Franchise Update Magazine Issue III, 2012 | Page 28

Grow Market Lead
Melinda Caughill, Third Person
(front), Liberty Harper, Fatburger

Rich Hope,
Jersey Mike’s

exercise” in which attendees answered a
challenge question and then shared their
answers with the group. For example, in
the first one-hour segment the question
was, What “new media” tactics should be put
in place to help drive traffic and build sales?
Afternoon delight

The morning boot camps were followed
by lunch in the sponsor networking gallery, where franchise marketers held
animated discussions with dozens of
vendors and suppliers—who were, not
surprisingly, heavy on technology, especially those involving mobile payments
and integrated marketing solutions.
Following the networking lunch,
attendees gathered for the day’s keynote address by customer service guru
John DiJulius, founder of The DiJulius

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Franchiseupdate Iss u e III, 2 0 1 2

Ed Waller,
CertaPro Painters,
Conference Chair

John DiJulius,
Keynote Speaker

Jennifer Kushell, Brad Fishman

Group, a customer service consulting
company, and president of John Robert’s Hair Studio & Spa. He served up
numerous examples of organizations that
provide “world-class customer service,”
as well as several that don’t. He discussed
terms such as “service aptitude,” which
he describes as the ability to recognize
opportunities to exceed customers’ expectations—regardless of the circumstances.
Drawing on examples from his research and personal experience, DiJulius encouraged attendees to create a
“customer service vision, a customers’
bill of rights, and provide the opportunity to be a hero.” These strategies, he
said, empower and inspire both managers and employees—and propel brands
into greatness.
The rest of the afternoon was spent

in breakout sessions that dug into topics
such as franchisee buy-in for deploying
marketing tools and strategies, using the
power of PR, and predicting and measuring customer acquisition.
Next day, next gen

The second day kicked off with breakfast
in the networking gallery. Following that,
attendees gathered in a general session
for an eye-opening presentation called
“The Next Generation Workforce” by
Jennifer Kushell, who has done extensive research on 20- to 30-somethings
(also known as Gen Ys and Millennials).
Whether you understand them or not,
these children of the Baby Boomers are
here in large numbers and are today’s—
and tomorrow’s—employees, customers,
and franchise buyers.