A legend says: Marketing is only effective if franchisees buy-in

Most franchisors have suffered the fate of creating a detailed and imaginative marketing plan that a fragment of franchisees won’t follow. Be it deemed too costly, crazy, time consuming just plain off target, franchisees bucking the system say some facet of the directive doesn’t fit their audience and they don’t comply—and franchisors get steamed. John Y. Brown, Jr. admits he faced little franchisee pushback when he was president of Kentucky Fried Chicken from 1964 to 1973. The product was red hot, there was little competition in the market and any package bearing the Colonel’s famous chicken sold as fast as operators could make it. But as the company matured, sales leveled out and it extended its lineup to include side dishes designed to drive incremental sales, the chicken cookers demurred claiming “customers don’t want (fill in the blank)” and “we aren’t spending the money to advertise it.” “Oh, there was hell to pay if they thought we were wasting their money,” said Brown, who, after leading KFC’s growth from 600 to 3,500 units in nine years, founded the Kenny Roger’s Roasters chain. At 76 years old, he still invests privately in restaurant companies and leads seminars on restaurant leadership. “The way we learned to convince them we were right was to show sales numbers of those items. We had enough corporate stores back then to demonstrate to them that the investment in marketing whatever it was—corn on the cob, sandwiches, whatever we were trying—was smart. But we had to prove it. We couldn’t just tell them and expect them to play along.” Brown admits it was tempting to threaten franchisees of his chains with non-compliance if they didn’t follow the marketing plan, but he knew force was not the best way to lever franchisees in the direction his company needed them to go. “It’s Lincoln’s gall and honey saying all over again,” said Brown, referring to President Abraham Lincoln’s advice on attracting more flies with honey than gall. Brown knew what Lincoln was talking about: Not only did he become governor of his home state of Kentucky from 1979 to 1983, he owned all or part of two professional basketball teams, whose players always required delicate management. “You’ve got to help them see what’s in it for them, not just that ‘You have to do this!’” he said. “With franchisees who have money on the line—not to mention the business smarts to know what they’re talking about—you have to make it a win for everybody.” Some pointers from Brown:

• Talk dollars and cents, not “contract compliance.” Say, in essence, you spend this to effect this plan, you net this result. “Don’t just say, ‘Do it!’” he said.
• Show the company believes in it also by being highly supportive with ideas, materials and alternative strategies. Lean on corporate and other franchisee store successes as proof.
• When a franchise company’s unit count is large enough, have a franchisee-centered marketing committee that gets to have its say in all marketing efforts.
• Show you’re listening to franchisee input. Even if it’s off track, at least demonstrate an open mind.
• Produce campaigns that are truly unusual and exciting. “If it’s not something that a franchisee doesn’t stand up and say, ‘I’d buy that!’ what makes you think their customer would?” Brown said.

In choosing future franchisees, show proven marketing successes—alongside the company’s rules that it expects one voice as a brand. “Human beings are individuals, and when we built Kentucky Fried Chicken, we had a lot of different types with different ideas of how to get it done,” Brown recalled. “But for us to be able to open up 864 stores in 1968, we all had to be on the same page. … That wasn’t that hard to do since we were all excited about the product. It’s easy to get people to market your way when they’re that excited.” by Steve Coomes