Organizational growth for startup and early stage franchisors 2015 by iFranchise Group

Organizational Growth for Start-up and Early Stage Franchisors Dave Hood President The iFranchise Group

Matthew Jonas President TopFire Media

About The Speakers Dave Hood President The iFranchise Group  The iFranchise Group assists both start-up and established franchisors  27 full time consultants focusing on strategy, operations, training and marketing  Former president of Auntie Anne’s Pretzels  Current Board member with Harris Research, Inc. (Chem-Dry and N-Hance brands)

Matthew Jonas President TopFire Media  Fully-integrated Digital Media Agency  Specializing in both Franchise and Consumer Marketing strategies  Public Relations, SEO, PPC, Social Media, Website Development, LinkedIn Marketing  Unique ROI-Based Approach

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Nation’s Leading Franchise Consulting Firm •

More hands-on experience than any other firm – –

•

More “senior level” experience – –

•

27 consultants with over 500 years of franchise experience 98 out of the top 200 franchise companies

Former CEOs, CFOs, and EVPs of major franchise companies Start-up franchise programs and established franchisors

Breadth across five functional areas – – – –

Strategic planning Quality control Marketing Organizational development

•

Franchise experience throughout the world

•

Franchise Dynamics – –

Sold 500+ franchises in each of the last two years Sales team has sold 7,000+ franchises during their careers

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About TopFire Media • A Premier fully-integrated digital media firm specializing in franchised businesses – – – – – – – –

Public Relations Social Media Publishing Search Engine Marketing LinkedIn Marketing Pay-Per-Click Advertising Website Development Search Engine Optimization Video Production

• Both franchise development and consumer branding • More data = Better data – –

200,000+ leads tracked through affiliates in the last two years Can analyze by media, investment size, by industry, etc.

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Topics We’ll Cover 

Franchise lead generation

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Marketing for your franchisees

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Franchise sales

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Essential building blocks for your support program

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Developing a capable support team

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Involving franchisees in your support planning and development

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Business planning with your franchisees

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Communication systems and processes

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Measuring your performance as a franchisor Slide 5

The Problem With Marketing Professionals • Everyone believes they have the solution to lead generation • • • • • •

PR practitioners – credibility Ad agencies – predictability Social media firms – engagement Search engine optimizers – visibility Mobile web designers – an untapped market Video houses – compelling storytelling

• Messaging not coordinated across media professionals • Firms who are specialized in only one area tend to recommend the single solution they’re most comfortable with © 2015 TopFire Media, Inc. All rights reserved.

The Reality • Most franchise companies do not have an unlimited budget • Their circumstances will be very different • • • • • • •

Goals Budgetary restrictions Geographic focus Profile of your franchisee and your customer Quality of existing websites and materials In-house resources and their capabilities Competitors

Lead Generation and Franchise Sales

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Using a Webcentric Approach

Your Website Needs a Plan! • A focus on visual appeal alone can be a disaster • Too many websites • Provide non-optimized content • Provide too much content • Flash over substance

• Develop a plan • • • • • •

Plan must do more than increase unique visitors Responsive design with mobile in mind Create effective calls-to-action Increase the length visitors stay on your site You need to design websites that converts traffic Improve franchise lead capture rates

Search Engine Optimization Your First step to franchise lead generation •The greatest site will not convert traffic if it is not found • 75% of users never scroll past the first page of search results • There are 17,000,000 Google results for the word “franchise”

•Google is 70% of search • Google’s algorithm - a closely held secret • The algorithm changes up to 500 times a year • Google’s goal: Deliver content that is relevant to the searcher

• Ranking factors fall into four basic categories • • • •

On-Page coding On-Page content Inbound Links Social Media

SEO is a PROCESS Not a “one-and-done”

Assessment

Social Media

Develop Links

Coding

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Google Algorithm changes constantly

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It searches for “fresh” content

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It searches for “relevant” content

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Your competitors are optimizing while you do not – driving them to the top

Content

Social Media Publishing • Social Media is important in its own right – not just for SEO • Why it is so important

• Defines the image of your franchise brand • First stop for many prospective franchise investors • 72% of all internet users are now active on a social media • *60% of the 30-60 year old bracket are now active on social media • Google + has over 1billion users • Facebook has more than a Billion users • Your customers expect you to have social media

• Conversations

• Average person sees 3,000 ads a day • Only 14% of people trust advertisements • But 78% trust the recommendations of others

