Grow From Here

Paul Segreto’s creative program inspired brand awareness and skyrocketed sales.

Paul Segreto of franchisEssentials

Open Box is a proud partner with Paul Segreto, founder, president and CEO of franchisEssentials and one of the most knowledgeable and experienced franchise consultants in North America. With two decades of experience in the franchise industry, he knows a thing or two hundred about the world of franchising.

One story really inspired me with how Paul Segreto uses his creativity and industry knowledge to help franchises succeed.  Here’s how one particular American Quiznos franchisee hit a home run by thinking creatively; with a little help from franchisEssentials of course.

Inspired by need the franchisee, whose store was in a tired, old shopping centre with business declining and tenants fleeing, was anxious to generate traffic and sales.  He turned to Paul Segreto.  Paul’s creative thinking led him to look at the many schools in the area and the potential market there.  Visiting one of them, he heard a big complaint from sports coaches:  they hated having to stop for food en route to away games.  The kids would stumble off the bus, goof around, debate orders, wait for food, count out change, goof off some more, and then would need to be corralled back on the bus.  The coaches hated it.

Paul recognized an unmet need and was quick to suggest a solution to the coaches’ problem.   Quiznos would provide away game sandwiches. The offer was quick to catch on.  Parents got involved.  It grew from a simple service where orders were called-in, to a fully developed online system.  Parents could log in, choose a meal for their child (a healthy choice!) and charge it to their credit card.  The traveling team picked up their pre-game meals as they boarded the bus or car pool at the school– each labeled with name and receipt of payment.

Local schools of all levels jumped on the bandwagon and soon this Quiznos was hopping.  The program then expanded to band events, and any functions where school kids were going off-site and needed feeding.  Kids, faculty and parents were happy; Quiznos and the franchisee were thrilled.  Brand and store awareness grew and more revenue was generated through this creative program (especially during football season) than through total in-store sales.

Although franchising is by its very nature about standard operating procedures and systems, there is still room, and need, for creative thinking.  As Segreto says, “You have to think outside of the box.  If that doesn’t work, then make another box.”

When is the last time you lifted your head up from SOP and had a good look around? Let the inspiration flow and you may be on your way to another great franchise success story.  And if you need a little help, contact Paul Segreto at franchisEssentials.

Business Growth, Franchise, Franchisor Spotlight

Do you tweet?  Are you on twitter?

If you know you should be, but aren’t, or if you have set up an account, but don’t know what to do with it, then this is for you.

Twitter is a huge fad these days.  It’s all over the place, being talked about by many people in the marketing field, particularly those involved in social media and online communication.  But most people still don’t know about Twitter – recently I was having supper with my family, and no one at the table knew what Twitter was or was using it.  So if you aren’t on Twitter yet, don’t feel bad – you’re not alone.

There is a lot of information on the internet about how to get set up with a Twitter account, twitter etiquette, how to attract 10,000 followers in one week, and more.  I assume you can find that information if you need it.

Twitter as a Marketing Tool

I am writing this for businesspeople who have heard of twitter, are not yet using it (or not yet using it effectively) and who want to know how to get started.  I recently met with a franchisor who knew she should be on twitter, and had actually set up an account for her franchise, but wasn’t doing anything with it because she didn’t know where to start or what to do.

I spent five months doing direct Twitter experimentation.  One the one hand, I shouldn’t admit it (Twitter is supposed to be a communication tool for the real you, right?), but honestly I needed to see what would happen if I took different actions.  So I set up a number of different Twitter accounts and tried different strategies to see what would happen.  (If you want to connect with my real Twitter account, follow me at www.Twitter.com/katrynharris).  It was fascinating to see what really happens.

My assumption is that you are on Twitter because you think it will benefit your business in some way; grow sales, increase brand recognition, build strategic partnerships, get customer feedback, keep you in touch with the market, or some other business building strategy.  I am assuming that you are not on Twitter just to be social and connect with friends (although even for a business account, that will become part of the experience).

I make no claim to be unbiased.  As you will see, I think some of the commonly used Twitter strategies are poorly thought out or dangerous for companies to use.  I recommend that before any company starts using Twitter, you first look at the question:

What do I want to Accomplish?

