are the HDYR franchise owners doing with their businesses?

Who owns the HDYR concept and IP?

What are they planning to do with it?

Being a franchisor and building a durable and sustainable franchise network requires more than reality TV notoriety and a pitch.

It takes a financially attractive business model, a reliable supply chain, with great branding; solid operations, training & support, and great franchise owner recruitment.

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You Have Bad Customers

Bad customers are everywhere.

It is getting worse because many of your good customers are turning bad.

How do you spot a bad customer?

Here are some signs:

• Showing up with coupons, but no cash.
• Wanting written estimates so they can price shop elsewhere.

Bad customers make "frugal" a four letter word.

Even loyal and good customers are behaving badly -- how did it get so bad? Is it just this economy or has something else gone wrong?

When Business Was Good...

Imagine that you sell and install auto parts.

Imagine your perfect "parts" customer. Call her "Maria". Why is Maria ideal? She is the perfect customer because;

• She showed up for her regular appointments;
• She accepted your service upgrades without hesitation, and;
• She didn't haggle over the price of "parts" and service.

Business was good. For you and Maria.

Why Business is Getting Bad...

Now, however, the "parts" business is getting hard.

On one hand, there are after market stores which will sell "replacement parts". With their large, or on demand inventory, they can undercut you on the price of a "part".

And now, Maria is getting wise.

She shows up, more often than not, asking only for a written diagnosis of her problem. Or she wants you to install "parts" she has bought from a competitor.

Maria has become a bottom feeder.

Soon, you will only see her when, in desperation, you put out another ill conceived marketing offer - buy one and get one free, or a BOGO.

You don't want to turn down business. But, you would like to fire Maria. Except, so many of your customers are starting to look a lot like Maria.

What You Should Not Do...

One response is tempting. You can raise prices and drive out the bottom feeders. This response risks alienating your good customers - turning them into "Marias".

You cannot afford that solution.

What do you do with a problem like Maria?

What You Need is a A Bad Customer Detector

No, what you want is a permanent or real solution- a Maria detector if you will.

Your strategic problem is this.

You are being asked to give away confidential information - a diagnostic scan, a specialized legal opinion or insurance solution- to a user that is not yet committed as a customer.The user may thank-you for your valuable information and take it without paying.

You may respond by charging something for this confidential information. And, this may work for a short period of time -but it may also turn more of your loyal customers into price conscious shoppers - on the slippery slope to being a Maria.

So, what you need is a way to detect Bad Customers.

How Would This Work? Create A Specialized Bad Customer Training Exercise

If you knew a user was going to turn out to be a Maria, your staff could gently turn her request for confidential information down. Staff would explain that it is policy to only give away confidential information to proven and loyal customers.

How could you get a Bad Customer detector? How could you train your staff to play "Spot the Maria Game"- staff that were top notch Maria detectors? How much would you be willing to pay get train your staff with the Bad Customer detector?

(The "Spot the Maria" is a fairly simple variant of a well known negotiation training exercise. The logic of this strategy can be found by googling "deterrence" or "sub-perfect Nash equilibrium". But, you don't need to know why this games has attracted the attention of theorists; you just need to know that there is training exercise, which could be customized for your unique problem.)

Who Else Uses Negotiation Role Playing?

There are many excellent providers of standard negotiation training exercises. Most of these providers or their affiliates can address standard negotiation exercises and provide training that sticks to your staff.

Two top notch Universities are: Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management Dispute Resolution Research Center, and Harvard's Program on Negotiation, each which provide standard negotiation exercises, which you can review on line for free. Each has its own Linkedin Group, DRRC Linkedin Group, and PON Linkedin Group.

DRR and PON have free newsletters, seminars and useful resources. They also have for profit training seminars.

Here is a partial list of the DRCC and PON testimonials:

If you want to keep in touch about this topic, then why not click here and subscribe to Webster's Business Strategic Stories? Thanks.

Chipotle depends on a more complex supply chain for its 1,900 outlets that includes scores of small, independent farmers.

That can lead to ingredient shortages and questions about food safety.

Chipotle is fresh -- and suddenly, that's a problem.

Members of Franchise-Info weigh in on the topic.

Joe Caruso Did an FDD - Franchise Disclosure Document tell enough about the franchise system's supply chain sourcing & standards?

Shawn SpencerJoe thanks for posting this.
When franchise concepts start evaluating local supply chain, as did Chipotle in 2008, the variables become very complicated. The new buzz of "Locally Grown" can be a risk when the due diligence is left to the the sourcing executive alone. Locally grown food can actually contain more pesticides, toxins, and genetically modified produce with no validation of safety and crop lot tracking.
Most small franchise companies rely on the main line suppliers to fix this problem and don't have the budget to do research.
As millennials demand cleaner food supply, the local organic/naturally certified regional farms and suppliers will be the future of clean food/safety for restaurants. The brands that embrace this will have greater odds of success even though its more challenging.
The FDD would be a great place to start to bolster transparency in supply chain. The Next Gen of franchisees will certainly demand the transparency from farm to franchise.

Joe CarusoMy pleasure Shawn.

From a risk standpoint the current FDD regime doesn't say much of about the supply chain other than telling prospective franchise owners the franchisor's purchasing requirements and how to get a new supplier reviewed.

It could be much better.

Michael (Mike) Webster Chipotle would do well to review the history of hamburger, and the creation of standards and policing by Kroc, McDonalds and GFD in the early 1960's.

https://www.franchise-info.ca/supply_chain/2015/12/franchisor-standards---a-strategic-analysis-problem.html#.Vm7dNBqDFHw

Shawn SpencerI Agree. Many times we also see disconnects between the FDD & FA language specifically inserted for protection related to the Ops Manuals that go uncheck or get updated over time with the lack of legal review. The other real culprit is the lack of adoption from ops manual standards to training implementation. Chiplotle and others should remember and review what happen to Jack and the Box in the early 90's and their recovery.

Joe Caruso Yes the misalignment of FA and operations manual is more likely to happen with early stage startup franchisors.

Michael (Mike) WebsterHere in another aspect to the problem: lack of use of proper checklists.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/chipotles-woes-could-happen-any-us-thomas-yionoulis-mba?trk=hb_ntf_MEGAPHONE_ARTICLE_POST

Daniel Blumenthal Shawn hit the nail on the head. The romantic notion of the trendy "local" tag does not always account for quality, and at a franchise system level it can make standards very tough if not impossible to maintain and enforce. I can see it working well through development of well-researched and maintained key regional relationships, but the bigger the system the harder it is to keep an eye on those regional producers.

Daniel BlumenthalI would also say that what happened to Chipotle can happen to any franchise that does not control its entire supply chain in a seed-to-table silo (which is impossible for anyone but maybe the largest franchises). We all rely heavily on our supply chain partners, which is why we use such care in selecting those relationships

Joe CarusoHi Jeff Nave what do you think about this?

Michael (Mike) Webster@Daniel - what responsibility do you put on your franchise operators to test the supply chain safety & what tools do you both require and recommend that they use?

Daniel BlumenthalMike, there are detailed practices with regard to checking product upon receipt, and food safety protocols that help identify when to stop using a product. But from what I understand, this was a problem with the supply that might not have been detectable at the store level. Lettuce that is tainted with e-coli, as I understand it, is something that has to be caught at the farm/distributor level. We seek out trustworthy food distributors and establish those relationships.

Michael (Mike) WebsterDaniel, and what is your view about this lengthy piece in Bloomberg?

http://www.bloomberg.com/features/2015-chipotle-food-safety-crisis/

"Made in China" can kill. in 2007, it killed Zhang Shuhong. Zhang's company was Lee Der Industrial.

"Lee Der had been an important vendor for Mattel. ... Everything began to unravel, however, after Mattel discovered lead on toys based on Dora, Elmo and other beloved characters." Secrets of the Money Lab, Chapter 6.

When Dora & Elmo were transformed from cuddly to toxic, both Mattel and Lee Der were in deep trouble.Zhang was betrayed by his supply chain - when someone added lead to the paint. The paint on those toys for American children.

At the height of the scandal, "Made in China" toys threatened 300,000 children with lead poisoning. Mattel paid over $30 million for the product recall. Zhang paid with his life, he hung himself.

Lee Der had its export license revoked - a corporate death. And the brand "Made in China" suffered badly.

Yet, Zhang was an experienced vendor, who had worked with Mattel for over 15 years.

But, as the supply chain got longer and more fragmented both Zhang and Mattel lost control over quality.

Mattel was perplexed: "They [Lee Der] understand our regulations, they understand our program, and something went wrong."

Contrast Mattel's compliance program to what Kroc, McDonald's and their meat suppliers did in the late 50's with hamburger.

Mystery Meat

In the late 50's, hamburger was mystery meat. At times, unsafe, contaminated and poisonous. "Nitrates were used to keep the meet pink, even when it had turned"

At other times, soy protein was added. Soy protein was cheaper and because the soy absorbed water, there was less shrinkage in cooking.

The only regulation in place was that anything designated as "hamburger" could not have more than 30% fat. So, meat suppliers added extra blood to meet this requirement.

Finally, beef offal could be ground up and added to the "hamburger" mix.

The Standard or Recipe

The recipe for "hamburger" was created with the help of Golden States Food Corporation, GFS.

(GFS went on to be a major supplier with McDonald's. It is now the third largest beef supplier, with revenues over $6 billion. Not a bad payday for helping create and maintain a standard.)

The Strategic Problem

The negotiating strategy of the meat suppliers at the time was this:

Agree on a price with a drive-in, independent or chain, but then lower the quality to make the deal "work economically".

Since there were no standards or recipes for hamburger, the meat purchasers always had to bargain hard on price - quality could not be bargained for.

Remember that the regulations only required that anything called "hamburger" didn't have a fat content higher than 30%.

Suppliers could not credibly commit -in advance- to delivering standard hamburger.

This hurt consumers. It hurt the drive-ins and chains. Battling over pennies left no room for paying for the costs of monitoring and controlling quality.

It was the classic chicken and egg problem. If the drive-ins could expect high quality, they could pay more because the individual monitoring costs would be less, and they could charge consumers a bit more.

But, suppliers knew that they couldn't deliver high quality hamburger because some drive-in's would adulterate it and also sell it for the higher price.

The market for quality unravelled, before it got even started.

The Solution: High Standards and Tough Compliance

To solve this strategic problem, Ed Turner and others first decided that the McDonald's standards would hold fat content to between "17 and 22.5%".

And that "hamburger" had to be "83% lean chuck "shoulder" from grass-fed cattle and 17 percent choice plates (lower rib cage) from grain-feed cattle."

Some suppliers thought they could cheat McDonald's. Since the supply chain was fragmented and local, these supplier thought McDonald's would not and could not police their standards.

"They had not counted on the intensity of McDonald's commitment to its meat standards.

Rather than leave the inspection of meat to visual inspections -the method used by the McDonald brothers and most other drive-in operators - Turner and Karos advised franchisees to have the meat routinely analyzed in labs."

Finally, McDonald's provided other simple tests for its franchisees to use, conducted surprise inspections, and kicked out suppliers who failed the standards.

They also quit "hard bargaining" on price - giving up a few pennies on the pound to the meat suppliers.

It is this type of dedication to creating and enforcing standards, in collaboration with its franchise operators and meat suppliers that made McDonald's the force it is today.

It is a good reminder of the value of franchising: the creation and maintenance of standards as a result of collaboration between buyers and sellers & without relying upon the penalties provided by government regulation.

Sources:

Secrets of the Moneylab: How Behavioral Economics Can Improve Your Business Chapter 6- In Whom We Trust.

McDonald's: Behind The Arches Chapter 6 - Making Hamburger.

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Stuff happens! Often, human resources professionals encounter the unexpected. When employees bring surprises, priorities get rearranged, if not completely usurped. Still, having a plan helps everything stay on target and go much more smoothly. The new year is the perfect time to anticipate and plan, making all the difference in what gets accomplished. Here are a few ideas on getting started:

Know your organization. Understand the overall business goals and objectives. Identify how the human resources department can contribute and obtain top management support. Create a human resources strategic plan that supports the organization, its goals and mission.

Stay on top of deadlines. Whether month-by-month or week-by-week, develop a calendar or other means to track tasks for legal compliance and other deadlines that predictably occur. Overlay this framework with the additional HR projects you need to accomplish.

Update your employee handbook. Take into account changes in state and federal law as well as the National Labor Relations Board stance that social media policies not constrict employees' right to discuss the terms and conditions of their employment. Check for clear, concise wording and readability. Make sure policies are consistent with one another.

Revise job descriptions. Job duties change and job descriptions need regular updating. Make sure they are clear and accurate and convey the essential functions of the job. Well-written job descriptions provide a road map to employees, serve as a foundation for performance evaluations, and justify exempt vs. non-exempt status under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Use wording that complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act (HR Made Simple subscribers may access HRSentry's Job Description Tool to quickly create ADA-compliant job descriptions.)

Train managers and supervisors. Your need to depend on these folks on the front lines to properly implement your policies and procedures and state and federal employment and non-discrimination laws. Help them understand their role in claim prevention, especially in areas such as sexual harassment and retaliation. Teach the importance of proper documentation and let them know that HR serves as an internal consultant to help prevent and solve HR-related problems.

Target problem areas. Do you have high, unplanned turnover? Is FMLA abuse or absenteeism a problem? Are independent contractors vs. employees classified properly? Are you paying overtime lawfully? Are work-related injuries too numerous? Every organization has areas to improve. Identify the two or three most pressing issues and make this the year to solve them!

Need more in-depth help? Expect the unexpected and plan for what you can! HR Made Simple subscribers have all the resources and tools they need at their fingertips 24/7.

Enjoy a stellar 2016!

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In this article and in a few of the articles to follow we are going to explore the differences between small businesses that are troubled and small businesses that are triumphant.

While there are a lot of differences between troubled small companies and triumphant small companies, there is one commonality that they both share. It's been my experience that the owners of both types of companies really have the all the answers that they need to make their businesses successful and that's not true most of the time; it is true every time.

There was a time when I didn't recognize that. I was sure that I had all the answers and all I needed my clients to do was follow my lead.

But one day I was working with a client on the beltway in DC. His company consulted with the government on submarine nuclear warfare so he was a consultant also. The project was really successful'

My job was to develop a succession plan for the owner. He had no children, what he had was 10 retired admirals, each of whom ran a division and each of who truly believed they should not only be allowed to run the company, I'm fairly sure they each felt they should be allowed to run the world.

Talk about a room full of egos.

But I did my job, named the successor and convinced each of the other Admirals that their job was probably more important than the CEO spot. We didn't lose one of them.

So the owner and I went out to dinner. Before we left for dinner he pulled an envelope out of the safe and told me that we were going to look at its contents at dinner, I of course was feeling pretty good about myself and then he opened the envelope and showed me the name he had written down before I started the project.

Of course it matched the Admiral that I had chosen.

He then asked me if I knew what the definition of a consultant was. He told me the answer which was that a consultant was someone who borrows your wrist watch and then tells you what time it is.

And that was a great revelation to me.

There is a great difference between a business owner who knows what the answer is, knows what change needs to be made and can make the changes and an owner who knows what the answer is, knows what changes need to be made and just can't make the necessary changes.

And don't underestimate the fact that change is very difficult to bring about . In fact that's the reason that consultants like me are needed, we are change agents.

Machiavelli said" It ought to be remembered that There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things because the innovator has for enemies all those who have done well under the old conditions and only lukewarm defenders among those who may do well under the new"

Truer words were never spoken. And that's why consultants like me who are really change agents can make a good living; we understand a lot about processes and know how to bring change about.

We could spend many pages more describing the process of change, but I can assure you, the process exists and if you are going to operate a winning or a triumphant business you must understand the change process.

Now let's consider a question. If I were to tell you that there were two business owners in the same industry and they were equally smart and had exactly the same number of years of experience.

Now given that scenario if I were to ask you which of the owners would be the most successful I would get answers ranging from the one that works the hardest to the one that has the best sales staff to the one that is the luckiest.

While all three of those options can be helpful, in my consulting practice I learned that companies that had operating plans consistently outperformed companies that did not have an operating plan.

Think about it. The reason is simple, attempting to operate a business without a clear concise plan that leads you to your goals is just like trying to go on an automobile trip without a map. If you are going to maximize your results you must have a plan.

And once you have a plan you must live the plan, not just once a month or once a week but every day.

And if you are going to have an effective plan you have to get your entire team involved in its creation.

Sure, as a business owner you could go into your office and sit down and go through the process of creating a plan and present it to your employees and tell them this is your plan.

You could say "Go out and be sure we achieve this."

Your employees just have a plan that they think has been shoved down their throat. This is an ineffective way to manage.

It's kind of like a quote I saw from a former marketing executive at Citrix Corporation. He said "Teamwork is a lot of people doing what I say."

If you don't involve your employees in the creation of the plan, they certainly have no sense of ownership.

Owners of winning companies involve their employees in the creation of a plan. Every employee should be responsible for developing their portion of the plan.

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Donna is a 30-year old single parent working at a quick service restaurant. She's been working here for months, but it won't be for much longer. At home on her kitchen counter sits a pile of unopened bills and collection letters. She's been struggling to receive consistent child support, and now she's behind on her rent. Daycare services are expensive and her credit cards are maxed out. She has trouble concentrating at work.

She makes careless mistakes with orders, has a surly attitude with customers, and even considered "borrowing" some of the contents of the cash register. She calls in sick when she needs to deal with occasional financial flare-ups. Last month she borrowed from her parents and sister just to prevent her car from being repossessed. Donna wonders how long she can hold on. She spends time during her lunch break looking at job sites on her phone.

Once Donna leaves or is terminated, her employer will need to interview, hire, and train a new candidate. Her money woes are about to be her boss's problem.

What will it cost to replace Donna? According to studies, the cost of a lost employee vary according to their level of expertise and credentials. For positions earning less than $30,000 annually, every time a business has to replace an employee, it costs an average of 16% of that person's annual salary.¹ That's $4800 for someone earning $30,000. But high employee turnover perpetuates itself. When staff members witness a revolving door, they tend to disengage, and become less productive, increasing the odds of their own departure.

Customer service becomes a casualty when staff is stretched, due to the exodus of employees. For management, continually interviewing, selecting, and training the newest hires, becomes exhausting. The monotony leads to cutting corners in the selection process, resulting in bad hires and further spikes in turnover.

How many Donnas work at your franchise? Surveys reveal that 33% of US workers across all industries, report feeling severe financial stress. According to PwC, 37% of these workers report that they spend over 3 hours per week at work thinking about or dealing with personal financial issues.

About 30% of the Gen Y labor force, find it difficult to make their minimum payments on credit cards, while only 19% of baby boomers do. The figures for the relatively unskilled labor force found in quick service franchises are bound to be sadder still, as many teeter on a ledge of despair.

What's more, 29% of money-troubled employees blame their employer for their predicament.² "Study after study has shown that employees who are financially stressed, experience health problems more often, and are less productive," says personal finance author Gerri Detweiler.

According to Reeta Wolfsohn of the Center for Financial Social Work, financial stress is the number one stressor in people's lives. The absence of a consistent and reliable work schedule for workers in businesses such as quick service restaurants, with a specific amount of income on a regular basis, increases that stress many times over.

These workers need greater stability in all areas of their lives, particularly in their jobs. When that is missing, the challenge of arranging for childcare and transportation can become unmanageable and result in absenteeism, lateness, and job loss.

What can a franchise employer do? The first step is to acknowledge the severity of the problem, and commit to addressing it.

Resources to Help

EAP's - Corporations with extensive benefit packages offer employee assistance programs, where staff can call for help in times of crisis. But franchises are smaller business units, where these services are not as widely offered.

The Employee Assistance Professionals Association (EAPA) can help employers select and hire a group to provide assistance. Be sure to compare EAPs according to services provided and fees per employee.

Workplace Posters - Among free resources available, CareConnect USA has published a free workplace poster, for franchise management to print and display for employees. Posters list national helplines for employees to find assistance. The helplines cover critical categories such as Child Support, Housing Assistance, Credit Counseling, Free Bankruptcy Advice and more.

Calls are routed to government, non-profit, and private help centers according to region. Calls are free, and posters are available in large quantities for multi-unit owners.

Mobile App - A free mobile app called "Trusted Helplines" instantly connects employees with financial and crisis resources in a vast array of categories, including mental health, depression, abuse, and addiction. This format is well suited to young workers who primarily use mobile devices to access information. Franchise managers can print the app flyer and post it in the workplace. Employees can then discreetly download the app and explore many free resources on their own time. Posting such a flyer also sends a signal that management cares about the well being of employees outside of work.

Financial Education on Site - For employers willing to play a more active role, the Personal Finance Employee Education Foundation (PFEEF) can help them establish effective financial wellness programs and help employees adopt sound financial habits. Using the Personal Financial Wellness Scale™, PFEEF is able to assess the financial wellness of individuals before, during, or after the implementation of a financial wellness program to quantify the benefits of a given program. PFEEF then provides resources and services to help deliver effective instruction and training to employees.

