Grow From Here

That’s the horned devil’s greeting on the website of Hell Pizza.  With its first Canadian location, in North Vancouver, the chain continues its ghoulish global spread.

Word has spread to pizza lovers everywhere, creating a cult-like following.

Cutting edge in concept, marketing and advertising, with a wildly creative menu, Hell Pizza is one franchise to watch out for.

The eatery began in Wellington, New Zealand in 1996, and quickly expanded to 63 locations in that country and 3 in Australia, before setting up shop in London, Dublin and now New Delhi, India.  The brainchild of Warren Powell, Callum Davies and Stu McMullin, they sold the New Zealand Master Franchise rights to Tasman Foods for a whopping $15 million NZ.  The trio then bought the rights back in 2009.

What are their secrets?

The darkly satirical and wickedly fun underworld theme is used throughout their menu and marketing campaigns.  The pizza boxes contain a coffin-like cut-out “for your remains,” the box reminding customers to “dispose of the evidence.”  The phone number is 1-888-HELL-911.  An after-hours message kindly requests that you “go to Hell.”

Pizzas choices are infinite, and devilishly named.  The ‘Seven Deadly Sins’ items include a lustful meat-laden pie slashed with your choice of sauce, a greedy double-cheese and double-ham option, and a proudly vegetarian creation.   Gore-Met offerings include seafood rich ‘Underworld’, a ‘Sinister’ Mexican variety, and a cream-cheese apricot sauced ‘Grimm.’   Fiery chili-toppers include ‘Forked Tongue’ and ‘Ring of Fire’ for those not faint of heart.

Besides the vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free ‘hell-thy’ options there are many other fresh ideas.  The menu prices include taxes, making bill time surprise free.  They have further added value by offering online orders in addition to delivery.

Some think that the franchise may have gone too far, but it seems to have worked wonders for them.  Besides, they are selling pizza- not plasma- so it’s okay to have a little fun.

Is it time for your franchise concept to incorporate some of new, fiendishly good ideas?  Maybe it’s time to add a little –gasp- playfulness into your franchise.   Perhaps a free-flowing brainstorming session is in order.   And if you decide to order a pizza for the party, I’d recommend Hell Pizza.  If you chose a different pizza palace – beware!  Who knows what in Hades might happen to you…

Business Growth, Franchise, Franchisor Spotlight, Fun creative, franchise concept, Hell Pizza, marketing campaigns, pizza, strategy

Selling a franchise is – by definition – selling a system of operations, sales, production and delivery that will make money for the buyer.

One often unspoken assumption by franchisees is that you will provide them with ‘best practices’ and will continue to provide them with improvements to procedures and operations.

The franchisee expects to acquire a system of operations, sales, production and delivery that will generate profits; and they expect it to be continually updated.

A big part of the value of a franchise is having a group of intelligent invested people who are constantly trying out new things and learning from their experiences.  Since the learning that arises from this is carried out in disparate locations, the challenge becomes how the franchisor can gather, collate, distribute and continually update these found improvements to all the franchisees.

Why this is so important

• When this does not happen, the learning process comes to a grinding halt and the newly acquired data is lost.
• But when it does happen, the competitive advantage of this franchise will go through the roof!

Sir Isaac Newton said:  “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”  (Letter to Robert Hooke, 1675)   This quote speaks to any successful franchisor who learns from his franchisees.

Set up systems for people to:

• See what has been done before, what worked and what didn’t
• Easily track what they are trying, and filter results for fellow franchisees
• Easily generate graphs to see trends, leading indicators, etc.
• Learn from you about franchise-wide best practices that have been discovered
• Have a place for updated best practices, and a forum for questions and conversation

Distributing continual improvements further benefits you as it is proof of all the ongoing advancements, upgrades and value that you are providing.

It helps to justify your royalties even before the franchisee asks the question,“What have you done for me today?”

Best Practices, Business Growth, Communication, Focus, Franchise advertising, Best Practices, investors, marketing, product, selling franchises, strategy, support development

Have you ever said that keeping franchisees happy is like herding cats?

The biggest impediment to franchise growth, as you likely know, is unhappy franchisees. Even if you have leads, you won’t be able to close them if the existing zees are unhappy.  Don’t worry; no one’s franchise operations are perfect!   Let’s look at how to improve this area.

While you are working to improve operations (or trying to find the time to do so…) good communication will go a long way to improving franchisee satisfaction. If you can quickly and easily share information with your franchisees and get useful feedback from them, then you will either:

• get good franchisee validation when new prospects are in the  funnel, or
• know why you’re having trouble with franchisee validation

Sometimes when I’m discussing communication with franchisors, I hear:  “The last thing I want is more complaints – then I have to deal with them!”

The trade-off is that allowing franchisees to express their thoughts and feelings often alleviates the emotional impact on them, and it deflates the problems.

You may be very pleasantly surprised by positive feedback that comes through these free-flowing communication channels.  This positive information can validate you as it confirms what you are doing right.  It can further be used to strengthen marketing materials.

You would be surprised how easy it is to set up a system that allows people to share their thoughts, comments and questions without taking up a lot of your time or energy. 