• Do I want to grow sales directly?
• Am I trying to bring traffic to the company blog?
• Do I want to learn about what my customers thinking and get product feedback?
• Is this a brand building exercise?
• Am I trying to find people who will make good strategic partners?

Just like goal setting and traditional marketing, to use Twitter effectively, you first need to decide what you want to accomplish.  Then you can take the steps that will help you meet your goal.  As you read through the next section, keep your goal in mind.  That will allow you to quickly discard the Twitter strategies described if they will not bring you closer to your goal.

The main strategies that I have seen people use on Twitter are:

1. Twitter maniacs – These people get as many followers as possible, indiscriminately. I have a hard time seeing the value of this, unless it’s an ego thing; ‘I have 20,000 followers – look at me’.  This is unlikely to add value to your business and I certainly don’t recommend it.

2. Niche ambassadors – You pick a niche and find people related to that niche & follow them; tweet information about your niche – get found by people who are interested in that niche.  This can be useful if you have a niche business and are looking to attract customers or strategic partners – maybe people who share your interest in the niche and who offer a complementary service or product.  The key here is to slowly increase the number of followers and people you follow so you can keep connections with the people in your circle.  Ignore people outside of your niche area of interest who follow you and only follow people who relate to your niche.  This can build strong interpersonal relationships in your area of expertise and can be very valuable in terms of building brand, strategic partnerships, and even customers.

3. Rounded Brand Tweeters – You start by building a profile around things you are interested in – this will usual be professional interests with a company account, but even with a company account, you want to have some of the personal interests showing through.  Twitter is about interacting with people, so don’t have different people posting to a corporate Twitter account every day – your followers won’t be able to get a coherent sense of who you are or know what to expect.  Building a profile around areas of interest can be very useful; for example, if you run a yoga studio & are interested in politics and international finance, you might follow people who are into yoga, political or news organizations and people talking about international finance.  The blend of interests can help make your account seem well rounded, and will attract people with similar interest.  This type of account is most likely to support a branding strategy where the goal is to get known and to build your profile and build relationships.  It may lead in an indirect way to sales but that is more incidental than causal.

4. Sweet Tweeters – Tweet lots of quotes and inspirational sayings.  This will get you followers and lots of retweets.  However it is unlikely to lead to growth for your company.  It does work to some extent for people who are sole practitioners focused on drawing traffic to their blogs / websites.  If your tweets make people feel good, they will associate positive feelings with your Twitter account, and are then more likely to read and follow links that you post.

5. Twitter-educators – Select a niche & tweet lots of information (links, news articles, other people’s tweets, events, etc) that will be of interest to people in your niche.  Many marketing experts recommend this as a way to establish an identity as a brand leader in your space.  This is ideal for people who already have a public profile that they can leverage so that they get a number of followers right off the bat, but even regular companies can follow this path.  It takes some regular time to keep providing valuable tweets, but this is a strategy that can certainly bring you lots of online traffic if you are consistent about it and have frequent links back to your company blog/website.

6. Controversial Tweeting – Some very high profile people tweet in such as way as to create controversy and get talked about online in an ongoing manner.  By having people attack them, and then attacking back, they build up a base of very loyal followers.  The downside to this (and the reason I would never recommend it for a company Twitter account) is that you also get a large group of people with strong negative feelings about you.  This is a good way to ‘stand for something’ but very dangerous to any sales efforts you may have underway.

7. Twitter Salesbirds – These are usually very clearly company accounts that have regular posts about their company products / benefits / special offers / events.  They can gather a number of followers, but it is slow going since most average people don’t get huge value from hearing about how wonderful a company considers itself to be.  It’s very easy to breach twitter etiquette with this type of account.  These can be effective in generating sales if you have a very obvious value proposition and, usually, relatively low ticket items that do not require any kind of ongoing relationship.  In that case, your tactic may be simply to drag as many one-off visitors as possible to your website / links, and now worry about providing ongoing value.

Twitter is hopefully one sales / marketing tool among many.  Remember, the keys to success are knowing what success looks like for your company, then using that knowledge to select your strategy, implementing and then measuring using your key metrics, and changing direction if necessary based on your results.  With a good plan, Twitter can be a great boost to your business, and a lot of fun along the way.