It's no secret that franchise owners face a challenge to deliver quality products and services in a competitive marketplace. But within that challenge lays the tricky task of mobilizing a distracted workforce, walking a tight rope over financial ruin with no safety net. A walk that eventually leads straight out the door.

¹ The Harris Poll

² Center for American Progress

(A financial counselor since 1993, David has worked with housing, debt relief centers nationwide. In 2005, he created a reference tool to help social workers find resources for their trouble clients. Always searching for innovative ways to help employees and families connect with appropriate assistance. For comment or questions he can be reached at [email protected].)

American traditions abound next month and Thanksgiving: traveling to visit family, overflowing dinner tables, football games on television, Black Friday sales and, for many workers, a long weekend. But there can also be cultural pressures to meet an elusive holiday ideal and, for many, it's stressful when family relations go awry or dinner falls short of Martha Stewart perfection.

Add multiple doses of commercial tactics to ramp up holiday spending and another frenzied set of expectations emerges. Layer this atop an economic climate of insecurity and you've got the perfect recipe for stressed out employees. No wonder we sometimes neglect both the thanks and the giving in Thanksgiving!

But employers can help put both back into the holiday season while assisting their employees in the process. Consider these five ideas:

1. Model Gratitude. Thank your employees for what they do for your department and the organization. Catch them doing things well and let them know you notice and appreciate it. Give positive feedback whenever possible to help them feel motivated, encouraged and engaged in their work.

2. Appreciate the Whole Person. Employees don't bring compartmentalized pieces of themselves to work. For better or worse, they bring their whole being, their enthusiasm, talents, concerns and problems alike. Get to know your employees as unique individuals; learn about what's important to them and let them know that you care.

3. Create a Culture of Wellness. Everyone is better off when staff members are healthy, physically and mentally. Absenteeism and turnover go down; teamwork and productivity go up. Employees feel cared about when you pay attention to their well-being. Create wellness events, such as yoga, mindfulness training and nutrition classes, and provide an Employee Assistance Program to help staff manage personal issues and hardships.

4. Support Volunteering. The opportunity to serve others is gratifying. It can even be therapeutic when experiencing difficulties in one's own life. Consider a policy that allows employees to spend some work time volunteering for a worthy cause. Your generosity in allowing employees to themselves be generous will be appreciated and will encourage loyalty and greater commitment among your staff.

5. Nurture a Sense of Community. Trying to get more done with less these days, stressed out employees can narrow their focus, hunker down, view other departments as thwarting and lose sight of the greater picture. To counter these tendencies, create opportunities for staff, across departments and functions, to get to know one another better. Interdepartmental projects, committees and social events can foster cooperation, collaboration and even friendship. The U.S. Congress of twenty years ago engaged in socializing and friendship across party lines that resulted in compromise and cooperation which, today, is almost non-existent. It's all too easy to demonize others when you don't know them.

It can take mindful effort to pause and be thankful. But the more you do it, the easier and more habitual it becomes. So take some time out this week and in the coming weeks to encourage your employees to likewise pause, breathe, pay attention to others, engage in helping those less fortunate and appreciate one another.

Model, cultivate and provide opportunities for healthy, cooperative and generous behaviors and your organization will enjoy a culture of more committed, collaborative and appreciative staff.

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As technology quickly advances, there's sure to be at least one critical new platform that you'll be introducing to your organization. You will move into that new technology with either a technology vendor, or a partner.

The selection of a technology company can be an arduous and daunting process. There's no doubt you'll research references, look at work samples, and meet several times before you commit to a contract. So, you can assume with some confidence that this company is professional, has integrity and has been successful in your industry.

But make no mistake that once selected, that relationship will be based on trust. Because only time will tell whether you selected a true partner, or just another vendor.

Lets explore some ways you can better qualify companies and discern between those who will step up to the plate and become true partners and those who will fall by the way side as just another vendor.

1. Experience is just the beginning

A well-selected partner can rely on their previous experience to guide your franchise system in making informed decisions that will strengthen your organization. But that's just the beginning. A partner will do more than just impart best practices in your industry. A partner will care about making you and your entire organization successful. A well-chosen partner will ask probing questions about how they can help take you to the next level, not just complete the project at hand.

A partner will ask lots of questions, looking for ways to push the envelope for you. They will always look beyond the short term, focusing instead on the long term success of your entire organization.

In time a partner will gain the respect and earn the trust of those around them, as they work towards a relationship of loyalty.

2. Partnership is a two way street

A relationship based on trust and respect is a two way street. When a partner makes a valuable contribution to your organization, they expect to be recognized and rewarded for it. This type of 'ask' should be expected, as a partner who understands that their 'going above and beyond' is a valuable contribution to your organization should not be shy about wanting to be recognized for their efforts.

Here are some simple questions you should expect from a company that is seeking to be your partner:

1) Do you have a vendor of the year award at your national convention?

2) When we win your loyalty, will you be a reference for us?

A partner expects to win such recognition and making you a loyal customer who's willing to 'shout from the rooftops' about their exemplary service.

3. Communication is the key
One way to discern between a partner and a vendor is by who the company asks to talk to in your organization, ie. who do they want involved in planning meetings, business reviews, etc.?

A vendor wants to meet with the decision maker. A partner wants to meet with everyone, from the franchisees to the managers, directors and 'C' suite. A partner understands that the success of their one project depends on the entire organization and affects the whole.

With this approach to communicating with your organization a partner can gain a clearer understanding not only of what your organization does and needs, but why. And to make the most impact to any organization you must understand the DNA of that company, and why they do what they do. A partner understands this and seeks to understand your DNA at every turn.

Lets face it, in many ways the success of some of your most important initiatives in 2015 may rely on building a relationship with a new partner, or going back to the drawing board with an existing one. The partners you choose will undoubtedly reflect back on you and your integrity, reliability and ultimately your value to your executive team, franchisees and customers.

Building a partnership will require some additional effort by you and your staff, but the potential benefits of the relationship far outweigh the extra time. When you have a great relationship with a partner, they become an extension of your company's team, and this can result in new opportunities, savings, and benefits for your entire organization and franchisees.

In the end, a partner's influence is far reaching, because it's trusted. It's not an opinion; it is advice and insight. It's in this spirit of shared success that you will find the characteristics of a company that shares your values, and will become an invaluable partner.

Here is our free checklist--->>

The Top 6 Most Effective Methods of Online Marketing for Multi-unit Organizations to help you implement your own franchise's online marketing.

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Kyle, age 21, handles the scheduling, appointments, estimates, and all payment transactions for the auto service center near my office.

On a weekday morning at 8:16, I call to inquire about getting my vehicle in for shocks and an alignment. Kyle politely tells me that if I can bring it in within the next 30 minutes, he'll have it out by 11:45, in time for me to make my lunch appointment.

I agree and head out immediately.

I arrive at 8:37 and notice that there are already three customers in the waiting area in front of me. Kyle is working fast and furious to make certain each gets their questions answered, receives an accurate estimate, and signs the required paperwork to begin the job. With so much to do, Kyle is multitasking like a one-armed paperhanger in a stiff breeze, and he's trying to make everyone feel like they are important and will attend to them shortly.

Kyle's friendly, knowledgeable, and he seems to be very competent at keeping so many plates spinning at once.

However, as I observe him more carefully, I can detect a subtle level of frustration brewing under the surface.

He's working solo throughout this rush and it's got to be incredibly stressful to take such good care of the four customers in the showroom while, at the same time, being constantly interrupted with questions from his service techs, while, at the same time, handling an endless stream of phone calls from prospective customers.

Eventually, it's my turn and Kyle begins by apologizing to me for the delay while looking over my shoulder to acknowledge the two additional customers that just walked in.

"I don't know too many people that are working harder than you are today, Kyle." I said to him.

Something about my statement must have made me appear like a therapist, as Kyle took a deep breath, shook his head, and began to offload his stress.

"I've been here for over a year and it's like this every day. Every day, man! They tell me to give friendly personal service to every customer and to suggest other things we can do for their car, but when they don't staff anyone else to help you, and they don't provide a voice mail system to help handle the barrage of calls that come in from the ads they place, you wind up playing the incompetent fool. Ultimately, no one gets the service they expect or deserve...I say I'm sorry a thousand times a day...and I can't wait for my shift to end."

I'm no therapist, but it doesn't take Dr. Phil to realize that Kyle is not going to be working here in six months. (Heck, I'd be surprised if he made it six more days.) And when he finally quits, this national big box retailer will attempt to find another Kyle to plug into that position.

It's a crying shame, too. Because if Kyle had just a little support from upper management, he'd be a safe bet for long-term employment. Imagine how much better he'd be with five more years' experience!

If management in this operation would observe what I did, they'd be the ones listening to Kyle, and they'd most certainly provide him with the resources (another counter person, etc.) and the tools (voice mail, etc.) he needs to succeed.

By supporting Kyle, their customers would get a much improved service experience; the kind they'd tell their friends about. And those referrals from delighted customers would have a substantial impact on revenues, decreasing their reliance on expensive couponing and marketing gimmicks to get new customers into the store. Not to mention the repeat business from their existing customers.

Unfortunately, this story isn't going to end like that.

With a death grip on wages and operational costs, my prediction is that this national retailing giant is going to keep churning and burning the Kyles right out of their organization. Their employee turnover and marketing costs will continue to escalate. Customer satisfaction, repeat business, and referrals will continue to erode. Stock prices will continue to fall.

Are you paying more attention to your daily deposits than you are to your Kyles?

POST NOTE: Kyle apologized again when he called at 2:18pm to tell me that service to my car was finally completed. He said one of his techs went home sick and that he had to install the shocks himself.

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As we enter the "teens" of the twenty-first century, we find technology playing an ever-increasing role in both our personal and professional lives.

One of the dominant trends that has become a part of our daily existence is the increasing importance of Social Media. What began as a way to connect and share information with friends, has grown into the most important mechanism for communication since the invention of the telephone.

Social media has played a role in some of the most significant events in recent years. The ousting of the Egyptian government, the on-going struggle for freedom in Syria, Presidential elections here in the US, coverage of riots in the UK; all of these things played out on Social Media platforms like Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and others. It is becoming obvious that social technologies are having a huge impact on our world.

It is also becoming obvious to companies large and small that Social Media is a phenomenon that is not likely to go away any time soon. But how do we make it work for business?

One way that savvy businesses have found to harness the power of Social Media is by updating their training platform to a Social Learning Management System.

A Social LMS brings one of the most powerful technology tools in recent years directly into the daily operation of any business. It offers the power of collaboration and knowledge-sharing in a way that benefits the entire organization.

Just a few of the business advantages that a Social LMS offers include:

• Faster and more cost-effective training delivery
• Easier access to information
• More effective HR processes
• Better new-hire training
• Community building within the organization
• Mobile learning technologies
• Better connection to vendors and partners
• Localization of training into different languages
• Establishing a culture of learning

The business benefits of a Social LMS are nearly unlimited. Imagine the power of a fully connected and collaborative franchise system.

The isolation and ineffectiveness that many of today's franchisees are feeling should be a thing of the past.

Replacing it would be a culture of information sharing, connectedness and community. The technology that has so dramatically changed the political and social world in which we live can bring that same positive change to business.

TOPYX® is the Social LMS that allows companies to more effectively manage their training, information management and corporate communications - all from a single cloud-based platform. And the best part is that TOPYX can be implemented quickly and seamlessly.

Click here to request a free, personal demo of what TOPYX can do for your organization. It's time to harness the power of Social Media for the benefit of your business!

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Most business owners know that customers will walk - take their business elsewhere if they're not treated as they'd like to be. But how does a business owner find out what the customer really likes or dislikes?

Well, as the Telephone Doctor, your customers have told us what they won't tell you. Here are TEN things only your best friend will tell you. (By the way, that would be us...The Telephone Doctor.)

Dear Telephone Doctor -

I'm not a person to be confrontational and cause a scene. However, there are several things that bother me when I call or walk into an establishment. If you pass this on to management, it couldn't hurt and probably would help. Thank you.

Dear Owner/Manager:

1. Nobody greeted me when I walked into your store. No one said, "Hello," no one asked if they could help me, and no one said goodbye when I walked out. Well, at least I wasn't any trouble.
2. Your sales staff looked tired. Yea, they did. Otherwise why wouldn't they greet me with a big smile and some enthusiasm? It didn't look like they even wanted me in the place.
3. I bought a lot of stuff. I couldn't believe no one said, "Thank you." No one told me to enjoy my purchase. I did get a luke warm "Have a nice day." But it was said so routinely, it didn't mean anything to me.
4. When I phoned for some information, my call was treated as an annoyance. I sensed very little desire to be of any real help. Know what I did then? I called a few more places until I found one who sounded as though they wanted my order.
5. Whoever answered your phone never identified themselves. I happen to like to know who I'm talking with and when I don't, it hurts any trust I might give your company.
6. During the phone call, the voice of whoever answered sounded aggressive and challenging. I didn't feel very welcomed.
7. When I walked in, all your employees were talking and laughing amongst themselves and ignored me until I asked a question.
8. There was no management around. Remember the old saying "when the boss is away, the mice will play." Guess what? They do!
9. When I told your staff about my problem, which was important to me, no one sympathized with me. It was 'business as usual' for them.
10. Everyone looked angry. No one was smiling. Remember, sometimes it's the things you 'don't do' that make me want to go elsewhere.

# # #

Reprinted with permission of Telephone Doctor Customer Service Training. Nancy Friedman is a featured speaker at franchise, association & corporate meetings. She has appeared on OPRAH, Today Show, CNN, FOX News, Good Morning America, CBS This Morning & many others. For more information, call 314-291-1012 or visit www.nancyfriedman.com.

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The Real Importance of Job Descriptions as Risk Management

Job descriptions aren't legally required and, as writing them sometimes feels daunting, you may be tempted to avoid having them or to not update the ones you do have.

But I know from experience that real job descriptions are helpful for myriad reasons and provide important legal protection for your organization.

Why have job descriptions? They serve as a communication tool between the employer and employees so there's mutual understanding about the expectations and responsibilities of the position. They provide a useful reference for performance management and as grounds for termination if an employee cannot or will not meet the written duties and expectations of the job.

Job descriptions justify Exempt or Nonexempt categorizations as required by the FLSA, and they can protect an organization from employment claims brought under the ADA or Title VII. The key is to do them well.

Be thoughtful about making sure all the "essential duties" of the position are documented. The EEOC describes these as the tasks which are fundamental to the position and, if removed, would fundamentally change the job. You can also think of essential duties as the reason the job exists. If you are creating a description of a position that isn't new but already exists, get input from the person doing the job as that person knows the job well and will appreciate being consulted.

When culling the essential duties in a job description, focus on what needs doing, not on how it's done. Here's an example: don't say, "lift up to 50 lbs. equipment" if what is actually required is that the equipment be moved. The function to be accomplished is transporting the equipment so that's what you should say to make sure you don't exclude individuals who might need a reasonable accommodation such as using a dolly.

You should also pay attention to bona-fide occupational qualifications (BFOQ) to make sure the job description does not violate Title VII or other laws related to protected to class protection, such as those based on race, gender, age, national origin or pregnancy status. So, for instance, don't specify that the job occupant needs to male or female unless you can prove that it's really required to this this job. For instance, a counselor of a support group for teenage girls discussing sexual issues needs to be a woman if the girls are to feel comfortable opening up. So being female in this case is a BFOQ.

As mentioned job descriptions are not legally required but, if you have them, they are treated as legal documents and they must be kept for at least two years. So be thoughtful and careful about creating them and consider using Job Descriptions Made Simple to ensure they work well for you!

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Location brings information together

Although the success of Culver's stems a great deal from the delicious food it serves, the company also relies on Esri ArcGIS Business Analyst software and data to ensure the locations its new franchisees are selecting will be successful. Using Business Analyst, new sites can be easily compared and contrasted by analyzing the demographics of existing restaurants, then pinpointing new areas that are similar.

Owners of successful franchises, like Culvers, have relied on GIS technology to discern markets for many years. The software provides tools that help organize information by using location as the common identifier for data. By understanding where franchises, the competition, and customers are located, franchisors can make informed decisions, improve communication, and share their knowledge with others.

"We chose Esri because they have the best information available for what we need to know," says Dave O'Brien, real estate manager at Culver's. "Using ArcGIS Business Analyst, we are able to easily compare and contrast new sites by analyzing the demographics of our existing restaurants and then pinpointing new areas that are similar."

O'Brien uses a combination of software for an in-depth view of the market at analysts' desks as well as a providing an easy way for anyone in the company to incorporate the information they find into the tools they need to do business. ArcGIS Business Analyst, including the segmentation module, provides in-depth customer analytics.

The Business Analyst Segmentation Module provides block group level geography, consumer survey data from Mediamark Reaserch Inc. and an intuitive interface so the analysts can accurately estimate demand and market potential for potential new franchisees.

Business Analyst Online is used for creating boardroom-quality maps and easy-to-understand reports that are used by the franchise partners. "We are a family company, and this is apparent in all our daily efforts," stresses O'Brien. "We want our franchise partners to succeed. Without them-the local owners and operators in their own communities and hometowns-we would not exist."

Selecting the Choice Sites

Even with an extensive menu, every food item at Culver's is made fresh to order throughout the day.

With almost 500 restaurants that stretch from Wisconsin's heartland east to South Carolina into Texas and west to Utah, existing franchise partners and franchise candidates are continually looking at possible new sites.

"The best way to determine a good site versus a bad site-besides understanding its access to guests, how to place signage, how good visibility is, and the location's prominence in a particular market-is almost certainly going to be a comparable store analysis," says O'Brien.

Whether by existing franchise partners or new franchise candidates, new sites are always being scrutinized for potential. "Working with franchisees requires a lot of time; we're either on the phone discussing locations or viewing prospective sites in person," explains O'Brien.

He goes on to add that ArcGIS Business Analyst helps everyone focus on trade areas that are more appealing before going out to visit prospective restaurant locations, helping to decrease the time it takes to narrow down choices.

Culver's analysts define areas being serviced by existing restaurants by creating locations on a map of their restaurants and using tools within ArcGIS Business Analyst to delineate market area boundaries around sets of customers. Next, Culver's uses the ArcGIS Business Analyst Segmentation Module to mine valuable customer profiling information.

The Segmentation Module consists of Esri's Community Tapestry data extension, which classifies U.S. neighborhoods into 65 segments based on their socioeconomic and demographic composition. Operating on the theory that people with similar tastes, lifestyles, and behaviors seek others with the same tastes-"like seeks like"-these behaviors can be measured and predicted.

The ArcGIS Analyst Segmentation Module has intuitive wizards that guide the analyst to answer questions about customers such as, Where are other neighborhoods that look like neighborhoods we are currently in that tend to have higher sales volumes? What do they buy? How can I reach them? and Where can I find more like them?

Using these spatial analysis tools, Culver's is able to segment the demographics of a restaurant location and find new areas that have similar attributes.

ArcGIS Business Analyst allows Culver's to define areas being serviced by existing restaurants. The software extension does this by creating locations on a map of the restaurants and defining market area boundaries around sets of customers, in this case one-mile rings.

To quickly share this information with corporate managers and new franchisees, the Culver's Real Estate and Franchise Development team uses Business Analyst Online. Business Analyst Online is a Web-based solution that applies GIS technology to extensive demographic, consumer spending, and business data to deliver on-demand analysis and presentation-ready reports and maps. Reports and maps are easy and convenient to use, with more than 50 templates readily available for the Culver's analysts to use for presentations to their board members and potential franchisees.

"We want to give our franchise partners the support they deserve," says O'Brien. "GIS technology gives them the ability to maximize their potential at Culver's."

Today, GIS is seen as a strategic business solution that helps businesses continue to grow. The company is expanding into the state of Florida, a new area for development. "GIS is a tool to help us make even better decisions as we continue to expand," says O'Brien. "GIS doesn't replace anything we have now, including people. Instead, the software has become a necessary tool that complements our existing business process."

The Culver's Culture

Intuitive wizards in ArcGIS Business Analyst make it easy to answer questions about market areas, in this case finding the census tracts with the highest population growth in order to decide where to open a new restaurant.

The first Culver's restaurant opened in 1984. Co-founders Craig Culver and his wife, Lea, oversee almost 500 restaurants in 20 states through Culver Franchising System, Inc. Culver's attributes the success of its franchise restaurants to the owner/operator concept and the understanding that their business, as much as they'd like to say is about the food - it's really about people.

Franchise partners and team members make sure everyone who comes to Culver's feels welcomed. This resonates even today each time a team member holds open a door, or checks in tableside to find out how the meal is.

Culver's guests order from a cashier or drive-through, but the restaurant goes a step further by bussing tables and bringing around fresh coffee refills. Culver's has won many accolades including recognition as one of 25 high-performing franchises in the country by the Wall Street Journal.

Franchise partners operate their restaurants full-time. Before they can open the door to a new restaurant, each franchisee must complete an intense 16-week training program where they learn, hands on, the business of operating a restaurant.

Founded in 1984 in Sauk City, Wisconsin, Culver's is a growing franchise. The fast casual restaurant specializes in frozen custard and hamburgers called the ButterBurger®.

