Build A World-Class Brand Track – Educate the Brand

& Manage Up

Facilitator: Eric Little, SVP Franchise Development

Right At Home, Inc.

Grant Kruetzer, Director, Franchise Business Development, Qdoba / Jack in the Box

Peter Barkman, VP Franchise Development, CertaPro Painters

Maureen DiStefano, Director Franchise Development, Arby's

Dave Buzza, Chief Development Officer, AlphaGraphics

Panelists

When is the first time that a franchisee and an employee in your system hears about how growth in the number of units fits into the

overall strategic plan?

Ongoing communications – how do you communicate, internally and externally, regarding growth?

—New zees signed

—Importance of being part of a growing brand

—Franchisee performance and revenue rankings

How do you engage franchisees to help you build a culture that supports growth?

How do you deal with NIMBY franchisees?

How do you prevent/minimize the negative impact on morale from zees who believe the franchisor is only interested in selling new franchises?

Complacency – how do you deal with franchisees that could grow, but won’t?

What type of incentive plans, if any, do you offer to your support staff to motivate growth? Do they get any additional bonus money when new zees sign, or is it totally based on performance of the franchised unit?

—Support team

—Real estate

—Others

What are the structural things you can do to bring teams together to encourage growth?

Once growth in new franchisees starts working, how do you keep growth in the number of franchisees high on the list of priorities with internal employees?

Do you do any sort of acknowledgement or celebration in new units at your annual convention?

New Zors: Get "Franchises Available" on all consumer marketing and relevant supplies (online and offline)

Keep standards high for franchisee selection (assessment tool, in person interview, cultural fit)

Ongoing communication with Corp Staff and Zees about recruiting efforts (KISS, Frequent, Multiple channels: email announcements, present at all training classes and meetings)

Involve Zees in Franchise Recruiting: Participate in Discovery Days, Get feedback from Franchisees on prospects.

Referral program/incentive for referring prospects (Simple, clear, frequent reminders, multiple channels)

Best Practices – Pete Barkman

Mobilize entire organization as brand ambassadors (ex: all business cards should indicate how to get franchising information)

Utilize incentives to ops staff to help the development team add new units

Best Practices – Maureen DiStefano

Create a simple and effective means to visualize the growth trend/trajectory of the brand (map/chart)

Tie back development $ (i.e. sales added to the network or fees generated) and demonstrate its positive effects on expansion in support (people/programs/marketing)

Compare current brand market share in top 20 markets vs. 3 years ago. Five years ago.

Best Practices – Dave Buzza

Collaborate directly with zees to create flexible development programs that remove growth barriers

Build company-owned “seed” restaurants, if possible, then sell to franchisees once profitable

Involve corporate employees in the franchise approval process

Utilize incentive programs for operations and support staff

Develop a new franchisee mentorship program that includes royalty sharing

Best Practices – Grant Kreutzer

Q & A