It was a stroke of luck for me because it provided something new for my interest in multivariate risks management. Since then I have prepared many multivariate high risk agreements, and it is always an enjoyable as well as remunerative adventure.
When you think of every brand as a franchise in itself, it fits perfectly into my customary practice of managing franchise relationship disconnect issues.
Recently, I have been able to mix some of my more basic interests, consuming olive oil, with my interest in being able to negotiate and prepare the enabling agreements that bring together great marketing companies in America. More specifically, working with the best producers of great Extra Virgin Olive Oil and managing risks inherent in horticulture to delivery.
This is a wonderful exercise in multivariate risk management.
Olive Oil - Fraud and Standards
The notoriety of product purity fraud in the extra virgin olive oil business has stimulated my interest intensely. I love good olive oil to a degree that borders upon religion, I think that I probably consume good olive oil at the level of a Greek.
I am now eating the world's most incredible and unquestionably pure olive oil, and every meal is almost a religious ritual.
Olive oil is something with soul. You consume it with such incredible gratitude. I long ago gave up on European wines, with occasional ventures back there only when the auguries compel it.
California and the American Pacific Northwest is to me the world's most fantastic wine producing area, but has yet to arrive when it comes to top quality and taste olive oil.
Inasmuch as good wine also enjoys the presumptuousness of highly specific imprimatur, especially in France and, to a somewhat similar degree elsewhere in Europe, one might well expect that the snooty who insist upon their nomenclature prerogatives would, when put to it, lie cheat and steal to keep the black ink flowing on their financial statements.
Tom Mueller's book and blog, Extra Virginity, depicts the degree of hardship that olive oil producers are facing in the current economic difficulties and the "blending" that has become rampant to enable what is labeled Extra Virgin Olive Oil, "EVOO", to be sold profitability.
What is blended into it is often not even olive oil.
What most Americans buy as EVOO isn't, to make a long story short.
Whole Foods Market and Standards
However, there is some hope.
I was browsing in a new Whole Foods Market in Houston last Sunday, sitting at their new wine bar placed next to the olive oil shelves.
A rather nice looking woman was looking rather lost as she tried to determine which bottle of olive oil to select.
I walked the few steps over to her and pointed to the Lapas olive oil. She asked why I suggested that and I explained to her that it was from a reliable producer and told her that it was a house brand for Whole Foods Company, one of the very few trustworthy house brands in the world olive oil trade and completely organic.
She smiled and took the Lapas bottle as her selection.
Risk Management of Sole Source Producers
Whole Foods Company had to have carefully researched this project. Contracting for a single source agricultural product in a distant and troubled economy is high risk to say the least.
I know what terms the agreement has to include, but I wondered how each of the contract risks in the Whole Foods - Blauel Group agreement was dealt with.
Fritz Blauel is an Austrian who went to Greece in the 1970s and became interested in olive oil production and cultivation in the Peloponnesus and Kalamata in particular.
The Greeks of that area were still using rather ancient methods, and he sought to influence the producers of the area in totally organic methods.
To make a long story short, he succeeded, and Whole Foods Company's house brand of really top grade olive oil (not their 360 brand), Lapas, comes entirely from Blauel's operation. He produces about 650 tons of organic top grade olive oil each year within his group of farmers, and it may be found also under the brands Mani Organic and Kalamata Gold.
The Challenge and Rewards of Risk Management
What does one think of when contemplating the establishment of such a relationship, beyond the market research and the position of the brand as a "fit" within one's business?
For the lawyer crafting the seminal protocol it is a wonderful challenge. It requires input from several specialists who will probably be found within the client company or be on retainer for the client company.
In the matter of food and agricultural products, those would include not just the market research folks but also the agronomists, food chemists, manufacturing technique specialists, those in transportation and delivery as well as the financial staff.
The issues, especially in the instance of purchasing foreign agricultural output from a single producer or single group of producers include the management of numerous risks.
When you have accounted for absolutely everything you and the group can think of you have to start playing "what if..." games. The what if games should continue throughout the process of building the relationship and the agreement, right up to the moment of signatures.
Even then you can be assured that there are contingencies you missed. When that jumps up and stares you in the face you have to rely for relief upon the credibility and trust you were able to build up during the relationship right up to the moment when the event arises, and your approach to dealing with it must be obviously fair for it to be successful.
By way of illustration, a client lost total supply from a sole source vendor for a whole product line because someone served a subpoena on the vendor without handling the diplomacy properly.
The vendor was in Iceland and it required a several day long "social event" with its Vikingesque CEO just to get talks started on the real problem. It took a few weeks to recover from the "social event". You simply cannot think of everything.
Particularly in the instance of olive oil being produced at an exceptionally high level of quality within one of the most troubled economies on the planet where no one feels secure, just the notion that minute controls can be expressed in a single writing seems farfetched.
The cultural and economic divides standing alone would be insurmountable without bringing into acute focus many talents and skills in common easy to read and effective ways.
The resulting economic engine microcosmically and with mutual compassion and grace generates profitable product integrity without sacrificing the art or the nuances of timeless beauty encapsulated within a sacred tree fruit. We are speaking of olive oil, sacred, healthful and delicious.
Commercial lawyers rarely get to work on a symphony of nuances that embrace a fundamental expression of an entire culture. Smoothing the contrapuntal rhythms into a composed useful protocol calls upon artistry of expression as it seems to seek a trivializing of the ephemeral, a capturing of spirituality.
This is an example of the grace notes of law practice. It comes to very few.
What must be produced is a reliable encapsulation of many inherently indefinite forces that are answerable in the normal course to the uncertainties of agricultural crops and worked on by farmers and associated trades as well as social and political upheaval.
At many points along the lines potential leakage can occur if care and sensitivity are not brought to bear. Investing in great things is not to be approached without the willingness to support a work of very fine art as well as a mundane agricultural food product.
Doing that with an eye upon effective economics is rather breathtaking. If you are already in this business as you read this you understand the nuances and risks.
I really enjoy this kind of work because I find myself working with extremely competent committed people who take an almost worshipful approach to the products.
Whenever I get such an assignment it is a call to celebration and wall to wall happy in addition to remunerative. Professional life doesn't get much better than that.
]]>They are wrong - not reading and losing your life savings is hard. This article is about how to read and understand Item 5 disclosures - what happens when you pay your franchise fee. What you get for paying the initial fee.
Before I tell you why I think that the Taco John's franchise disclosure of Item 5 is so admirable, I want to tell a different story, a contrasting picture.