Culver's is a growing fast casual restaurant that just opened it's 473rd location in December. The restaurant's founders Craig Culver and his wife Lea look for franchise partners willing to work side-by-side to create restaurants that ensure every guest leaves happy. Culver's works hard to help its franchise partners choose great locations to ensure they are successful.

Today, the Culver's oversee franchised restaurants in 20 states through Culver Franchising System, Inc.

First opened in 1984, Culver's specializes in Frozen Custard, a premium ice cream, and the ButterBurger, a juicy hamburger so named because of its lightly toasted and buttered bun. Without a holding pan in sight, the restaurant cooks everything to order, including making the namesake frozen custard, fresh on the premises throughout the day.

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As I speak with franchisors, multi-unit decision franchisees and their marketing teams. I am hearing some very common themes from some of the top franchises in the nation and even new and upcoming ones.

If you are reading this and are a franchised company or multi-unit operation, you understand better than anyone the incredible challenges that your business model faces. In addition to keeping up with the competition and staying ahead of the curve, segmented marketing options are making it difficult to properly manage, sustain and protect your brand identity and marketing efforts.

As franchise marketing challenges continue to grow, you need tools that will enable you to get a grip on your brand and maintain its identity while giving your franchisees the freedom to cater to their unique local markets, in a way that represents both you and the franchisee accurately. The trick is finding a tool that is both cost-effective and flexible enough to meet those challenges without compromising the brand you have worked so hard to build.

Here as some common themes I am hearing.

1. Franchised businesses face very specific issues, particularly when it comes to localized content and marketing. Whether franchisees expect that name recognition alone will gain them customers or they have their own special methods of advertising and marketing to their local niche, brand consistency is the most vital component of successful franchise companies. Still, it can be difficult to retain brand consistency when facing the following challenges:

2. Franchisees are typically not marketing-savvy and therefore resort to simply running the business, relying solely on the brand to get them through.

3. Franchisees are ok with supporting the national brand but want it localized, so they take matters into their own hands, using content or marketing tactics that damages or ignores the brand altogether.

4. There is not an end to end marketing system in place to monitor, drive and sustain the brand. In turn the franchisees sometimes get creative to localize promotions or products or services that they offer to cater to the local market. In their mind they are left to fend for themselves as the franchisers expect them to find or customize locally relevant content or marketing promotions.

Based on my experience as a franchise, I also believe.

1. Tools for localized marketing are clunky and difficult to navigate, and often buried in the company CRM. So even when franchisees are willing and able to build communication to speak to the local client base, it becomes cumbersome and intimidating to do so.

2. Most importantly, let's be honest, you would be lucky to get 10% participation across the board from traditional tools incorporated in CRM's. ( There are exceptions)

3. Franchisors are not accessible to franchisees or owners are busy running the business, making communication difficult and putting the Franchise brand at risk. I know I know... there is typically one or two in a typical franchisor marketing team for small and large chains alike. You can only do so much. Sometimes you just need a little help.

4. Franchisees are ok with paying into supporting the national brand but get frustrated that the content does not speak to the local product mix or growth vertical they are capitalizing on. They would like a little input or control. That would make them real happy!

It is also well known that Franchise Marketing tools that collect dust. We have all seen them, 10 year old marketing collateral that was brought in with good intentions but were not utilized properly at the time and fell into the hands of an unsuspecting customer. Sometimes with an old offer or pricing that makes conversations awkward and damages brand and cuts into profitability.

Content Curation Tools as a Solution

One type solution to the many challenges faced by franchisors and savvy business owners in the franchise business today is the use of content curation tools.

Content curation tools gives franchisors an outlet to control the company's brand identity without limiting franchisees in their local content, promotions or other marketing.

Franchisors can push national marketing direction to the franchisees often housed on the company website or blog and share basic marketing materials and content for the franchisees to change out if they feel necessary. This could include products , services, calls to action, promotions, specials etc.

Franchisees can edit or alter certain controlled aspects of the messaging to reflect the brand's presence in their local community, all without compromising the image that the company has worked to create. Given the limited resources most companies have we build and provide the newsletter content for you (with your guidence of course).

So most Directors of Marketing can simply make a few suggestions to edit and then publish to the local franchisees who can then edit from a selected amount of related local content or offers and share via email list or share socially via Twitter , Facebook etc.. It is a simple, inexpensive and all-encompassing way to control your message, give the local franchisees an opportunity to get involved and fine tune content and offers on a local level which at the end of the day, should retain and grow existing business as well as gain new customers.

What else? What other challenges are there? I would love to hear from you or chat about possibilities.

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Some people say it's lonely at the top. Well it doesn't have to be!

In today's post I'll introduce you to a powerful way of getting your employees involved in the business.

It's called Open-Book Management and it has two critical elements:

• sharing business information (open-book)
• developing a process that enables everyone to use that information to improve the company (management).

But you can't just open up the books and expect more engagement and improved results - you have to actively and persistently manage the process.

That's where The Great Game of Business by Jack Stack comes in.

It's about running your business in a strategic, forward thinking fashion.

Employees are taught the rules of business, enabled and expected to improve performance based on that knowledge, and given a Stake in the Outcome - good or bad.

They aren't looking to historical financial information for answers, they are forecasting the future of the business and making it happen.

Business is a game, after all.

It's a competitive undertaking with rules, ways of keeping score, elements of luck and talent, winners and losers.

It can be as exciting, as challenging, as interesting and as fun as any game - provided, that is, you understand the rules and are given a chance to play. The difference is that in business, the stakes are higher, much higher.'

How do you teach people the business and make it understandable, interesting, meaningful, and maybe even a little fun?

That's the challenge - and that's where The Game comes in.

What if we could approach our day-to-day business activities with the same state of preparation, the same level of knowledge, the same enthusiasm, and most importantly, the same desire to win as we do with any competitive endeavor we pursue?

The Game is strategy and management practice that takes the basic components of any game, applies them to the challenge of running a business, and provides employees (the players) a way to understand, participate and contribute in the overall performance of the business.

The Game levels the playing field and gives everyone the opportunity to act and take responsibility for the success of the company.

The Principles of the Great Game of Business; Every Employee...

• Should be given the measures of business success and taught to understand them
• Know & Teach the Rules
• Should be expected and enabled to act on their knowledge to improve performance
• Follow the Action & Keep Score
• Should have a direct stake in the company's success or risk of failure
• Provide a Stake in the Outcome

Something to think about? You bet!

For in-depth business growth training, video tutorials, and done-for-you tools and marketing pieces you can implement in your business today, get a $1, 30-day trial of The Goldhill Internet Academy.

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7th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Richard Posner has written an essay in the New Republic "discussing" Justice Scalia's recent book (co-authored with Bryan Garner), "Reading Law: The Interpretation of Legal Texts."

In Judge Posner's essay, he reminded us of an "old saw," an unreported 2006 Massachusetts court decision** about the meaning of the words we choose to use in our leases.*** In this particular case, the word is "sandwich."

A Panera Bread franchisee spent several months negotiating a lease, "partly because of [Panera's] request to include an exclusivity clause in the lease."

Panera prepared the original text and it was revised three times before the lease was signed. Subject to a number of carve-outs, the core of its disputed language was:

Landlord agrees not to lease... for [use as] a bakery or restaurant reasonably expected to have annual sales of sandwiches [emphasis ours] greater than ten percent of its total sales... ."

Pretty simple - protect our sandwich business, we don't want the competition.

Along comes the Mexican-style QSR (quick service restaurant f/n/a fast food restaurant) - Qdoba. Its menu items include tacos, burritos, and quesadillas.

So, after Qdoba spent "over $85,000" in planning costs and contractually committed to spending another $300,000, Panera threatened its shopping center landlord and the landlord reacted by seeking a declaratory judgment to the effect that Panera's exclusive use right had not been violated.

Panera responded by asking the same court for a preliminary injunction to stop Qdoba. The niceties of those remedies, declaratory judgment and preliminary injunction.

And Panera lost. Here's why:

Simply speaking, Panera argued that a burrito was a sandwich and the Landlord argued that it was not.

So, the court had to interpret the lease. There are a series of rules used by courts to aid in contract interpretation.

For now, all we need to know is that "[t]he starting point must be the actual words chosen by the parties to express their agreement. [] If the words of the contract are plain and free from ambiguity, they must be construed in accordance with their ordinary and usual sense."

From that point onward, it was all downhill for the court. It found that the term "sandwiches" was not ambiguous. Thus, because the lease didn't provide its own definition, it looked for the "ordinary meaning."

Where did that come from? The court turned to The New Webster Third International Dictionary, where it found a "sandwich" to be "two thin pieces of bread, usually buttered, with a thin layer (as of meat, cheese, or a savory mixture) spread between them."

Without saying so, the court couldn't find the "second" slice in a taco, burrito or quesadilla, and it didn't even believe that the flour tortilla was bread.

Panera tried to extend a finding by the International Trade Court's to "prove" that a corn taco shell was bread, but this court was unmoved. It said the Trade Court's tariff-setting opinion used "bread" in its commercial sense, but the Panera lease was using "bread" (as an unspoken part of "sandwich") in its ordinary sense, and tacos are not ordinarily thought of as "bread."

According to the court, there was no evidence that, during their negotiations, either the landlord or the tenant intended burritos, tacos or quesadillas to be counted as sandwiches. Thus, Panera lost.

The Massachusetts court pointed out certain missed opportunities for Panera to have done a better job for itself. For one, during negotiations, it never even told the landlord that it had any concern about burritos, etc. Next, it knew or should have known of other QSRs that sold sandwich "alternatives," either by way of its general knowledge or because there were Mexican-style restaurants at other shopping centers near this very location.

Fundamentally, the court summed up this blog for us when it wrote: "Because [Panera] failed to use more specific language or definitions for "'sandwiches' in the Lease, it is bound to the language and the common meaning attributable to 'sandwiches' that the parties agreed upon when the Lease was drafted."

What went wrong for this Panera franchisee was that it forgot what it really wanted to protect. It defined its business too narrowly. The Panera franchisee shouldn't have thought of itself as being a sandwich business.

Assuming that it wasn't going to be able to bar every other style of QSR, it probably should have seen itself as selling items that were the functional equivalent of sandwiches.

Courts are people too, and as people they understand categories described by way of example. So, Panera could have "gone for" a list, such as: "sandwiches and the functional equivalent of sandwiches, including without limitation: wraps, burritos, tacos, quesadilla, and pita pockets."

Add "hamburgers" or "hot dogs" if that's what you intend. That might have done the trick.
Also, it would have fleshed out the "issue" during negotiations, and had the text survived, this case would not have arisen in the first place - no angst, no legal bills.

Now, to beat up on the court a little (as Judge Posner seemed to be doing). The court's strict reliance on the dictionary ended any other attempt it might have made to understand what was really intended and, quite frankly, what should have been expected - at least to the point where the issue could (or should) have been fleshed out during lease negotiations. That's unfortunate because, had the court been inclined (or persuaded by Panera's attorneys) to think beyond "textualism," it might have realized that it was authorizing the sale of items like pita pockets (under the one piece of bread theory).

From there, one could go to an intact roll with a slit on the side and stuffed with meat. How about an "open" roast beef "sandwich"?

How about two of them on sale for five dollars? Eat them one at a time (meaning neither is the court's "sandwich") or fold them together yourself - sandwich or not? On the other hand, how would have the court defined an "open roast beef (or other open) sandwich" if it had already concluded that a sandwich needs two slices of "bread"?

Does the ordinary consumer "see" a hamburger as a sandwich? The court did. Did the landlord? Honestly, did the tenant?
So, if any reader wants to take a shot at redrafting for Panera, keep in mind that using the "list" approach of specifically saying "tacos, burritos, and quesadillas," and not using those as examples, might not catch wraps, pita pockets or similar foods of which neither the reader nor this writer are aware.

We won't discuss whether a restaurant serving "Middle Eastern" food is protected by a carve-out for "near-Eastern" food. Nor did this court, even though the question apparently was presented.

Wikipedia says it like this: "Before the First World War, "Near East" was used in English to refer to the Balkans and the Ottoman Empire, while "Middle East" referred to Iran, Afghanistan, and Central Asia, and the Caucasus. In contrast, "Far East" referred to the countries of East Asia (e.g. China, Japan, Formosa, Korea, Hong Kong, etc.)." It also says the following: "Many [who?] have criticized the term Middle East because of its implicit Eurocentrism."

Ruminations takes no position on this because, if it did, it would feel compelled to figure out what a "Mexican-style restaurant" might be.

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In recent years, many states have been aggressively taking the stance that out-of-state franchisors have nexus in their state (based on a variety of business factors).

Certain states have even been taking the position that nexus is created when a Franchise Disclosure Document ("FDD") is filed in that state, since the filing of the FDD actually registers the franchise to do business in the state.

Given the complexity of the nexus issue and the ramifications of registering to do business in certain states, franchisors should perform an analysis to determine which states tax returns should be filed in.

Furthermore, franchisors should strongly consider taking advantage of amnesty programs where offered. In addition to the limited availability of these programs, franchisors should be cognizant of the fact that these amnesty programs are only available for short periods of time and often come with specific criteria, such as: that no claim for unpaid taxes has previously been asserted against the taxpayer or the taxpayer has not been notified of an audit for the tax period or periods for which they are applying for amnesty.

• Amnesty programs were available in the following states

Ohio Tax Amnesty Program - Runs from May 1, 2012 through June 15, 2012. During this time, Ohio will waive all penalties and half the interest for eligible taxpayers that file delinquent tax returns and pay the taxes due. The program applies to all tax periods for which the original tax return was due before May 1, 2011. To be eligible for Ohio's general tax amnesty, taxpayers must have owed taxes on May 1, 2011.

Texas' "Fresh Start" Amnesty Program - Runs from June 12, 2012 through August 17, 2012. During this time, Texas will waive all penalties and interest for eligible taxpayers that file delinquent tax reports and pay the taxes due. The program applies to all tax periods for which the original tax return was due before April 1, 2012.

If you have businesses in the states mentioned above, we strongly suggest franchisors contact their tax advisors to determine the appropriate actions to be taken.

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Why should every business owner write an operations manual...and why now? What is the urgency? Creating an operations manual is a big job. It requires valuable time that most business owners would rather use elsewhere. Some owners complain that the manuals end up collecting dust on the shelf, so why write one?

Operations manuals are used for several reasons, among them are: to on-boarding new employees, build a second, third or forth (etc.) store, risk management and added value. Obviously, new employees need to be trained. The ops manual is often used to ensure that new employee training is consistent and accurate. Without this, employees are trained by the the most experienced employees, who may or may not be doing things the way the owner wants it done. Operations manuals eliminate this confusion.

By eliminating this confusion and documenting the required systems and routines , the business can grow and duplicate. Replication is the key to becoming a franchise, or successful chain. The most successful multi-unit chains write, use and maintain an operations manuals because they create consistency and uniformity.

Creating an operations manual is a risk management tool as well. What happens if the owner is suddenly "hit by a bus"? Who in the business understands all aspects of the systems that need to be implemented. Without written instructions regarding how to run the business, who would understand how to keep things moving while the owner recovers? Did you know that most businesses that suffer such a catastrophe fail within six months? This tragic end of successful businesses is the result of having all the operations locked in the owner's head.

Operations manuals add monetary value to the business. Business brokers know that owners who invest in writing a comprehensive operations manual (or at least an Owner's Emergency Handbook), increase the value of their business. Operation manuals can add between $10-20,000 to the sale price of a company, and eliminates the need of the owner to stay on and train the new owners how to run things. Who doesn't like more cash?

JumpStart Manuals give business owners the tools and process to write their own operations manuals. Whether one uses our template-style workbooks, hires a consultant, or strikes out alone, writing a standard operating manual is key your success. Operations manuals decrease inconsistency, improve employee training, avert catastrophic collapse and increasing the value of the company.

What business can afford not to have an operations manual?

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Let's say you own a regional system of franchised stores. Your newest franchisee has just handed you a draft lease for the store he intends to operate.

What are the six most important changes you can negotiate to protect your interest in the new location - and the associated goodwill - in case the franchisee defaults under the lease, the franchise agreement, or both? In order of importance, here are six critical goals to shoot for:

1. Notice of default. Insist the landlord agree to give you written notice of any lease default by the tenant, even if the lease does not require that the tenant be notified. Keep in mind the lease may make certain events (e.g., nonpayment of rent or failure to maintain required insurance) automatic defaults without needing to notify the tenant. If the lease does require notice as a precondition to default, insist the landlord agree to copy you on the notice sent to the tenant. It is essential that you learn about your franchisee's failure to pay rent (or otherwise perform under the lease) in enough time to decide upon - and implement - an effective response.

Without this most basic of protections, the eviction process could be well under way or even complete before you learn of the tenant's failure to perform. Although some landlords resist the administrative burden, a prudent one will recognize that bringing you into the process early on will enhance prospects of a quick resolution without substantial legal costs or prolonged interruption of the rental stream.

2. Right to cure. Having the right (but not the obligation) to cure any lease default by the tenant goes hand-in-hand with the right to receive notice of that default. Ideally, the period permitted for your cure will exceed that allowed for the tenant's cure; among other things, the lease may permit the tenant only a short period, or none at all, to cure matters such as a monetary default, failure to insure or a prohibited assignment.

You can expect the landlord to try to limit the number of times you will be permitted to cure during the lease term; you can also expect the landlord to try to keep the cure period to 30 days or less.

3. Consent to lease amendments. If the landlord and tenant are permitted to amend the lease without your consent, any protections you succeed in building into the lease can disappear with a stroke of a pen.

Moreover, the way will be cleared for the tenant to leave your franchise system (or join a competing system) and retain control of the store by negotiating necessary lease changes (such as a modified use clause or rent structure) directly with the landlord. Having the right to approve any amendments to the lease (or, at a minimum, those that affect your rights and interests as franchisor) before they become effective is critical to your ability to protect your interests and preserve locational control.

For similar reasons, you should seek to prohibit the tenant from having the right to renew or extend the lease term, assign the lease or sublease the premises without your consent; all are mechanisms for the tenant to attempt to exit your system, join a competing system or bring in a competitor to operate in the store location.

4.Limit permitted uses. The uses permitted under the lease should be limited to operation of the franchised store under the parameters of the franchise agreement.

Not only will this impede the tenant from assigning the lease to a competing operator (or anyone else who does not intend to operate the franchised store), it will also help ensure the lease can be transferred only to you or another franchisee in the event of the tenant's bankruptcy.

5.Conditional assignment of the lease. Consider requiring the tenant to conditionally assign the lease to you. Such an assignment would give you the option (but not the obligation) of taking over the lease and operating the store (or possibly transferring the lease and store to a another franchisee) in the event of the tenant's default under the lease and/or the franchise agreement.

Conditional assignment language can be inserted in the lease itself or in a separate document. However the assignment is documented, the landlord's consent (given up front, upon execution of the lease) is essential. You can expect the landlord to seek your agreement to completely cure any existing default by the tenant if you choose to exercise your assignment rights.

6.Cross-default with franchise agreement. Including a clause that makes a default under the franchise agreement an automatic default under the lease will give the tenant/franchisee another incentive to perform, and it will increase your leverage in the event of nonperformance. However, the landlord may be concerned about the risk of lease termination because of a technical default under the franchise agreement.

Be prepared to identify which of the tenant/ franchisee's obligations under that agreement are important enough to justify termination of the lease in the event of a violation.

Even Better Protection

Your financial standing and track record, the size and prominence of your franchise system, and the importance of the lease to the landlord will all impact your success in securing these changes. Ideally, negotiated concessions are set forth in a rider or addendum to the lease, which you would sign as a party along with the landlord and tenant.

Alternatively, language can be added to the lease naming you as a third party beneficiary of the negotiated concessions. This is a less desirable approach, however, because your rights to enforce the lease as a third party beneficiary may not be clear. In any event, obtaining these six changes - or most of them - will afford you much greater protection than the typical landlord form lease.

This has been a guest post by Steven J. Davis, counsel to Thompson Hine LLP. Steve is counsel in the firm's Real Estate practice group. He focuses his practice on the acquisition, sale, development and leasing of commercial real estate and commercial construction contracts.

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Choosing the right franchise requires some research and due diligence before making such an important decision. You should think about your experience and your strengths and weaknesses to determine if it's a good fit. Do a thorough evaluation of the opportunity. Assess your goals and objectives to see if they're in line with what the franchise has to offer. Determine how you can compliment it with your background and business experience and expertise.

Do you understand the franchise system - how it works and does it really work effectively and efficiently?

Be sure to understand what you need as a franchisee to operate the business successfully. On the other hand, understand what your requirements are as a franchisee to the franchisor. Ideally it should be a win-win relationship. You create a successful business based on the support and expertise of the franchisor. In return for this support, the franchisor receives his royalty fees knowing that the business will be successful based on his proven business model.

It's all about processes - get them in place - are all the ducks in a row?

So here's where we really get to put the franchisor's experience and expertise to the test. Are there streamlined processes in place to help you run the business? And have these been proven to be effective by others in the business? A positive answer to these critical questions should most help to steer you in on the right path whether or not this is the right business to acquire.

