Franchise Update Magazine Issue III, 2012 | Page 17

A call from a council member is much more effective than a call from staff. If your council members have regions, have a fun contest and give a small prize to the region with the highest attendance. • Host your convention in the best month for the event, not the least expensive one. For example, the best month could the one that conflicts the least with your organization’s sales cycle. • Provide economic incentives at the convention. Offering special buys and lower-cost services if purchased at the convention provides value, makes selling easier, and is an incentive to attend. • If your conventions are mandatory, use a variance committee for franchisees to approve anyone who cannot attend. This takes the heat off management, and franchisees are normally tougher than management. • If your penalty for non-attendance is termination, provide an option of a fine instead; termination is too drastic. Put the funds for the fines in a special account available for franchisees with financial hardship who need some financial assistance to attend. The same variance committee can choose who receives the funds. You also can do fundraising for How far in advance do you typically book your meeting? >18 months 12-18 months that account. Having an auction to raise money for the fund can be popular, fun, and makes the point of how important your conventions are. • Plan your conventions at least 12 months in advance and offer a special for signing up for the next convention at the current one. The convention is when franchisees are the most excited. It’s easier to sign up people then, plus it saves you from having to make an effort later. • Always promote what will be new at your convention. What is new will be of the highest interest and encourage the most attendance. This further reinforces among your franchisees that they will indeed be missing something of value by not attending, which builds on the concept of your convention being a “must attend” event. In the next installment we will talk about how to get the most out of your franchisee conventions. n Grow Market Lead • Culturally, you need to make your convention a “must attend” event. You start this process in the recruiting stage. When you are presenting your brand to a potential fr anchisee, talk about your convention as one of the major benefits of being part of your organization, and why no one would want to miss it. Continue developing this idea during onboarding and throughout the entire relationship with your franchisees. • Ensure that your staff sees your convention as a “must attend” event. It’s amazing how often your own staff doesn’t fully understand the value of the event. Your staff’s attitude is critical to attendance. How they present the convention to your franchisees (and encourage attendance) will have a large impact on getting people excited about attending. • Measure results, looking at the sales and profitability growth of the attendees versus those who don’t attend. In working with several franchisor clients it’s also amazing to note the correlation between conference attendance and sales growth and profitability. This, of course, reinforces the value of the event and gives franchisees a great reason to attend. • Get your advisory council involved. Evan Hackel is the principal and founder of Ingage Consulting. He has 25 years of franchise experience having developed, implemented, and managed three successful new franchise systems. He can be reached at 781569-5900 or [email protected]. What month is your meeting typically held? < 6 months DEC NOV 2.7% 3.2% 11.2% 11.8% JAN 12.4% OCT 14.5% FEB 28.3% 9.7% 48.7% 8.1% MAR SEP 12.9% 6-12 months 10.2% 5.4% AUG 6.5% JULY 7.0% JUNE 7.5% APR MAY Franchiseupdate I ssue I I I , 2012  15