(The following story is a parody, no lawyers were harmed in its production.)
You walk into your business lawyer's office. You want him to review your FDD. He has a new associate, who beckons you forth.
You move forward, and notice another new wrinkle - a VISA machine smack on top of the associate’s desk. The associate apologetically explains that due to the economy all clients are on a pay before you go plan.
Fortunately, there is now a fixed fee schedule and you are relieved to see that the associate only charges $800 for a review of the FDD.
You hand over your FDD, sign the standard retainer agreement, and shell out $800 on your VISA debit card.
The associate confirms the transaction, ruffles through the FDD, and smiles at you expectantly.
This isn't going well, you think. So you venture, "Well what did you think?"
"About what?"
"The FDD", you persist. "The Franchise Contract."
"Oh that. "It is the standard franchise agreement." He then drones on something about France, the Singer Sewing Machine and something about a Lanham Act.
You really aren't interested and wish the associate would begin earning the retainer.
Abruptly, the monologue ends, but now the associate seems to have dozed off.
You want to shake him or worse. But, you resort only to pounding the desk with your shoe.
The associate snaps to attention, looks around, fixates upon the classic timepiece on his desks and blurts: “Times up, next. Agreement is terminated.”
“But, you haven’t done anything!”, you protest.
“Fulfilled the terms of the contract as per the standard retainer clause, paragraph 42.”, says the associate as you are ushered out the door.
Paragraph 42, you wonder? So you flip open the retainer agreement –you just signed without reading. You get out your magnifying glass and read:
Paragraph 42:
"You will pay us $800.00 for a FDD agreement review, the Retainer Contract.
Your contract is likely to contain several contingencies that will allow you, your attorney to terminate your Retainer Contract if such contingencies are not met.
The types of contingencies that may be included in Retainer contract are, by example:
· obtaining appropriate approval;
· obtaining adequate financing;
· receiving 3 acceptable bids for your Retainer contract, and:
· obtaining required municipal licenses.
If a contingency is not met as described above and your Retainer Contract is terminated, we will not refund any of the payments you have already made to us.
And, we reserve the right to determine in our sole and unreasonable discretion whether the contingency is met or not.
These payments will have been fully earned by the Attorney as a result of our lost and deferred opportunity costs, corporate expenses, and all efforts performed on your behalf before the termination of your Retainer Agreement.
We will, however, assist you in your efforts to locate another attorney and fully support your efforts to acquire another Franchise Disclosure Document review.”
So, you are now out $800 because you failed to understand the significance of a deeply convoluted legal clause buried deep within your retainer agreement.
Even if it was marked in red, bold print, and had the notation "Here is a VERY DANGERGOUS CLAUSE", its significance would not have been apparent until you were "terminated".
(The above story is a parody, no lawyers were harmed in its production.)
Could things get any worse for you?
No, things are going to get better for you because your FDD is written with admirable clarity, and lays out exactly when and what happens to your franchise fee.
Your FDD might be written as well as the Taco John's 2012 FDD:
"If you terminate the Franchise Agreement any time before all persons required to complete initial training have been certified by us, or if we terminate the Franchise Agreement because of your (or your owner’s or manager’s) failure to meet our initial training requirements (see Items 6, 11 and 17 of this Disclosure Document), we will refund the Initial Franchise Fee less the actual expenses we incur due to your acquisition of the Franchise, but we will not retain more than 30% of the Initial Franchise Fee to cover our expenses."
This is terrifically clear. If you want to bail out, it will cost you 30% of your franchisee fee at most. If they want you to bail out, it will cost them 70% of what what you have paid them.
There are no tricks to this clause, and the attorney who drafted it should be congratulated. So should the franchisor who has explained with clarity and transperancy the risks of not completing the intial training. More importantly, there are no gotcha's in this clause - no unforeseen conditional contingencies which may rob you of your initial franchisee fee.
Review the item 5 disclosure. It should read more like Taco John's iten 5, and not at all like your lawyer's paragraph 42.
]]>But, New York State's outdated franchise law is a potential obstacle for exhibitors at the largest franchise expo in the country. New York State, of course, requires franchisors to register with the Attorney General's Office before offering or selling franchises. Registered franchisors will have no problem exhibiting at the show and engaging in discussions with prospective franchisees.
But franchisors that are not registered in New York must clear a regulatory hurdle before they can lawfully exhibit at the Expo. The reason is the "first personal meeting" requirement under the New York Franchise Act.
The New York Attorney General's Office has been working hard to ensure that every exhibitor is either registered or exempt. And this is happening at the busiest time of year for the franchise examiners. They're in the midst of reviewing the annual franchise renewal applications.
The first New York Expo begins June 15, 2012. The Expo also takes place in California and Florida each year.
The "First Personal Meeting" Requirement
Under New York law, a franchise may not be sold without providing to the prospective franchisee a copy of its registered prospectus at the earlier of (a) the first personal meeting between the franchisor or its agent and the prospective franchisee or (b) 10 business days before the parties sign a binding franchise or other agreement or before the franchisor receives any consideration in connection with the sale of a franchise. "First personal meeting" means the first face to face meeting between the franchisor or the franchisor's representative and a prospective franchisee that is held for the purpose of discussing the sale or possible sale of a franchise.
If New York did not have a "first personal meeting" requirement, an unregistered franchisor could exhibit at the trade show and inform each prospective franchisee that the franchisor is not yet registered in the state and that it cannot offer or sell franchises in or from New York until it is. But discussion would be welcome. Just leave your name and we'll get back to you. The franchisor could make the offer at a later date, after the Attorney General's Office approves the franchisor's application for franchise registration and the franchisor has delivered the registered disclosure document to the prospect and waited the required ten business days.
To play it safe, the franchisor could put this in writing in a flier it distributes to prospects. The franchisor could even put a sign on its booth saying it's not registered in New York. The sign and flier would help the franchisor defend against an allegation of making an illegal offer of an unregistered franchise. The sign and flier might also satisfy a New York state regulator prowling the exhibit hall.
New York's Special Expo Exemption
But these steps are not sufficient to meet the requirements of New York law. Fortunately, the New York State Attorney General's Office has devised a solution. In order to facilitate the Expo's move to New York City, the New York State Attorney General's Office offers unregistered franchisors a temporary exemption that specifically covers the Expo in New York City.
An unregistered franchisor needs a special exemption in order to do in New York what franchise trade show exhibitors do everywhere else without an exemption.