Manage the Process - operational management - Who's in charge of operations?

Now comes your part as a franchisee. Can you follow the "rules book" from the franchisee? After all, at this stage of the game, the franchisor is acting like your coach. He know the rules and is in fact saying to you that if you follow the rules of the game, you will succeed. Well it's not quite that simple, but you know what I mean. So know the rules of engagement to manage the process.

Know your Numbers - so what are they telling you... and are you listening?

Ah yes, the numbers. Sometimes the most neglected part of running the business. So often, the focus is on marketing and sales. But without accurate and timely financial information most businesses are running blind and doomed to failure. You need to understand the numbers so you can see where your business has been (historical financial information) and where it's going based on projected financial information. This helps you to run your business proactively based on informed decisions that allows you to make course corrections along the way. It's sort of like your business compass or GPS system.

Here are a few crucial numbers you need to know and monitor to control your business operations:

Pay particular attention to cash flow. It's still the king. Review the balance sheet, income statement and cash flow statement every month to assess net worth, net profits or losses and cash flow. On a quarterly basis, calculate the following financial ratios to evaluate key performance measures:

• Sales year to date
• Gross profit margin
• Cost of sales as a percentage of sales
• Labour rate as a percentage of sales

By comparing these ratios to those of franchise or industry averages, you can determine the progress of your business. If you need advice or assistance, an accountant experienced with franchises would be your best resource. This professional can help you interpret financial results and benchmark your progress relative to both competitive businesses and other locations within your franchise system. He or she can also guide you on how to strengthen and improve results.

Proactive Management - are you working on your business?

And finally, your ultimate goal is to get to the stage where you're working On your business rather than In it. So often, franchisees start off a business with great excitement and lots of ambition and enthusiasm. Only to find out that things are not as they anticipated and they actually become an employee of the business rather than an employer. In short, the business is running them, rather than them running the business. For those of who who really want to understand this philosophy, I highly recommend you read "The E-myth Re-Visited" by Michael Gerber. There is a famous chapter in the book entitled "Working On your Business, Not In It". I think you'll enjoy it.

The Bottom Line

So here you are! You've decided on a franchise in which to invest. It's a financially stable company that provides "know how" and support to help you become a successful entrepreneur. But be sure to get the accounting support you need, either from the franchisor or your own accounting professional -- and be committed to follow the "rule book", know the numbers and manage and monitor your business in real time to achieve financial success. After all, isn't that why you're an entrepreneur?

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Now as scary as providing a personal guarantee may be there is not all bad news in both how you approach the subject with your prospective landlord and how you can negotiate a better guarantee for yourself.

Lastly you also need to understand the "law" in your local jurisdiction, which could mean State, County,City laws.

This is why it is essential for you to have legal representation in any real estate transaction.

In many jurisdictions landlords are required to "mitigate" their losses. What this means is before they can cash in what you put up to guarantee the lease the landlord has to do a few things first.

Firstly they can use your security deposit right away. No questions asked.

Secondly, they must make every effort to re‐lease the premises in a timely manner. This means they can't sit around waiting for the next tenant to arrive on their doorstep. They must actively market the space. Once a replacement tenant has been found and secured and only then will your loss or the amount you will be paying as a result of your guarantee be calculated.

The landlord will calculate the number of months of not receiving rent. They will add to this the marketing costs, legal fees, renovation costs and commissions associated with the loss mitigation.

They will in most cases be entitled to interest on the outstanding amount owed for mitigation period. So unless you are near the end of your lease the amount of actual exposure can be significantly reduced.

However, if market conditions are unfavorable or the economy is not good this can work against you as it may take a landlord longer to find a replacement.

The following are some pointers of reducing your personal exposure under the personal guarantee.

1. You can try and limit the amount of time you will guarantee the lease term. Perhaps you can have language that says "that after 2 years in the space, provided the tenant has not been in any default and has been in good standing with the landlord" the personal guarantee goes away or reduced by certain amount of time".

2. You can also try to tie the time limit to your business doing a certain amount of gross sales which you can substantiate to the landlord and if you achieve that level of sales for a certain amount of continuous time the guarantee goes away or is drastically reduced.

3. You can try a have a "liquidated damages" clause which means you are willing to lose a preset and mutually agreed upon amount of money to settle any default. Be cautious as this may mean a substantial amount compared to going the mitigation route.

4. You should require language that absolutely requires the landlord to mitigate its loss, just in case there are no hard and fast laws in your jurisdiction.

5. You can try and have a co‐signor or co-guarantor who has better financials, but be careful as its usually a relative and you all
know how that can play out if your business falters.

6. Try can have a shorter term lease, is reduces the total amount. For example if you were thinking of a 5 year lease term, think about a 3 year term with an option to renew for 2 years.

Your exposure would be only 3 years. Please note however, the shorter term lease may cost more because the landlord wants the security of knowing they won't have to re‐lease the space sooner. Also be aware, if in the event you are having interior improvements done by the landlord and the cost is being rolled into the lease payments, this can cost you more for
a shorter term since the payments will be based on the length of the initial term.

Lastly,if you get a business loan for whatever reason the lender will require you to have a lease term that is the same or greater than the loan term.

Other than these tips you should be prepared to have to sign a personal guarantee.

The only exception might be if you are going to lease property in a run down, economically stressed area, then a landlord should be happy to see you and your business and not require a personal guarantee.

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A Good Franchise in a Poor Location will become a Poor Business!

One of the most effective strategies to conducting site selection is not by looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack, but instead, by using the process of elimination.

The number one reason for a franchisee's failure or poor performance is due to a poor location. A poor location ultimately results from poor site selection. How else can you explain that identical stores from the same chain or franchise system will vary as much as 200% in sales volumes? Of course you will need to factor in store size, marketing budgets, management and so on; however, these are all secondary to the importance of location, in my opinion.

Essentially, there are three types of franchise businesses: profitable, break-even and go-broke. A truly profitable franchise location will make money and the business will appreciate in value. A break-even franchise location will pay the owner a small salary and pay the rent but not much more. The go-broke location that comes to my mind lasted less than three months from opening to closing for one unfortunate tenant. Despite my warnings that this was a go-broke location, the business owners poured in $80,000 into their store setup and couldn't pay their rent by the second month of operation. Usually, a go-broke location will not only steal your capital but also put you into personal bankruptcy - after you have maxxed out your credit.

If you thought that franchise site selection was all about location - location - location, you're right ... intellectually. However, when first-time tenants with limited leasing experience are involved in the site selection process, good old common sense often goes out the window. Consider for a moment that site selection involves both science (with part research and part timing) and good intuition (part luck). Franchise tenants, typically, will mistakenly rely on either a landlord's real estate agent or their franchisor (without a dedicated in-house real estate team) to lead them through the process.

In my book, Negotiate Your Franchise Commercial Lease or Renewal, I have dedicated an entire chapter to site selection. Here are just a few relevant tips from the expert:

1) Allow enough time so that you're not making decisions under pressure. Typically, for a new franchise business, you should start the site selection process six months or more in advance of when you want to open. If you find a prime location, usually the landlord will hold it for you for a few months. However, if the process takes longer, you may need several months to finalize the Offer to Lease, review the formal lease documents and/or build out the store.

2) Don't let a realtor show you space all over town. Franchise tenants often fail to realize that realtors/agents/brokers typically work for landlords who pay them a commission on lease deals signed and closed. When one agent shows you another agent's listings, this will effectively create commission-splitting between the property's listing agent and the leasing agent. This will also undermine your negotiating power since the landlord's real estate agent will know how you feel about every location. A realtor may be very helpful in pointing out a location you were unaware of, but remember who they are working for. While their advice may be sincere, it may be sincerely wrong.

3) Make your leasing inquiry by calling the "For Lease" number on the property sign. This way, you will meet and negotiate with the listing agent directly. Tour prospective sites in order from worst to best based on curb appeal. This way, you will become more confident, ask better questions and be more in control of the leasing process.

4) Don't telegraph your intentions by giving buying signals. Ask the leasing representative to e-mail you preliminary information before you agree to view the space. When viewing, stifle the urge to think out loud; subtle comments to a partner/spouse and overheard by the leasing representative can work against you. If you're asked how much you have budgeted for rental payments, remain vague. Not every question asked deserves an answer - not yet, anyway.

If you find yourself weighing a better location at a higher rent versus a lesser location at a lower rent, my advice is to go for the first option. When consulting to franchise tenants and doing site selection, my job isn't to find the cheapest location, it is to select a site that will help the franchise tenant maximize his/her sales.

Also remember that landlords sometimes prefer to lease their worst space(s) first and save the best space(s) for last. Usually, the individual unit or location you lease within a shopping centre or strip mall is more important that the mall itself - or at least equally important. Know that lease rates within a building can vary by 200% depending on unit desirability, walk or drive-by traffic flow, space shape, quality of neighbouring tenants, anchor tenants and your operating status as an independent or a national chain name. While you don't always get what you pay for in leasing commercial space, you normally don't get more than you pay for either.

Note that if you already own a franchise business but are considering relocating when your current lease expires, start your site selection at least nine months ahead. If you cannot get a satisfactory lease renewal, you will need this time to select alternative sites and negotiate a new lease elsewhere.

Franchise tenants need to know there is a great deal more involved with the site selection process than just what is explained here ... these pointers are just a few tips of the iceberg.

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With the constantly evolving atmosphere of the business world, understanding the particular nuances of brick-and-mortar stores is imperative to establishing an image within consumer market any size.

This is where Geo-analytics (also known as location analytics) becomes an effective way to optimize a business' location. Geo-analytics equips businesses with the tools and knowledge to plant and grow effectively.

Before deciding to invest in a geo-analysis for a business, you may want to ask what makes geo-analytics so beneficial. To help understand how Geo-analytics could be a "game changer", here are a few important points:

• Information is key to building a new location for your business, and a geo-analysis of your immediate area allows you to see numerical and graphical representations of what you need to know.
• Geo-analysis supplies detailed information about spending patterns, consumer needs and wants, and other information about the demographics in your desired area.
• The shifting web-based consumer market can seem like a threat to many physical stores, but geo-analysis gives you a visual of how to create an environment to communicate with your locations demographics.
• With the knowledge about your specific location, you can make important and educated decisions about implementing a new business model.

Consumers seek businesses that seem to understand them and their needs, and having the proper information about the location in which you plan to build a business is key.

Whether you're building a franchise or starting up a business from scratch, knowing exactly what the community around you needs can give you an edge over your competition.

The post How Geo-analytics can Improve Your Business appeared first on Predict and Prevent Business Failure.

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No risk no reward it is often said. Franchise ownership is definitely not for the faint at heart. Owning your own business has incredible rewards and can represent everything about yourself professionally.

The old saying of "you'll never work a day in your life if you love what you do" certainly applies to many small business owners.

However, the same passion Franchise owners have for their core business does not necessarily translate well to other areas outside their core competency.

Welcome to the world of indirect costs.

It does not matter if you are restaurant, medical office, manufacturer or a retail store, indirect costs can eat right through your profits in no time.

Indirect costs include many areas that are not a deliverable to your customer such as transportation, merchant services, electricity, gas, fuel, insurance and office equipment or supplies.

Franchise owners struggle in these areas because of a lack of expertise, leverage and most importantly the lack of time. The indirect cost providers have no such lack of expertise or time compared to the small business owner. This usually leaves the Franchise owner with the least amount of leverage. Kind of like a nail to hammer relationship! Not much leverage for the old nail.

However, Franchise owners do have options to increase their leverage if they choose. Here are three ways they can increase their leverage with indirect costs:

1. Open up negotiations - there a lot of indirect expenses in which there are no restrictions to competition so rebidding the service is a very viable option. This even includes using your current provider. There is nothing wrong with checking the marketplace for updated pricing and service plans. Service levels, service providers, technology and your own needs change over time. You just might be surprised to find key savings right in front of you.
2. Buying groups - buying groups add value to their members through essentially group discounting. These groups are often associated by industry and can be a very effective way to increase leverage with providers to the industry. There can be costs associated with joining these groups, but the cost of membership can easily payoff in the savings associated.
3. Strategic partnerships - there are strategic partners that specialize in indirect costing solutions that give small business access to negotiation leverage they just can't get on their own. These partners add leverage to the Franchise owner through their expertise and their relationships with these types of providers. They can provide preferential pricing to the Franchise owner because of their track record and relationship with these providers and pass these savings onto the Franchise owner. These partnerships not only pass along savings to their clients, but they also allow Franchise owners to leverage time because they act on the behalf of the small business owner allowing them to focus on their core business. Some of these partners specialize in one are while others can provide a one stop shop for all indirect costs.

Franchise ownership requires maintaining cost to keep you competitive in the marketplace.

While you can't save your way to higher sales, you can price yourself out of the market.

Indirect costs are just part of doing business so make sure to review those costs for opportunities that just might give you an edge.

If it has been a while since you reviewed those contracts the investment of time could pay off exponentially.

How would your conversion rate and profitability change if you could implement a method to develop a prospect's confidence about the value of your offering earlier in the sales process?

Wouldn't it also be valuable at the same time to learn what would change your prospect's mind about deciding to buy from you?

Questions are a great way for you to become the problem solver your buyer will want to do business with.

Questions are strong tools for helping your potential buyers see the value of doing business with you, and to get them to tell you what factors must be mitigated before they write a check.

"What do you need us to accomplish for you to consider our work with you a true success?" is a good question for uncovering real reasons they are exploring the value of your service.

"Is there anything else that would need to be in place for you to decide to move ahead?" is an appropriate question if you want to understand the risks the buyer sees in going forward with you.

Under the traditional sales model, you don't get to your prospects' objections until after you try to close the sale. At that point, it's often too late, and you may have labeled yourself as a product pusher.

By asking questions up front you create trust, engage respectfully, and deal with objections early on. You've now established yourself as a problem solver, making closing easier.

What powerful questions do you ask to educate your buyers about the value you provide, or to help them overcome their resistance to buying from you?

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Any manager or employee involved in outside sales knows the incredible joy of getting their territory right.

It is simply tremendous to walk in the door of a prospective customer and know that your referrals are good, there are 30 more customers waiting for you down the street, and you have all the territory information you need to make a good pitch, from approach to close.

The right territory mapping software puts your sales team in the right spot at the right time, so that these golden opportunities are maximized.

Headache Inducers

On the other hand, every outdoor salesperson has the experience under their belt of that one time they accidentally followed on the back of another team member from their company: territory gone wrong.

Customers hate it, and sales people leave the approach at best feeling like grinning idiots, at worse, they are chased off the premises by irate customers who feel cheated.

The problem is not your employees, your management or your customers!

The problem is your territory mapping system.

In many sales territories, you have to divide up territories in high-traffic, highly populated areas where little more than a street will divide one high-performing sales rep from another.

Headache Reduction in 4 Steps

1. Real Time Updates - Whether you are trying to close out a sales territory for a deadline, make room for incoming sales reps, or just adjust your system for market changes, you have to change assigned territories. It is part of the job. The right territory mapping software will do this automatically, preventing the data loss from sleepy eyed sales reps having to scan a list of prospects for the day and make their own maps.
2. Integrate Data - Your sales team needs information to contact your customers, your customers need information to see the value in what you are offering. With so much information available online via governmental and social media websites, good territory mapping software will automatically include relevant and current demographic data.
3. Manage Long Term Territories - For businesses setting up franchises, or seeking to establish long-term sales reps, the ability to virtually experiment with your territories is absolutely a prerequisite for establishing a territory. You can start with protected territories, knowing that the area you chose was large enough for growth.
4. Reduce Stress Through Sharing - Any outdoor sales rep knows the experience of snipping images from their sales software into a presentation or document and then trying to show that to a reticent prospect. Modern software systems reduce the need for cutting, copying and pasting. Simply share a link to the relevant data and your prospect can pull it up on their own phone/tablet/computer.

Although the business of communicating to prospects will always have interpersonal issues involved, ensure that your sales team has the least amount of headaches possible with the right territory mapping software.

The post 4 Ways a Good Territory Mapping Software Prevents Headaches appeared first on Predict and Prevent Business Failure.

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In Alabama, the Coca-Cola Company has just expanded the franchise territory of Coca-Cola Bottling Company United (CCBCU) to include seven new cities.

The new contract means the franchise area of CCBCU more than doubles in size.

It's almost certain, however, that the local CCBCU customers will probably see no change in their day-to-day operations, despite the exponential growth of the soft drink supplier.

Coca-Cola has long been known for their exceptional products and their even more outstanding customer service. It has built its reputation on ensuring the local beverage purveyors receive product on a timely basis, ready to sell, and easy to track. Their advertising over the years has indelibly connected their corporate face to "doing good" in local and global communities.

So how will CCBCU manage to maintain their relationships with existing customers while expanding into such an extensive territory? Presumably, technology will facilitate not just the transition, but provide the foundation for a smooth, painless shift to the (much) larger corporate footprint. Proprietary franchise management software will direct their next steps, based on analysis of their new territory data.

A franchise offers significant benefits as a small business. The products/services are already developed; the processes of start-up and launch have been streamlined, and the artwork, imagery and labeling development has already been proven effective. Managing the business effectively comes down to knowing the territory and the target customer base.

Smart franchise owners elect to leave the product maintenance to their franchisor, in order to focus on building a strong relationship with their territorial customer base. The success of those local customers is vital to the success of the franchise, so identifying, tracking and modifying the data within that franchise territory is integral to the business success.

This comprehension of the base market is almost certainly why Coca-Cola has remained at the top of the franchiser list for so long - they respect and maintain a strong connection and quick responsiveness to the business of their local customers.

Regardless of the size of a franchise territory, proprietary software can contribute to business strategy by collecting, analyzing and strategizing franchise territory data.

Gaining this information assures franchise owners that they are responding appropriately and productively to their local market, as well as building a strong future for themselves.

The post Tracking the Market Within Your Franchise Territory appeared first on Predict and Prevent Business Failure.

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Workplace investigations are tough enough without the office grapevine gossiping about who did what to whom.

As such, it's standard practice to ask anyone who participates in an investigation to keep their mouths closed about what is discussed behind the closed doors.

A new ruling from the National Labor Relations (NLRB), however, suggests that a blanket "keep your mouth shut" mandate may be improper.

The Case behind the Concern

Like many investigators, the HR director for Banner Heath Systems asked workers involved in an in-house investigation to not talk about the investigation with their co-workers. However, James, one of the employees involved objected that this request violated the rights of employees to discuss the terms and conditions of their employment with their coworkers. The National Labor Relations Board sided with James, saying that blanket requests for confidentiality during an investigation are overly broad and might have a chilling effect on appropriate - and legally protected - communications.

So what's an Investigator to do?

This is a new ruling (July 30, 2012) and time will tell what this means from a practical standpoint. However, the NLRB's ruling does offer some guidance. First of all, investigators can still ask witnesses to keep quiet as long as they have a legitimate business interest in making the request.

This business interest must extend beyond the usual "we're trying to protect the integrity of the investigation" reasoning.

So what business interest is legitimate?

It is one that arises from that particular investigation.

Perhaps, for example, the facts you've uncovered so far suggest that the accused might try to intimidate witnesses if s/he learns they will be talking to an investigator.

Perhaps you haven't had a chance to retrieve some valuable evidence and are concerned that, if the investigation leaks out, it might be destroyed before you have a chance to do so.

Or perhaps you have reason to believe (again, based on what you've uncovered) that a group of witnesses might get together and "get their stories straight" before you have a chance to interview them individually.

In addition, when you do feel requests for privacy are warranted, limit the scope as much as possible. For instance, ask that the witnesses not discuss the investigation as long as it's active or during work hours or on company property.

The Bottom Line

In every investigation, investigators walk a tightrope, trying to balance a number of competing interests. This recent ruling extends those competing interests to include the need to maintain confidentiality and employees' rights to discuss the conditions of their employment.

For now, the best solution during an investigation is to avoid blanket requests for privacy, articulate valid reasons for privacy requests when they occur, and make sure your requests are as limited as possible.

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Come October 1, 2015 there are big changes coming to the payment industry.

The US is the last major market that is still using the old swipe and sign cards.

The familiar card technology is blamed for the fact that the US accounts for nearly half of the world's credit card fraud while only accounting for a quarter of the transactions.

Here are some of the highlights from an article that showed up in my inbox from the Missouri Restaurant Association about the changes taking place on October 1, 2015:

• Swipe and sign credit cards are being replaced with cards with a chip and will require either a signature or a PIN at the point of sale
• The way they are incenting everyone to move to the new system is by placing liability on the party that doesn't comply by the date ie:
  • If a customer uses a swipe and sign card the liability is on them.
  • If a customer has a new chip card, but an establishment doesn't have chip technology and forces the client to use a swipe and sign card the liability is on the merchant
• The new chip based cards will erase themselves if they sense that they are being tampered with.
• The NRA predicts that the industry will lag behind other industries in adopting this technology with the main reason being that there doesn't seem to be a lot fraud in our industry.

Has anyone started looking into this at all?

How are the payment vendors handling this?

Are the fees and equipment more expensive?

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On a recent sales process audit of a medium to large format full service franchise concept, we spent time with one of their new franchisees.

