Jul 21, 2011 | Coconut in the Media
Franchisor Advice Article written by Coconut Creatives Head of Media, Sally Butters:
Too often, companies forget that they need to take action to manage their reputation. They could have very happy customers but very few people really know about how great their products are or how superb their customer service is. How can you grow your business into new regions or markets without shouting about the great reputation you have? How will you attract the best franchisees?
The Chairman of the Institute of Directors, Neville Bain explains:
“Organisations need to apply more attention to managing reputation. Firms with strong positive reputations attract better people. This gives rise to a virtuous circle of greater efficiency, better relationships with customers and suppliers, and enhanced legitimacy in the eyes of society as a whole.
“In the absence of a good reputation, the ability of a company to create value is severely impaired. Boards need to be aware that reputation, like trust, takes time to build but can be lost in the blinking of an eye.”
In its most basic form, a franchise is a business opportunity that should already have a track record of profitability and market need which means that a franchisor just needs to help that good reputation become known to prospective franchisees.
In the Natwest bfa franchise survey 2011, word of mouth is top spot on how people first find out about franchising and specific franchise opportunities:
“When asking franchisees how they first heard about franchising, it immediately becomes apparent the extent to which word of mouth is key, both in terms of hearing about franchising in general, and about specific franchises. Friends and relatives are the most mentioned single source (24%) of initial awareness.”
Whilst the survey continues to evidence that people use a variety of sources and online and offline media in their research phase of the journey to becoming a franchisee and confirms that a franchisors should take a multi-channel approach to franchise recruitment, it is clear that testimonials are a must have in a franchisor’s marketing kit. This is confirmed within the decision-making process of a prospective franchisee:
“Again, as with the initial awareness of franchising, we see the importance of the personal touch in this industry, with high proportions citing a reason as ‘liking the people’ and ‘recommendation from existing franchisee’.
“Franchisees make careful decisions. Unsurprisingly given the personal and financial investment involved. On average franchisees said they had sought advice or made checks with 6 different sources prior to signing their franchise agreement.
Judgements relating to the franchisor offer and the impact of running the franchise on their lives are the most frequently made assessments, In terms of external consultations, contact with existing franchisees is crucial in terms of assessing profitability and their opinion of the franchisor.”
So, it is clear that franchisors need to take the time to review the reputation of their franchise business and how they manage it. I would recommend building this in to your marketing plan on a monthly basis; your advertising copy, online profiles, press release, video blogs, and internal communications. Every member of staff should be aware that everything they do can impact on your reputation and ultimately, the future of the business.
Here are a few tips:
- Take time to collect and review customer and franchisee feedback – quickly acting on poor feedback turns a bad experience into a good experience.
- Keep an up-to-date bank of testimonials
- Update your online and print marketing materials on a regular basis with your latest testimonials
- Take time to train staff and franchisees in your ‘perfect pitch’ – you have 90 seconds to explain what you do, how it can benefit who you are talking to and prove how it has benefited others
- Make your franchisees your ambassadors; take them with you to networking meetings, exhibitions, and discovery days.
A consistent message is king; communicate this in everything that you do and a prospective franchisee will feel confident in building a relationship with you!
Jun 12, 2011 | Uncategorized
Jennifer Davidson, Head of Coconut Events investigates the rise in demand for corporate hospitality as the market recovers.
With the economy stepping out of recession, competition to gain new clients is fierce. The economic downturn has not only seen business go bust but also a change on where budgets are being spent. Businesses are savvier, smarter and know what they want.
Rather than being seen as a ‘jolly’ Corporate Hospitality has gained a new, more prominent position in the marketing mix. Companies are seen to be using Corporate Hospitality as a business retainer, and a chance to build relationships with customers and suppliers for long term gain.
When choosing events to attend remember brand reflection. Top 3 Corporate Hospitality Events of the season not to be missed:
1. Sandpolo
2. British Gran Prix
3. Boodles
Overall, the UK corporate hospitality market is projected to increase by 11% in real terms between 2010 and 2015, reflecting greater understanding of corporate hospitality as an effective communications strategy.
“It is becoming increasingly important. What we are in danger of losing in the modern world of mobile phones and Blackberries is people doing business with people. Taking time out of everyone’s increasingly hectic schedules to spend time with customers, suppliers and bankers is becoming more necessary.”
May 12, 2011 | Coconut News
Sarah Cook, Founder of Coconut Creatives attended the EWIF awards ceremony on Tuesday 10th May and discovered she had won an award!
The Woman Service Provider of the Year 2010 title was awarded to Sarah Cook as recognition for her marketing work with Franchisors. This included, writing a book on franchise recruitment, a former trip to India, establishing Coconut Creatives as the only bfa accredited Marketing Company in the Franchise Industry and launching the popular Franchisor Marketing Workshops.
