Keep Thinking
Follow the lead of these franchisees who took their ideas to the corporate office and changed the way their franchises did business.
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Think being a franchise owner is like living in a universe where
creativity is punished by an omni-present being watching your every
move? You're wrong. Every day, there's a franchise owner
who's bucking to become the next Picasso. But there's one
central theme in being creative with a franchise: You don't
reinvent the wheel. You try to make it better.
Take Greg Hund, who opened his New York City-based Mail Boxes
Etc. six years ago, and with more than $1 million annually in
sales, has turned it into one of the five top-selling stores in the
chain. Hund, 37, invented the Virtual Doorman.
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For a $10-per-box delivery fee, Hund's store--and now other
New York Mail Boxes Etc. locations--accepts anything from dry
cleaning to flower arrangements to parcel packages. The service
allows residents of apartment buildings without doormen to receive
deliveries safely.
"I came up with the idea during the Mail Boxes Etc.
training program," says Hund. "I ran it by my area
developer, and he was enthusiastic. If a project makes sense, they
aren't going to have a problem with it. But I don't think
they'd want me selling soup and salad from the back
room."
"There's innovation that explores new territory, and
then there's innovation that rocks the system," says T.
Scott Gross, former franchise owner of a Church's Chicken and
author of Positively Outrageous Service (Warner
Books). "One is good, and one is not good. No matter how you
do it, the last thing a franchisor wants is a surprise."
Well, that's a matter for debate. Bill Rosenberg, founder of
the International Franchise Association and Dunkin' Donuts,
insists that if a franchise owner wants to experiment, "try it
and see what happens. If it works, we'll try it in the
system."
But Russ Cooper, senior vice president and general manager of
franchising at GNC, would prefer to know what the company's
franchisees are doing beforehand. If nothing else, he believes it
strengthens the relationship when franchisees are upfront about
what they want to experiment with. For example, franchisee Michael
Taylor brought the idea of a smoothie bar to GNC and, Cooper says,
"It's been an outstanding partnership."
As long as an idea fits with a system's vision, innovation
can work even at giant franchises. Three different franchisees came
up with the Big Mac, Egg McMuffin and Filet-O-Fish. And not all
McDonald's establishments look alike. In Orlando, Florida,
franchise owner Gary Oerther owns what is billed as "The
World's Largest Entertainment McDonald's," which
caters to families by boasting a 15,000-square-foot playground, a
video game arcade and a pizzeria.
Always About the
Customer
Taylor, 40, says he came up with his idea because he looks at his
store from the customer's perspective and asks, "How can I
make this store special?"
Cooper, who has rejected other franchisee ideas such as selling
athletic shoes, says Taylor's idea was appealing because
"the smoothie industry is a $1.2 billion industry, but
there's no real leader."
He expects 500 to 1,000 stores will eventually have smoothie
bars, and GNC is now aiming to open stand-alone smoothie bars,
selling blended drinks and 100 of the company's top-selling
supplements. "I tell Michael that our company can never repay
him," Cooper says, "to which he responds, 'Oh, yes,
you can.' "
In a way, GNC has. Besides owning three stores in Tuscaloosa and
Northport, Alabama, which collectively earn $1.4 million a year,
Taylor acts as a consultant, helping GNC make its bid at ruling the
smoothie market.
Navin Bhatia, 49, owns nine Valvoline Instant Oil Changes in San
Antonio, Texas, employs 90 people and brings in $6 million
annually. He has had not just one innovative masterstroke that
Valvoline has incorporated into other stores, but two. First was
Bhatia's "good, better, best" marketing strategy,
which differentiates each type of motor oil and includes
recommendations specific to the needs of each customer's car.
His second idea evolved into the Maximum Vehicle Performance (MVP)
program, which allows Valvoline employees to schedule services
based on the model of the car and the driver's traveling
habits.
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Go Ahead, Get
Creative!
The question remains: How can you be as innovative as Bhatia?
* Determine whether your store follows
your basic philosophy. The MVP program came about
because Bhatia wasn't comfortable with employees giving general
advice to customers. They started referring to an industry
publication, giving specific recommendations for customers'
cars. "We were doing what was good for their vehicles, not
necessarily what was good for our bottom line," he says.
Impressed with Bhatia's system, Valvoline headquarters
developed a computerized database to make specific auto-servicing
recommendations.
* Look for problems before they become
problems. Bhatia bought a formula for running a
business, but when meeting with managers, he asks, "How can we
enhance the system?"
* Don't forget that you once had a
life outside of franchising. Bhatia's "good,
better, best" marketing strategy was inspired by his former
job with American Express. Just as American Express users upgrade
to Gold, Platinum and Centurion cards, Valvoline customers get
grades of oil based on their cars' needs.
It's Your
Store
"There is a general misconception that franchisees are just
managers, but our success is 100 percent based on our ideas,"
explains Chris Taylor, who co-owns an Arlington, Texas, Fastsigns
location with his wife, Jean-Ann. The Taylors developed a marketing
magazine targeting apartment complexes; the franchisor later
adopted the Taylors' fresh idea for all its franchisees to
use.
"Creativity," says Jean-Ann, "is what separates
our store from other stores in the system. In that sense, we're
not all the same."
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Contact Cincinnati writer Geoff Williams at gwilliams1@cinci.rr.com.
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