The Franchise King Blog

Franchise News Tidbits; May 2009

                                                                                                                                          

{Chilling with Winston-The Royal Guard Dog}

As you kick back, and relax a tad this weekend, I thought you would enjoy a couple of franchise related items. Check these out.

Chicago's Sanderson PR, the premier public relations firm in our industry just had a website makeover. New York's DEOgraphics did a fine job capturing the essence of the firms energetic and classy folks. Rhonda Sanderson, and her outstanding right hand gal, Courtney Thomas are amazing at what they do.

{I am a little partial here. They both taught me a lot about PR, and how it can energize a franchise companies brand, and increase franchise sales.}

Just in case you missed it, I am happy to announce that I helped forge a groundbreaking franchise alliance in my hometown. {Grab some tissue}

BizBox by Slate, picked up an important and timely article of mine. Here

Finally, I find that a lot of prospective franchise owners stop investigating franchises a little too early. They have gone pretty far, but self-doubt starts to creep in.

They ask themselves questions like;

• Am I looking at the right category in franchising?
• Should i get an attorney yet?
• Is this franchise right for my geographical area?

Another area of franchise confusion comes from really smart folks who feel that they have a great prospective franchise concept. I get contacted weekly by them, and find that some of the ideas are great, and some are not ready for prime time. Lots of questions come up. I have some of the answers.

I have created an online resource that is a 1st of it's kind, and one that I feel is sorely needed.

This website serves as a conduit between people who know some things about franchising, and someone who knows a lot about the business model of franchising, and can share his expertise.

Please feel free to ask your questions.The first answer is on me. Just go to;

                

www.AskTheFranchiseKing.com   Ask.

Laid-Off Workers Interest In Self-Employment Options Are On The Upswing

                                                                                                                                           

{An Upswing}

It's happening. A definite uptick in interest. Interest from folks wanting to become their own bosses. Serious interest. It is beyond the tire kicking type of interest....

Heavy job losses always leads to inquires in self-employment options, but this time it has taken longer for genuine interest to develop. This recession  is especially deep, and is more global than other ones have been. Add in a financial industry meltdown, a real estate bust, and a new Congress, for good measure. 

40 Year Milestone Reached By A Hilton Hotel Franchisee

                                                                                                                              

What do you think of when the name "Akron" comes up? For me, it's rubber, a substance best left for the scientific blogging community.

Akron, Ohio is also home to a dynamic Hilton franchisee, by the name of Rennick Andreoli;

{From Paula Schleis, at The Akron Beacon Journal}

"Seated at a dining table on the terrace, Rennick Andreoli thought about his multimillion-dollar investment for a moment and laughed.

He was laughing about the fact that it seems every major renovation he has planned in his hotel's history has coincided with an economic downturn.

In 1969, Andreoli and his late brother, Eric Friden, bought the rights to the Hilton name for a 150-room hotel they built on West Market Street.

Situated across the street from Summit Mall, it was a perfect location."

Read more about Andreoli and The Hilton/Akron-Fairlawn over at Ohio.com

Do you have a question about franchising?

www.AskTheFranchiseKing.com

Cleveland Cavs Sports Franchise May Bring Chinese Investors On

                                                                                                                                            

                              

Even sports franchises may be going global. Really global...

From The Plain Dealer;

"According to multiple sources within the Cleveland Cavaliers, franchise majority owner Dan Gilbert has a tentative agreement in place to allow a group of Chinese investors to purchase a significant stake in the Cavaliers Operating Company, the entity that owns the Cavs and operates Quicken Loans Arena. The group is led by JianHua (Kenny) Huang, a Chinese businessman who has become successful by linking American and Chinese companies."  Read more

Could this be a good thing?

Traditional Franchise Lead Gathering Strategies Starting To Lose Steam

                                                                                                                                                

Paul Segreto, who like me, is not too concerned about upsetting the apple cart in our generally slow to adapt industry, is doing a fine series of articles about franchise lead generation strategies, and how they are changing. {And how they need to change, thank you very much.}

"Traditional strategy: Portal websites became very popular as the internet gained steam in both popularity and daily usage. Unfortunately, now there are so many portals that regurgitate leads across the internet that many portal leads have been contacted by 10-20-30 different “franchise experts.” This has created a “used car salesman” effect that has actually turned people that may have been interested in franchising, totally against the industry."

Paul continues;

"Social media strategy: Similar to the strategy identified above as the alternative to advertising in local and national media. And, instead of an interested party being directed to specific information, the social media effort gradually presents the facts and information about the franchise while encouraging interaction with the entire franchise family. This goes a long way towards building trust, an essential component to the franchise sale."

I started bringing the idea of what I call, Franchise Social Media Marketing, to the idea table several months ago. {www.FranchiseSocialMarketing.com} It made a pretty nice warm-up, I guess.

Paul has blown me away with his detailed plan to integrate Social Media into traditional Franchise Marketing tactics, and I commend him, as I hope you will, too.

{Frankly, he has done a much better job than I}