Join Open Box on twitter: www.twitter.com/katrynharris or visit our blog, read our stories about experimenting with Twitter and share your Twitter stories and questions in the comments section of the blog.

Best Practices, Business Growth, Communication, Franchise, Marketing, Twitter Experiment

Developmental psychologist and author, Robert Kegan once stated that, “Behind every complaint lies a commitment.”

The theory behind this is that people do not complain about something unless they care about it.  If they didn’t care, they wouldn’t bother to comment.

Sometimes, I am very hard on my credit union.  I love what they stand for, and want them to live up to it.  But every time they fall short of their high standards I am all the more disappointed.   So I complain.  But unless things get too bad, I am fiercely loyal to them as long as I believe that they are doing their best to live up to their brand promise.  Companies that I don’t think care, I don’t bother to contact with complaints - I just leave and go elsewhere, silently.

Complaints often spring from a person’s frustration.  Attempts to voice their frustrations often come out as complaints.   As the person receiving the complaint, it can be seen as a negative (oh no, what a pain) or as a positive (this person cares about my franchise and believes it can be better).  The perspective you bring to the complaint will make a huge difference in what you do with it.

Although you are on the receiving end of the belligerence, you are also the one in control.   It is up to you to turn things around, and it will definitely benefit both parties.

How can you turn a complaint around?  Change the dynamic by changing the way you listen.

If you can create an atmosphere of safety and allow full expression, then several things happen.

• The relationship stays strong
• The speaker no longer feels victimized, but is now empowered
• The complainer is no longer part of the problem, they are part of the solution
• You become known as a good listener
• More importantly… You have accessed new information
• The complaint is turned inside out, becoming useful data
• This constructive feedback can improve systems and operations

The potentially disagreeable situation can be turned around, by the way that you chose to see and respond to it.

You have shifted the complainer from being a problem to being a part of the solution.

Open ears and an open mind are very welcome to an agitated speaker; it leaves them feeling heard as well as reinforcing the feeling that you are committed to your brand promise.  This creation of a safe space will work wonders to diffuse the frustration of the beleaguered grouch.

Who in your franchise complains a lot?

Why do they bother? 

Are they trying to make things better? 

Are they committed but caught up in feelings of frustration? 

Even when a complaint appears as a self-centered attempt to increase profits, bear in mind that you can turn the situation around, and use the feedback to benefit you both.  And yes, I know that not every complaint indicates commitment, but I have found been impressed by how some of our customers have managed to add huge value to their franchises by changing their perspective on how they receive complaints.

Remember, if they didn’t care, they wouldn’t complain.

Best Practices, Business Growth, Communication, Tips

A few days ago, I was talking with Greg Nathan from the Franchise Relationship Institute about his software product that helps franchisors select franchisees who are the most likely to succeed.

In brief, the Franchise Relationship Institute does this by benchmarking characteristics & traits of past successful franchisees and then providing a system that compares new applicants with those traits and characteristics.

Greg is a trained psychologist and works strong in the scientific tradition; hypothesize, measure, analyze and then compare results with hypotheses.  One of his current projects is the validation of the exact extent to which is product is successful in predicting new franchisee success and, not surprisingly, his results will be fact based & very precise.

Listening to Greg talk about the validation project, I was struck again by how vital these feedback loops are to franchise growth.

Successful franchises implement the best programs and systems they can come up with, but then they measure, analyze and adjust based on the numbers and results (rather than what they ‘think’ is happening).  And the faster they can complete this cycle (and then start it up again), the more likely they are to be successful in the long term.

From 1-800-GOT-JUNK?’s Net Promoter measurement tool to calculation tools for attrition rates to sales performance indicators, business growth is fueled by knowing exactly what is actually happen so the best actions can be taken.  One of our customers ties client satisfaction records into payroll bonuses for their employees, which is a great motivator to get everyone in the company on board in trying their hardest to keep the clients happy – you can imagine what that has done for their referral and return customer rates.

What are your best scientific tools to create feedback loops and do more of what is working & change what isn’t?

