Q2 | 2009

Stimulus Plan

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FEATURE

Challenge the Pros

Keeping the Old Brand New: These Four Brands Are Built For Change

High Stakes: Annual Multi-Unit Conference Hits It Big In Las Vegas With Record Attendance

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Funding an AR Growth Strategy: Five Key Elements Are Essential To Success

In these uncertain economic times, emerging franchise companies are finding it difficult to fund their franchise expansion strategies. Traditionally, franchise companies fund their startup and expansion in one of two ways

Marvin Storm

Who's on Hold?: Hosted PBX Offers A Cost-Effective Fix For Customer Service

With the downturn in the economy, good old-fashioned customer service can be a major differentiator for businesses trying to keep their existing customers and attract new ones.

Greg Brashier, COO of Virtual PBX

Change in the Air: Possible Early Indicators Of A Financial Thaw

Let's look at some recent trends. The stock market: trending downward. Franchise system sales: flat or downward in well over the majority of cases. Sales of new franchises: definitely on the downturn, almost dormant. How depressing!

Rupert M. Barkoff

Stake Your Claim!: Are You Still Dancing Around Disclosure?

We all tout the compelling benefits of the franchising model, praising its value as a blueprint for success and proven business system. So why don't the overwhelming majority of franchisors divulge any financial performance data to support this? Savvy companies that do show results gain greater credibility over their competitors.

Steve Olson

Stimulus Packagers: Franchisor's Incentives Are Turning Prospects Into Franchisees

Franchise development teams are trying to defy the seemingly insurmountable odds of today's economy by creatively ramping up their sales efforts. Tactics such as discounted franchise fees, reduced royalties, buy-back guarantees, and other incentives have been pouring onto the franchise marketplace in recent months. The innovative techniques seem to be getting results.

Kerry Pipes

Eco-Pizza Pioneers:

Pizza Fusion, a growing chain of organic pizza restaurants, was born from three passions shared by co-founders Vaughan Lazar and Michael Gordon: food, healthy eating, and the environment.

Eddy Goldberg

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Home Court Advantage: Little Caesars Is Grooming And Recruiting New Franchisees From Within

What if there were a way to hire great, energetic franchisees who not only were excited about the brand, but also already knew it inside and out? Your next great franchise operators might be sitting right beside you at your next internal meeting.

Kerry Pipes

Don't Just Survive, Thrive!

I'm amazed at the resiliency I see in the franchising industry. While so much of the business world is whining over the daily reports of the latest economic upheaval, I look around this industry and I see calmer, cooler heads prevailing. Take franchise recruitment and development, for example. This is no time to panic.

Kerry Pipes

Take It from the Top: 5 Steps To Becoming A Better CEO

It is no secret that many CEOs are challenged by how to best motivate and get results from their franchise development departments. Over the many years I've been involved in franchising, I have seen the powerful role CEOs can play to support their franchise development teams.

Linda Burzynski

Fine-Tuning Your System: Validation Plays a Critical Role in Conversions

Welcome to the ever-changing world of franchising! Just when we all think we have things figured out, a new challenge arises. The economy! As I recall, we were all chugging along running our ad campaigns, generating leads, and (hopefully) converting some to qualified candidates. Guess what? Pipeline paralysis! Not that lead volume has fallen--on the contrary, lead flow is rising, right about in lockstep with the unemployment rate as more people are compelled to explore business and franchise ownership options. Yet as lead volume has increased since the clock struck 1/1/09, we are now faced with a new challenge: how to effectively position our business in a troubled economy and actually get qualified candidates financed and into business.

Marc Kiekenapp

What Are You Paying For?: Franchise Salary Survey Reveals More Than Just The Numbers

I made a presentation to a national law firm's franchise practice group a few years ago with the title, "You Won't Believe What You Can Learn From a UFOC." The presentation was made to people who were responsible for putting UFOCs (now FDDs) together. They were surprised to learn all the things that could be analyzed and extracted from the documents they prepared.

Darrell Johnson