While the New York Franchise Act is extremely broad, one saving component of the law is that fact that it allows for discretionary exemptions. The law authorizes the Attorney General's Office to grant a discretionary exemption if it finds that the exemption is not inconsistent with the public interest or the protection of prospective franchisees. In this case, the Attorney General's Office created a specific discretionary exemption for the Expo.
But franchisors must apply for this exemption. It is not self executing. And there is no certainty that it will be granted. The exemption does not allow exhibitors to sell franchises, but only to discuss the possible sale of franchises in person at the Expo in New York City during its three day run. A franchisor who receives this exemption and is registered in other states or only selling franchises in non-registration states may not even provide its franchise disclosure document at the show.
It makes no difference if the recipient is a New Yorker considering opening a franchise location in the state or whether the recipient is a New Jersey resident with no plans to open a location in New York, or whether the franchisor has any connection with the state other than its participation in the expo.
The limited exemption requires the unregistered franchisor to display a standard notice conspicuously at the booth informing visitors that the franchisor is not registered. In order to obtain the exemption, the franchisor must also submit to the Attorney General's Office a copy of any promotional materials to be distributed at the Expo. A special handout must be included with all such materials at the Expo informing recipients that the franchisor is not registered to sell franchises in New York.
The exemption application must include certain information that would normally be included in a franchise disclosure document, such as the names and employment history of the franchisor's managers and the relevant litigation of the franchisor and its affiliates.
The applicant must acknowledge that if franchises are sold without registration, the franchisor and its representatives may be subject to civil and criminal penalties. In fact, the franchisor must agree that if any of its employees or representatives violates a condition of the exemption, the franchisor will pay liquidated damages to the Attorney General's Office in the amount of $10,000 for each violation. In addition, the applicant must acknowledge that the Attorney General's Office may seek injunctive relief, which can bar the franchisor from selling in New York at all. And the applicant company must sign a consent to service of process in the state.
The Attorney General's Office also charges a $450 filing fee for the three-day Expo exemption. The application must also include a Notice of Appearance signed by a representative of the franchisor. This representative may well be the company's attorney, who will also charge legal fees on top of the filing fee.
By the time the process is completed, one might conclude that it would be better to apply for franchise registration.
The Need for a Change
The best approach would be a change in New York law. The New York Franchise Act is an anachronism. An exemption is nice, but New York really should change its law to be consistent with federal law and the laws of most other states that require franchise registration.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) eliminated the "first personal meeting" disclosure trigger as one of many changes it made with its 2007 revised trade regulation rule on franchising. Because franchisors and prospective franchisees may have numerous telephone conversations and communications by email longer before any face-to-face meeting occurs, the FTC determined that the "first personal meeting" trigger was an unnecessary requirement.
The FTC also replaced the 10 business day trigger with a 14 calendar day disclosure trigger. California eliminated the first personal meeting requirement in 2008. Other registration states, like Illinois, Maryland and Washington, have also modified their laws to conform to the revised FTC rule. But New York has not.
The "first personal meeting" is what trade shows are all about. It is a shame that New York requires registration or an exemption just to exhibit at a trade show. I wonder how many prospective exhibitors may have been discouraged from appearing at the show because of the requirements of New York law.
]]>If you don't have the desire to prospect, or are afraid of it, then you won't do it often enough. As a result, your prospecting skills become weaker. This in turn causes your motivation to diminish and decreasing your ability to prospect.
When we evaluate the reasons why a salesperson has failed or plateaus at an unacceptable level, we are constantly reminded of the following; they are not motivated to prospect or, have a fear of rejection. Neither their lack of motivation nor the fear of rejection is the main culprit; both are to blame. It is a catch-22. Either the lack of motivation causes the fear of rejection or the fear of rejection demotivates them. Either way, the person never becomes the effective prospector they could be or should be.
What we offer here, are some ideas on how to get motivated and stay motivated when prospecting or cold calling. We have also included suggestions that will help you overcome the fear of rejection. When you internalize these concepts and techniques, you will become the most effective prospector you can be and will achieve the level of financial success you deserve.
1. Believe in it: it works.
Prospecting over the phone or cold calling "door-to-door" is a very effective way to find qualified leads for your business. Since the beginning of time, farmers, livestock ranchers and a variety of other vendors have been bringing their products to market on horse and buggy. Today, millions of companies spend millions of dollars and have millions of salespeople doing it. So why shouldn't you?
2. Prepare yourself properly.
Prospecting is like a contact sport. You are either prepared and have an advantage over the other person, or you are unprepared and don't. Top salespeople have regular phrases, statements and/or scripts they use to generate interest on the part of the prospect. They are also prepared with a list of common objections and responses to handle any resistance the prospect or gatekeeper throws at them. This preparation comes from practicing with a peer or sales manager and/or from making a lot of calls to prospects. The key question is, "Are you fully prepared?"
3. Discipline yourself.
Every time you feel like quitting and/or find yourself procrastinating, you are being bit by the Fear of Rejection bug. The only way to beat this bug is to maintain the discipline to keep going. Discipline in business is about forcing yourself to do something that you don't want to do. When you are staring at that name on your list or standing outside the prospect's door - Just do it! No one has more power to discipline you than you.
4. Convert that feeling.
Try to understand why you get sick to your stomach when you have to prospect. Or why you hate the phone and have fear of rejection. Ask yourself why you feel this way and then listen for the answer. When you are in a quiet place and are truly interested in finding the reason, it will come out. Don't let that feeling control you. You have to learn how to control it. Once you have control, you can convert the negative feelings into positive energy. The good news is, the worse you feel now, the stronger you'll be when you convert it and the more chance you have of being a prospecting dynamo!
5. Don't take it personally.
Most, if not all, of the prospects you are going to call are bombarded with salespeople each week. And they reject most, if not all of them. They are not rejecting you; they have rejected every other salesperson that has called them this week. So when you call, it is not you they are rejecting, they are rejecting another salesperson. Don't feel so singled out. You are among an elite group of people whose job it is to find people who are not so willing to or who are unable to reject salespeople. And that's easy when you have a good call list and are well prepared.
6. Partner with a buddy.
Many people that exercise would rather do it with a friend because this helps keep them motivated. Both people enjoy the workout more, plus they keep each other in line. We recommend you find another salesperson in your organization that has the same or better work ethic as you and agree to keep each other motivated and positive during prospecting sessions. When you make commitments to each other of when, how long, and who you are going to prospect, you subconsciously put incredible pressure on yourself to hold up your end of the bargain. This is very healthy pressure to have.