The concept is less complicated than a TGI Friday's but more challenging than a Qdoba Mexican Grill.

The unit is around 5000 square feet has a traditional grill menu you might expect with beer, wine and spirits.

The franchise owners were first time franchisees and had never owned a business before this one.

They both had very successful corporate careers as engineers.

Now, both are franchise owners. One is the full time primary owner/operator, the other owner is part time and still working as an engineer.

We asked the operating owner why a bar/grill concept?

His answer was straightforward and simple.

And only partly what you might think.

He and his financial partner had always wanted to be in this kind of business. Sort of makes sense - engineers are not shy around beer!

Then, I asked why a franchise and not just open an independent restaurant?

His answer was much more interesting.

He knew he didn't have the resident knowledge of the business, but could buy it in the form of franchise.

He planned to learn this new business inside and out, working as many hours as it would take and he did, and does

He also described how he could use his engineering skill, training and experience to run his franchise.

He went into great detail on how they made improvements to their operations by the way they chose to run their beer lines and design of the bar itself. He walked us through his kitchen describing the cooking and food expediting process. And told us what design mistakes they made with the build-out.

In his previous engineering role, he described the complex manufacturing problems he solved daily.

And, how he uses that knowledge everyday in running his business.

The engineer had a plan to buy a franchise in this category. He's smart. He knew what he wanted. He knew that he didn't need training - which was a good thing because his location is miles away from the corporate headquarters.

And, he approached this franchise project as an engineering problem to be solved.

Now there are a number of franchisors who would have looked at the application of these two engineers & would have rejected them since they didn't have the restaurant talent required.

They would have missed out a great franchisee who's running a topnotch unit and who plans to build two more.

And if you went into this restaurant and met the franchise owner you'd never believe he has only run a restaurant for a short time and this was his first one.

Where is your perfect Franchise Candidate hiding?

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"When dealing with people, remember, you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but with creatures of emotion"
~ Dale Carnegie

"A simple rule in dealing with those who are hard to get along with is to remember that this person is striving to assert his superiority; and you must deal with him from that point of view"
~Alfred Adler

"Business, more than any other occupation, is a continual dealing with the future behaviour of people; it is a continual calculation, an instictive exercise in foresight."
~Henry R. Luce

"If you want to learn how to deal with difficult people, have a few kids"
~ Overheard in a Chicago bar

All managers will have to deal with difficult employees during their careers. It is a chore all managers endure, all managers despise, and few, if any, ever learn to do effectively.

First, there will always be difficult employees. In fact, I have observed that what we often deem to be "difficult" or "odd" behaviour in a person is really present in order to help this person maintain their psychological balance. "Difficult" people in this context are the people we don't know how to deal with us or those who are difficult for us to deal with due to (perceived or otherwise) them being stubborn, arrogant, oversensitive, or any trait that needs a special type of treatment Second, it's your job as the manager to deal with them. If you don't deal the problem, it will only get worse and impact the lives of those around you (and the subject employee) who would be looking to you for leadership.

Why Are Difficult Employees Like That?

Difficult employees are that way simply because it is a behavior that has worked for them in the past. They may not know any other behavior, or, they may choose this behavior when they think it will be most effective. You will be successful in dealing with difficult employees only to the extent that you can make these undesirable behaviors no longer effective for them.

In many ways, it's like dealing with children. If every times a child screams, its parents give it candy, what will the child do the next time it wants candy?

The same is true for the employee who "blows up" whenever anyone disagrees with him. When he does that, people stop disagreeing with him and he thinks he has won.

How Can A Manager Deal With Difficult Employees

1. Evaluate:

It is important when dealing with difficult employees to act quickly. Often you will need to act almost immediately to neutralize a dangerous situation. However, it is always appropriate to think before you act.

Clearly if an employee comes to work with a gun, you will need to act more quickly than when someone complains that another employee is always taking credit for her work. In either case, take the appropriate amount of time to evaluate the situation before you act. You don't want to make it worse.

Recognize that most employees can be "difficult" from time to time. This can be caused by stress on the job or away from it. Some employees are difficult more often than others. It is not always your least-productive employees who are difficult. So take a moment to evaluate each situation for the unique situation it is.

2. Do your homework:

Always act on facts. Don't base your actions on gossip or rumor, or even your own preconceptions and/or opinions. You can't allow yourself to be anything but impartial. The person(s) spreading the gossip is a difficult employee in their own way and must be dealt with when the immediate need has passed.

If you have not seen the inappropriate behavior yourself, look into it. Ask the people reportedly involved. Collect all the facts you can before you act. Don't use the fact that you haven't seen the inappropriate behavior as an excuse to delay doing something. It is important to act promptly.

Make sure you aren't part of the problem. It will be much more difficult to remain calm and impartial in confronting the difficult behavior if you are partly responsible. If that's the case, be sure you acknowledge your role in it, at least to yourself.

3. Develop a plan:

You're a manager. You know the value of planning. This situation is no different.

You need to plan the timing of the confrontation. You need to select a quiet, private place where you won't be interrupted. You need to decide whether you need to have others, like an HR representative, present in the meeting. Plan the confrontation and then make it happen.

When you have prepared, it is time to act. You do not need to act impulsively, but you must act quickly. The longer an inappropriate behavior is allowed to continue, the harder it will be to change it or stop it.

4. Confront the problem:

Don't put it off. It may not be pleasant, but it's an important part of your job. It will not "fix itself". It can only get worse. You have planned this confrontation. Now you need to execute.

5. Deal with the behavior, not the person:

Your goal is to develop a solution, not to "win". Focus on the inappropriate behavior; don't attack the person. Use "I" statements like "I need everybody on the team here on time so we can meet our goals" rather than "you" statements like "you are always late".

Don't assume the inappropriate behavior is caused by negative intent. It may be from fear, confusion, lack of motivation, personal problems, etc.

This is the important part; the part most managers never get right: Give the other person a chance to develop a solution to the problem. They are more likely to "own" the solution if they are at least partially responsible for developing it.

6. Try to draw out the reasons behind the behavior:

As you talk with the difficult employee, actively listen to what they say. Stay calm and stay positive, but remain impartial and non-judgmental. Ask leading questions that can't be answered in one or two words.

Don't interrupt. When you do respond to the difficult employee, remain calm.

Summarize back to them what they just said, "so what I understand you are saying is.....", so they know you are actually listening to them.

If you can find out from the difficult employee what the real source of the inappropriate behavior is, you have a much better chance of finding a solution.

Sometimes these confrontations will go smoothly, or at least rapidly, to a conclusion.

Other times it will require several sessions to resolve the problem.

7. Repeat as necessary

Minor problems, like being late for work, you may be able to resolve with a simple chat in your office with the employee. An office bully, who has used that behavior successfully since elementary school, may need more than one confrontation before a solution can be reached. Be patient. Don't always expect instant results. Aim for continuous improvement rather than trying to achieve instant success.

8. Know when you are in over your head:

Sometimes the underlying issue with a difficult employee will be beyond your capabilities. The employee may have psychological problems that require professional help, for example. Learn when to keep trying and when to refer the employee to others for more specialized help. Your company may have an EAP (employee assistance plan) or you may need to use resources from the community.

9. Know when you are at the end:

While the goals is always to reach a mutually acceptable solution that resolves the difficult employees inappropriate behavior and keeps your team at full strength, sometimes that is not possible. When you reach an impasse and the employee is not willing to change his or her behavior then you need to begin terminations procedures in accordance with your company's policies.

Coming to a Solution

The desired result from confronting a difficult employee's inappropriate behavior is an agreed upon solution, and the inappropriate behavior will continue unless you and the employee agree upon said solution. You will get more buy in and greater results if the employee plays a role in crafting the strategy on how to get there.

Your employees will always needs to know what is inappropriate about their behavior just as much as they also need to know what is appropriate behavior. The need for a manager to communicate clearly is always high, but it is especially important in these situations. Make very sure the employee understands the requirements, what is expected of him, and, if necessary, the consequences.

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Your franchisees are the eyes and ears of your business. They know what is working and what is broken. They are the first to hear your customer's complaints. They overhear important industry gossip from your vendors.They are most likely to identify inefficiency and waste.

Obviously, you need to know what your franchisees know as soon as they know it. That is why it is important to create a company-wide tradition that encourages open communication and collaboration. It is the prerequisite to creating a highly flexible and nimble organization that can respond quickly to fast changing customer and competitive circumstances.

Setting up a 21st century suggestion box is a simple way that many organizations capture franchisees ideas. However, it does not go far enough. Instead, you should leverage your franchisees' suggestions to create your company's Continuous Improvement cycle.

What is Continuous Improvement?

Continuous improvement is the goal of the most popular quality management approaches. For example, CMMI, (the Capability Maturity Model created by Carnegie Mellon University for the U.S. Department of Defense) offers a five step business improvement pyramid.

Notice that Continuous improvement is at the top of the CMMI pyramid.

Business improvement models, like CMMI, are helpful to explain the importance of adopting management theory. However, most organizations struggle with practical implementation.

To help, the Breakthrough Book suggests a simple three step approach to create an franchisee-powered continuous improvement cycle:

Step One: Capture your franchisee's idea, suggestion, issue or other information using a "Communication Switchboard."

Step Two: Assign a "Switchboard Operator" to forward the issue to the appropriate Process Team and to monitor resolution.

Step Three: The Process Team resolves the issue.

Communication Switchboard Template

The Breakthrough Book provides a Communication Switchboard template to help you create an ongoing tradition of communication between franchisees and the franchisor's teams.

To use the Switchboard, ask franchisee to report their ideas, suggestions, customer complaints and other issues directly to the Communication Log Switchboard Operator.

he switchboard operator then forwards the issue to the appropriate process team for resolution. The operator maintains a communication log that managers use to hold process teams accountable for resolving the reported issues. Also, the log is used to credit (and reward) employees with the ideas they contribute. The Breakthrough Book also suggests using coaching and team meetings to encourage employees to report their ideas, and ask process teams to report their progress in resolving critical issues.

In a very small company, the "switchboard" can be a spiral notebook hanging next to your water cooler. In a larger company the "switchboard" can be maintained by a receptionist, executive assistant or quality manager.

The switchboard logbook should have the following column headings:

• Date: The date the issue was first reported.

• Date: The date the issue was resolved.

• By: The franchisee who reported the issue.

• Process Team: The process manager responsible for resolving the issue.

• Idea Description: A sound-bite description of the issue .

• A sound-bite explanation of the issues resolution.

• Impact: An estimate of the financial benefit of the resolved issue.

How Continuous Improvement Can Work

To illustrate the benefits of initiating your company's continuous improvement cycle consider the following scenario:

A franchisee is frustrated because her employees are wasting valuable time looking up warehouse location codes that could be easily added to pick lists generated by the company's sales order software. Correcting this issue would improve productivity, speed order processing and reduce cost. The franchisee reported her suggestion to multiple field representatives over the years.

Promises were made, but no action was taken.

Now consider the quick resolution that is possible if the company facilitates communication between its franchisees and field representatives who are empowered to optimize and improve their procedures:

• franchisee reports her suggestion directly to the Switchboard.

• Switchboard forwards the issue to the Order Taking field representatives team.

• field representatives team discusses the issue. Several resources from the IT department are included in the collaboration. The decision is made to add the warehouse location code to the product database and add it to the pick lists generated during order taking.

• field representatives team creates a project to manage the steps necessary to implement the change.

• Order Taking process team updated related procedures and training materials.

• procedure change was communicated to all affected franchisees and their employees.

• issue was resolved quickly because franchisees and franchisor employees from multiple departments were empowered to communicate, collaborate and resolve problems that related to their areas of responsibility.

The above scenario illustrates how culture, effective process management and open communication work together to optimize your company. It is simple, organic and stealthy. It institutionalizes a culture of excellence. It leverages your franchisee's insights and creativity. It helps make your business flexible and resilient.

You will likely need to dedicate 5-10% of your franchisees' time to improving your company. Consider it the cost of your freedom. It is also a cost that should result in a significant return on investment.

Your company will finally have a way to capture your franchisee's ideas for saving money, making money, minimizing waste, and increasing quality, consistency and customer satisfaction.

People steal. There's no surprise there, right?

Well, what are you (the owner/manager) going to do about it?

What's your first line of defense? Awareness.

Creating awareness about loss prevention is a major component to fight the war on shoplifting and internal theft. If you help your employees think more centrally around the concept of loss prevention, then thieves will notice and feel uncomfortable in your store or restaurant.

Awareness can even lead to creating a sense of ownership amongst employees too. You can create a mindset of "Hey, I don't want anyone stealing from my store. Shrink affects my bonuses," which creates a halo effect on others.

Here are 5 tips, plus a bonus tip, on how to create more awareness in your restaurant or retail store.

1. Challenge your employees to know the store stats. If you talk about loss prevention everyday with your employees, they will become more aware of what it is and how it affects business. What is your shrink percentage? What is your shrink goal? Where are the spots in the location where people are most likely to steal? What are recovery statements? Who is your Loss Prevention Manager? In what instance should they be called?

2. Make an LP informational bulletin board in the break room. Keep all the things employees should know here; shrink percentages, facts and information, success stories, incentives, a list of behaviors shoplifters typically exhibit, contests, the loss prevention hotline poster and numbers to call in case of an emergency.

3. Explain the importance of shrink and how it affects each employee. If shrink is too high, someone might not get enough hours they want or the raise they requested may be put on hold. A lot of things depend on the shrink percentage of the store or restaurant.

4. Create incentives/contests to encourage a lower shrink percentage. Sets goals and when you achieve them, reward the employees that made a difference. Nothing motivates people more than an incentive.

5. Role play. Sometimes employees can be aware, but when faced with a real life situation they freeze and don't react as well as they should have. This is where role playing comes in. During a controlled environment role play, have one employee ask another for an extra discount on top of what they're already getting. This give the employees to formulate a statement back to their peer. Ex. "No, I don't think that's allowed. You can always check with the manager to see when the next extra 10% off is though."

Bonus Tip: When you talk sales, talk loss prevention too. Maybe this is only a retail instance, but when coaching employees in the sales environment, coach them on loss prevention as well. This will prove that it's something equally as important as sales.

Ex. "Give me 3 examples of how you would sell this watch. Then give me 2 examples of how you would approach a potential shoplifter if you thought they were trying to steal it."

Again, employee awareness is key.

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The high school senior was so excited about her upcoming school dance. Her dress was exquisite, and her shoes and purse matched perfectly. She was saving money from her job at the local fast food restaurant to pay for all she needed to make the event so special.

There were flowers to choose, a limo for her and her date and a few friends, pictures, and a whole lot of extras that would make the evening a long lasting memory. She had all her future earnings planned out for the next few weeks and earmarked for the special occasion.

What she had not planned for was the inexplicable shortage of $20 on her cash till at work. The restaurant had a policy that all cash shortages had to be paid back. "Oh no!" she thought. "I didn't steal any money; what am I going to do? I need every penny I earn to pay for the dance."

Mandatory Payback Policy

When consulting with retailers and restaurant owners, the conversation will generally turn to cash shortages. A few have boasted they simply did not have cash shortages because of the policy they put in place.

The policy required cashiers to pay back shortages in their tills. They further stated that shortages may occur once or twice, but after paying for the shortages, a cashier was not often short again.

The shortages required no investigation, no investment of a manager's valuable time, no disciplinary action, and no complicated cash handling policies.

Policy Repercussions

So having investigated many, many cash shortages and implemented effective cash control programs for retailers and restaurants, paying back cash shortages is not part of the equation unless of course a thorough investigation was conducted, the cashier admitted to cash thefts and restitution was part of the resolution.

Docking pay or having an employee pay the employer for cash shortages could result in the employee making less than minimum wage and jeopardize the employer of violating wage and hour laws.

Unintended Consequences

Making cashiers pay back shortages may also have an opposite effect of its intention. Suppose that the young cashier is making preparations to go to the special dance, as in the scenario above.

She needs money for her gown, matching shoes, tickets, hair and make-up, and perhaps sharing the cost of a limo. It's all a great expense for the young lady, but she is budgeting carefully and every dollar she earns is allotted as she prepares for her special event. She is a very good cashier and even better employee.

But, alas, her cash drawer comes up short. She didn't steal any cash from the till.

A mistake in counting back change or mishandling currency may have been the problem. Perhaps there are other possible explanations.

Maybe there was a mistake by a manager removing excess cash from her cash register.

Maybe another cashier rang transactions on her register while she was on break and mishandled the cash - or stole it.

According to the rules, our cashier has to pay back the shortage. She panics because she envisions her perfect evening will be ruined. She can't afford to pay back the shortage.

Could she ask for permission to not pay back the shortage? Sure.

Could she ask someone to loan her the money? Yes.

But, she is desperate. She decides to get the money back by methods she knew other cashiers were doing. They had been ringing fraudulent transactions and stealing money for longer than she had worked there and not one manager ever questioned them about it. They had bragged often about their "extra" money.

She had always been disgusted with their cavalier attitude about stealing. She makes her decision. She would only take the amounts needed to make her dance special, - and then pay it back. She rings fictitious employee meals, voids, refunds and price reductions and pockets the cash.

She's stealing! It was so easy that she continues to take money far exceeding her intent to replace the money she had to pay back.

The manager can quickly spot register shortages, but neglected the other parts of cash management. The thefts continue long past her dance and her cash drawer is never short - and she never pays it back. She crossed the line, and is now a thief. If caught she could be arrested.

Cash Management

This story is true, and has occurred at many retail stores and restaurants. A sound cash management program does not require cash shortages to be reimbursed.

The incidences of cash shortage should be recorded in the performance history of the cashier.

Cash management programs should include investigations of significant cash variances and implementation of progressive disciplines for each incident that require retraining when needed.

Acceptable tolerance levels should be established for each component of customer transactions such as voids, refunds, price reductions, and no sales. Performance in these areas should be monitored and disciplines established for poor performance.

Each time an exception occurs outside the acceptable level of performance in handling cash transactions the discipline is stronger.

For example, the first time a cashier is short more than $3, a written warning is reviewed with the cashier. The warning includes heavier repercussions with subsequent violations that may lead to suspension and possibly termination. The concept is called progressive discipline.

The warning puts the employee on notice that their performance is being monitored, that proper cash handling is important, and establishes documentation of poor performance. The idea is to change behavior.

Effective loss control programs contain these elements of cash management.

They are fair and equitable, establish the "ground rules" for performance in cash handling, and provide accountability to those employees who may be stealing by manipulating transactions.

Requiring the payback of cash shortages as the foundation of a cash management program does not adequately address proper cash handling. It may even the cash tills, but does little to address exploiting the lack of cash controls.

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Much of the modern economy focuses on data, information and social networking, but in retail, the age old adage "location, location, location" still fits. For retail technology, the goal of any advanced data, information or social networking is to find and engage the perfect market, and in a physical retail space your location defines your target market.

Why Location Still Matters

Many people interested in starting a franchise retail store are interested and invested in modern business systems, and want to know why the old adage is still applied to modern businesses. It is simple, a retail franchise must interact with customers, find them and bring them into a place where they can purchase products.

Although much is made of online retail (a very profitable business), the online retail space is not limited by location, so a small start-up is either going to be part and parcel of one of the billion dollar enterprises already in the retail space (Amazon, Ebay, Etsy) or trying to compete against them.

The great opportunity of a physical location is the fact that it is physical. When you are operating a store in a location, there is no one else in that space. Traffic is limited by your location, which means you have a custom-made niche already set up for your business, the moment you open your doors.

Demographics

The right retail technology gives you the ability to choose location based upon up-to date demographics through the use of heat mapping in territory creation. Understanding the demographics of the location where your business will locate is essential to remaining in business and creating profits. If the people passing your door are not interested or able to buy your product, or if they just aren't there at all, you will not have profit.

The most important decision for building your business is to have the right customers for the product you are selling, and good retail mapping technology gives you the tools to locate and choose your target demographic before ever setting up shop, increasing your chance to make profit because you have invested customers.

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In this video Candace Couture, director of franchise admissions at Planet Fitness, discusses her role in selling franchises and new franchise locations, and to approve new franchise locations for existing franchisees looking to open up new locations.

Planet Fitness has 536 locations currently; and is looking to open over 100 more this year. Right now they operate in 47 states right now. Candace has to tell whether or not an area is going to work demographically before a franchise location can be sold, so she uses the SCOUT software to run comprehensive demographic analysis, looking mainly at population in an area of 1-3-5 mile radius.

She also looks at highly Hispanic markets because they have worked very well for the company, so they look at race and ethnicity. Planet Fitness typically works well in a median level income market so they are making sure that the income levels aren't so high that the area wouldn't make sense.

SCOUT also interfaces with the Planet Fitness billing software which is very important because with the company's expansion across the country they are starting to go into markets and open up locations closer to each other so want to make sure they are not cannibalizing on each other.

And with the ability to interface with the Planet Fitness billing software, an employee can basically click on a star on the map of any location and populate the map with all Planet Fitness members so it's crucial for the company to have that data.

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Keeping a business running requires a lot of moving pieces. Good management, employee satisfaction, effective marketing, high sales, and client satisfaction are just a few of those pieces.