*http://www.jeffbullas.com/2014/01/17/20-social-media-facts-and-statistics-you-should-know-in-2014/

Hub of Social Media and Key Component of SEO

Industry Publications

Pay-Per-Click Management • Why it is so important • • • •

Highly targeted marketing Google fields 1.2 trillion queries per year Top 3 sponsored links account for 41.1% of the clicks Poorly managed accounts drive up costs quickly

• Test-Refine-Test • • • • • • •

Keyword research (including negative keywords) Campaign development, budgeting, and bids Ad design and testing Build custom landing pages Ongoing PPC monitoring and management Google display retargeting advertising Google display advertising

The Pay-Per-Click Advertising Conundrum $

A company with a large PPC budget can still get out-positioned by smaller competitors with lower budgets. Competitorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Budget = $300

Bid of $10.00 per click at 50 clicks per day = $500 per day Budget = $500

Bid of $15.00 per click at 20 clicks per day = $300 per day

And if there were only 30 clicks to be had that day, you might just be out of luck.

The Pay-Per-Click Advertising Conundrum $

You Can Increase Your Click Bid to $20 Competitorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Budget = $300

Bid of $15.00 per click at 20 clicks per day = $300 per day

When you run out of ad dollars at the end of the day

But if you do, you need to increase your budget to $1,000 per day or Anticipate that you will get only half as many clicks Allowing the competitor with the lowest budget to gain top positioning for half a day at 1/5 the cost

Day 21

Integrating Public Relations • Public Relations as a next step • • • •

Credibility Franchise sales leads Develop public image of your brand Obtain local recognition at the consumer level

• By creating inbound links, PR also helps with SEO efforts • A step by step approach • • • • • •

Develop press kit Create messaging Target new media Target print publications Media outreach Assist franchisees with local PR and grand openings

An Integrated ROI-Focused Approach GOALS Initial Evaluation, Research, USP, & Strategy Creation

Responsive Website Must Capture Leads, Have Call to Action

Website Optimized Around Keywords & Inbound Links

Channels Prioritize & Optimize Appropriate Social Media Channels

Create Blog to Push Content to Social Media Channels

Messaging – Press Releases, Stories, Blog Posts, Ads

Publishing – Post Content, Deliver Releases, Ads

Outreach & Engagement – Writers, Editors, Bloggers, and Social

Tracking and Refinement of Various Campaigns

Enhancement – Mobile Web, Video Posting, Retargeting

ROI Analysis of What Is Delivering Best Results

Reallocation of Resources Based on Results, Trends, Seasonality, Competitors

The Approach Must Be Customized GOALS Initial Evaluation, Research, USP, & Strategy Creation

Responsive Website Must Capture Leads, Have Call to Action

Website Optimized around Keywords & Inbound Links

Create Blog to Push Content to Social Media Channels

Messaging – Press Releases, Stories, Blog Posts, Ads

Publishing – Post Content, Deliver Releases, Ads

Outreach & Engagement – Writers, Editors, Bloggers, and Social

Tracking and Refinement of Various Campaigns

Enhancement – Mobile Web, Video Posting, Retargeting

ROI Analysis of What Is Delivering Best Results

Reallocation of Resources Based on Results, Trends, Seasonality, Competitors

Prioritize & Optimize Appropriate Social Media Channels

The Approach Must Be Customized GOALS Initial Evaluation, Research, USP, & Strategy Creation

Website Design Must Capture Leads and Have Call to Action

Website optimized around keywords & inbound links

Creation of Blog to Push Content to Social Media Channels

Prioritize & Optimize Appropriate Social Media Channels

Messaging – Press Releases, Stories, Blog Posts, Ads

Publishing – Post Content, Deliver Releases, Ads

Outreach & Engagement – Writers, Editors, Bloggers, and Social

Tracking and Refinement of Various Campaigns

Enhancement – Mobile Web, Video Posting, Retargeting

ROI Analysis of What Is Delivering Best Results

Reallocation of Resources Based on Results, Trends, Seasonality, Competitors

One-And-Done Does Not Work GOALS Initial Evaluation, Research, USP, & Strategy Creation