7. Make the time to prospect.
This is part of the discipline theory we spoke of before. Every salesperson we meet says they are busy, and some say they are too busy to prospect. This is nothing more then an excuse and an infection by the Fear of Rejection bug. Top salespeople make a habit of allocating a certain percentage of their week to prospecting. Regardless of their workload, they put a priority on prospecting and do it regularly. It is your responsibility to make time to prospect and create this habit.
8. Organize your list of leads.
It is a complete waste of time to make phone calls to companies and people who are not qualified to buy your product or service. Top salespeople have at least 100 qualified leads on their call list at all times. A qualified lead is defined as a prospect you know can use and pay for the products or services you offer or is currently using similar products or services offered by your competition.
9. A business card is not a prospect.
We are amazed at how little value salespeople put on prospects. They get a business card from somewhere, write some notes on the back and use this as their main prospecting system. A stack of these things with a rubber band wrapped around them is an inefficient method of prospecting. We recommend you use your computer, iPhone or tablet and keep as much information as possible on each prospect. In addition to the name, title, phone number with direct extension, and address of the person who has the authority to buy your product or service, you can collect additional information and use it to your advantage.
10. Call Decision-Makers only.
Strong lead lists will have the name of the Decision-Maker for each lead. A Decision-Maker is generally defined as the person who makes the decisions in relation to your products or services. Generally, there are two things we look for when categorizing someone as the final Decision-Maker: 1) the ultimate authority in their organization to over-rule everyone's decisions regarding products or services, 2) the ability to allocate money, set budgets, issue POs, sign checks, give a credit card or enter into agreements. They have the money and they can spend it!
11. All at once or not?
Salespeople regularly ask us if it is better to cold call for eight straight hours (one full day) or to break it up into two-four hour sessions. Frankly, we have met successful salespeople that do it both ways. One salesperson may prefer to allocate a full day to nothing but prospecting while another may prefer to break it up into two mornings on two different days. We don't think it makes a difference, we believe we all have to find the method that is comfortable for us. Provided you discipline yourself to concentrate on prospecting during this time period and not on other busy work.
12. Break up the day/session.
The fact of the matter is that even great prospectors are going to be rejected. Prospecting is a numbers game based on percentages. Having said that, we believe it is sometimes difficult for people to take a lot of rejection for a long period of time. So we recommend breaking up your session in a fashion similar to this. Make a particular number of calls to brand new prospects and then, make some calls to prospects you have previously called on, then call some people for referrals, then take a short break.
What we have just described is one cycle. The length of each cycle will depend on your commitment to prospecting, your work ethic and level of tenacity. In order to effectively prospect, you are going to have to repeat these cycles as often as you can in order to get results. Only you can determine the length of each cycle and how many cycles per day you are comfortable with.
13. Use a headset.
Not for motivation, for discipline and efficiency. When you are "literally" connected to the phone via a headset, it is much harder for you to walk away from your desk. So many people put the phone down and have trouble picking it back up. They don't even realize it, but as soon as they put it down, the resistance to picking it back up is even greater. If you don't have a headset, make it a rule that you will never put the receiver down until you dial at least "x" amount of calls. Just hang up each call with your finger instead of putting the receiver down. Once it's down it's even harder to pick back up again!
14. Hold all calls.
Not for motivation, for discipline and efficiency. A telephone prospecting session is just that - outgoing calls only. Have your receptionist or assistant hold all your calls or direct them to your voice mail. Telephone efficiency is all about rhythm. Once that rhythm is broken it's hard to get it started again. When you start to field incoming calls you might get sidetracked by a friend or even worse a customer who needs something now. Boom: rhythm broken.
15. It's a numbers game.
Even professional baseball players are only successful at getting on base 30% of the time. And they rate in terms of skills in the top 1% of all the millions of kids who start out playing baseball. So let me get this straight. They are the best of the best, get paid millions of dollars and yet actually fail on a consistent basis 7 out of 10 times! Why don't they get the fear of failure? Because they understand it's a numbers game. In the sales profession a 20 to 30% success rate is good. When you can secure 2 - 3 appointments from every 10 prospects or leads you are doing a good job. Keep in mind that every customer "no" gets you one step closer to that elusive "yes." Just keep stepping up to the plate.
16. Build on little successes.
Regardless of your experience level, you may occasionally hit slumps just as professional athletes do. To overcome this they don't quit, they focus their attention, practice regularly and keep at it. Little by little they start to succeed and get their confidence back. You can do the same by working a strong referral list or by calling on some previous accounts. By doing so, you will get your rhythm back. As soon as you start to succeed throw in a couple of cold prospects and watch your confidence take over. Even if you are not in a slump, during a call session you may want to call on some older customers to keep your motivation and confidence level up.
17. Increase your tolerance level.
You don't start your running career with the 100-mile marathon. You start by first running the 5-mile marathon. Then you build your level of tolerance and stamina. Same with prospecting. If you are suffering from a lack of motivation or the fear of rejection, start small and build your way up. Start with 10 calls the first week, 15 calls the second week, 20 calls the third week, 25 calls the fourth week, and so on.
18. Set goals.
Recently we were speaking with a veteran salesperson of about 16 years. For the past 8 years, he had a strong account base and did not have to make cold calls. He just took a new job with a company that does most of its business by telephone prospecting. He said he was scared at first (he took a cut in pay in hopes of the bigger payoff) but had faith in the company and went at it. He told me the main reason he has been more successful on the phone than most of the other new reps is because he sets goals for himself every week. He has goals for the number of times he dials the phone, the number of contacts he makes and the number of appointments he sets. Basically, he said he works as many hours as it takes to hit his goals. Now that's commitment and desire!
We think that this may be of interest to you for several reasons. First, since you will know nothing about my book's content, the Philosopy of Music, you will focus only on the directions on how to get the book published.
Second, and this is important, writing a book is more than recording your thoughts into words. Your book must have a map, how to get to A from B and why the trip is worth taking. The book proposal is much like a intinerary for a vacation - where we are going and why.
Finally, I hope that some of you may find the esoteric topic of the Philosphy of Music so interesting that you send your offspring to be educated at the wonderful University of Victoria, British Columbia. (If you have no children, perhaps a friend may be interested?)
In order to publish, you must interest a publisher with a book proposal. I am going to reprint verbatim my book proposal, which did get published, to show you the 3 necessary elements that you must have in your proposal: Scope and Aims, Synopsis, and Readership.
