IAFD Key Partners
- Why Famous Film Franchises are fleeing Hollywood for Las Vegas
- This is not a franchise post, but if you have been reading my blog for some time, you will know that it's on an issue that is important to me: film incentives for Nevada. As I've previously written, Nevada was…
- in Franchise Relationships
- 7 Reasons why Franchisees should Demand & Get Online Video Training From their Franchisor
- In the last post we expressed the importance of operations/training manuals and how they make the life of an entrepreneur so much simpler. The idea is to build a 'smart' scalable business, one that doesn't crumble under its own weight…
- in Suppliers and Consultants
- How is Your Franchisor Making Google+ Work for You?
- Building a strong offline and online presence in local markets is of key importance to every organization that sells products and/or services to a local audience. For franchises, this is an ever-increasing challenge because as they grow, they expand into…
- in Social Audience Marketing
- Does Your Franchisor Know How To Fix this Twitter Crisis?
- Social media positions are still fairly new in the grand scheme of things. Like all new things, it's good to create a plan before rolling out new services, positions, or products. In the case of a social media manager, one…
- in Social Audience Marketing
- How We tell Our Client's Stories
- At the Face 2 Face conference put on by Progress Media this year, we were challenged to consider our stories, refine them and learn to share them as part of our business growth strategy. Story is a huge component of…
- in Social Audience Marketing
- What is a Hidden Franchise Under Hawaii Law?
- A federal court in Hawaii recently issued an opinion finding that a distribution agreement is not a franchise under Hawaii's Franchise Investment Law. The defendant in the case, Pace-O-Matic ("Pace") is the manufacturer of gaming devices, which include "skill stop"…
- in Franchise Relationships
- How Do You Feel about Kmart's Edgy New Marketing?
- Kmart is another company that has been limping along for some time now. However, a recent advertising campaign has gone viral, sparking conversation around the company by people of all ages. Truth be told, I first heard of their newest…
- in Social Audience Marketing
- Do You Know this Easy Way to Get 49% More Foot-Traffic to Your Franchise?
- Mobile search has fast become consumers' preferred method when searching for local businesses. In fact, 50% of Google mobile searches are local. The data is clear--mobile search is surging as desktop search continues to decline. Having a mobile optimized website…
- in Social Audience Marketing
- Why New Franchisors Fail - It starts with Counsel
- What makes a person think about taking his or her present business and franchising it, becoming a franchisor? It isn't just the fact that they have heard of Ray Kroc and what he did with Mc Donalds or the miraculous…
- in Franchise Relationships
- Do You Know How Easy Your Video Marketing Can Be?
- I love video. I've been working with video for over thirty years and for over half of that time I've been involved in putting video on the internet. However I've usually used video to accomplish a specific goal. The goal…
- in Social Audience Marketing
- Is Yelp Holding Your Franchise Brand Hostage?
- I recently talked with a restaurant owner at the National Restaurant Association Show in Chicago last month. He shared his story of his frustration with Yelp, stating that he wasn't quite sure how to overcome negative posts. I asked him…
- in Social Audience Marketing
- Is Your Sales Staff Leaking Dollars and Washing out Your Profit?
- If you ever trained a puppy, you learned how to negotiate. "SIT!" "Good boy." "Here's a treat." That's negotiation. We negotiate with our KIDS every day. "If /when you finish your veggies, you can have the ice cream." That's negotiation.…
- in Social Audience Marketing
- A Short Checklist for a Superior Online Marketing for Franchising
- In order to set your franchise system and your franchisees up for long-term online success, it's crucial to create a well-defined online marketing model that identifies how the Internet will be used in marketing and who is responsible for various…
- in Social Audience Marketing
- Can Carl's Jr. & Hardee's Steal McDonald's Customers with this Clever Ad?
- This is a very clever ad, and I wonder whether it will work. Andy Puzder, CEO of Carl's Jr. & Hardee's, is offering a coupon or discount to McDonald's fans who lament the loss of the triple Angus burger from…
- in Franchise Association News
- Is JC Penney Really Dying as a Brand?
- JC Penney has had its share of struggles, between changing staff, changing sales policy (and then reverting back to the original ways), and a myriad of other situations that have come up in recent years. Many wonder if the retailer…
- in Social Audience Marketing
- Can You Afford to Pay the FTC $100k or Much More?
- As Chief Development Officer for a capital intensive franchise, I knew that we had an advantage in the marketplace - we could tell franchise candidates how much money they could make - because of our Item 19, or what is…
- in Franchise Relationships
- Give Me 10 Minutes - I Will Give You the Secret To Business Math
- Wouldn't it be great to spend more of your time on the fun stuff in your business? The work you are uniquely gifted to do? The work that can help you increase sales, improve profitability, and grow your business into…
- in Suppliers and Consultants
- When Can a Franchisor Negotiate their Agreement with a Franchisee?