Responsive Website Must Capture Leads, Have Call to Action

Website Optimized around Keywords & Inbound Links

Create Blog to Push Content to Social Media Channels

Messaging – Press Releases, Stories, Blog Posts, Ads

Publishing – Post Content, Deliver Releases, Ads

Outreach & Engagement – Writers, Editors, Bloggers, and Social

Tracking and Refinement of Various Campaigns

Enhancement – Mobile Web, Video Posting, Retargeting

ROI Analysis of What Is Delivering Best Results

Reallocation of Resources Based on Results, Trends, Seasonality, Competitors

Prioritize & Optimize Appropriate Social Media Channels

Marketing For Your Franchisees

Increasing Importance of Franchisor Control in Consumer Marketing  Immediacy • Social media often requires immediate action • Individual websites confuse the issue and diminish SEO  Branding • Franchisees need to communicate a message that is consistent with the brand • And having dozens of franchisees trying to communicate a single message will result in distortion and brand degradation  Competence • Franchisees may be less adept at using the Internet • May not understand how to interact on the Internet  Legal compliance • Inadvertent disclosure of financial performance • Inadvertent disclosure of trade secrets • Inadvertent misrepresentations  Time • You want your franchisees working on their businesses, not social media • Single person can push out one message across many franchisees  Control = Cost © 2015 TopFire Media, Inc. All rights reserved.

Structuring the Franchisor’s Role  Messaging

• Franchisor’s role must start with the brand message • Develop stories and brand buzz

 Search Engine Optimization

• Franchisor should have a single website with sub-sites for franchisees • Should take responsibility for website design and SEO

 Social Media

• Franchisor should, at a minimum, develop a social media standards book • Can be used by franchisor employees or outside agency

 Crisis Communications

• Recent video posts of meat stored outside or kids bathing in deep-sinks • A plan must be in place

 Grand Openings and other PR Events  Accountability

• Since franchisee marketing efforts will be paid for out of the ad fund and franchisee marketing will not, you need to have a rational basis for how dollars are allocated • Periodic accounting and reporting

An Organization for Selling Franchises

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Franchise Sales It is also important that you have a defined sales and qualification process, the core elements of which should include:  A defined process which you convey to franchise candidates  A sequence of events which keeps candidates actively engaged with you  Frequent communication with your candidates  Constant evaluation of each candidate as they flow through your process  A rigorous evaluation of the candidate’s financial condition  Awarding franchises only to those candidates who are likely to represent your brand very well

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How Aggressive Growth Can Derail the Cycle Aggressive growth too early in your development could result in the following challenges:  Mistakes in your franchise sales process  Poor franchisee selection  Poor real estate decisions  Inadequate support of new franchisees  Duplicating mistakes rather than replicating your success  Poor franchisee validation  A damaged brand and sales cycle

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The Franchise Sales Cycle Concept & Value Proposition Offer/Structure

Validation

Pre-Sale Communication Marketing Plan

Support Message & Materials Opening Assistance Advertising Expenditures

Post-Sale Training

Sales Process

Lead Generation and Franchise Sales A good concept + Good marketing material + Marketing Plan +Adequate marketing budget + Good sales technique

= leads = meetings = franchise sales Slide 34

Select a Sales Strategy As a young franchisor, it is important that you select the correct sales strategy for your franchise offering:  ‘Do it yourself’ – Management grants the franchise rights  Hire a franchise development executive to join the Company  ‘Do it for Me’ – Management ‘outsources’ the franchise development function  Each has positive and negative qualities – your strategy should be determined based on a variety of factors, including the system growth and financial results that you are trying to achieve

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The Do-It-Yourself Strategy • May be best option for franchisors looking for slower initial growth – Need to honestly assess your internal sales ability – Spend the time and resources to invest in the development of a sales plan and a professional advertising/marketing program

• Good option for less aggressive growth • Good for new franchisors before pipeline is built

The i Franchise Group

Recruit an Internal Sales Team • • •

• • •

•

Challenge for “emerging” opportunities Levels of compensation Nearly 30% of sales professionals do not last one full year in a new position* Increased fixed costs Increased control Best option for franchisors looking for much faster growth – if they have the budget Good option for those experienced in franchise recruitment *SOURCE: Salesforce.com

The i Franchise Group

Franchise Sales Outsourcing • Newer concept • NOT a “broker”, but work with Franchise Brokers • Outsourcing companies are dedicated to a specific franchisor client… – Allows emerging franchisors to obtain the same level of talent previously only available to large franchisors – Greater level of experience; Can be a way to diminish risk – Removes burden of hiring, training, retaining sales force to management – Generally more expensive…Look for a “full cycle – full service” provider

• Best practices: – Franchisor doesn’t give up any royalty or equity – Model should be heavily performance based