Scope and Aims
From my book proposal,
"This book has a wide scope. It presents a self-contained approach to the aesthetics of music. (It does not address issues in the ontology of musical works.) The book is designed as an alternative to the dominant formalist approach to philosophy of music (associated with writers such as Malcolm Budd, Nick Zangwill, and above all Peter Kivy). It is also an alternative to the views of formalism’s fellow travelers, such as Stephen Davies. (Davies does not explicitly endorse formalism, but he is sceptical about the view that music has content.) The central claim of the book is that music is not merely appreciated as pure musical form. Rather, music is able (as non-philosophers frequently maintain) to provide psychological insight and does so by representing emotion. In short, music has content that contributes to its aesthetic value. The book is at once cutting edge and rather traditional. "
Don't worry, you are not meant to understand the exact content. But, the proposal provides you with a series of questions. First, who else has talked about this? List some authors. What have they said?
Instead of providing a mere counter point to the above authors, Budd et. al, I have also included at least one other author who is skeptical about the first group but will say different things than I will. Find a group of writers, and and at least one who is providing a counter-point and triangulate your arguments within that group.
It is always nice to have a neat hook like: "this book is at once cutting edge and rather traditional."
Also important in the Scope and Aims is the technical detail, how many words.
"Although the book has a broad scope and ambitious aims, it is concisely written. The body of the text is approximately 66,000 words long. With notes, the length is approximately 71,500 words. The bibliography and preface are on top of this total. "
Next, we have to fill in the map with a Synposis.
Synopsis
You will write out your synposis of what each chapter is about, a paragraph per chapter. Take the first line from each paragraph and create a new paragraph.
In my case, it reads: In Chapter 1, the empirical literature is used to establish that the resemblance theory of musical expressiveness is correct. Chapter 2 examines the question of whether music arouses emotion. In Chapter 3, I argue that music represents emotion. Chapter 4 is devoted to music with lyrics, with a particular focus on opera. Chapter 5 also allows that listeners enjoy music as a source of sensory pleasure and as a source of pleasurable emotions.
So, in the synopsis we have a short version of what the book contains - more details on the driving map so to speak.
Finally, you will want to talk about the who should read this book and why.
Readership
I pitched my book this way: "This book is, in the first instance, a work by a philosopher for other philosophers. It is, however, written in an accessible fashion. Its has been read by two non-philosophers, both of whom found the book readable and who made suggestions for making it more accessible for non-philosophers. ... Given that my book is very readable, it may find an audience – I do not imagine that it will be huge – among the general educated public. Some of my previous books have enjoyed a modest sale outside of academic circles.
You will also have a technical audience, but you will want to present evidence that the book has more than a narrow readership.
It is also pleasant to throw in a some personal background of how you come to decide to write a book. In my case, "I first had the idea of writing Critique of Pure Music when teaching a course on philosophy of music and becoming convinced of the need for an accessible and comprehensive work that presents an anti-formalist perspective. My students encouraged me to write the book. "
You can use something similar - some project that would have worked better with your book, and evidence from those who encouraged you.
I hope that this has been helpful to you - you really can write a book, but having a concrete book proposal makes it all the more likely that you will get published.
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Given the current raging spamming issue, I believe a premium LinkedIn account offers greater value and security than ever before, at rates so low they’re aren’t even worth worrying about.
Here are 10 LinkedIn Premium Account Features that can truly change how you generate leads and build visibility with LinkedIn:
| Feature | What Is It? | How Do I Use It? | Why Should I Care? |
|
InMails |
Send a message to any LinkedIn member, without an introduction. No response within 7 days? Your InMail credit is refunded. |
Send InMails from a profile page or search results. |
Private emails offer a more professional approach to connecting and nearly always receive a response. |
|
Profile Organizer |
Save and keep track of important profiles. Organize profiles into folders, add notes and contact info, and see correspondence history. |
Save profiles from the profile page or search results. To access Profile Organizer, click on Contacts in the navigation bar. |
Profile Organizer saves time and tracks progress when developing target lists for marketing purposes. |
|
Premium Search Filters |
LinkedIn is a serious search tool for marketers of all types. Premium search filters return more targeted information, so you can reach those important decision makers. |
Premium search filters are a feature of all Premium accounts. |
Improved search results |
|
Expanded Profile Views |
Get more search results, access additional profile information for people outside your network |
Start searching |
Serious about LinkedIn lead generation? You’ll want expanded profile views. |
|
Expanded analytics |
Assess exactly which keywords drive members to your profile, where traffic comes from, which industries are connecting with you, and more |
All premium accounts offer expanded analytics |
Are you kidding me? |
|
Who’s Viewed My Profile? |
See expanded titles, regions, and companies for people who have viewed your profile. |
Access Who’s Viewed My Profile from your homepage, right column. Click on “X number of people have viewed your profile…” |
Assesses your visibility, understand people/industries driving visibility, and find new leads. |
|
Premium Badge |
The Premium badge is featured prominently on your profile and next to your name in search results. |
To toggle your badge on or off, go to Accounts & Settings then “Name and Location”. |
Many LinkedIn members equate the premium badge with the ‘serious professional’. Just one more way to prove you’re in it to win it! |
|
OpenLink |
Being a part of the OpenLink network allowsanyone on LinkedIn to send you a message for free. |
Go to your Accounts & Settings to opt-in. The OpenLink icon will display on your profile and in search results. |
Anyone can connect to you for free (without an InMail or introduction), or send free messages to OpenLink members of your choice. Improve connections, widen your network, open new doors! |
I bet you never knew your Premium LinkedIn account offered so many great features. And there’s more!
I have had both the free and premium accounts and, honestly, the premium account is well worth the $30 or $50 monthly if you are committed to getting the very best results from LinkedIn. Why not sign up for a month, see if you like it and use the features and, if not, simply cancel out?
]]>A request from a person who has not yet qualified and been accepted as a prospect does not trigger this step. Only a request from a bona fide prospect triggers it.
The purpose of the step is to permit the prospect to obtain and review the FDD before incurring significant costs to investigate the franchise or travel to the franchisor's office. Therefore, the franchisor may not refuse to furnish the FDD until, for example, the prospect attends discovery day.'
The FTC franchise rule does not require a request to be in writing, and does not say how quickly an FDD must be furnished after it is requested. Presumably, most prospects will make requests by telephone or in emails. You and the franchisor must establish and maintain a system for recording and responding promptly to these requests.