Best Practices, Business Growth, Franchise

I hear the word ’systems’ and I get excited.  I see possibilities to set things up that make life easier for people & that allow them to focus on what they need to focus on without trying to remember the little details.  I think about setting people free to do what they do best (our company vision).  I think about how it’s the little daily stuff we do that can really change our mindset.

I know that not everyone shares my delight when they hear systems.  Some people think about technology, others think ‘what a hassle’, others just glaze over.  One of the things I enjoy about working with franchisors is that they tend to share my joy in systems.

Out of curiosity, I recently went to Wikipedia to look up the definition of a system:  “a set of interacting or interdependent entities forming an integrated whole.  Systems have structure, behaviour and interconnectivity.”  It almost sounds like poetry to me.  Structure, defined behaviour, and interconnectivity – what better way to grow towards a goal and make sure that each of the pieces is taken into consideration.

However, lyricism aside, good systems are critical to a franchisor.  They increase efficiencies, allow the franchisor to manage the brand effectively, improve communications, and help to increase franchisee satisfaction which then increases your credibility in the marketplace, and the value of your franchise.

Systems include the software used to manage operations, as well as the various forms, checklists, operational manuals, policies and procedures and franchise wide processes.  Systems are also the set of rules that govern behaviour and structure.  The design of effective systems is an entire science in itself (systems theory) which ties into operational behaviour and strategic planning, as well as change management processes.

During periods of growth, the strength of the franchise systems becomes even more important as new people are being brought in at an increased rate and the time available for each task decreases.  Often small gaps in systems become much more expensive or unmanageable during periods of franchise growth.

Franchise systems can include:

• Policies
• Procedures
• Departments
• Corporate (head office)
• Economic
• Cultural (relational)
• Production
• Distribution
• Communication
• Information Distribution
• Sales
• Marketing
• etc, etc, etc

 Developing a system can be challenging as it requires a degree of abstraction and a strong understanding of how all the pieces tie together and how these relate to the business strategy.

Just today I was meeting with a franchisor who had been struck by a very critical system that was suddenly discovered to have been missing from the franchisees’ operations.  “I had it when we ran our first office, but I was absolutely shocked to discover that they didn’t have it.”  Systems that depend on people remembering or doing the right thing require constant energy & attention to maintain.  This is an ongoing struggle and it is easy for systems to fall away over time.  But automating a system not only means the people can put their attention elsewhere (hopefully into growing the value of the franchise) – it also means that the system will be maintained automatically and flagged if it disappears.  What a great way to grow your business!

Best Practices, Business Growth, Franchise

I enjoyed Dr. John Hayes’ recent article detailing with humour how bringing in too many customers was costing a franchise money…  He has kindly agreed to let me repost his article here – the original can be found on his blog.

Just Because The Franchise Marketing System Drives Customers To Your Door Doesn’t Mean You Should Buy That Franchise

If you own a business, you know there are “right” customers and “wrong” customers and while you may not (yet) know how to tell them apart before they become your customer, you know that the “wrong” customers deliver the least value and create the majority of problems in your business.

Who is a customer?
Customers (or clients), by the way, are not just the people who buy your products and services. They also include your employees, and if you’re a franchisor, they include your franchisees.

Be careful of expert advice!
So I read a passage on a blog that provided “some helpful hints on how you can spot a great franchise marketing system” and the first hint was this:

Customers are brought in the doors. This is what every business boils down to in the end, whether or not the marketing system brings in the customers. After all, that is where you make your profits.

Taking the express train to bankruptcy
And I thought to myself: Or that is where you lose your profits, your money and ultimately your business!

It’s not enough to drive customers through the doors of a franchise, or any business. You’ve got to drive the “right” customers through the doors! Most businesses, and most marketing systems, do not fulfill that objective. And that’s one reason why businesses struggle and fail.

So don’t buy the franchise because “the marketing system” drives customers to the door!

Happy franchisees make the most money
To wit: Some years ago the new CEO of a major retail franchisor asked me to help his franchisees attract more customers and ultimately generate higher revenues so that (a) the franchisees would earn (and keep) more money, and (b) the franchisees would pay higher royalties. Since the beginning of franchising, franchisors have known that franchisees who make and keep the most money are the happiest franchisees!