The i Franchise Group

Franchise Sales offering As a young franchisor, it is also important that you choose a development strategy that is right for your brand:  Single franchise unit structure – franchise rights are granted to a franchisee who will operate that unit  Multi-Unit franchise operator – franchise rights are granted to a franchise who MAY operate a unit, but will focus on operating multiple units with ‘Managers’ – a “business builder”…  Area representatives– a franchisee who MAY operate a franchise unit or multiple franchise units – but is typically focused on developing a larger territory or even a country though other franchisees that they develop; may provide ongoing services to them in exchange for a portion of your fees and royalty  Each of these approaches have various strengths and challenges at each stage of a franchisor’s growth

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A Franchisorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Journey Toward Sustained Profitability

Royalty Revenue

Revenues

Expenses

Franchise Fee Revenues Franchise Fee Associated Expenses

Losses

Break-Even Point Slide 40

Time

Support of Your Franchisees

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Essential Building Blocks Nine Primary Areas of Support Third-Party Supplier Support Communications and Technology Brand and Local Marketing Field Consulting Supply Chain Ongoing Training Pre-Opening Training Construction Real Estate Not relevant to some service businesses

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One Size Does Not Fit All Your support strategy may vary depending on:  The industry in which you operate  The types of franchises you’re awarding (e.g., single unit, multi-unit or area representative)  The experience level of your franchise owners  The size and maturity of your franchise system  The geography you need to support  Your philosophy toward the support of franchisees  Input you receive from franchisees themselves

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Franchisors Providing the Best Support Tend to Demonstrate These Characteristics 

Lead by example

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Involve franchisees in the strategic development of the system

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Develop and refine their support system around the issues most important to franchise owners

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Accumulate, benchmark and share key performance measures with franchisees

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Promote communication between franchisees

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Maintain a strong internal culture that is supportive of franchisees

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Evaluate the potential benefit of any support program to the franchisor company, the franchise owners and the franchisees’ consumers

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A Great Support Program Will Achieve The Following 

Strong validation from your existing franchise owners

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Franchisees who want to expand with you rather than looking elsewhere

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More profitable franchisees

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Higher royalties for you

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Greater market share for your brand

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Less time and money spent in resolving disputes or litigation

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A much better and more productive work environment for your employees

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A higher valuation for your company

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10 Common Mistakes in Supporting Franchisees 1.

Lack of capital to provide adequate support, particularly in the early years of franchising

Hiring support staff that is under-qualified or given insufficient training and direction

Lack of operational experience by the franchisor

Failure to build the support program around the issues that are most important to franchisees

Failure to involve franchisees in key decisions

Failure to develop an effective process to implement system changes

The belief that technology can replace human contact

Failure by the franchisor to measure the results of its support efforts

Negative attitudes toward franchisees

10. Fear of losing control with either the support staff or franchisees Slide 46

Focus of Support May Vary Depending on Who Your Franchisees Are Multi-Unit Franchisee

Single Unit Franchisee  Financial statement basics

 Detailed business planning

 Expense controls

 Financial benchmarking

 Best practice sharing

 Planning for capital spending

 Sales training

 Technology development

 How to manage a family business effectively

 Multi-unit management training  Assistance with finance or lease programs

 Strategies for local store marketing

 Input on key strategy issues impacting the brand

 Hiring good employees  Managing employees Slide 47

Developing a Capable Support Team

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Key Issues in Building a Support Team  Base hiring decisions on an annual budget process  Hire staff slightly ahead of need  As an owner or founder, be committed to hiring people who are more experienced and capable than you in the areas in which they will be responsible  For most positions that deal directly with franchisees, hire based on experience in franchising rather than experience in your industry  Be cautious about moving staff from your existing corporate operations to a franchise support position  Provide staff with clear direction and let them do their jobs  Remember that you must lead your staff just as you need to lead your franchisees

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Typical Staffing Ratios Franchise development staff  Single unit focus = 1 for each 12-18 deals  Multi-unit focus = 1 for each 5-8 deals Field support staff  Single unit restaurant = 1 for each 20-25 units  Multi-unit restaurant = 1 for each 10-15 owner groups  Territory-based service system = 1 for each 30-35 owner territories Field marketing staff  1 for each 50 to 100 units/territories Overall staff to franchised locations (within a mature organization)  1 staff equivalent for each 7 to 11 locations Slide 50