One great way to do this through the use of an employee ‘Intranet’ - a place where franchisees can have an online conversation with you (and ideally with each other) in a protected environment.  This system also allows you to review the exchanges at your leisure, and to share information with them simply and easily.

Managing these communications so that you don’t end up with online gripe sessions (which only further inflame people) is a huge issue in itself.  But that’s a topic for another post!

Does the idea of an Intranet feel overwhelming to you?  You’d be surprised by how easy we can make the process.   Contact us at online@openboxinc.com and a 15 minute demo will show you how you can get started easily.

Business Growth, Communication, Franchise, Technology franchisor, good communication, happy franchisees, Intranet, strategy

Continuing from the last post, “Your Secret Weapon for Social Media,” keep in mind that social media is one marketing tool among many.  Remember the keys to success:

1. know what success looks like for your company
2. use that knowledge to select your strategy
3. implement and then
4. measure using your key metrics
5. adapt direction as necessary based on your results
6. repeat

With a good plan, social media can be a great boost to your business.  Your first step lies in defining exactly what it is you seek to accomplish.   There are five common business needs that social media can facilitate.

Choose the most appropriate one for your company:

• You want to grow sales directly
• You are trying to drive online traffic
• You want to learn about what your customers are thinking and get product feedback
• You are building your brand
• You are looking for people who will make good strategic partners

Focussing on your goal will dictate what particular strategy to follow and what to avoid. We’ll describe strategies that one might adopt for each of these goals using fictitious companies.

1-          Grow sales directly. ‘Sock-It-To-Ya’ is a new company that manufactures ladies socks and tights (their customers are young, fashion-conscious women).  They have a website, have set up e-commerce and are eager to begin direct sales and are sure that having a presence online will serve them well.

2-         Drive online traffic to the company blog. ‘The Hard Software Company’ is expanding rapidly.  The highly creative owner knows that she has a high level of expertise, and wants to establish herself as an industry expert so that she can be invited to speak at conferences and further grow her business.  She has recently set up a content-rich blog and wants to drive traffic to it so that she can expand her influence and firmly entrench her industry position.

3-         Learn what my customers are thinking and get product feedback.

‘Juicy’s’ is a regional chain of juice bars.  They are about to introduce a new high-protein smoothy, targeted to fitness fanatics.  The samples have been well-reviewed, but the owners are deliberating what to call the new offering.  They decide to launch a contest that allows customers to vote on name choices.  Juicy’s already has a website and a mailing list; now they want to harness the power of social media to get as many people involved as possible, so they have a wide base of feedback.

4-         Build our brand.   Texas is no longer big enough for ‘Texas’ Biggest Buns,’ bakers and wholesalers of hamburger, hotdog and sandwich buns, and it is high time to move into the surrounding states.  Siggy, the CEO, turns the task over to Johnson, telling him to, “Spread the word over the internet waves!”  An anxious Johnston needs to formulate an online strategy to build the brand online so that other states will want to buy franchises.

5-         Find strategic partners. ‘Cats vs. Dogs’ find themselves in an enviable position:  their business has soared to new heights.  They have done so well, that they are ready to expand into bigger -perhaps international – markets.  They want to find experts in financing & business expansion in other countries that they can joint venture with.

Each business knows specifically what they want to accomplish.  But how will they do it?  Tune in to the next posts to follow their progress.

Best Practices, Business Growth, Technology, Tips

Many years ago, a highly astute man named Pareto, led a study which concluded that 80% of our success will arise from 20% of our efforts.  This ‘Pareto Principle’, also known as ‘The 80 / 20 Rule’ can easily be applied to an examination of priorities.

The 20% to focus on is that which will drive revenue.

One of the key challenges for any business owner is how to set priorities.  A glance at your listed ‘To Do’s’ will include many ‘Nice to Have’ items.  Yet you must distinguish between these lower priorities and those that need to top the list:  those that will spur profits.

There are many demands at any given time: from your franchisees, staff, your personal goals and business development advisors.  The secret is to know what drives your revenue, and to be ruthless about new ideas as they pertain to driving revenue.

What will drive franchise revenue?   Key areas to consider are:

1. Communication
2. Relationship Building with your Franchisees
3. Driving Sales

More specifically, items that often fall under each of these are:

Communication:

• your marketing and PR
• methods used to attract new franchisees
• tasks that aid in attracting customers to existing franchisees
• ways to keep franchisees excited, enthusiastic and involved

Relationships with franchisees:

• to make them aware of the value you provide them continually
• to help and support them in getting more sales
• to train and advise them on best practices
• to demonstrate how your training facilitates their increased profits

Driving sales:

• when franchisees make money and have a good profit margin, both them and you make increased earnings
• can be achieved through a combination of online marketing, development and implementation of effective marketing materials, the use of promotions and sales offers
• all begins with market research

Focus on what needs to be done with your existing revenue drivers, and as new ideas arise, be strict in assessing where they fall in regards to the 80/20 rule.  This simple principle will act as a powerful lens, narrowing your focus so you can strengthen the profitability of your franchise.

When is the last time you re-evaluated your priority list?

Best Practices, Business Growth, Communication, Focus, Marketing

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