So I spent several weeks working with a few franchisees to find out more about their customers. Here’s what we discovered (and I mean discovered — neither the franchisor nor the franchisees knew this information beforehand):

• It cost the “average” franchisee $100 to get a new customer to come through the door (that included marketing costs and the required fee for the franchise advertising fund).
• The “average” customer spent about $10.
• No one knew if the customer would return — ever.
• If the customer did return — no one could predict when or how often.
• The “average” franchisee did little to nothing to bring the customer back again repeatedly (and you may be surprised to find out why).

Busy, busy, busy going out of business!

So while it appeared “the marketing system” was doing its job, e.g. the franchisees were busy serving customers throughout the day, in reality “the marketing system” was slowly running the franchisees out of business (and perhaps into an early grave)!

That and the fact that the franchisees were so busy, busy, busy taking care of all the customers “the marketing system” provided that they had no time to do the things that would have insured getting the maximum benefit out of their customers, i.e. increasing sales, increasing frequency, building rapport with key customers, gathering referrals, etc.

Who caused that fire?
As one franchisee told me, “From the time I open the door in the morning until I close it at the end of a long day, I don’t have time to do anything but put out fires.”

Going through my mind: Does that sound like an ideal franchisee? How long is that franchisee going to last? How much validating will that franchisee do for the company?

Upon examination, most of the “fires” were caused by customers and employees. Occasionally, even though they didn’t know it, the franchisee caused some of the fires!

Blame it on the franchisor, of course
You can be sure the franchisor was being blamed for the majority of the challenges the franchisees faced. Frankly, I would take the side of the franchisees on that issue (though it does no good to blame anyone, but rather to accept responsibility). The franchisor could have done a better job sooner! In other words, the CEO that hired me had only recently arrived at the company. To his credit, he quickly assessed “the marketing system” and knew that it was broken. However, this company had been operating for many years prior to hiring this CEO. Where were the marketing folks all those years? Where was the company’s leadership?

Why doesn’t this system work?
So what was wrong with “the marketing system” at this client company?

Simply, it was producing the “wrong” customers for the franchisees!

Even among customers there are stars
Through our continued research we further discovered that not all customers were created equal! Some spent more money than others and never, ever complained or started a “fire”! Of course, those were “the right” customers.

Problem was, “the marketing system” — which attracted franchisees, along with the company’s brand name — produced too few “right” customers.

Revealing more about “right” customers
Without giving away too much information (and revealing the company), here’s more of what we discovered about the “right” retail customers for this franchise business. They:

• spent about twice as much as the average customer
• returned 3 to 4 times a week
• owned a business, which existed within 3.5 miles of the franchise location
• were males (64%) and females (36%)
• had partners in their business (46%); most often, a spouse
• were between the ages of 32 and 62

Remember garbage in, garbage out?

Wow! With just that information alone we could create a new marketing system that would target the “right” customers! All others were probably “wrong” for the business. The all-important “marketing system” was targeting “all others”!

Ultimately, with the help of the company’s advertising agency, we created a new marketing system that achieved the goals established by the CEO and supported by the Franchise Advisory Council.

Careful of the advice you get
So I shiver when I see “advice” that tells you to buy a franchise where there’s a “marketing system” that “brings in the customers.”

That’s good advice only if the customers are “right” customers. If they’re “wrong” customers, you can plan on owning and operating a business filled with headaches, challenges, issues, “fires” and, ultimately, not enough money for you or the franchisor.

Business Growth

Ever feel like you’re in business overload with a task list that just keeps growing?

I’ve been in that situation recently – lots of good things happening, but the list gets longer every day rather than shorter…  Pretty well everyone I talk with who runs a small-medium business is familiar with the feeling – as soon as you get the sales structures nailed, the project management systems need work.  Then you get those nailed, and the customer support processes need strengthening.  It feels a bit like the gopher bashing game - as a kid I used to go to a local fair where they had a game with multiple holes and gopher heads would keep popping up and people playing would try to bash the gophers (not live ones!) with a mallet.  Every time you got one, another would pop up. 