Juggling it all takes a lot of work, and that is why the quality and happiness of your employees can sometimes be seen as the most important factor behind a successful enterprise. Making sure your employees are doing their best work goes far beyond hiring the right talent. You need to make sure that talent is being put to use in the right places.

One essential tool for talent management is the performance review, but it needs to be used correctly in order to reach its full potential.

Here are nine ways to conduct more effective performance reviews:

1. Use a form to gather feedback - When collecting feedback from the employee's superiors and subordinates, use a form that asks specific questions and provides some multiple choice answers and some room for free form reviews. This will make it easier for the people filling them out as well as easier for you to provide the feedback to the employee.

2. Always start and end with positive feedback - Sometimes when providing evaluations to employees, managers focus on the negative areas that need improvement. But it is important to start and end with some positive feedback so that your employee feels valued, even if he is imperfect.

3. Provide specific examples - Always use specific examples in your feedback of both the positive and negative work the employee has done. This will make the critique more effective and give the employee assurance that it is based on the employee's work and not someone's bias or personal feelings.

4. Go up the ladder and down - It is very important to give subordinates the chance to review their superiors, as well as vice versa. How a manager runs his team and how that team feels about the manager is just as important as how the manager feels about his team.

5. Encourage questions - If the performance review doesn't include time for questions, it can feel like a lecture instead of a discussion. Your employee will probably have questions during the review, as well as afterwards. Encourage him to ask both so that he can move forward and improve his work.

6. Focus on behavior over attitude - It might seem like attitude is important - and it is - but because it is so subjective, it is not good to talk about it in a performance review. Don't say "You don't seem to care about showing up late." Say, "We have noticed you often show up late."

7. Be prepared and professional - Don't squeeze in a performance review when you don't have the time. Schedule the appointment in advance, meet in a private office, and don't accept non-urgent interruptions. Allow for more time than you expect and have written reviews from co-workers and superiors in front of you. Do not go off the cuff.

8. Do not argue with the employee - Arguments sometimes crop up in reviews because the employee feels as though she is put on the defensive. If the employee tries to argue with you about something you say, try to shift the argument into a conversation.

9. Look towards the future, not the past - Although the conversation will be largely based on past events, you should focus on ways to improve for the future. You are not seeking retribution for missed deadlines, you are seeking to ensure there are no more of them. Make this clear to the employee as well by talking about the future more than the past.

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If you are selling your franchise, then you probably are subject to capital gains taxes. As a general rule, the sale of property subjects the seller to capital gains taxes.

However, exception to this general rule may apply if you are using the money to purchase another franchise business, if the sale applies for a "1031 exchange" you may be able defer losses or gains if you purchase like-kind property within a specified period of time after the sale.

The details are complicated and here is a general overview.

First, the 1031 exchange definition is complicated; however, the Internal Revenue Service Code states, in relevant part, that "no gain or loss is recognized if property held for productive use in a trade or business or for investment is exchanged solely for property of a like kind to be held either for productive use in a trade or business or for investment".

The definition of "like-kind" property is crucial to a determination of whether a transaction qualifies. Certain kinds of property are specifically excluded from qualifying for a 1031 exchange.

According to the IRS Code, the following types of property are disqualified:

(i) Stock in trade or other property held primarily for sale;

(ii) Stocks, bonds, or notes;

(iii) Other securities or evidences of indebtedness or interest;

(iv) Interests in a partnership;

(v) Certificates of trust or beneficial interests; or

(vi) Choses in action.

In order to better understand how a 1031 exchange works, consider the following example. Imagine that you own a rental property in Indiana that was originally purchased for $50,000. Since the purchase, you have completed $20,000 worth of improvements on the property, however, the property has also depreciated by $10,000.

Imagine further that you now wish to sell the property. The sale of the property grosses $145,000 with selling expenses of $10,000. The profit from the sale of the rental property would normally be subject to capital gains taxes totaling $14,800 if you are in the 25 percent, or higher, tax bracket. If, however, the sale qualifies for a 1031 exchange, you will be able to hold onto the $14,800 that you would have paid in capital gains taxes, interest free, until such time as you sell the replacement property.

(At 3.5 percent interest, that reflects a savings of $518 per year, or $2,590 over a five year period of time. Of course, if the $14,800 you held onto as a result of using a 1031 exchange is investment in a higher yielding investment, your savings will increase accordingly.)

The replacement property must be one of like-kind. In the above example, this means you cannot purchase a property in which you plan to live to replace a rental property. In addition, the replacement property must be purchased within 180 days after the sale of the original property to meet the 1031 exchange definition.

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Since the inception of the WOTC program in the late nineties, lawmakers have remolded the framework and refocused objectives to encompass a greater target audience but because the program as a whole is still underutilized, several misconceptions remain.

The program as a whole has dual, complementary objectives. By enabling individuals dependent on government assistance to find gainful employment, it will subsequently reduce the financial burden on the U.S. economy.

Program success is demonstrated by the over 6 million success stories where jobs are secured by those previously on Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP - or food stamps), Supplemental Security Income (SSI), or other programs.

Because the program has, indeed, been successful, lawmakers have frequently changed the framework to allow the arm of WOTC to reach more than the originally indicated target groups. Years ago, WOTC was referred to commonly as the "welfare and felon credit."

Although applicable at the time, employers may now also receive a federal credit for hiring a variety of Veterans, disadvantaged youth or someone living in an economically depressed area of the country. By only looking at WOTC as the welfare and felon credit, you could prevent yourself from realizing greater benefits. Likewise, using any version of the appropriate screening forms other than the most recent available will prevent the recognition of your eligible employees.

WOTC is a point-of-hire incentive, meaning that applicants must be screened for eligibility prior to employment. Therefore, you unfortunately cannot screen your current workforce. Nor can you dismiss your staff, rehire them and then screen - which is a common question to sales agents and another misunderstanding of the program. At that point, they are considered prior hires, which are disqualified.

If you've previously dismissed participating in this incentive because you don't believe you hire ex-offenders or food stamp recipients, you may be missing out on substantial federal tax benefits.

Make sure you are taking full advantage of the WOTC program, and in some states, the piggy-back credits that allow additional rewards.

To maximize the degree of your savings, speak with a WOTC consultant about your incentive involvement today.

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For a complete and detailed listing of each federally recognized target group, visit our website at www.taxcreditco.com.

Market share is your piece of the pie. It is important to investment banks, your partner, your sales team and your growth. But what is that pie and how do you calculate your slice?

Although market share is likely the single most important marketing metric, there is no generally accepted best method for calculating it.

There are however three common ways to measure it:

• Dollars or Revenue collected: The owner of Coffee & Tea, a boutique coffee shop, is located in central Manhattan where people spent $10 million dollars at cafe's last year. Coffee & Tea made $1 million dollars during that time. They have 10% market share. (1,000,000/10,000,000 = 0.10).
• Customers served: High-End Remodeling, Inc. has a trade area that covers 10 square miles around their office. They serve the well-to-do housing market. That area includes 100,000 housing units but only 10% are homes that are worth more than $1 million dollars. That means 10,000 housing units are potential customers to High-End Remodeling. The company currently does remodeling for 1,500 homes in that area giving them a 15% market share. (1,500/10,000 = 0.15)
• Volume or Unit sales: Westside Auto Dealership determines that there we're 50,000 cars sold last year in their market. Of those, Westside Auto sold 8,000 cars giving them a 16% market share. (8,000/50,000 = 0.16)

In the U.S. you can get data on the size of the entire pie by looking at the US Census FactFinder. Here you can find the dollars spent for your product or service, by geography, by year.

Depending on what data is available to you, use any, or all of these methods to determine your piece of the pie.

What other methods do you use to calculate your market share?

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Here's part two of the Moneyball blog. Part one was posted on Monday, click here to read part one if you haven't already.

SMART Pre-Shift Inspection Protocol™ is a checklist system, not unlike the pre-flight checklists that pilots run through to ensure safe operations. Except that the restaurant data that's captured is not viewed in isolation, nor just logged and stored and never looked at again.

With the SMART Pre-Shift Inspection Protocol, you can leverage your workforce to collect data, which will let you draw correlations between operations, sales, and costs. That will help you determine your shortest path to optimized profits.

The SMART Pre-Shift Inspection Protocol is performed by your workers at any skill level, using a tablet or iPad to log in the restaurateur's most valuable assets: "in-game data."

Since this approach is a protocol (a programmatic workflow, based on a pre-established critical path), the SMART Pre-Shift Inspection Protocol is not dependent on the skill levels of your workers. The intelligence is embedded in the protocol itself. Literally anyone can run the protocol.

Baselines are covered first. The SMART Pre-Shift Inspection Protocol captures data that is essential to operations and inspections (fridge temps, food temps, locations of sanitizing buckets... everything you need for CYA moments and health inspections).

But the SMART Pre-Shift Inspection Protocol also collects the seemingly extraneous data that could be far more telling than the fact that the cooler maintained a <41F temperature, as required, or that cleaning chemicals were safely separated from potential contact with food.

"Seemingly extraneous data." What' s that?

Well, we all know that restaurants succeed and fail as much on human interactions / human discretion as on the wholesale price of a salmon steak or a plate of wings. Much depends on the intangibles, which are really not intangibles at all, if they are recorded and examined.

Imagine if you have a protocol checklist for how well dressed the wait staff is. (Crisp shirt? Check. Spotless tie? Check. Clean apron? Check. Finger nails clean? Check. Tattoos covered? Check.)

Or if the protocol checklist checked that the side work has been done.
Or if you had a check-off system to ensure that your workers didn 't take all the parking spaces nearest the entrance, when that act alone could attract (or deter) enough customers to get a solid second turn at brunch.

Or that you were aware that the ice machine is undersized for the required volume of glasses, which delayed the refills, which caused half of your patrons to skip dessert, which triggered spoilage, which made your dumpsters full one day too soon, which turned away another 30 diners who thought the establishment just looked filthy when they circled around back to park.

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People, such as investors, are especially interested in your business plan for growth, and your retail sales forecast is a big part of what they take into consideration.

It should show your projected monthly sales for the next year and by year for the next two-to-five years.

That doesn't mean you have to get your sales forecast perfect; it is always part past data, part common sense, part research, and part guessing.

These 3 tips will help point you in the right direction to having a reasonable sales forecast.

• Project unit sales. Whether you are selling a product or service, start by forecasting your unit sales per month. It is easier to forecast by breaking things down to component parts. For example, a product-oriented business will show number of units, such as packs of notepads or number of cars sold. Don't think this doesn't apply to you because you have a service-oriented business. You can still apply this principle by breaking your forecast down, such as how a lawyer bills by the hour. Remember to take peak buying seasons into consideration; an accountant may forecast an increase in billable hours every year at tax time, while a florist may see a rise in the sale of roses around Valentine's Day.
• Use past data. Recent sales data can be your best tool to forecasting the future. Statistical analysis, for example, will help you spot trends that you can apply to predict the future. Past data is also useful when forecasting sales of a new product. It is easier to make an educated guess on these sales when you can use an analysis of an existing product. Are you launching a new software product? Base your forecast on the sales of a similar software product.
• Project prices. After you developed your forecast that projected unit sales monthly for 12 months and then annually, you need to project your prices. This area is another where your research and analysis of past data will pay off. Use it to help you guess future pricing and any fluctuations you notice as a trend.

Forecasting your retail sales isn't as difficult as it first seems. If you have any questions or need help with your sales forecast, contact us.

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In Part 1 we looked at why it's vital for organizations to document employment situations diligently.

But what constitutes good documentation that reduces employer risk? Of course every situation is fact specific but, practically speaking, here's some guidance on some types of documentation and what to include:

1. Summaries work well when behavior is being tracked over a period of time. When documenting a disciplinary situation, be sure to cite specific examples and information that aptly illustrate the problem.

In a summary, it's important to answer the classic questions who? what? when? where? and why? by including:

• Description of the offense , why it is an offense, when and where it occurred, names of witnesses and any other critical details;
• Copies of any supporting documents such as time sheets or production records.
• Description of any disciplinary action that has been or will be taken;
• Recap (including dates) of any prior oral conversations or disciplinary actions that have a bearing on the incident;
• Description of the behavior expected from the employee;
• Employee's version of the events;
• If the employee has any appeal rights, the procedure to exercise those;
• Future action to occur if the offensive behavior does not cease;
• Dates and signatures-sign and date the form and give the employee an opportunity to sign. If the employee refuses to sign, note that.

2. Forms work well for individual incidents and help employers standardize the documentation process. Forms may save time by prompting supervisors and managers for information and can help ensure consistency across the organization. They can also encourage the proper analysis of situations and consistent disciplinary actions. Forms may provide details and information that may later be incorporated into summary documentation, depending upon the circumstances. HRSentry subscribers may access a sample documentation form in the Discipline and Corrective Action Kit.

3. Other types of documentation further the human resources goal of risk mitigation. Here are a few examples usually handled by the HR department itself:

• Employee Acknowledgements-These are signed and dated forms to prove that employees have received and understand important information. Acknowledgements are useful when providing such items as: employee handbooks, job descriptions, and important policies such as anti-sexual harassment, anti-retaliation and confidentiality.
• Proof of Training-When you train employees and supervisors on important topics such as sexual harassment awareness and , document attendance with a sign-in sheet or use training software that tests for comprehension.
• Employee Communications-Documentation of important communication with employees can be copies of letters, emails or notes based on a phone conversation. Examples include forms designating FMLA leave, hire letters, and contracts.
• Recruitment Files-Maintain applications for at least one year or longer. Keep copies of all communications and candidate information in case there is an allegation of discrimination.
• Documentation of an Investigation of a Complaint-This a huge topic by itself. For further information, see our HRSentry blog on investigating allegations of sexual harassment.

Electronic files, backed up and with password protection, can help employers save space when documenting. Be sure to hold supervisors and managers accountable for their role in supporting this critical risk management function.

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Ever wish there were a "Moneyball approach " to managing multi-location restaurants?

It would be a business model where we would field dozens of "scouts " who could fan out across multiple locations, logging in data, observing and recording "in-game activity, " and making note of even the smallest thing ... like the fact that the day the dumpster was overflowing, the location sold 23 fewer desserts.

Or that when the men 's room was dirty, the bar take was down 29%.

Or that at Saturday lunch (when the young wait staff looked as though they'd come directly from an afterhours party) you got only two table turns and not three.

Just like in Moneyball, an "overlord " manager would sit at a computer and view a dashboard of data, some of it raw, and some of it synthesized, based on algorithms. He'd make decisions based not on guesses. Not on theories. But on facts, gathered in real time in the field. It would be a Big Data solution for multi-location restaurants.

Impossible to put in place, right? Too expensive!

Heck, you 'd need to field a team of scouts out there walking the floors of your locations.

(Wait, don 't we have that now? Aren 't our managers walking the floors and building grounds already?)

And they 'd all have to be carrying tablets or iPads.

(Wait, everyone 's got tablets or iPads now. If not, the costs are minimal.)

And the data would have to feed a system that analyzed it.

(That exists today as well, and plus, these days, customizing analysis of data streams is not cost prohibitive, especially given the amazing ROI that's achievable.)

So, with the workforce in place ...

And the technology in place ...

The only thing missing is a protocol, a process, a workflow that would prompt the workforce to start collecting data.

The question is: Which data? What things should our "Moneyball scouts " be looking at?

That 's where SMART Pre-Shift Inspection Protocols come into play.

With the SMART Pre-Shift Inspection Protocol, you can leverage your workforce to collect data, which will let you draw correlations between operations, sales, and costs. That will help you determine your shortest path to optimized profits.

Old Pilots Don't Crash. Old Restaurants Managers Do. Ever see an old pilot skip a pre-flight checklist? Nope. That 's why so few planes crash.

Ever see an old restaurant manager (over confident that he knows it all) crash a restaurant? Yup. Happens all the time.

That's why we have to bring the rigor of the preflight inspection to the management of restaurants.

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Microsoft has discontinued MapPoint starting this year, which was used as a territory mapping software.

This left many users with an urgent need to replace it.

However, the big question here is, what exactly does a business, like a franchise, need in a mapping package?

The Biggest Feature Needed Isn't A Map

The biggest features that I hear are needed in mapping software are: something they can use quickly, get decisions fast, have cloud ability to collaborate with other team members and ultimately to the franchisee. Microsoft taught us that creating something that only works on a PC no longer works.

Benefits of a Map

Selling Franchises

Of all the bells and whistles that Microsoft offered, the one that is most important is whatever allows the franchisee a means to make decisions faster for buying into what the franchisor is selling.

Saving Time

The main "pain point" from franchisors depends on what you're using mapping for. Such as this post relating to Microsoft going away is one big example. As many franchisors have told me, "Franchise territories are the most important things to our company." The feature for territory mapping needs to handle decades of old territories mixed with new territories and edits. In can be incredibly time-consuming for a retailer to manage all of this.

Few Extra Things Needed

Franchisees also have a need related to territory mapping. They want a starter package from mapping suppliers.

Not an expensive product and they definitely do not want a product that they need to purchase a full subscription to use the product.

They need minor demographics, simple site management and one or two territories. Low friction to usage is again a highly desirable feature...meaning "non-technical users".

Uploading a list is still important. Usually any locations of existing or proposed sites.

Routing for franchisors is also desired to generate sales leads.

Again, all for ultimately selling to a potential franchisee.

Lastly, sex appeal. It helps to make it shiny and new.

Summary of Top Desired Mapping Options From Franchisors

Features

• Quick to use, they don't need to spend all day on it.
• Easy to use so anyone in the company can use it.
• Collaborative with decision makers, perhaps even the franchisees themselves.
• Allows multiple users on the same plan.
• Demographics, of course, how detailed depends upon its use, but usually not very detailed.
• Sexy product that looks cutting edge.

Benefits

• Sell franchisees.
• Allow franchisees to have faith in the franchisors.
• Provide strong communication between the franchisor and franchisee.
• Builds trust between the franchisor and franchisee.
• Allow franchisees to expand and grow.
• Sexy product that is cutting edge helps to sell franchisees, shows one's being in touch with the times.
• Sell franchisees (so important I had to list it twice).

So to sell, sell, sell is the main benefit.

Save time, time, time is the second benefit.

The map is just the means to the end.

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For years I have been working with companies to upgrade, tweak and help with scripts their sales and/or customer service reps.

Fast forward.

Now we're trying to get our clients who ask for help with a script to consider going to conversations with aided recall.

There is danger and pitfalls to both scripts and conversations though. Let me explain.

Scripts were designed for actors. Actors know how to read a script. Most folks don't. It's that simple.

When you give a person a script they tend to 'read' it. Well what's wrong with that Nancy? Aren't you suppose to read a script?

Yes, but it's the old 'HOW' you read it that counts. We have all been accosted by a phone call and someone poorly reading their script. Yawn, yawn or worse.

And in the professional scripts there are words for everyone (all actors) to respond. In your business script there's normally only words for what the rep is saying. There are no words for the customer - the responder (the other actor).

Oh there may be some things like "if the customer says this, you say that;" "if the customer says that, you say this." Do we say, "Excuse me, sir, that's not in my script?"

Here's a big time tip: If you want to continue using scripts, that's fine; however, we suggest you have the person who will be reading the script READ the script to you.

Or better yet, over the phone to you, as well. How does it sound? Tape it. Let them hear it too. Let them go to another room and call in on your cell or another phone. It's not a big deal. And the best time to do this is in the interview.

But what happens if you already have them on board and now after reading this you realize they're just reading the script blah, blah, blah? We can lose a lot of business that way.

DRAMA 101.

That's when you have someone you really want to hire (or is already on staff), but you're not happy with the 'read' or the audition.

Bring in a newspaper or magazine article. Tell them they're being interviewed for FOX News or CNN and have them read the article as they would on the air. It's very sobering.

Scripts are ok and if used right, even great.

But those that use scripts need to be great IMPROV folks. Improv isn't easy. But it's a great exercise in having a conversation. Some of us are good at it; some are not.

Let's face it. The folks coming into the workplace today, the millennials and such, aren't very versed in 'conversations.' After, "Hey, how ya doing?" or "Hey, what's up?" there's not much else. So we're going to need to teach them - show them -

One other thing about scripts.

I'm a professional actress and have worked with some big names over the years. We all memorized a script. What you find when you read a script is a possessiveness from the author. Anyone who has written a script doesn't like you to change the words. And you shouldn't. They were written with a reason.

Take Neil Simon, the brilliant play writer. If we changed his words we might not get the same laughs, the same reaction. So when you're given a script and you want to change stuff, ASK about changing words before you do it.

Changing authors words without permission could cause collateral damage. Like your job!

(Next post, I will give you a quick tip on on converstaions.)

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Pet services have been the fastest growing product segment for the Pet Stores industry over the past five years.* Pet services include full service grooming, haircuts, baths, toenail trimming and tooth.

As the demand climbs and the need to fulfill customer demand grows, a feisty mobile pet grooming business, Aussie Pet Mobile Canada, who was voted #1 in Pet Services category by Entrepreneur Magazine in 2012, came looking for a territory answer.