The FTC franchise rule assumes a prompt response, but permits some flexibility based on extenuating circumstances such as a poorly timed request (for example, a request made late on Friday afternoon) or a request made when the FDD is being updated.
If a request is made when the FDD is being updated because of a "material change" (see "Step 9: Re-Disclosure If 'Material Change' Occurs" below), you or the franchisor may respond that the FDD is being updated and will be furnished after it is updated or registered.
The FTC franchise rule permits you to furnish the FDD directly to the prospect or to a representative of the prospect, such as a partner, owner, officer, employee, agent, lawyer or accountant.
Some states may not permit you to accomplish disclosure by merely furnishing the FDD to a representative.
Check with the franchisor's lawyer or compliance manager.
You are not required to furnish an FDD in the particular format requested by a prospect. However, if the prospect refuses to accept delivery of an FDD because of its format, you may not make a franchise offer or sale to that prospect.
Neither you nor the franchisor may charge any fee in connection with a prospect's right to receive an FDD whenever he or she reasonably requests it.
]]>How are we going to do that? Small business creates 65% of the jobs in this country. That is where the jobs are created.
We need to get people back to work and people want to get back to work.
There is some good news. We are seeing deals getting done.
Yesterday we did a webinar for the hotel industry, and what they are seeing is transactions being made. Mom and Pop's are buying these hotels, they're buying these franchises, and there is a lot of activity in that.
It is very difficult for our small business bankers to lend money today, so the banks need to have some sort of inducement to reduce the risk.
90% of the deals beneath $5 million were done with an SBA guaranty.
So, deals are being done, and that is great news.
]]>Why?
It is helpful to hire business broker to expand the universe of those interested in your business and to confirm that you are getting a fair deal.
The law of supply and demand applies to businesses as well. If you have more buyers (higher demand) you should be able to command a higher asking price.
Brokers have specialized knowledge and experience dealing with multiple transactions a year, where you may only sell a business once in your life or only a handful of times.
In addition, don't underestimate the value that a broker provides by acting as a third party intermediary. They will screen unqualified buyers and help the serious buyers understand your business better.
Broker's have processes to deal with many buyers and will be able to efficiently and effectively reach a much larger audience than you could alone.
Your ideal buyer may contact your broker about another business they have listed only to learn it is not a match or already sold. Access to that database of buyers is usually well worth the commission.
Talk to multiple brokers, and when you interview them be sure to obtain and check references.
Hiring a broker is an important step. The wrong broker can cost you valuable time
]]>The housing market is going to take probably a generation before it becomes accessible as an ATM again. I don't see what the new sources of collateral are, and where they are coming from.
The basic problem for franchisees is that many of them are not seeing their usual loyal customers - they have become price shoppers. Loans cannot fix that supply problem.
]]>However, the current legal franchise model allows franchisors to either deliberately or inadvertently skirt their civic responsibilities.
First, Franchising needs to return to its roots, in which the franchisor set quality control standards for a reason and not just to trap the franchisee into paying for high fees to the preferred suppliers, who then kickback money to the franchisors.
The standards which protect the food supply chain are too important to leave to the federal government to enforce. We need the unintended good consequences of brands maintaining quality control and funding the appropriate training and education.
We don't need, however, a kickback economy.
Second, the current legal franchise model has an unbalanced picture when it comes to information: there is no legal balance between what the franchisor markets the benefits of the system and what the franchisor is contractually obligated to perform.
Private Brand Standards and Public Safety
To understand the first benefit of Bill AB 2305, we have to return to 1950-1970, when McDonald's enforcement of private brand standards were of assistance to the public good and helped maintained a safe food supply chain.
Ray Kroc's franchise model - complete with Hamburger University and passing on volume pricing rebates to the operators- had quality control standard which had a beneficial and unintended good consequence. Kroc's enforcement of private standards produced a safer food supply chain for the public. Sadly, Kroc's vision is not upheld by many modern franchisors.
To see how Kroc's system worked, we have to pay attention to some details.
In the 1970's, Kroc and McDonald's set quality control standards and operating standards. But, the operators purchased food from local sources.
Here is just one clever example of how the private brand's standards had a public benefit. Kroc shipped hamburger buns in package containing enough to make 100 hamburgers. The operating standard was that an operator should go through 100 patties for each package of buns. If the operator went through more, say 110 patties, then:
"Either his meat man was shorting him or someone else was stealing from him."
A meat man who would cheat on weights and measurements is a risk to public safety. Kroc would have the meat man dead to rights, if he was found to be cheating.
Today, we have more difficult contamination problems to detect and solve.
But, today many brands set standards for a different reason. They require the operators to purchase from preferred vendors. Many of these preferred vendors are simply competing on cost - how much money they can rebate to the franchisor? There is no legal requirement for the vendors to compete on value and safety.
To understand why the modern franchise standards don't produce a public good, we have to understand how legal kickbacks work in the franchise industry.
Current Brands - The Kickback Problem
The franchisors you hear from today will tell you how strong their standards are. But, what they will not tell you is is the reason for these strong standards.
Many franchisors have used the current legal model to primarily obtain kickbacks or commercial bribes from their suppliers. The franchisor mandates that the franchisees purchase supplies, at an artificially high price. The supplier then splits all or some of this extra price with the franchisor. This is perfectly legal as long as it is adequately disclosed.
The franchisor may elect, and many do, to report these kickbacks as essentially royalty income on their intellectual property and transfer the money out of state without paying California state income tax.
But, you will rightly feel uncomfortable with this arrangement, whether or not legal. Kroc was appalled by it.
A supplier who was being richly reward by his business relationship asked Kroc what he might like in return.
"Let's get this straight. I want nothing from you but a good [safe] product. Don't wine me. Don't dine me. If there are cost breaks, pass them on to the operators."
Promises to the Small Business Operator and Consumer
The second benefit of Bill AB 2305 is to protect the consumer, the consumer of information seeking to purchase a franchise. If the brand markets to prospective purchasers by making promises about volume rebates, quality standards, or continuous training, then their legal obligations in the franchise contract will have to match these promises.
Currently, most brands are only contractually required to provide sufficient training to open a location.
Further, the brands are only required to disclose somewhere in the fine print of a 500 page plus "Disclosure" document in legalese that the operator can only expect sufficient training to open a location and there are no price discounts.
But, of course these truths make hard marketing. Bill AB 2305 simply requires the brands balance their marketing hype with what the franchise document delivers by not allowing the brands to disclaim or ignore its marketing promises by disclaiming them in the franchise agreement.