This is not a new problem, of course.  Solutions are popular; from Verne Harnish’s one page strategic plan (which I depend on heavily) to a variety of other management tools.  But it has been very present for me recently.  I’ve found a couple of things that help me keep a handle on what needs to happen when:

• Lists.  I love lists; writing stuff down gets it out of my head AND gives me a nice visual indicator of progress as I can check items off.
• Delegation.  Once I’ve spent the time to write something up, then maybe I can hand it off.  Otherwise it stays as mine to do!  I did a list this morning and had about 10 different task areas that I can hand off, some ongoing and some one-time tasks.  It’s great to see that written down so I can decide what skills are needed and who can do what (instead of me).
• The Most Important Thing.  I’m a big fan of the square with urgent and important where the goal is to work most of the time on stuff that is important but not urgent, so that nothing makes its way through to the important AND urgent slot.
• Blocking Time.  I recently blocked off two full days for strategic planning.  It was very hard to free up that time, but the results have been spectacular so far (and make determining the Most Important Things much easier on a day to day basis).

None of these are rocket science, but I find that when I get busy or frazzled, going back to the basics makes a big difference.  It lets me focus and make sure the business is moving forward on a trajectory and that I’m not spinning in circles or just reacting to what comes up.  And for today, that’s my most important thing!

Best Practices, Business Growth, Focus

For those who enjoy reading the franchisor spotlights, have a look at Franchisor Spotlight: Judy Brooks from Blow Dry Bar – Business Wisdom on The Next Women – a business magazine for female internet heroes. 

It’s an interview I did with Judy Brooks from the Blow Dry Bar, talking about how she has grown Blo and her personal learnings along the way as well as her advice for people considering franchising.

A short excerpt:

Growing her company has come from growing the brand and building a strong community, where customers know that they have something in common with the person sitting next to them, whether they ever speak together or not.  Her brand is built down to the smallest detail; calling new staff ‘hair cadets’, fit out details for the premises, playing on the name ‘Blo’ and teaching new staff to honour the fact that customers chose to spend their money with Blo.  Her staff tend to be young and very plugged in – Blo is active online with Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and online bookings.  Read More

The Next Women is also a great place to find articles about women in business and women involved with interesting technology – both start-ups and established companies.

Best Practices, Business Growth, Franchise, Franchisor Spotlight

Enterprising Moms Network.com

They say that necessity is the mother of invention, and in the case of Kelley Scarsbrook that age old expression holds doubly true. I’ve recently had the pleasure of working with Kelley who developed her own franchise, the Enterprising Moms Network. The Enterprising Moms Network offers a place for mothers who are also entrepreneurs to come together and talk about their questions, issues and challenges and be reminded that it is possible to be both a good mom and a good entrepreneur. Kelley Scarsbrook, the founder, is a columnist, entrepreneur, blogger & a mom.

I talked with Kelley about how she got going, her franchise experience, and some of the factors in her success.

Katryn: When did you start Enterprising Moms?

Kelley: I started in Oct 2007.

Katryn: What prompted you to start your own franchise?

Kelley: Back when I left the work force full-time & became a stay-at-home mother, there were no job share or part-time opportunites for me. I started the Mom At Home blog and received lots of emails asking how I got the blog going and ran a business as a stay-at-home mother. I discovered there was nothing out there to support mothers who also want to run businesses. I knew having a secondary income (which almost every family today needs) was important for many women. There are a lot of women who are smart & intelligent but don’t see the options available to them. They have business ideas, but no network to help them get to the next level.

I started small workshops on how to have home-based business for women. It started with really small workshops & seminars, with ten women in a room. Eventually those workshops evolved and grew. I then hosted a luncheon with Sandra Wilson (she had just sold Robeez). Everyone wanted to hear how she did it, how she built her business & eventually sold it for many millions.

The luncheons evolved into events to celebrate women who have done it – made a viable business for themselves. The first event was about celebrating moms in business. It was not a tradeshow, but an educational opportunity. I saw a need for ongoing support for Moms in business.

Katryn: How did you get into franchising?

Kelley: I knew that other women needed/wanted this. I initially I took on the expansion myself, opening in Richmond, & the North Shore, then thought it was ridiculous to think that I can be everywhere. It was supposed to be a side thing but it was taking all my time. I asked members about who might want to run their own chapter. From there, franchising was an opportunity to get it out to other communities.

Katryn: What are/were your franchise development challenges?