Why they came to us?

They came to us looking for a better way to manage territories for their mobile franchisee's. They wanted to talk to a person who could listen and strive to fill the need they had. They were frustrated with the current solutions which required a dedicated computer running Microsoft.

What they needed?

1. They wanted to build territories for their franchisee's from any computer.

2. They wanted a way to share and collaborate this information with their franchisee's live.

3. They wanted to add their own list of data to visualize what was important.

4. They wanted something with flexible pricing options and they wanted it to be used for all their franchisee's.

(More information on what Franchisor's have recently been looking for can be found here; What Benefits and Features Franchisor's are looking for)

What we did for them?

We built them a system that is based in the cloud. A true software as a service option that can be run from anywhere and shared with anyone.

For collaborating, they can now have a franchisee watch live as both parties collaborate on the territory definition. They can give the franchisee edit rights and they can build what they think is a rough draft.

We gave them a "master" territory project that could prevent encroachment automatically. We gave them the ability to share each individual territory to its prospective owner.

For sharing, each project can be shared internally or externally with view/edit rights so they had control on who gets do do what.

Does it pay for itself?

A thousand times over in just time alone. The goal was to have a central repository of all their existing and potential territories, something that they can share instantly vs taking screen shots and emailing them.

This is a dynamic system so as time goes by, the franchisee can grow into more territories if needed and see what is available in the surrounding area and make decisions quicker.

It gives that sex appeal that you're using the latest cutting edge tools to your franchisee's. There are easier solutions, but these don't give the answers they needed, aren't collaborative, only run on PC's or roughly on the web, don't update with new data automatically and are overly complicated.

Is there something you need for a better territory solution?

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* SOURCE: WWW.IBISWORLD.COM/2014

When it comes to I-9 forms (you know, the federally required employment eligibility verification forms required whenever you hire someone) a few lucky employers will deal with common circumstances 99% of the time and won't be overly fazed by compliance issues if they are meticulous and well-educated on the law.

But there are a surprising number of nuances that even experienced employers may not be aware of.

For superb guidance, the Department of Homeland Security's U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) provides an easy to read, 69-page brochure.

Don't be put off by the number of pages. This color brochure, replete with photos, is an excellent reference guide, addressing just about anything you might encounter, including re-hires and the hiring of minors, individuals with disabilities, lawful permanent residents and refugees. The format is well laid out, uses clear language, and provides samples and Q&As.

All employers, but especially those new to human resources, small businesses just starting out, and employers with more unusual hiring and documentation situations, are encouraged to review it thoroughly. Because of its friendly format, it's well worth the read.

We don't want to replicate such comprehensive USCIS guidance here; but the following are a few basic tips to help you avoid compliance trouble:

• I-9 forms must be completed for all new employees, hired after November 6, 1986, even if just for one day of work. The form is never to be completed by applicants, only new hires or those who've received an offer of employment. Also, don't use the form with bona fide independent contractors.
• As soon as a candidate accepts your offer of employment, let him or her know the I-9 form is a requirement of employment. Send the form with the list of acceptable documents in advance if there's time. The law says the form needs to be completed within three days of hire but get it done on the new employee's first day. The employee may fill out Section 1 at any time after they receive an offer of employment until their first day of work.
• Remind new hires, through email or by phone, a day or two before their start date to bring their ID-one from List A will suffice OR they may bring one from List B and one from List C.
• Acceptable documents must be original, not copies. If the employee has lost a document, such as an original Social Security card, you may accept as documentation a receipt of their application for a one. The receipt is good for just 90 days; after that the person has to show you the newly issued document.
• Providing a Social Security number on Form I-9 is voluntary for all employees unless you are an employer participating in the USCIS E-Verify program, which requires an employee's Social Security number for employment eligibility verification.
• According to the law, you don't have to photocopy the documents the person provides but it's a good idea and may demonstrate your good faith effort to comply. What you do for one employee, however, you must do for all. Always apply your policies and practices across the board to avoid any appearance of discrimination. Also, if you retain photocopies, keep them in the employee's file or with their I-9 form.
• Keep I-9s separate from the employee's personnel file. I-9s can be retained either on paper, microform, microfiche or electronically. See pages 23-25 of the USCIS brochure for the specifics of these various retention formats.
• If you rehire someone within three years of the date the employee's original verification, the original I-9 may be used by completing Section 3. Otherwise be sure to use a new form.
• You must retain an employee's completed I-9 for as long as the individual works for you. Once s(he) terminates, the form is to be kept for either three years after the date of hire, or for one year after the date employment is terminated, whichever is later. It's a good idea to weed out I-9s you are no longer required to retain. As long as you remain methodical and meticulous about destroying only those no longer needed, your risk exposure will be reduced in the event of an audit. Fewer forms, fewer mistakes.

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Why is Defining Territories so Brutal?

Building territories is an undertaking that is part science, part art, and mostly psychology. It's typically a collaboration between two parties whose interests are not necessarily aligned to the same goal, but they have to meet in the middle. Defining territories is similar to signing a prenuptial agreement because it involves a lot of passion and stress, yet requires a delicate balance to place the right restrictions on the one you love. Both parties pursue their own interests, but ultimately they want the relationship to work out and last a long time.

Let's look at the issues around a franchisor-to-franchisee relationship.

The franchisor wants to create the smallest territory possible for the franchisee. If the territory is too large, the franchisor may lose lots of potential customers, lots of potential revenue, and open the doors to a competitor capitalizing on what the franchisee can't fulfill, especially when contracts can last a decade. If the franchisor makes the territory too small, they can pinch a franchisee's potential income, or worse, put them out of business. When a franchisee can't make a decent living it's bad PR, looks bad on the franchisor's books, and makes it harder to entice more potential franchisees to join the company.

The franchisee, on the other hand, usually wants the largest territory possible because they truly believe they can sell to and support a customer base of that size. If the franchisee gets too much, they may potentially take on too many customers and fail to take care of the ones they have. Or, the franchisee might have to pass on new customers leaving the market ripe for a competitor takeover. Failure by success, so to speak. If the franchisee gets too little, they may go broke and may need to extend their boundaries. The franchisee may be angry with the franchisor for misleading them or they might feel cheated. None of these situations are good.

Take these four steps to lessen the difficulties associated with defining territories.There are several key issues to consider when defining territories. We'll give a quick summary and go into more detail on each item in separate posts.

1. Understand the demographic and trade area needs of your business model.

Each business has a unique demographic profile for their existing customer base. Doing a simple exit survey can put a physical location to a customer as well as provide insights into customer characteristic (e.g., gender, age, race) without being intrusive in the process. Even an online business has great location data. Match this data to the demographics that the customers live in and search for correlations against sales. It sounds complicated, but it's easier than you think and highly beneficial for finding out who your customers really are. This step also serves up a huge bonus for defining your territory.

2. Determine the minimum performance requirements relevant to the business.

Based on pro-formas, gut feelings, analogous stores, each business has a minimum performance requirement that must be met.

3. Decide on what rights, if any, a franchisee has for marketing and providing services outside their territory.

This can include a temporary territory assignment agreement. It is especially useful for allowing a franchisee the ability to cover a new market while the franchisor brings on new franchisees to the area.

Keep the territory structure simple.

It is easy to slip and overcomplicate the territory structure, which may lead to confusion by both parties, lost prospects, or drawn out negotiations while competition blankets the market place.

Defining territories is brutal, but with a little forethought and planning, both parties can be transparent and negotiate their "prenuptial" agreement in a calm and loving manner.

What examples do you have about creating territories?

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The costs associated with slow franchisee ramp-up are many.

A slow ramp-up puts your your franchisee at risk.

Slow ramp-ups affect not only the franchisee in question, but the entire network & your own staff are also influenced by those under-performing franchisees.

The costs of franchisees' slow ramp-ups include:

1. Unplanned Expenses. When franchisees struggle, more unplanned training and support resources are necessary to remedy their situation. The money franchisors spend in this effort is often syphoned away from resources the franchisor would have invested in strengthening the system, hiring key people, introducing innovation, and improving the long-term stability of the brand.
2. Poor Morale. As the franchisor's support staff appear to take one distressed call after another from a steady stream of "problem" franchisees, their own morale suffers. They begin to doubt that the system works. They become more detached and frustrated, which impacts the entire system.
3. Fractured Franchisee Relationships. Struggling franchisees get frustrated and discouraged, and they share their disappointment with other franchisees, bringing down the morale of the entire system and fracturing the franchisee-franchisor relationship.
4. Halted Momentum. The enthusiasm that franchisees experience during training is thwarted if they can't produce results when they get back home. Once lost, this momentum can't be recovered and a new drive must be created, which is not easy to do.
5. Poor Validation. As frustration levels go up, validation starts to suffer as under-producing and unsatisfied franchisees share their frustration with prospects. Negative franchisee validation destroys franchise sales, halts growth, eliminates future royalty streams, and decreases the dollars franchisors can spend on tools and support systems to avoid the problem.
6. Brand Deterioration. Under-producing, unhappy franchisees create negative customer experiences. If the unit or territory fails, customers will remember, and it will be difficult and, in some cases, perhaps even impossible to regain lost traction.
7. Breakdown in Leadership. Struggling franchisees rally other franchisees or franchisor's support staff to their plight affecting the franchisor's ability to effectively lead the larger franchisee body. In many systems, the frustration engendered by this breakdown in leadership creates a culture of compliance and top-down authority, rather than a participatory culture focused on positive relationships and results.

Unfortunately, some franchisors actually add to the ramp-up problem!

And the the delays are all visible to the world, the Item 20 will show all the sold but not open franchise units. You need to make sure your Grand Opening process works, even if that mean hiring outside professionals to assist.

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The post Is the Slow Ramp-up of your Franchisees Costing You too Much? Is It Risking the Success of your Franchisees? appeared first on InFraSu.

With today's announcement that Google Wallet would be preinstalled in Verizon Wireless, AT&T and T-Mobile USA, it is worthwhile to review this and other changes from the franchise owners' point of view.

My Business Model is Obsolete, in the February 25, 2013 issue of Fortune Magazine by Geoff Colvin describes how an increasing pace of innovation is having a significant effect on the business models of institutions that have been in existence for decades.

Unlike the larger and better known corporations identified in this article, my focus is on how smaller organizations are affected by these same changes.

Without the financial resources of larger and more profitable organizations, smaller businesses are at greater risk of disappearing in a shorter period of time.

Smaller businesses are being forced to adapt to these changes in the pace of innovation and their core business models -how they earn profits- are been strained.

1.Payment Acceptance Systems

Business transactions used to be simpler when paid in cash. Then there was the convenience of cheques. Today we have credit and debit cards, often with reward programs, and Paypal. The sad reality is that most businesses probably do not even know the cost of accepting these varied payment systems.

With these conveniences come costly equipment and acceptance fees. An entirely new middleman has emerged to support noncash transactions in the name of convenience.

Let us not forget, however, that this is an added cost to business. The business cannot always pass on these costs due to the competitive environment which results in reduced profit. Then there are the costs of technology that must be absorbed.

Business accepts these charges as a cost of doing business but many fail to give proper consideration to the implications of taking on these costs - maintenance, support and replacement - to the overall profitability (and sometimes viability) of the business.

The overall result of just these two changes to the business model is twofold. Business owners need to know more about technology and marketing than ever before. They must also charge more for what they offer or accept reduced income. This puts the small business owner, who lacks the knowledge and resources to properly invest in technology or experiment with alternative marketing vehicles, at a disadvantage.

2. Marketing

At one time marketing by smaller businesses was generally limited to Yellow Pages, local newspaper and/or magazine advertising, and/or direct mail. Today the reality of marketing is quite different.

• Yellow Pages are no longer a primary advertising vehicle.
• With the advent of cellular networks, phone numbers are no longer centralized so a single telephone directory no longer exists.
• Add in access to online directories and the value of Yellow Pages advertising is now questionable.

The collapse of virtually all print media in place of Internet options requires businesses to seek out alternate ways to promote their offerings. It also requires a greater level of knowledge into marketing and technology which typically does not exist within smaller businesses. Into the void comes a range of Internet vehicles that include Internet web sites, online advertising, social media and blogs.

These marketing vehicles lack any form of reliable or verifiable results on which to evaluate success yet they seem to be the only alternative for the moment. Businesses feel they must have a presence in these areas to remain viable.

The amount of time and money spent on these marketing vehicles is a significant change in business model typically not considered by businesses using the traditional cost-benefit analysis.

In fact, many promoters of these new age vehicles argue (incorrectly, in my opinion) that traditional measurement systems do not reflect the value inherent in these investments. This is not to suggest that online marketing is not effective when done properly. Only to beware of the high tech snake oil salesman promoting unproven methods without a means of measuring results.

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There's no question that experienced workers in their trade want the ability to run their own business and take their skills in a new direction. Being able to run your own business means you're in charge of what direction your company goes in and you get to make all the calls.

Who gets hired, what equipment is used, where you're located: it's all up to you. You get to set your own hours and go at your own pace, meaning everything is up to you, which is both a blessing and a burden.

You have full responsibility over whether your company succeeds or fails, meaning you have to put quite a bit of work into your company if you want to be successful in the long run, you need to mange every aspect of your business in such a way that you can truly be successful. This involves making sure your finances are completely in order all of the time.

That's where financial services come into play, but getting these services and being able to afford them can be another matter entirely. All businesses need bookkeeping and accounting to keep track of their finances and allocate any and all funds you have accordingly.

However, hiring these services is a full salary's worth that you may not be able to afford. Many business owners will try for the alternative of doing their own books, only to find that a full-time job along with something as demanding as running a business will hurt your business more than help it.

Companies need a way to get their financial services handled without issues, but how can they do so effectively?

Why you should Outsource your Bookkeeping

There are countless reasons to seek out the alternative of hiring an outsourced bookkeeping business, mainly through the benefits of getting financial services taken care of for you without you overspending.

1. Remote bookkeeping is also extremely convenient for you because you don't have to deal with the clutter of paperwork or having all of your information scattered about; everything is organized and managed for you to easily access. The team of outsourced bookkeepers handles all of your information, completes financial services for you, and places the resultant data on a secure, remote server.

That server is very easily accessible for the business owner, as they get choice of how secure they want access to their data to be. They can restrict access to a work computer, or get access via their smart phone, tablet, laptop, or even give other employees access pending a password or other form of security.

However you choose to secure access to the data, you still get 24/7 access to all of your data, organized and very convenient to access. There are countless other reasons why you should outsource your bookkeeping, like the variety of services offered to you.

You don't have to worry about paying for bookkeeping, accounting, and payroll workers; instead, you can choose get all of the services your business needs from remote bookkeeping. Outsourced bookkeeping offers you a huge variety of services, from getting your bills paid for you and getting financial reports sent to you to CPA services, bankruptcy services, payroll services, and reconciliations completed.

Everything and anything your business needs financially can be done, so you can just pick your services and how you want to access the data and the rest is done by the remote bookkeeping company.

2. Behind the Scenes with Outsourcing your Bookkeeping

Outsourced bookkeeping businesses make sure that their hires are as efficient and competent as possible to ensure that your precious financial data is handled accordingly. Potential hires that are considered must have some previous experience in the field, whether they've done some bookkeeping or accounting for a business, and must have a fairly clean record.

All potential employees are vetted and undergo a background check for any discrepancies, and they all go through multiple interviews before being hired. To fully ensure the security of your data and let employees know how serious their job is, all new hires sign a three-page non-disclosure policy stating that they will be held accountable for anything that goes wrong as far as them handling your data.

Whether they're new hires or experienced workers, all employees work together on tasks for clients to make the process much faster and more efficient. Plus, the server they use is highly secure and has countermeasures designed to keep your information safe no matter what happens.

Of course, remote bookkeeping companies work to make sure their servers are as efficient and airtight as possible, following state cyber security laws. Still, it doesn't hurt to have a backup like a cyber insurance policy or an offsite backup of your data just in case anything goes wrong.

There are many reasons why you should outsource your bookkeeping, but many business owners worry about security of their vital data in the hands of a server or in the hands of employees. However, remote bookkeeping businesses strive to cover every potential issue, building a secure server with countermeasures as well as only hiring the best possible workers.

3. Financial Reasons as to why you should Outsource your Bookkeeping

There are countless reasons why you should outsource your bookkeeping, but it always boils down to how much money it costs versus what you have. It doesn't matter how great a service is; if you cannot afford the service then you cannot hire them.

However, it's a surprise to find out that not only is remote bookkeeping inexpensive, but it means you save tens of thousands of dollars versus your alternatives!

Hiring in house bookkeepers or accountants means a salary of at least $35,000 annually with some in the $50,000 range, meaning you're paying almost six figures to get these services.

However, remote bookkeeping will not cost more than $20,000 a year, and that's every possible service offered by the outsourced bookkeeping business. Just bookkeeping costs $300 a month or $3,600 a year, ten times less than what in-house bookkeepers charge!

It's very easy to see why you should outsource your bookkeeping, as you get all of the advantages of a good service with no downsides and at an affordable rate. To learn more about why you should outsource your bookkeeping through companies like Remote Quality Bookkeeping™ of Massachusetts, click here.

The post Three Reasons why you should Outsource your Bookkeeping appeared first on Cloud Bookkeeping Services|Remote Quality Bookkeeping.

Most franchise territories are created by some "defined" geography.

Most franchise territories are created by some "defined" geography such as a group of Zip codes, a ring dimension or a described area.

Since all political geographic boundaries are readily available including block groups, Zip codes, census tracts, counties, states, designated market areas, and Metropolitan Statistical Area-Core Based Statistical Area, these are mapped and viewed within a global information system (GIS) and are a great foundation for the beginning step in defining territories.

GIS tools allow the franchisor to draw or create the territory in digital format.

For some franchisors, this may be enough, having a digital database of existing territories. There may not be a need to understand the demographics of the area, just be able to see it on a map. This allows them to print a hard copy of the maps to include in the franchisee agreement, be able to identify potential overlap issues with new territories, and to map out potential future territories.

Counting the Customers

Some franchisees choose to enhance their mapping capabilities by including geo-demographics, both consumer and business related. Adding demographic data to the geography (block groups, counties, DMAs) dramatically enhances the ability to identify or "target" groups of desired customers. The franchisor may know that their targeted customer base is a household with a certain level of average income.

Using the mapping-demographics, every block group in the United States can be found and mapped that meets this criteria. The process of creating the franchisee boundary will now include a count of potential customers. Having these counts leads to the development of defendable, equitable territories.

For those who may not know their true customer profile, mapping tools can include geocoding (assign a latitude-longitude coordinate based upon an address) that places the customer on the map.

Once the customers are on the map, attaching their location with the corresponding demographics of their block group to create a customer demographic profile is easily accomplished. By mapping your best customers and developing a "target" profile, you can go find these targets anywhere in the United States and develop intelligent franchisee territory searches.

Some franchisors are business-to-business rather than consumer oriented.

The same process applies, but by using a different set of geo-demographic data. Business population counts are available by North American Industry Classification System/StandardIndustrial Classification codes by their address or summarized at any geographic level (block group, Zip, county). Either way, this data can be viewed as information on a map.

If a franchisor targets a specific business population, this targeted group can be mapped and territories developed based upon desired levels of business counts and potential.

Understanding and documenting the potential customer base of a franchisee territory will also benefit the franchisor by allowing them to effectively maximize the potential number of territories in a given market area.

The Goldilocks Problem

Franchisors wouldn't want to "give away" too much territory or on the other hand not provide an adequate customer base.

By understanding the demographic customer potential and using a defined minimum criterion for these customer levels, one can map the optimal number of territories per market assuring that each is sufficient with the potential customer base.

When you need help in creating territories for your franchise, please contact us at:

IntelleVue LLC 11102 East 75th Place Tulsa, OK 74133 Longitude: -95.853451 Latitude: 36.054777

Contact: Jeff Davis 918.250.5561 [email protected]

The bottom line for any company is the money: after all, you're in the business to make as much money as possible, and your company can't keep running if you're not at least breaking even. Businesses deal with quite a few different expenses, from paying for their employees to owning a building to acquiring equipment and stock and paying any other taxes and such that are necessary.

It's tough to make enough of a profit to cover all of your expenses, and you want to be able to make enough of a profit to put money into improving your business as well. Equipment needs to be upgraded, more employees need to be hired while others need a raise, stock needs to be increased and improved, and more, but that all requires money as well.

Your business is dealing with finances on a daily basis, spending or earning, paying off bills or receiving checks or determining what to spend when, and that's why financial services are so important for a business. With the right services, business owners can easily get all of their financial information organized and determine how to spend money appropriately at any given time.

With these services, you will know at any given time how much money your business currently has, and you can easily see all of the different trends of spending and earning your business goes through as well. All of that data is used to help you determine when your business should be spending and when it should be cutting back, as well as helping your company make the right decisions in the long run.

Affordable Bookkeeping

Running a business can be incredibly challenging, and having the best possible financial services to help you can be extremely beneficial; however, paying for these services can be another matter entirely, especially considering the implications of spending all of that money on those services.