“The EWIF awards have succeeded in bringing together Franchisors, Franchisees and their Service Providers to recognise and celebrate excellence in the franchise industry. I am delighted to be recognised for the marketing work myself and the whole team at Coconut Creatives do in the industry across many sectors and with Franchisors both large and small,” says Sarah.
Clive Sawyer from Business Options both sponsored and announced the winner for this award.
Clive comments “We were absolutely delighted at the response to these inaugural EWIF Awards both from the number and quality of entries received. The large turn out for the Awards Ceremony is an indication of the level of support EWIF has from the whole franchise industry. As a Service Provider ourselves I was delighted that we could sponsor this Award. There was a lot of strong competition in this category and I am delighted that Sarah won as it is an acknowledgement of all she has done within the franchise industry.”
Apr 26, 2011 | Coconut in the Media
The team at Coconut Creatives have organised another info packed workshop for franchisors looking to fine tune their franchise recruitment. Join Sarah Cook, Founder of Coconut Creatives and the team including guest speaker, Nick Strong (FranWeb) for the
‘Battle of the on/offline Marketing’!! on Wednesday 25 May in Bracknell
The industry is changing fast. What used to work to recruit franchisees no longer brings the same results. If you are finding that your leads are dropping and conversion is taking longer, you are not alone. Franchisors need to get smarter with their marketing and recruitment process. Sarah and the team will be going through ALL the on and offline routes to market to find your ideal franchisees.
AND because this is such a special event, we’ve created a short video clip to tell you all about it in more detail: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_E8-19Ub-yA&feature=related
What others have said about our Coconut Creatives Marketing Workshops:
“I came on the workshop to find out really how to improve our recruitment process and I’ve been given so many great ideas, which I think will save my franchise manager at least 6 days a month, which is absolutely fantastic. I’d certainly recommend it to any franchisors who are looking to improve the quality of their marketing,” Sussanne Chambers, HomeXperts.
“I’m always slightly sceptical about coming to marketing workshops and marketing seminars but it’s been excellent. A friend of mine always used to say that if you can take home one piece of useful information, a seminar’s been good. Well I’m going to be taking a lot more than one, so thanks to the whole team!” Mark Casey, MOT2U
Full agenda just released! Email sam@coconutcreatives.co.uk to request a copy.
Coconut Creatives is the ONLY bfa accredited marketing company. We offer workshops and run 1 to 1 projects that bring together independent experts in the key fields of marketing, PR and branding, showing you how to effectively combine these disciplines to produce excellent results.
“A really enjoyable event. A great opportunity to network and to learn more about the additional tools available to aid / improve the recruitment process,” Steve Calvert, Safeclean.
Email sam@coconutcreatives.co.uk or call 01725 511673 to request a booking form.
Mar 29, 2011 | Coconut in the Media
Sarah Cook and Emma Carter at Peace One Day in London
Racing 160 miles across the Sahara desert, travelling on foot through Antarctica, sailing around the world, launching a Sushi bar with Japense TV in Central London (yes Simon Woodroffe, we are talking about you!) – all sound impossible! But they all happened and Coconut Creatives Founder, Sarah Cook and our Coconut Design Guru, Emma Carter met some incredible speakers last week at the Peace One Day event in London who were all about achieving the ‘Art of the Impossible’.
These were some of the most talented and inspirational people in the world whether having achieved in business, in sport or overcome horrific paralysing injuries to concur life. They have achieved incredible, almost impossibly big things because they believed it could happen. Some of the speakers were Yo! Sushi founder Simon Woodroffe, Inspirational Yachtsman Geoff Holt, the BBC presenter and author Ben Fogle and founder of Peace One Day Jeremy Gilley.
Coconut Creatives is a full supporter of Peace One Day and its mission to reach 3 billion people with the message of Peace Day by September 2012. Peace Day is on 21st September each year and this global day of peace has already enabled seemingly impossible acts to take place, such as persuading the Taliban to stop fighting so that aid workers could get into remote villages and vaccinate children against polio.
“It is so important that we all take time out of our businesses to really step back and appreciate what other people have achieved and to celebrate that,” said Sarah Cook.
So be inspired and get thinking of something amazing you can do. Whether it is for charity or for fun (or both), life is too short to keep adding things to the ‘someday maybe’ list. Get out there and get on with it. “I think I got a little bit too inspired at the Peace One Day event as I immediately went home and signed myself up for the Great South Run for later this year and I’m now in training!” adds Sarah.
If you would like to find out more about Peace One Day, visit www.peaceoneday.org. They also have another 1 day event coming up in June with an incredible speaker line up that Sarah will most definitely be attending.
