BY JEFF JOHNSON, MAY 20, 2010
CEO and Founder, Franchise Research Institute

I am often asked what it takes to become a World-Class Franchise®. The answer is simple, but far from easy to achieve.

Based on our experience surveying thousands of franchisees over the years, I have found that the single greatest predictor of a franchisee’s success is the quality of their relationship with their franchise company. A good relationship in almost every case equals a successful franchisee. Rarely have we found a franchisee with a great relationship with the franchisor who is not successful.

On the other hand, while franchisees can be successful even if they have a contentious relationship with their franchisors, it makes the road to success much more difficult. And in most cases where franchisees and franchisors do not have good relations, failure is often just around the corner. And if that happens, everyone loses.

So what is the key to building a great relationship with a franchisee.

Most franchisees depend on their franchisors to provide expert guidance and assistance in setting up and running their franchise business. The more effective a franchise is at sharing its expertise, the greater the chances are that the relationship will be strong and individual franchisees will be successful.

That’s why our World-Class Franchise® certification was designed to provide a fair and unbiased evaluation of how effectively each franchise company supports its franchisees. Unlike many franchise rankings and lists that are often based on nothing more than a franchise’s ability to open locations or generate sales, or are based on information provided by the franchisor, we believe a more accurate evaluation is produced by going direct to those in the best position to determine the level of a franchise company’s support — the franchisee.

That is why, when a franchisor hires us to evaluate their company, we contact every franchisee and require that a minimum of 70 percent of all franchisees participate in our confidential survey before we will ensure that the rating is accurate.

And we look at all of the key variables in a franchise relationship, including training, helpfulness of the support staff, quality of products and services and more. This also helps provide us with a sense of whether current franchisees are energetic, successful, profitable, and enthusiastic about the future of their franchise business.

The result is a clear picture of the current state of the franchise as well as a good sense of its future outlook.

Why is this important?

To the potential franchisee, the importance is obvious. When a potential franchisee makes the decision to invest in a franchise opportunity, they want a clear, unbiased assessment of each franchise they’re considering. They want to make sure that their financial and personal investment will be well spent.

For the franchisor, earning the right to display the World-Class Franchise® SEAL signifies a documented commitment to supporting and assisting franchisees. But it signifies much more. It signifies to the potential franchisee that the franchise company is so serious about supporting its franchisees that it is willing to have an independent third party like the Franchise Research Institute find out what its franchisees think about the level of support they receive.

And a franchise company that cares that much about the honest opinions of its franchisees is well on its way to becoming a World-Class Franchise.

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Jeff Johnson is CEO and Founder of the Franchise Research Institute® and FranSurvey®., which was designed to provide a fair and unbiased evaluation of how effectively each franchise company supports its franchisees. The mission is to identify and certify great franchises and to provide complete research reports for potential franchisees and others who wish to study leading franchise companies in more detail. More information is available at www.World-ClassFranchise.com.

BY SCOTT WHITE ON MARCH 8, 2010

A lot of businesses like to promote the fact that they are driven by mission, vision, value or some higher purpose. When times get tough, however, you find out who really walks the talk.

At the Texas Public Relations Association Leadership Day in Austin over the weekend, John McGrath of the Austin ad agency GSD&M offered a great example that business owners can relate to about how making a decision based on your company’s values can pay off even when the experts say it’s the wrong thing to do.

McGrath’s agency handles advertising for Southwest Airlines and if any industry has faced severe challenges during the recent economic downturn, it is the airline industry. During his opening keynote speech to the TPRA, McGrath told of how Wall Street questioned Southwest executives about why they had not jumped on the bandwagon and started charging additional fees for bags like the other airlines. Southwest was leaving millions on the table, according to the financial experts. They were told that customers would understand because when times are tough companies have to look at ways to generate more income. And anyway, everyone else was doing it.

The problem that Southwest management faced, however, was that charging for bags flew in the face of the company’s purpose — giving people the “Freedom” to fly. At Southwest, “freedom” means that their customers enjoy the freedom to roam; the freedom to get away and enjoy themselves or do their business. If families had to spend another $100 to take their bags on vacation, that would be $100 less they would have to spend on their vacation. That’s $100 less the businesses in the markets that Southwest Airlines serves would receive from visitors.

Since charging for bags did not fit the Southwest Airlines “purpose,” Southwest executives decided they would ignore Wall Street and the rest of the industry. They would not charge for bags. In addition, they launched the now iconic “bags fly free” marketing campaign.

And it paid off.

According to McGrath, the increased business that can attributed to Southwest’s decision to let bags fly free was triple what Wall Street had told them they were leaving on the table.

Is Southwest Airlines the perfect company? Of course not. They have their issues, just like any business. But this is a good example of how sticking to your company’s higher purpose when others are abandoning theirs can pay big dividends.

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Scott White is president of Dallas PR and marketing communications agency BizCom Associates and past president of the Texas Public Relations Association.

BY SCOTT WHITE ON FEB. 19, 2010

There’s a lot that business owners can learn from the way Tiger Woods has handled his trials and tribulations through Friday’s carefully orchestrated public apology. Most of it bad.

Tiger, like most business owners, appears to love being in control of every situation. And control, of course, is one aspect of business ownership that is so appealing to entrepreneurs. In Tiger’s case, control has been a part of his life from the day his dad decided he wanted to raise the greatest golfer in the world. He was raised and nurtured in a tightly controlled family environment and that control carried over into his professional career as his brand (or image) grew into one of the most well-known and powerful in the world.

So when the unexpected happens — whether to a business owner or Tiger Woods — it’s always interesting to see how people respond to a loss of control.