The Benefits of Balance
A return to a balance in which quality standards are used to strengthen a brand, and indirectly contribute to public safety, franchisors who live up to their marketing promises will protect the small business operator and consumer. We can do no better to reflect upon Kroc's view of franchising.
"We are an organization of small business [operators]. As long as we give them a square deal and help them make money, we will be amply rewarded."
Bill AB 2305 provides that square deal for franchisees, and the franchisors, consumers and public will be amply rewarded by its passage.
]]>
Setting objectives for your trade show or event should include the same "What else do you want?" discussion. Sure, you want to collect sales leads (that's the vanilla), but if there is a chance to add another layer of ROI, why not make the most of the marketing opportunity and toss in a few mix-ins?
Now don't get me wrong, collecting sales leads is a valuable goal. (And according to EXHIBITOR's 2010 Sales Lead Survey, 98 percent of exhibitors do it.) However, building awareness, conducting market research, educating
attendees, and finding partnership opportunities can affect profitability just as much as collecting leads. Adding the right goals at the right shows can increase the value of your program and help you defend your spend.
1. Educate Attendees
A couple of years ago at EXHIBITOR Show, I attended a session where the presenter talked about the importance of measurement. Suddenly, one of the attendees raised his hand and said, "I don't know how this applies to me."
His problem: He worked for Florida Power and Light, and his goal at shows wasn't to sell electricity, but to get customers to conserve energy. How, he asked the class, could he measure his exhibits' ability to help attendees understand the need for, or methods of, energy conservation?
What the session leader and I pointed out was that his goals revolved around educating attendees on conservation. With that in mind, he needed to build his exhibiting strategy around education and assess his success just like a teacher would with his or her students.
Rather than just swiping badges and reporting lead counts, he needed attendees to listen to his message. He then needed to test their retention of that message with an in-booth (or post-show) survey/quiz. High scores would indicate that attendees retained his key messages, while low scores would mean he had to craft a better lesson plan. Furthermore, those quiz scores would become an important part of his metrics for each show.
If education is an important goal, consider pre- and post-show surveys to gauge attendees' knowledge of your subject before and after they visit your booth. By measuring what info attendees retained after the show, you can demonstrate how effective your educational efforts were in the booth.
2. Build Brand Awareness
At the 2009 Chicago Auto Show, the U.S. Army exhibit was swarming with attendees. Now, before you ask why the Army was so busy at the show, you have to wonder, what was the Army doing at an auto show to begin with?
The answer is simple. Auto shows are filled with consumers who love cars, including a large number of young men and women between the ages of 18 and 25. These are the same folks the Army would like to recruit into its ranks.
Of course, there was no actual recruiting going on at the auto show. And while the Army scanned badges of anyone interested in receiving more information, the real goal for the show was for the Army to show off military life and build brand awareness.
Brand awareness is a goal that works well if you have a way for attend-
ees to interact with your company through its products or services. The Army did this by getting attendees involved in various challenges. The booth's hands-on attitude kept attendees engaged with Army-related activities throughout their visit.
Like education, brand awareness is also measurable via pre- and post-show surveys. By demonstrating that 20 percent more attendees know about your company or your products -- or have a more favorable impression
of your brand -- after the show, you've proven that your exhibit helped build awareness and improve perceptions.
3. Search for Strategic Partners
At a construction show a few years ago, one small booth caught my eye. The exhibit displayed a new process for making windows. The system,
the company claimed, could be applied to any window manufacturer's assembly line, making it faster and more efficient. The guy in the booth told me his goal was to demonstrate his method for making windows quickly so a larger company would buy his patented process.
What made his booth different from any other on the show floor was his messaging. The exhibit, with graphics claiming a faster manufacturing process, was not geared at all toward the construction crowd that only cared about the finished product. Instead, the messaging was meant specifically for window manufacturers that might be in the market for a better process.
Like the window guy, if you're looking for a partner at a show, you need to focus your messaging for those folks, who may or may not be the show's attendees. In addition to targeting the show's attendees, contact exhibitors that might make good partners and set up meetings where you can demo what you bring to the table. Attracting even a small handful of potential partners can make the show a success regardless of how many sales leads and badge scans you bring back to the office.
4. Conduct Marketing Research
When I worked for Kerry Americas, a food-ingredients company, we attended several large franchisee trade shows every year.
While the franchisees were not our customers at the show, they were the end-sellers of our products. Collecting leads from among the franchisees may not have been a priority, but getting their feedback on our products was vital to helping us better serve our customers, the suppliers who sold food items to attendees.
So we asked those franchisees which products didn't perform as well as they'd hoped. If something was not working, or there was a need for a new product, those folks were happy to tell us, but only if we asked. Gathering feedback adds one more deliverable to your exhibit-marketing objectives, and helps diversify the value your program brings to the table.
While collecting leads may be the most common goal at trade shows, remember that shows are filled with a variety of attendees, some of whom can help you achieve other objectives. Look for ways to squeeze some value out of your next show by educating attendees, conducting market research, finding strategic partnerships, and building brand awareness. The added results will be the cherry atop your exhibit-marketing sundae.
This has been a guest post by Bob Milam. Bob Milam, independent industry consultant, is a former EXHIBITOR Editorial Advisory Board member and a past All-Star Award winner, and a current EXHIBITOR Conference advisory board and faculty member. tradeshowbob@gmail.com
Territory developers have very great leverage with new or recent franchisors and the issue is how that leverage may be used to establish trigger points in the franchise relationship that seriously reduce the risk of overreaching as the relationship grows over the years. There are also simple dollar amount triggers in play.
Exceptions to this are situations in which investors that already have experience in the franchise concept they wish to invest more in because they already know the franchisor and have decided they can do business with him. That is why you seldom see a good franchise resale opportunity that is available to an outsider. That franchisor would much rather have one of his own family be the buyer in any resale because of experience and reduced risk of the new owner not bringing a full experience and financial load to the resale’s future performance.
The franchise investor that has not only the financial ability but also a positive history of operations performance, franchised or not, is the diamond every new concept franchisor is looking for. In some instances the investor may even be stronger than the franchisor and the deal could possibly capitalize on that relative strength in several ways up to and including the investor actually becoming the franchisor. So many of the new concept franchisors are looking to be quick hitters and the possibilities at some point become a little like the television show “Shark Tank”.
