Ed Teixeira will be presenting at the IFE Conference in Washington, D.C. on June 3rd from 3:30 to 4:30 PM.The workshop entitled "Meeting the Franchisor" will instruct prospective franchisees on how to make the most of the Discovery Day visit required by franchisors. The IFE show in Washington is the largest franchise show in the United States. We have a limited number of complimentary show passes,to obtain one forward an e-mail to ed@franchiseknowhow.com

"A minute's success pays the failure of years." Robert Browning

When selling new franchises the franchisor can follow some simple steps that will help in the franchise sales process, while educating the prospective franchisee about the opportunity available.

Throughout my franchise career I always followed the credo that a franchisor has an obligation to provide a prospective franchisee as much information about the franchise opportunity as possible, while complying with franchise disclosure regulations. I also felt it important to include information that would be of use to the franchisee when making their evaluation of the particuliar franchise.

The additional information included the following:

1. The composition of the market that the franchise is a part. This information includes amount of revenues, number of firms and any large or dominant players in the region.
2. The nature of the competition and how to meet the competition.
3. Are there certain critical success factors that relate to the successful firms in the industry.?
4. Try to use examples of firms that are leaders and what sets them apart from the others.
5. Credible and recent financial data and statistics pertaining to the industry. U.S. Commerce Department reports are an example.
6. Key attributes of the franchise such as location and marketing techniques needed to succeed.

By following this approach you'll be providing your prospective franchisees information which will enable them to make a better decision regarding your franchise. You'll also be utilizing a franchise sales process which is thorough and is sure to be valued by your franchise candidates.

"Underpromise;overdeliver." Tom Peters

Here are some great tips for finding the best location for your business. Karen E. Spaeder for Entrepeneur.com tells you what to ask when sizing up demographices and scouting out the best location for your business.

"To succeed as a team is to hold all of the members accountable for their expertise." Mitchell Caplan

When considering the most effective way to grow a new franchise system franchisors should manage their growth in a manner that reflects the capability of the franchisor to service and support their new franchisees. What this means is that franchise growth should be from the base of operations out. In other words, if the franchisor is based in New York they shouldn't start selling franchises in Denver or Dallas unless they have a unique franchise concept which requires little support.

I certainly recognize the temptation to accept every franchise lead and pursue it to a conclusion. However, unless the franchisor is following an expansive area or regional development strategy, granting franchises over a broad geographic area can be costly and lead to problems.

From a practical standpoint the obvious question is how do I control my leads from franchise candidates? In addition, there is the issue of losing a good candidate from a geographic area that is beyond the service capabilities of the new franchisor. Here is a simple strategy which can help to answer these questions and a few more.

• If you want to control your leads maximize your web site to generate leads. Cost-per-click programs through Yahoo and Google can direct leads to your web site in an efficient and cost effective way.
• Use local advertising such as a major newspaper or local publications to generate leads. As an example an ad in the Sunday New York Times Biz Op/Franchise section can be placed for as little as $300-400 This strategy can limit your lead generation to a geographic area.
• Have a program of unit and area development franchising. There is no reason why a region or state that is far beyond corporate headquarters cannot be developed under a region or area development program. This allows for unit franchises close to headquarters and further away a developer is responsible for training and support.
• Consider District Managers who can work from a home based location your resource for new franchisees that are distant from your corporate base
• Don't lose the opportunity to bring a talented and motivated franchisee on board simply because they may be too far away.

If you have a simple franchise concept which requires very little support your expansion strategy can be flexible. However, if your franchisees require support and compliance audits be careful to avoid out- distancing your resources.

"A banker is a fellow who lends you his umbrella when the sun is shining, but wants it back the minute it begins to rain." Mark Twain 

GateHouse Media Inc.'s $400 million deal to buy 124 newspapers surrounding Boston shows where investors see promise in an otherwise troubled newspaper industry; the suburbs.

GateHouse is owned by a New York venture capital firm and hedge fund, Fortress Investment Group LLC, with $20 billion in assets.

Industry executives said GateHouse's move is evidence of strong investor enthusiasm for suburban newspapers. While US daily newspapers on average lost 2.5% of their circulation in the six months ended March 31st, compared to the same six months a year earlier, many weeklies and small dailies outside of major cities are holding steady or losing circulation as much lower rates than metro dailies.

Big newspapers trying to serve a broad audience face greater threats to their traditional readership base from the Internet and television, while suburban papers focused on town meetings, fund raisers and soccer scores don't have to worry much about their product being duplicated elsewhere, said Peter Conti Jr., a VP of Borrell Associates Inc., a media research firm in Richmond, Virginia.

Just like the Internet, "a suburban newspaper can deliver a highly targeted audience," Conti said.

Small town newspaper groups can sell ads to local stores and real estate agents-who cannot afford the ad rates of large publications- as well as to larger chain-store advertisers who want to reach hundreds of thousands of people.

"What we have seen is that big newspapers have been less flexible in their ability to reposition themselves than the suburban guys, who can just reinvent themselves overnight, " said Peter Krasilovsky, principal of Krasilovsky Consulting, of Carlsbad, California.

"Boston is ground zero for the competition between the suburban newspapers and the giant metro," he said.

This article was published in the Boston Globe by Christopher Rowland on 5/17/06.

"Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be" Abraham Lincoln