Kelley: There were all the details involved with setting it up, the things I never would have thought about. I had to create the manual & the book – writing out the training manual – putting all my brain into it – how I run meetings, what my thought process is & putting that all into words so someone else could pick the book up, read it and run with it. The hardest part of the work is getting people to understand. One of biggest stereotypes to get over was that people assumed the Enterprising Moms Network was about mom topics only. The second obstacle is the type of mom people picture – eg. moms knitting at home. We are business women who happen to be mothers. We have all different levels of successes, and people are always surprised by the profiles of our members. People tend to assume franchising is a hands-off business, but if anything, it’s more time consuming because you have to train & oversee the business. For anyone considering franchising, definitely speak to people in that world to get a full grasp of what is involved.

Katryn: What has been the most exciting part for you?

Kelley: Seeing it catch on. Seeing people understand what it’s about and who are as passionate about it as I am. It was great to connect with other women who “get it”. Building the Enterprising Moms Network has been a bit llike a wheel – you push and push to get it to turn, then it eventually begins to turn on its own and gathers momentum.

Katryn: What were your best resources?

Kelley: Small Business BC (http://www.smallbusinessBC.ca) is a huge, tremendous resource. They have a lot of great programs.
Talk with franchise lawyers or consultants and get some insight first before you take the plunge. Get information & learn about what it means to be a franchisor and the amount of work involved.

Connecting with Kelley Scarsbrook

The Stay At Home Mother is where it all started, and I continue to post information and stay in touch with people there. I am new to Twitter, and am just learning all the lingo and educating myself slowly on how Twitter works. I can also be contacted directly through the Enterprising Moms Network website.

Our next event is the 2009 Business Conference “Get the Word Out!”, Saturday, June 13th, 2009 – 11:00 – 5:00pm. The Conference is an inspirational Event that supports and educates mom entrepreneurs.

Business Growth, Franchise, Franchisor Spotlight

Online Coupons Bringing In New Customers

CBC had an interesting interview recently related to the recent increases in online coupon usage.  They’re in huge demand these days and websites like Red Hot Deals are doing a booming business.  Online coupons can be a great way to attract customers and bring new people in to your location.   People are looking for ways to save money these days, and many are open to trying new suppliers/companies if they can get lower prices.  Coupons can be a great way to entice new customers, and the cost can be extremely low (close to non-existant) if you use online coupons.

Using the internet to distribute online coupons for some retailers has led to a reduction in catalouge production/distribution, saving both the consumer & the supplier money, not to mention lowering environmental impact by reducing paper waste.

Statistics on Online Coupon Usage:

Many retail franchises have traditionally used coupons to bring in new clients, and according to a site called Prospectiv, “Tough times are seeing more people using coupons – 72% of consumers are using more coupons than they did six months ago and three quarters say the state of the economy is the reason for doing so”.  This is strong evidence that using online coupons to promote your product(s) or service(s) is a sound marketing strategy.  When times change and new trends on consumer spending practices surface, they often become the norm for the long term rather just surfacing as a “fad”.

Prospectiv also quotes the following survey stats from polling 1,386 consumers, (August 2008): 

• 80% said they would be very likely or likely to increase their use of coupons if they could be tailored to their interests and delivered online.

• 87% of shoppers said they would be more likely to shop at a retailer that offered coupons.

• And the good news for newspapers: 47% found print and online coupons equally convenient, while just 9% reported online coupons were most convenient.

An article on how to market your coupons can be found at TamingTheBeast.net, where ideas such as; raising standard prices; offering a coupon sign up registry on your site; submitting your coupons to online coupon sites & setting up an affiliate program are discussed.

Creating Your Own Online & Print Coupons:

Other options are to create your own coupon(s) using websites such as MerchantCircle.com (for a fee, their service is to assist you with online advertising), or CouponsReady.com  (design your own coupon for your business website, or print distribution).  Each charges a fee for their service, but make the process of online coupon creation a relatively simple process.  Even better, you can set coupons up for free using Google Coupons.

Get set up with Coupons in 10 minutes or Less With Google:

If you’re not already set up on Google Maps, do that first (5 minutes).  Then go to www.google.com/local/add to create an online coupon for your company.

Google Coupons

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