Preamble: My mantra, which was instilled in me many years ago, is that the strength of franchising is found in the collective knowledge of its franchisees, strategic vendors and staff. It is the responsibility of the franchisor to leverage that knowledge and create an open platform for the exchange of ideas and information. Therefore it makes sense to have and active franchise advisory council. Spring-Green has taken steps to ensure that active participation and I will share some of that with you today.
Role of the Spring-Green National Advisory Council
Our National Advisory Council is made up of five members. Each member represents a region of the country and each member is elected by their peers. Typically we meet face to face at least two times a year but may schedule conference calls as appropriate. Often we will combine the NAC meeting with another event such as strategic planning, or most recently, a brands strategy session. This allow for some fellowship over at least one evening. We also have a designated private forum within our intranet for updates, sharing of information and discussion topics which can be initiated in either direction. In addition, Spring-Green will often invite our NAC to participate in our strategic planning process.
Spring-Green chose to structure our NAC agenda around six key areas of focus to increase our productivity as a group. For five of the areas a member volunteers to be active in the support centers action plans and report to the group any updates. Action plans are typically tied to our director and VP level staff so this is a great opportunity for us to solicit real world input while working on improving Spring-Green. The areas of focus include:
Franchise Relations
Marketing
Technology
Training and Support
Profitability
Environmental & Governmental Affairs
This month Spring-Green Lawn Care’s National Advisory Council (NAC) met at the Spring-Green Support Center.
A Breakdown of the National Advisory Council’s Areas of Focus
Franchise Relations – Everyone on the NAC along with the executive team is accountable for this area. Agenda items may include system performance updates, strategic planning, franchise owner concerns, support center communication, franchise agreement updates, operating manual changes, franchise owner survey information, re-sale’s, franchise expansion and development updates.
Marketing – Jim Bernier franchise owner in Charlotte, NC leads this area of focus and is also the chairman of the marketing committee. Being such an important topic for our organization, it requires its own subcommittee. Much of the detail is left to the subcommittee and action plan updates are provided to the NAC. Action plans are typically assigned around Acquisition, Additional Services, and Loyalty & Retention. Current action plans have to do with our vision of how Spring-Green franchise owners will interact with customers in the future. Past action plans centered on our expansion of services for our national call center, national direct mail campaign, pay per click, search engine optimization and more. It is common for us to ask the marketing committee members to help test new ideas.
Technology – Ken Brown franchise owner in Rochester, MN leads this area of focus. Ken was a long time employee of IBM before purchasing his franchise which includes two locations, one which his son Ryan operates. Many action plans that involve technology naturally bleed into marketing so often Ken is asked for his input in this area as well. Spring-Green continues to invest heavily in technology and has undertaken the centralization of all of its data. This allows for the creation of proprietary tools that create highly personalized marketing campaigns and can measure performance across all changes in real time. Current action plans center around offsite backups and tech support for franchise owners. It seems with the advent of tablets and smart phones more and more tech support is required.
Training & Support – Training and Support are the backbone of a franchise system. A wise man told me that we can never lose sight of what business we are really in and for Spring-Green that is enriching the lives our customers through beautiful lawns. Jeff Anderson, franchise owner in the Oklahoma City area, participates in this area of focus. Current action plans involve improvements to our online learning center, national meeting planning and front line training for field level employees at the franchisee level.
Profitability – In our business model, a marketing reinvestment is needed each year. Our recurring customer base helps fund much of that marketing investment but if the expenses are not managed the franchise owner will have limited funds available to reinvest in growth the following year. The Spring-Green support center recognized the importance of a strong financial road map years ago but with the advent of some helpful technology we believe we are now providing even more relevant and valued support in this area. Our proprietary platform allows for peer to peer comparison and rankings based on several key areas of the business including expenses. Most franchise owners like to compete for top line growth in their building years but as a business matures it is very helpful to compare expense with other franchise owners of a similar size. In 2012, Roger Grose is the franchise owner participating in this area of focus. Action plans for this year revolve around our franchisee lead peer groups. The support center provides data and mentorship to a defined peer group. This data then becomes the foundation for discussions on material cost and labor, but can stretch to phone expenses and of course marketing.
Environmental & Governmental Affairs – Like in every business, there are outside influences that need to be monitored so that you are always aware of any potential impact that they may have to your business. Things as broad as changes in our governments administration, healthcare reform, tax regulations, credit card compliance, economic outlook, green industry legislation and more. Spring-Green’s CEO Ted Hofer actively participates on the government affairs committee for PLANET which is our one of our industry associations.
