Franchise Update Magazine Issue II, 2016 | Page 66

GROWING YOUR SYSTEM

It’s closing time
Give Back, Get Back
3 tales of community involvement

C

BY STEVE OLSON

onsumer marketing executives
are fiercely challenged to help
franchisees attract and capture
new customers. Spinning in a world of
ever-changing technology, CMOs are
bombarded by countless digitized and
traditional lead generation choices. Even
legacy brands are waking up at night, no
longer able to assume customer loyalty
simply because of their household names.
What’s the answer? What’s today’s best
roadmap to drive and capture more brand
fans? To shed light on this, let’s see how
three successful CEOs are riding the path
of grassroots engagement and customer
appreciation in their communities.
• Tony Lamb, CEO of Kona Ice.
“We are truly proud of our year-round
community outreach programs, which
to date have generated $35 million to
help those in need,” says Lamb. What’s
unusual about this giveback program is
that participation is voluntary, yet all
of Kona’s 170 franchisees and corporate employees contribute. This is quite
impressive, but there’s more. “What
our people individually donate is their
decision. They choose their cause and
how they want to personally contribute,
which makes pledging more meaningful.”
Examples include providing funds to
build a church playground center and to
remodel a school’s football press box. The
company’s website has an entire web page
devoted to its giveback programs, and its
home page features the “Million Dollar
Giveback,” with a continually growing
tally of how much money the company
has raised for local communities and
organizations since 2007. Kona Ice also
provides free product to its customers
six times a year, just another way to say
thank-you for supporting their business.
Each year Kona Ice hosts a social media contest for its fans with $2,500 prize
money for the winner. Local franchisees
attend and a professional video crew
travels to the award-winning customer
to capture the ceremonial event. With

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all these types of customer engagement,
it’s no surprise to learn that Tony’s former life was CEO of a marketing and
consulting firm for major corporations.
Tony’s consumer trend alert: As a treat
company, we must continue to be culturally aware of nutrition-sensitive products for the health and well-being of the
customer audiences we serve.
• Jeff Bevis, CEO of FirstLight
HomeCare. “My 98-year-old mother
wants to go meet her sister in Amsterdam. Can you make this happen?” asked
a recent customer. “Yes we can,” assured
Jeff. “Our travel home care program is a
special service we offer our clients and
their families. Clients now have greater
freedom and mobility to enjoy their
world.” This new program, which has
been gaining popularity, was initially
introduced by one of his franchises.
“We really support our travel companion program,” says Bevis. FirstLight’s
innovative program allows seniors, family
members, and friends who need assistance to enjoy the activities, sights, and
experiences of being with their children, parents, moms, dads, and friends.
All this is made possible because of the
help and care their traveling professional
caregivers provide. “Everyone wins:
our clients, franchisees, caregivers, and
even the travel agency we use to offer
this service.”
FirstLight’s success starts with its focus
on operational excellence and riveting
attention to performance metrics. “Your
level of training performance, recruiting, customer satisfaction, and other
key indicators affects the strength of
your client referrals, loyalty, and brand
growth,” he says. “You cannot improve
what you don’t measure!”
Jeff’s consumer trend alert: To keep
ahead of the curve, we have to position
ourselves through mobile apps, phones,
and other communication devices that
enhance and capture the engagement
of our audiences.

• MJ Riva, CEO of Pizza Factory.
“Customer marketing is so much more
than just what you serve,” says Mary Jane
“MJ” Riva, CEO and 25-year franchisee of Pizza Factory. “We get awesome
reviews for our food, which is an absolute must in our highly crowded space.”
Welcome to hometown Americana,
where thousands of daily customers
stroll into Pizza Factory restaurants.
Customers are the fabric of the Pizza
Factory brand, which serves smaller
communities throughout the western
states. Grassroots marketing is the DNA
of their 31 years of business success.
“Unlike many brands, we must know
our customers by name. They choose
to live away from the hustle and bustle
of big cities. Our restaurants serve as a
community center for their families to
enjoy,” says Riva.
Local sports team photos are prominently displayed on their walls. The
brand’s No Bully Zone programs are
promoted throughout local school systems. All vets receive free meals on Veterans Day. Ongoing promotions include
delivering free pizzas up into the grandstands for lucky ticket winners, and the
annual Willow Creek Bigfoot Parade
in Northern California, attended by
thousands, is co-sponsored by the local
Pizza Factory.
Just because the brand caters to small
communities doesn’t mean it has limited
itself in terms of technological advances.
Pizza Factory has continually stayed
ahead of the marketing curve with text
and email clubs, loyalty programs, online
ordering, and more. “We have seen very
encouraging increases to our average
ticket through implementation of our
online ordering system,” she says. “We
are constantly on the lookout for new
marketing opportunities that will help
us stay ahead of our competition and
front of mind for our loyal customers.”
MJ’s consumer trend alert: Technology
is the game changer requiring all of us
to continually step up our programs, or
we’ll fall behind the race. n
Steve Olson is a 30-year franchise development veteran and author of the #1 Amazon
best-seller, Grow to Greatness: How to Build
a World-Class Franchise System Faster, available at www.growtogreatness.net. He can
be reached at OlsonandAssociates.com.

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