In this case, Tiger has made the same mistakes made by many CEOs, presidents and business owners used to having control of their life and their business. He continued to operate under the naive belief that he could maintain control of the situation.

What Tiger has discovered, of course, is the same thing that the CEOs, presidents and business owners find out the hard way. Trying to avoid or hide from a crisis only makes it worse. Once you turn over control of a crisis to the news media — and now the social media — it is almost impossible to regain control.

By going underground and not addressing the issues up front, Tiger turned the entire discussion over to the news media. The result was predictable: a feeding frenzy, especially among the tabloid media and their followers, that ultimately cost him endorsements, cost him money, and may very likely cost him a chance to salvage his marriage. For sure it has cost him a lot of the good will that he had built up for his brand over his career.

Not that the media and paparazzi would have ignored the story. But just think how different the situation would have been had Tiger come out immediately and said, “I messed up. I have a problem. I’m going to take care of the problem and that means I will be out of the limelight for awhile as I try to deal with these issues.”

That’s something the public can understand and would have seemed much more sincere. Had he admitted the seriousness of the problem up front, it would have blunted the shock of each new revelation and turned him into a more sympathetic figure.

Instead, by apparently believing he could somehow keep the details from coming out, he created an environment that played directly into the hands of a news media that loves to tear down the same stars they have created. Each new revelation of an affair not only re-energized but created a need among the news media to dig even deeper for fear of being scooped by a competitor. Rumors, gossip and misinformation went unchallenged, which in turn bred more rumors, gossip and misinformation.

Tiger made the same mistakes that many business owners make when facing a crisis. By not addressing the issue quickly and honestly, he lost any chance of having any control of the situation. Now he has set himself up for an even bigger failure.

He has given the public time to form their opinions without access to his side of the story. And today’s carefully scripted event likely will have very little impact on those opinions.

Those who had formed negative opinions will look at today’s apology cynically, as nothing more than a PR stunt aimed at saving his career and stopping the bleeding from his endorsement deals. Those who were sympathetic will take the statements as proof that he is making an sincere attempt to save his marriage and change.

Ultimately, Tiger will find out what good PR pros preach to their clients on a regular basis: It’s not what you say or how you say it that matters. Ultimately, it’s what you do that matters.  The bottom line is that Tiger’s actions — not today’s event — will determine whether he was sincere.

His problem is that by waiting and not participating in the discussion from the start, he has left himself with no margin for error. Had he apologized first, admitted his problem and said he would try to address it, future missteps might be forgiven as the struggle of a tragic figure still trying to overcome a problem. Now, however, even the slightest misstep risks proving the cynics right and destroying his credibility. If that happens, it will be near impossible for him to rebuild his image to the pre-crisis point.

Perhaps Tiger Woods’ brand and earnings power can withstand this crisis and the way it has been mishandled. After all, few brands have the clout and power of Tiger Woods.

Could your company withstand such a blow to your image and brand?

There are lessons to be learned here for a every business owner.

Don’t hide from a crisis. Recognize that all the bad news will very likely get out. Address your problems up front. Tell your publics what you are going to do to correct the problem and begin to do so.

To do otherwise will make the road to recovery much more difficult, if not impossible.

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Scott White is president of Dallas-based PR and marketing company BizCom Associates.

BY SCOTT WHITE on JANUARY 8, 2010

What does your marketing say about your company?

Literally.

Do your press releases and marketing materials say what you think they say?

It’s very possible that they don’t.

Over the past two decades we’ve reviewed thousands of press releases and marketing materials produced by hundreds of companies. And it only takes a few seconds to determine if the messages were written with the customer in mind or if they were written in a way that only a CEO could love.

If the later, more often than not the company has come to us trying to figure out why their marketing is not working as well as it should. The answer is almost always “content.”

And in today’s Facebook/Twitter/Google/140-character/blog-filled world, where potential customers will give your message only seconds to grab their attention, content and the way it is presented has never been more important.

That’s because the explosion of the Web and social media as a communications tool has been the great equalizer. Anyone from the largest multinational to the smallest mom and pop can have an online presence with equal ease.

But when all your competitors are on Facebook and are using twitter and have their press releases and Web site optimized, how do you separate yourself from the pack? The most effective way is “content” — what you say and how you say it.

If your customer or your employees or whatever audience you are trying to reach has to struggle to figure out “what’s in it for me,” then you have lost them.

Want a great example? Check the hundreds of press releases posted on the PR Newsire or the Business Wire each day. Many — if not most — are written in a way that touts the company, product or service from the company’s point of view rather than the potential audience. What a waste.

In his terrific book “The New Rules of Marketing and PR,” David Meerman Scott devotes much of his time to the importance of matching content to audience. He even offers a list of words and phrases guaranteed to make a customer or reporter hit the “delete” button.

So how do you make sure that your messages are resonating with your audiences?

Look at your last press release or your last brochure. But don’t look at it from your perspective. You don’t matter.

Rather, look at it from the perspective of the intended audience.

Why would reporters, who receive dozens of press releases daily, give yours a second glance? Why would a customer who found it on the Web read it? Is it apparent early why they should care about what you have to say and why it is important to THEM? Or does your press release spend the first paragraph talking about your company being a “leading solution” or one of the world’s “largest” or “best” or “most innovative” while hiding the real message halfway down the page?

Does your promotional brochure address the questions and concerns that your prospects or potential customers care about. Are the materials written in a way they will understand or are they filled with industry jargon that only insiders will understand?

If your message is all about you and not about them, then the chances are excellent that your message is being lost in cyberspace.

Of course, before you can truly write for your audience you have to understand what it is they want to know. But that’s a topic for another blog.

————

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