Typical Early Stage Support Structure

President

Director of Franchising

Franchise Development Coordinator

Director of Finance

Director of Ops. and Training

Field Support Representative

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Manager of Real Estate and Construction

Director of Marketing

Training Specialist

Leverage Staff Resources Through Outsourcing Depending on the size and needs of your system, outsourcing support in areas such as the following may be worth considering:

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Marketing

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Quality assurance

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Public relations

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Insurance compliance administration

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Site selection

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Franchisee web portal

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Facility design

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Other information technology

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Construction management

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Franchisee training

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Benchmarking

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Convention/meeting management

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Accounting

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Involving Franchisees in Building and Refining Your Support Programs

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Why Involve Franchisees in the Development of Your Support Programs?  They’ll provide input on what priorities your support program should focus on  As your system grows, franchisees will provide many of the best practices your support program should incorporate  Franchisee involvement will dramatically increase acceptance and adoption rates of new initiatives you introduce  Franchisees can help beta test new programs  Encourages a philosophy of doing things with them, not to them

Slide 54

Ways to Involve Franchisees in Building Your Support Programs 

Advisory councils

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Short-term committees focused on specific support initiatives

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General day-to-day contact

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Broader-based surveys of your franchisees

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Technology systems such as your franchisee portal

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Business Planning With Your Franchisees

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Focus Within a Franchise Support Program

Compliance 20%

80% Helping franchisees increase revenues and profits

Focus support around an annual business plan with each franchisee

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Prerequisites for the Business Planning Process 

Some level of standardization for franchisee accounting practices and income statement generation

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Requirement that franchisees generate monthly financial statements

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Technology available to capture and analyze income and expense information for the system

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Field support staff who are capable as business consultants and trained in the franchisor’s process

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The respect of your franchisees to provide value through the business planning process

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Defined expectations and responsibilities for both franchisees and the franchisor company

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Business Planning With Your Franchisees Key steps in the planning process: 1.

Create and continually refine the planning process with the input of your franchisees

Communicate the final process both internally and to your franchisees

Schedule an in-depth meeting with each franchisee to develop their plan for the coming year

Meet with franchisees at least quarterly to review progress to the plan and actions needed to address problem areas

Provide benchmarking data to franchisees throughout the year, allowing them to measure their own progress against the system as a whole

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Business Planning With Your Franchisees The planning process will vary based on the needs of each franchise system. In general, however, a franchiseeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s plan will focus on areas such as: Marketing

Operations Management

Human Resources

Facilities

Budget

Revenue Goals

Staff Levels

Maintenance

Local Marketing

Cost of Goods

Co-op Planning

Operating Expenses

Training & Development

Construction & Trade Dress Updates

Support of System-wide Initiatives Tracking Marketing Performance

Overall Profitability

Compensation Plan

Capital Expenditures

Turnover Targets

Cash Budget

New Staff Hires

New Equipment Technology & Software Facility Lease Review

Operations Quality Customer Feedback

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Business Planning With Your Franchisees The franchisee’s performance should be continually benchmarked against their targeted goals and the performance of the system as a whole….

If you don’t yet have a benchmarking/dashboard platform in place, it should most likely be a priority for you. Slide 61

Communication Systems and Processes

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Creating a Great Communications Strategy 

Use technology to supplement personal support, not replace it

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Don’t under-estimate the value of face-to-face contact

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Develop your strategy based on the needs expressed by your franchise owners

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Designate a Communications Manager at your office who will review and approve any systemwide communications before they are sent

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Whenever possible, highlight the importance of franchisee input into the communication of any major decisions that you’ve made on their behalf

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Take calls, and minimize the use of voicemail

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Return all calls to franchisees the same business day

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Ensure your management team calls franchisees on a regular basis, not just when there are problems

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Thank franchisees for their positive efforts and results

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Track all communications with your franchisees Slide 63

Options For Communicating With Franchisees

Phone

Field Visits

Newsletter

Training

Conference Call

Blog

Social Media

Secure Web Portal

E-mail

Webinar

Convention

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Advisory Council

Measuring Your Performance as a Franchisor

Slide 65

Measuring Your Performance as a Franchisor In addition to benchmarking the performance of your franchisees, it’s important that you periodically measure your performance against the expectations of your franchisees. Recommended steps include:  Utilizing an outside vendor to maintain credibility and confidentiality  Providing franchisees with feedback from the survey results  Ensuring that you communicate an action plan back to your franchisees for making improvements  Take credit for improvements that you make based upon your franchisees’ input

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