You already have so many different expenses, and paying full salaries for financial services can be tough to deal with, especially when your business is still fairly new. Bookkeeping involves keeping track of all of your business's finances, which is a very complex and involved task, and affording your bookkeeping can be difficult enough.

Along with accounting, affording your bookkeeping can be incredibly challenging to deal with when it comes to your business's finances. Accounting takes all of that bookkeeping data and uses it to help you make the right decisions for your business financially, helping you spend all of your money on the necessaries in your business along with determining where you can allocate any of your remaining funds.

Accounting can help you determine whether you should be cutting back and budgeting or you can spend more money on improving your business, but you can't get accounting without good bookkeeping. If you are having trouble affording your bookkeeping, you may think a better alternative arises through doing your own bookkeeping, but it's not very viable.

Many business owners believe they have no choice and end up doing their own bookkeeping while running their business, only to run into problems by focusing too much on one task or another. Falling behind on bookkeeping can be bad enough as your business needs that data to be financially efficient, but what if you aren't focused enough on running your business.

You need to be at the helm of your business taking it in the direction you want, and you can't do that while you're simultaneously running a business. You need a better way to go about affording your bookkeeping for your business.

What Remote Bookkeeping does for You

Outsourcing your bookkeeping can be considered one of the best choices for a business, as you can get the financial services your company needs at a reasonable rate and there are countless other benefits to remote bookkeeping as well. Outsourced bookkeeping services means you're affording your bookkeeping and not having to worry about any other issues financially.

Outsourced bookkeeping is simple: you get your pick of financial services, bookkeeping and more, and the remote bookkeeping business completes everything for you remotely and electronically. All of your data is easy to access and extremely secure on high speed, well-running servers used by the outsourced bookkeeping business.

The server used is very safe, following cyber security laws to the letter and using resources like cloud to store and transfer data effectively. There are also countermeasures in place that allow remote bookkeeping businesses to completely ensure that no matter what, your data is as safe as possible, like a cyber insurance policy.

Offsite backups are also used to ensure that your data is secure virtually and physically, backing up your data on a data center and server that are both separate from the original.

Outsourced Bookkeeping

Outsourced bookkeeping businesses also offer a huge variety of services so you can get any and all of the financial services your business needs for a fraction of the price, making it easy to go about affording your bookkeeping.

You can get CPA (certified public accountant) services, like getting your reconciliations completed and checked, getting preparation for your taxes every year, getting your bills paid for you, and more. You can get financial reports sent to you; get irregularities in your bank account flagged, getting bankruptcy services, getting audit/forensic accounting, and more, all making life easier for your business.

It's easy to see how you can afford your bookkeeping; in fact, compared to in house bookkeepers and CPA's, you save tens of thousands of dollars on a yearly basis! In house bookkeepers can cost up to $43,000 a year, and CPA's and other accountants normally cost even more than that, meaning it costs you almost six figures to get just bookkeeping and accounting.

With remote bookkeeping, you can get bookkeeping, accounting, payroll services, and any other services your business needs at a low rate of $19,500 a year, saving you a huge amount of money.

The low price of remote bookkeeping is $3,600 a year, so it's easy to see how affording your bookkeeping can be easily accomplished through remote bookkeeping. To learn more about outsourcing your bookkeeping through companies like Remote Quality Bookkeeping™, click here.

The post How affording your Bookkeeping can be Easy appeared first on Cloud Bookkeeping Services|Remote Quality Bookkeeping.

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Why Franchise Software is Moving Into the Cloud

This is a very simple question.

It was recently asked in a LinkedIn Franchise Group.

And I bet we all want to know the answer.

It would make it easy to build next years franchise marketing budget for franchise buyers if we just had a short-list.

Even better if it had a performance ranking.

There were almost 50 answers and comments to this important question.

Here's a selection of what franchising people said -

"I speak with franchise development departments every day and have found that they can fork out as much as 60% of the initial franchise fee in order to secure qualified franchisees (using franchise consultants, recruiters, etc.). Are there any databases of open territories for potential franchisees to search? Vice-versa are there any databases of franchisees in the market to open a new location?" Mike Mackin

"It has been my experience that you can "catch the bigger fish" through today's portals. The secret is working with your portal vendor and let them help you on the franchise investment levels that you post on the site. The best experience I have had has been with Franchising.com. There numbers are a little lower, but the quality is very good. And don't forget that most consumers are not going to tell you what they really have in the bank until you get further down the sales process." Phil Mettra

"Portals are just another outlet for reaching your target, I don't think you can narrow down a specific vendor that does better than another. If the opportunity on the portal is attractive enough, the portal also ranks highly on Google for top keywords and it has healthy traffic stats (which the portal vendor can provide to you) then you have a winning vendor. You should always do your due diligence and ask those vendors to provide you monthly traffic to the page you will be listed and can even go as far as asking for the top 3 IP locations to ensure they are based in your market. Remember that candidates can come from anywhere but your digital presence, especially social and reputation, is what will give you the edge in higher investment brackets." Brendon Major

"My experience with the portals is that they sometimes work beautifully and other times they just dont. The exact same advert on one site delivers 10 leads and on another none. To be honest although I have met many "experts" I have never found one that has been able to unravel the mysteries of the portals." Sean Goldsmith

"Just wondering if there are other portals more likely to reach and succeed with the higher investment prospects? I believe in a strategy of creating presence and buzz for your brand, with a wide digital presence probably now being the top tactical priority" Kevin Kruse

"I may have a bit of a different take. If a company is looking for "high dollar" candidates, I suggest the you will find them better using highly target public/media relations campaigns, instead of portals. As noted above, using portals to find YOUR candidate is a bit like fishing in the Atlantic Ocean with a single line, a bobber, a safety pin, and a piece of corn as bait. They simply are not designed to find a specific type of candidate. They have tens of thousands of names/inquiries, but they simply cannot be targeted to YOUR candidate. It is MUCH better to design a PR/MR program that targets YOUR candidate BEFORE the person even starts looking for a franchise. By the time a potential candidate hits a portal, you are already competing with hundreds of other franchise companies. Right? Portals have a role, but not for finding a specific type of candidate." Dr. Michael (Mick) Riddiough

"Before you start your campaigns, it is good if the portal can offer statistics for the locations where you are listing in, because different categories work in different locations. The categories can change every 3 months, so it is important to keep on top of the statistics and results. Another point which might help, is that franchisees don't always come from franchise portals, our web portal is a business and franchise for sale portal, mainly because some people are looking for any business opportunity and inquire about the franchise opportunities on the website. It is a larger net to catch enquirers. I hope this is helpful in understanding web portals and how to run a more successful franchise recruitment campaign." Paul O'Brien

"That is great advice, and I like your approach to testing adverts and then placing the most highly effective ones. The big stumbling block is how forthcoming the portals are with their stats. I know in the UK you would have an easier time asking the Pope for his hand in marriage. Are the US portals more forthcoming?" Sean Goldsmith

"I have sold several franchises for clients with an investment level of $400k-$800k by using portals.Granted, there will ALWAYS be the prospect that overstates the amount of capital they have available and you have to just move on and keep on dialing. There hasn't been one portal that seemed to bring in more qualified leads on a more consistent basis than another. I do seem to spend a lot of time chasing credits for pay per lead sites that claim they "verified" leads before sending them, but by and large every portal site seems to do a fairly decent job for me." Tom Parks

"The biggest issue which all Franchisors are facing about this approach is the cost. Some websites in Australia are offering packages which help Franchisors to do this at a more cost effective price. Keep an eye out for this. Otherwise the only other advice I can offer on this is to keep track of leads and quality of leads which are being generated by the website. One of our clients mentioned to me once, from 1 website they had received heaps of leads, but didn't generate any solid leads, while from another they received only a hand full of leads in the month, but 2 of the lead had converted to solid leads" Paul O'Brien

"How helpful are portals in generating qualified leads? My experience tells me that really depends upon your brands investment range. Generally speaking the top 5 portals basically cost the same amount to advertise on them. However because of my sector "automotive" vs "food" the portal is unable to generate me enough leads to make the potal investment worthwhile. I understand the ratio on portal leads to be 200:1 or even 250:1. It would take years for a portal to drive me that much traffic. At which point I would have spent far more than the inital franchise fee in marketing dollars." Lee Oppenheim

"Portals definitely "had their day", i.e. in the late 1980's through the early 1990's. They were THE way to market one's franchise. Today, however, they have become quite common place in our industry, and while there definitely are differences among the wide range of portals, overall, the range of inquiries to sales, as Lee mentions, is in the 200 - 250 to 1. In some ways, portals have become today's franchise "classified ad" section of the Internet. And, it gets very expensive to hire high quality sales people to field these return phone calls. As Franchise Update points out in its 2013 annual marketing survey, the total advertising placement cost associated with one sale these days(for their surveyed companies) was around $13,000...not including personnel costs. Is it the same today?" Dr. Michael (Mick) Riddiough

"Something to be careful with which you might not know about. Make sure that the website which you are using doesn't use a technique called lead thinning. This is when the website generates 1 lead and farms it off to multiple franchisors on their website. Usually the person making the enquiry doesn't know that this is happening either. The way to identify this is when you start calling a lead, the person will say something like "I didn't inquire about your franchise or business". This makes the website look good because of the number of leads generated, but the quality of leads is decreases dramatically." Paul O'Brien

"Terrific dialogue everyone....... portals? To use or not to use...... I heard a lot of "casting a wide net" as well as "be specific in your targeting, e.g. Veterans" , which leads me to a conclusion I've reached before: we are in a challenging, competitive environment for sourcing qualified leads which turn into franchisees. At least we have a forum for discussing our strategies and tactics. Thanks for the insights....." Kevin Kruse

"The specific answer to Kevin's specific question is "No"...at least not by design and not very productively...and it is likely to be quite expensive for the franchisor. I once had a franchisor client in which the "all in" cost was $1.4MM. We did quite well with it. Did we use portals? Yes, as one avenue, and it was truly "dialing for dollars". We did much better with highly focused PR/media relations in terms of finding "high value" candidates." Dr. Michael (Mick) Riddiough

"I disagree. Portals work. You already used portals for your client, even in light of the reality that it's 'dialing for dollars.' Hey, it still takes 35 tons of ore to smelt one ounce of gold--all you have to do is make 200 enthusiastic dials. Big deal. Get with the idea that selling takes concerted effort, and plenty of money. If the average cost of sale (not including commissions) is around $12,000 or so, the obvious path is easy: pick 3-4 top portals;" Paul Stewart

"Your approach works for you, and that's great. I take a different route, and that works for me and my clients. I don't think one is right and one is wrong, just different...in many ways. I prefer more targeted and efficient ways of finding the right candidates. "Dialing for dollars" is simply not my preferred way" Dr. Michael (Mick) Riddiough

"Yes, absolutely, portals work for generating some quality leads that result in Franchise sales for the Franchisor at the investment levels stated" Ronald Silberstein CPA and CFE

"Portals are only as effective as the sales team that are working them, and the matrix you use to measure. Keep in mind the higher the investemnt the fewer the leads you can expect so it is important that your team devote the necessary effort into follow up with each and every lead that comes through." John Byron

"I would say the portals are only as good as the marketing team who works them and and the adverts. If the proper research hasn't been performed before the advert goes up, there is no guarantee of success" Paul O'Brien

"Simple answer to a simple question.. The answer is yes, you have to be in portals. You can add filters to any portal to try to catch the investor you are looking for. Portals are one leg of a triad that you need to build to reach your target customer." Dale Waite

I am glad we solved the riddle of getting high net worth franchise web portal inquiries.

Franchise inquiries from web portals are minimal expressions of interest.

They are not leads.

You can't designate an Expression of Interest a Franchise Lead until you've qualified them.

The most reliable way to qualify them is to talk with them.

Franchise-Info has some ideas for you to work on this problem.

If you call me we can discuss two things -

1. What to do with all your inactive inquiries who have expressed an interest
2. How to attract Franchise Buyers online

I am easy to reach at 443.502.2636 and [email protected]. I answer my own telephone. And I call people back.

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It's no secret that finances are considered one of the most important parts of anything, especially a business. After all, if you want your business to really be successful, you need to keep track of the amount of money you're earning versus spending so you can make good decisions for your business.

How can you decide whether or not to upgrade equipment, or whether it's a good time to tighten your budget, if you're not financially informed? Dealing with finances can be difficult however considering your business spends and earns money on a daily basis, and it's hard to know exactly how much money you have.

From invoices and utility bills to checks and bank transfers, businesses deal with quite a bit of money flow and they need a good way to keep track of all of those finances. That's where bookkeeping comes into play, strictly keeping track of every financial transaction your business makes, incoming and outgoing.

That way, businesses not only can see trends in how their spending and earning goes, but they also get to know their company's current net profit/loss at any given time. This data is extremely essential for the success of your business, as accountants use bookkeeping data to allocate any and all funds appropriately and help you determine whether you have funds to spare or you have to tighten your budget.

Financial allocation is very important in the overall growth of your business, but affording these financial services can be incredibly difficult considering both of those are financial services that cost full salaries. Looking at services like outsourced bookkeeping is very important, as remote bookkeeping businesses can save you money while providing you the best possible services with no real catches.

Process of Remote Bookkeeping

Hiring an outsourced bookkeeping business is simple and convenient for you as you get your pick of various services that are offered, making life easier for you. With an outsourced bookkeeping business, you get all of your information handled by a team of professionals who put all of the resultant data on a secure server that you can readily and easily access.

With outsourced bookkeeping, you get your fill of services as well, being offered much more than just the bookkeeping services. You can get accounting and payroll services as well, like getting your bills paid for you, getting preparation for your taxes, getting your reconciliations completed and checked, getting financial reports sent to you on a weekly/monthly basis, and more, all for your convenience.

You can even get some rarer services as well like bankruptcy services and audit/forensic accounting in case you'll ever need them, and all of these services are run down with you to add up to your very low quote. Once you get a quote, the outsourced bookkeeping company copies all of your data down and, in turn, gives you a file or multiple files.

For your convenience, these files give you direct access to the server pending some kind of password system, and you get to choose how many of them you want or where they go. You can restrict access to a work computer to keep your data safe, or you can make access as convenient for you as you'd like.

You can get access off a home computer, laptops, get an app for a smart phone or tablet, or even give an employee access pending their own security system. Once you set up services and access, the rest is up to the remote bookkeeping company, which completes services for you and gives you immediate, 24/7 access to your data which is constantly being updated.

Outsourced Bookkeeping with Cloud Security

There are many reasons to hire a remote bookkeeping business, but one of the bigger advantages is you get heavy security setup for your data and overall efficiency in the process. With outsourced bookkeeping with cloud services, your data is stored and transported efficiently without any loss of security.

The servers used by outsourced bookkeeping businesses are designed to keep your data as safe as possible, also upholding cyber security laws in the process.

Plus, outsourced bookkeeping businesses are so concerned with the security of your information that they create different countermeasures to ensure that even if the worst were to happen, your data will be kept safe, mainly through backups and a cyber insurance policies.

With an offsite backup, your data is protected virtually and physically as the backup is stored on a different data center that runs a different server from the original. Plus, many businesses will set up their outsourced bookkeeping with cloud as a form of backup as well.

Cloud is considered one of the oldest and most reputable forms of online storage, known for security and quick, efficient transportation.

Affording the Best Outsourced Bookkeeping with Cloud Business

Many business owners want that good outsourced bookkeeping with cloud but worry that when the time comes, they won't be able to afford the service. Luckily, remote bookkeeping is easily affordable, and actually saves you tens of thousands of dollars compared to most other services.

With outsourced bookkeeping with cloud, you save quite a bit of money while getting a full team of employees that offer you a wide range of services, quite a few more than you'll get through hiring in-house workers. An in-house bookkeeper can cost you up to $43,000 a year, and accountants will generally cost more, with some CPA's costing over $50,000 a year.

That means to hire a bookkeeper and an accountant for your business, you'll end up paying almost six figures, far more than smaller and even mid-sized businesses can afford! On the other hand, outsourced bookkeeping will cost you between $3,600 and $19,500 a year, depending on the range of services you get.

That means you can get bookkeeping, accounting, payroll services, and much more for half of what one in house bookkeeper would charge you! With remote bookkeeping, you can save quite a bit of money on a yearly basis while getting the best possible services and you can get the best outsourced bookkeeping with cloud business as well.

Remote Quality Bookkeeping™ of Bridgewater, Massachusetts offers you decades of experience through their outsourced bookkeeping with cloud experience. To learn more about outsourced bookkeeping with cloud through RQB, click here.

The post Why Should you get Outsourced Bookkeeping with Cloud? appeared first on Cloud Bookkeeping Services|Remote Quality Bookkeeping.

Everyone has some field they are experienced in, and eventually they reach that point where they would like to take their skills to the next level and run a company.

After all, it's one thing to be a high-ranking worker in your company, but it's quite another to completely control what direction you want to take your business in.

Running your own business means you get to determine your own success and build yourself a legacy, but the initial work with a business is another matter entirely. Starting your own business is incredibly challenging because you need to build up a good reputation as a business that can deliver, and do so while having the best financial setup possible.

Getting this setup can be another matter entirely considering all of the expenses companies have to deal with and the lack of capital they have to pay for them all. From the location you get and the utilities attached to the employees you hire, stock you acquire, equipment you purchase/lease, and more, businesses need so much in order to be successful, and they want the best quality possible.

That means allocating your finances by saving as much money as possible while still getting the best setup, so you can provide the best services while making a profit.

All of your finances tie back into financial services that you employ, which keep track of all of your spending and earnings and use that data to help you determine when and how much you can spend for your business.

However, getting financial services for your company can be another matter entirely, especially considering how much capital smaller and mid-sized businesses make.

Employing Financial Services for your Business

It is a complete necessity for businesses to get financial services, as they use these services to help them determine their day-to-day decisions. Every day, your business spends and earns quite a bit of money, and you need to know how much you have at any given time so that way you can decide on making smart decisions that are based on your finances.

For instance, say you're looking to upgrade equipment, or improve stock, and need the funds to do so; your financial services help you determine whether or not you can do that. Also, what if you're low on funds and need to tighten your budget so your business can not end up losing money?

Your company needs to know how much money they have at any given time, which is why both bookkeeping and accounting are necessary for the success of your business.

With bookkeeping, every transaction related to your business is recorded and added up so you have a final total of where your business is financially as far as profit or loss. From invoices and payroll to checks and utility bills, your company spends and earns quite a bit of money and all of that data is used by an accountant.

Accounting involves allocating all of your finances appropriately based on your bookkeeping, allowing you to get taxes done, pay bills, and make other financial decisions for your business. You need both of these services for your business to run appropriately, but affording them is another matter entirely.

Smaller and mid-sized businesses generally don't have the funds for these services, which is why companies are sometimes stuck trying to do their own bookkeeping.

Doing your own bookkeeping and running a business at the same time can be extremely challenging, which is why business owners oftentimes seek an alternative to getting their bookkeeping and other financial services taken care of.

Hiring an Outsourced Bookkeeping Service

Many businesses will seek out the alternative of hiring a remote bookkeeping business, not only because the outsourced bookkeeping rate is so much more manageable, but the service is also extremely convenient and beneficial for a business.

When outsourcing your bookkeeping, you get the ability to get any and all financial services you need at a reduced price in a very convenient way. All of your information is handled by a team of professionals, who complete any and all financial services you require and putting the data on a secure server that you can easily and readily access.

You can even choose how you get access, restricting access to your precious information to one work computer or setting it up so you can access your information using a smart phone, tablet, laptop, and more. With remote bookkeeping, you also get the convenience of both security and efficient workers completing any and all services that you request.

The server used is extremely secure as remote bookkeeping companies follow cyber security laws to ensure everything is in place, and they also use countermeasures as well to assure that nothing goes wrong with the security of your data.

They use cyber insurance policies, offsite backups, and even back up data on the cloud to ensure that no matter what happens, your data is safe. Plus, all employees hired have some previous experience with handling financial services and are cleared as far as security before they are hired.

All workers work together to complete tasks for you, so you always have multiple employees doing work for you at any given time.

Is the Outsourced Bookkeeping Rate Affordable?

For most business owners, as great as a service is the bottom line always ends up being the cost and whether you can afford a service or not. The same is the case with remote bookkeeping, as the outsourced bookkeeping rate is much more manageable for business owners while providing you a lot more as far as services.

With outsourced bookkeeping, you don't just get bookkeeping services; you also get accounting and payroll services, and any other financial services your business could possibly need. In house bookkeepers will generally cost up to $43,000 a year, and accountants will cost even more, with some CPA's costing over $50,000 a year.

This means you'd pay almost six figures just for financial services, a price many smaller and even mid-sized businesses cannot afford. The outsourced bookkeeping rate, on the other hand, will cost between $3,600 and $19,500 a year depending on what services you get, saving you tens of thousands of dollars a year!

With the outsourced bookkeeping rate, you get the best service at the best cost, making life easier for you when running your business. To learn more about how you can get the best outsourced bookkeeping rate through hiring companies like Remote Quality Bookkeeping™, click here.

The post How does the Outsourced Bookkeeping Rate save you Money? appeared first on Cloud Bookkeeping Services|Remote Quality Bookkeeping.