- The franchisor may negotiate with a prospect, subject to the limitations discussed below. The information and exhibits in the franchisor's FDD must reflect the franchisor's actual initial offer to a prospect. If, based on changing conditions or other factors, the…
- in Franchise Relationships
- Class Actions in Franchising: Stategic Considerations in Confronting System-Wide Disputes
- Franchisee association leaders confront potential system wide disputes in many key areas such as: Involuntary change to the brand, concept, or products; Merger or consolidation issues; Franchise agreement issues - interpretation of terms, or changes to the agreement over time;…
- in Franchise Relationships
- Great New Tool to Increase Sales
- Local Market Launch today introduced a local visibility audit tool that enables national brands and multi-location businesses to gauge the local online presence (across search, local directories, and social media) of all their locations--whether they have two, hundreds or even…
- in Social Audience Marketing
Your Expertise & Our Audience
Recent Comments
Doug Root
| Richard (and Ron),
I have a 'unique and emerging' concept (yes, really) that could both benefit, and benefit from, an established franchisor who wanted to help us grow.
We are a Indoor Zipline and Rock Climbing Adventure Center for Kids 5 to 12 years. We've been in business 18 years, and have our FDD and Ops Manual ready to go. www.JungleQuest.com.
We have a stand-alone 5,000 sq ft, but we would be perfect as an add on for an existing family entertainment center, or other 'kids amusement concept'.
What's my next move? Any advice?
Doug Root
JungleQuest
Nancy's point from Gavin Kennedy:
"Avoid goodwill conceding.
(Thank you Gavin Kennedy - Everything is Negotiable for this concept.)
The principle of "goodwill conceding" is this: The salesperson thinks that if they are nice and give a price concession to the other side, the other side will reciprocate with a concession back to you.
In other words, they'll buy.
Nice idea.
Only it backfires with a professional buyer. What they do is take what you offer and try to get more. (After all you're giving things away.)"
can be expanded.
Gavin is a well known scholar of Adam Smith.
Many people have a dim of what Adam Smith said about market: something to the effect that if we are all allowed to act on our own preferences without government regulation, collectively we will be better off.
The invisible hand metaphor.
Or they rely upon their memory of this quote:
"It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest."
Gavin correctly points out that what Adam Smith was getting at with the benevolence quote was conditional concessions, as described above by Nancy in her point8.
"I will give you this concession, if you will give me that which I want also", is a decent phrase of Adam Smith's conditional bargaining.
Conditional bargaining may not produce the best collective results all the time, but it is a vast improvement on mere coercion and the exercise of state force.
Tim writes: "Kohl's has killed them and when their CEO created his pricing program, he confused the customer."
Yeah, I agree with this.
How did the Board ever let this crazy pricing strategy out the door, I wonder?
J.C. Penney has several challenges.
Kohl's has killed them and when their CEO created his pricing program, he confused the customer.
Never make it hard on the customer, he is gone.
What Kohl's does is run a sale almost every day.
One day, it is buy one get one free, the next week when that is over it 50% off.
The same end result for the retailer, but perceived to be a bargain to the shopper.
Kohl's customer service is fantastic and if you paid more Tuesday than Wednesday if you get the BIG 30% discount on your purchase (something their customer flaunt like a badge of honor) they will refund the whole purchase and re-ring it.
They want their customers to know they are getting a good deal.
Third, they out market, they e-mail, send the catalog with your peal off coupons, which creates value and people hang on to it, so not to lose the coupon.
Fourth, there is Kohl's Cash that brings people right back in.
Lastly, JCP is attached to many malls. Kohl's sits on the outside or in centers where it is perceived to be easier to get in and out.
JCP is simply being out marketed.
It will take more than Social Media to save them, momentum is against them.
It is true that many people will have different "endorsement" strategies.
Mine is a bit different than most.
And I don't expect most to conform to it. Nor do I think they should.
What is important is that people understand the endorsements on LinkedIn are a sort of crowd sourced snapshot of what your first connections think of you, in general.
I don't think I would have had the hashtag #JCP Listens.
I might have organized a strategy around listening, but putting the hashtag out there ....
Not sure.
That's a good point, Michael. Thanks for the contribution.
It's definitely important to recognize how others see you. In this case, however that makes the assumption that people actually do think when they endorse you and not just click "endorse all".
Hopefully more of us will do just that.
I feel that the jury is still out but the sight of the logo sparking this kind of controversy is not a good sign. However, if they slow down a bit and let the dust settle and REALLY listen to their customers they have a shot.
Thanks Mike!
Well probably not intentionally.
But not paying close attention in complying with the existing FTC rules may invite further scrutiny by friendly regulators.
Doug, what does your item 19 say? What is the pitch for the business model? Thanks.