The triggers are many, but a look at just a few should give you an idea of the approach. Money now versus money later is always a multivariate negotiating category. Territory rights, non infringement, rights of first refusal and alternative distribution channel infringement rank high on the list. The investor’s right to invest in other concepts notwithstanding in term covenants not to compete in the proposed franchise agreement provides fertile ground, especially when played against other variables. Terms of renewal and resale rights are important considerations to the power investor. The right to develop your own stores or to do it as a sub franchisor, sharing in the franchise revenue stream from those stores, often accelerates the available rate of development of new stores. Think of the triggers that might be available regarding dealings with vendors and overcoming the difficulties of not having access to reasonably competitive suppliers. The power investor can make that more rational at the beginning without regard for what might happen to other less important investors.
There are no rational excuses for not considering these important triggers when a new or recent franchisor is dealing with a power investor. You can’t side step important issues with claims that you are prevented from doing what is needed by some law or because your lawyer says you can’t do that. The power investor knows better and if the new franchisor tries those useless ploys he may lose the opportunity to get a very strong initial player that can enhance his salability reputation with others. That foolishness is for the single unit investor who usually doesn’t know up from down in franchising.
For the franchise lawyer representing these investors there needs to be awareness of the corporate, taxation issues that would be in play with each variable. The power investor already has these resources retained or employed, and these folks have a history with the investor that should not be compromised by using the franchise lawyer’s abilities in these areas. Open channels to the investor’s professional resources that are already in place are critical to mistake avoidance.
The franchise lawyer is his own separate specialized resource and brings focused expertise that those others don’t have. A few years ago a local very large retail chain made the mistake of buying into a franchise system thinking that their customary business lawyers were sufficient. They weren’t. The deal was inadequately vetted. The relationship failed to work in ways that should have been seen and prevented before the papers were signed. The investor lost 27 stores in the breakup and had to wait out the two year covenant not to compete before going back into a business that the family had been in for three generations. That kind of calamity is never justified. Tax and regular business lawyers are not equipped to vet or negotiate large franchise deals on their own.
The new concept market is full of FranWhacks with some qualified offerings in the mix. No large developer investor should ever consider venturing into this area of opportunity without expert guidance in this very discrete specialty.
]]>California and San Bernadino are the spiritual home of franchising. In the late 50's, the McDonald brother's restaurant routinely recreated the secular miracle of feeding the hungry with a nutritious and delicious 15 cent Hamburger Meal -burger, fries and a milk-shake.
But, it took the owner of a franchised business, franchisee Ray Kroc from Chicago, to export California's golden miracle. Ray Kroc formalized the McDonald's brother's system. Ray Kroc created the scalable restaurant system - as a franchisee.
Before he bought out the McDonald's brothers, Ray was a master franchisee, a company that was granted a master license. Ray was a supply chain genius, and had an operator's understanding of what made a restaurant profitable. He was constantly challenging the supply system to scale and grow the franchise system.
In the 1950's, Ray broke every rule in his license or franchise agreement, and ended up paying a penalty of some $5 million to the McDonald brothers. He was brilliant, ungovernable, yet made many of his operators millionaires — enriching the middle class and contributing to many state's coffers.
Ray could attract a variety of operators in the 1950's and 1960's because he could legitimately offer them the prospect of real wealth.
The current franchise legal model allows the franchisor to exercise so much control over the franchisee as to be an employer. This legal model creates employees where there should be owners. This is the fairness issue is being addressed by Bill AB 2305: the problem of too much control and not enough sharing. Such a model does not attract risk capital.
Today many franchisees are nothing more than employees who pay good cash money to obtain jobs. No serious minded entrepreneur is attracted to this business model. The growth of franchising is largely fueled by those who are seeking to buy a job.
Without AB 2305 being passed, franchising will stagnant because it will not and cannot attract the Ray Kroc's as franchisees - the operators with boots on the ground who have the experience and capital to implement systems that scale and deliver value to the consumer.
It is not merely a matter of downloading these payments to the franchisee/employees. It is a matter of making the franchisee nothing more than an employee who pays for the right to work.
The California example, United Parcel Service franchises
The widely and rightly praised United Parcel Service Company (UPS) has used the current franchise legal model in this manner.
Prior to acquiring the franchising firm Mailboxes Etc. in San Diego, Atlanta-based UPS had a series of depots and unmanned drop-off boxes to process returns. UPS makes money when more packages are shipped, and their business model is to increase this volume. Some packages must be returned from where they were shipped to: the part is defective, the address is wrong, or the customer has lost interest in the product.
United Parcel Service would need to recruit employees to man and manage the returns and could have done so by expanding their depots. They did not hire more employees. Instead, they acquired an existing franchise system, Mailboxes Etc. out of bankruptcy. They changed the franchise agreement, giving the franchisor more control. They put their signage in front and the public now believes that they are dealing with UPS employees.
UPS achieved their business goals: they effectively turned these franchisees into employees who will not be a payroll expense to the franchising firm. All of this is currently legal —as many court filings in California's courts show. It was also a very shrewd business decision.
But it is time to end this overreaching and return balance and fairness to franchising.
Now, you will hear from franchisors about how important franchising is as an industry. But what you will not hear from the franchisor corporatist apologists is this secret: the current franchise legal model is detrimental to California's public interest.
The current legal model allows the franchisor, which is the company who grants a franchise license to a local business, to escape or evade paying state taxes compared to other firms trading in California.
This is how it is done. A franchisor incorporates a company in Delaware and that company owns the franchisor's trademarks and other intellectual property. Delaware does not tax royalty payments made to the holders of intellectual property. A franchisor funnels the royalty payments made by its California franchisees to Delaware - minimizing or sometimes eliminating the correct amount to remit to California for income tax.
This tax issue is not addressed by Bill AB 2305. But, you need to be aware of it when the franchisor apologist urges upon you the value of the great economic engine of franchising. Such industry does exist - what benefit is it to California if the surplus is untaxed and moved out of state?
California, in particular Silicon Valley, creates great immediate weatlh. For that wealth to become capital, it makes sense to woo those individuals into investing into a restaurant, hotel or service franchise — creating permanent jobs in the restaurant, hotel and service industries in California.
But the current franchise legal model is not hospitable to risk capital. Proper balance between control and reward must be restored.
Bill AB 2305 is aimed at correcting or restoring this imbalance. By returning the franchise legal model model to the correct balance, where the franchisor creates and mantains brand standards, while the franchisee executes those standards and everyone shares in the surplus value as owners, Bill AB 2305 creates a hospitable environment for operator and supply chain geniuses like Ray Kroc.
Jobs and growth will follow.