This month, I had the opportunity to attend the Franchise Leadership and Development Conference (FLDC) in Atlanta, Georgia. For those of you who aren’t familiar, FLDC is an annual conference where franchise executives gather to find inspiration, ideas, and guidance from one another to better their business and grow within the space. My inner fran dev loving Fishie was eager to sit in on different sessions, listen to keynote speakers, and connect with some amazing clients and leaders in the franchise space. After three days of interesting conversations, great insight, (and lots of good food), I wanted to share just some of my many takeaways from the conference:
- Get personal. Whether it’s between franchisees and franchisors, internal teams, or even us PR pros that work with those in the space – good results stem from good relationships. In order to form them, make sure to connect with those you work with on a personal level – not only will it form a sense of trust and understanding, but will also help accomplish your goals as a team.
- Challenge your teams. In order to grow, you have to be challenged. Look at what your goals are – not just from a brand or team perspective, but a personal perspective as well. Then, determine your strengths and weaknesses, and do the same for those around you. From there, you can pinpoint areas to improve, and challenge yourself, and others, to handle things they may not typically be comfortable with. In dealing with the uncomfortable, you’ll push yourself and others, leading to personal development on a whole new scale – which in turn, strengthens your team.
- Know your purpose. In franchising, it’s extremely important for potential investors, consumers, and anyone else to truly understand what your brand is. Brand values, culture, strengths, and everything in between. No matter what you’re doing, it’s important to have a full understanding of what your true purpose is.
- Understand your audience. Identifying your key audience demographic is key when attempting to resonate with both franchisees and consumers. Is your brand concept niche, or more general? Where are you within your brand evolution? What’s important to you? Answering these questions will help you find and connect with the right people.
