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Volume 4, Issue 36
Kwik Clip!
One Team! One Mission! Helping Franchisees Break Barriers to Success
Dramatic jet fighter footage, high energy music, and audience interaction are just a few of the ways that Lt. Col. Rob “Waldo” Waldman captivates his franchise audiences. Both franchisee and franchisor teams walk away with tools and techniques to promote a system culture rooted in accountability, preparation, teamwork, and trust. And what franchise system wouldn’t want more of any of those elements?!
Waldo Waldman’s “Never Fly Solo”
Kwik Tip
Pushing It Up! – Lt. Col. Rob “Waldo” Waldman
I don’t believe for a second that success is just about self–motivation. If that were all it took, all any of us would ever need is a little pep rally now and again and we’d soar to the stars. But after all the rah-rahs and the warm feelings wear off, it’s ultimately about action. When you strap into your jet, you have to push up the throttle and then release the brakes to take off.
The World Rewards Performance, Not Philosophy!
“Push It Up!” is about resolve combined with actions. It means that you:
- Put forth consistent, maximum effort.
- Discipline yourself to take action every day.
- Stay focused (despite the missiles) until the mission is complete.
- Face adversity with courage.
- Know when to ask for help.
“Push it up!” is that one more sales call you make before you leave the office, and that extra hour of preparation before your team meeting. It’s that extra rep you do in the gym, and the investment you make in attending a personal development seminar. “Push it up!” is the things you do behind the scenes that your customers, front-line staff, fellow franchisees, and franchisor never see. It is creating your future in your mind and then taking decisive action to make it happen.
“Push it up!” is resisting the temptation to ease up, get complacent, and pull back the throttle when you get tired, the going gets tough, or the fears and anxieties creep in. It’s about being fully accountable for the results you get.
Check out this video with Waldo and Katrina, Pushing It Up!
Kwik Query
Do you use an outside meeting planner to help create a fabulous franchise convention?
Please share!
Partner Post
In conversations with our franchisor clients, we are we are frequently asked when might be the right time to engage a third party event management firm. One of our valued partners, Actio Marketing recently posted a great article about just this topic and we thought it well worth sharing. Actio’s extensive experience working with many franchise and dealer brands including Choice Hotels, Overhead Door, Invisible Fence, and Oxi Fresh give them great insight into how to: create an exceptional experience for franchisees; decrease stress on existing franchisor staff; and ultimately measure the impact and effectiveness of the event. Here’s what the pros at Actio have to say about when is the right time to outsource your franchise event…
Is A Third Party Event Management Firm Worth the Cost? (Hint: Not Always)
By: Stacey Ruth, Co-Founder, Actio Marketing
When a third party agency like Actio Marketing answers the question about the value of their cost, you might assume the answer would always be yes. But the correct answer is – it depends.
Organizations that are just launching large-scale events can resemble a start-up company advertising for the first time. They don’t have ready financial resources to pay agency fees – even if they believe it will improve the results. It is a cart and horse conundrum.
Unlike advertising agencies, however, there is a certain point in the growth of an organization, and its highest profile events, where the expense for an event firm’s services actually reduce costs. The key is knowing when that point is reached – and what the cost/value formula should look like.
Whether your organization is already using an outside event partner, or wondering if you should for the first time, here are some straight-forward, simple considerations to make your decision one you feel confident about:
1. Are you already using free resources? As much as most organizations do not believe it – third party venue sourcing does not add any cost to your bottom line. Hotels pay commission fees that do not hit your budget as hidden costs, and are paid at the same rate, regardless of the venue, thus avoiding favoritism. It also means your contracts reflect the maximum amount of concessions and savings possible for your group.
2. Is your event growing? As your audience grows, so does the role of event manager. Outside resources, quite simply, help you do more, and faster.
3. Are you experiencing unexpected challenges? Speakers and entertainment that don’t live up to their videos, food and audio visual costs you didn’t anticipate, glaring errors on a supplier’s part – all are avoidable using the expertise of an event professional that saves both stress and waste.
4. Are you spending enough time interfacing with your customers (attendees) both before and during the event? If your staff is consumed in the planning and execution of the event, and not able to either perform their daily functions or be the hosts to attendees, then you are both stressing your system, and leaving your attendees feeling slightly under-appreciated. The cost of this grows as your audience size increases.
5. Does anyone responsible for planning your meetings/conferences have venue, menu planning, entertainment, speaker and audio visual contract negotiation background? Substantial cost-savings exist in each of these categories, and they are not about “beating up” your suppliers. In fact, most cost-savings also make life easier for the suppliers on your event. Simple things like travel buyouts, switching from buffet to plated meals – all have noticeable impact that increases as the audience size increases.
6. Have you shopped your event? Shopping your event through an RFP process helps you get clarity on what others like yourself are typically doing, what agencies charge for their services (there can be a lot of variation) and get ideas for a fresh approach. We are not suggesting you shop for creative this way, but that you gain a clearer understanding of agency rates and strengths.
7. Do you know the business impact of your event? Companies that measure the dollar impact of an event for their bottom line are more likely to embrace outside resources to help them than companies that perceive the event as a necessary action but with intangible impact.
In summary, the time to engage an outside event firm is when you already know your event, and have a handle on what is and is not working. Leverage a firm with a proven track record of success and their expertise to improve the process as well as your bottom line.
Many great nuggets in this article that we’ll surely be passing along. Hope you find it useful!
More soon…
Katrina
Katrina Mitchell
Want to connect for a quick brainstorming call about creating a ‘WOW!’ Convention for your franchisees? Click here to schedule 15 minutes to chat! https://www.timetrade.com/book/HDGLR
Chief Match Maker
SPEAK!
Franchise Speakers That Deliver!
We know the Franchise World.
It’s all we do.
720-304-3710
303-669-9905 Cell
katrinalmitchell (skype)
Published on Wednesday, September 17, 2014
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Get the checklist for choosing the right franchise speaker here!
What Clients Say About Waldo!
“Lt. Col. Waldman completely exceeded our expectations. We were familiar with his work and, based on previous testimonials, expected him to deliver a good message. Needless to say, he not only delivered an outstanding message, but he also delivered a great experience for our leaders. Waldo received one of the highest scores on our post event survey. He kept the audience engaged throughout his entire presentation. Waldo definitely motivated our leaders to “push it up” and take their leadership to higher levels. It is with great pleasure and confidence that I recommend Lt. Col. Rob “Waldo” Waldman as a keynote motivational speaker. His ability to motivate and inspire any audience is undeniable. We are happy to have had the pleasure of working with him and look forward to working with him again in the future.”
Andrea Balanta, Sr. Marketing Analyst
Verizon
“Lt Col Rob “Waldo” Waldman was the keynote speaker for our annual leadership conference in April 2014. Having watched over 100 motivational speakers in my career in human resources, I can honestly say he is the best I’ve ever seen. With his military service as a fighter pilot and business experience, he speaks first-hand about the importance of your wingmen – the unsung heroes in your personal and professional life. His message: Commit to your values, prepare relentlessly, encourage and connect with your teams, build trusted relationships through service, and take courageous action. It is with my highest regard that I recommend Waldo as a speaker at your organization’s next event. Hire the best … he’s worth every penny.”
Debra L. Punke Senior Vice President of Human Resources
Concord Hospitality Enterprises Company
“Waldo was the perfect speaker to kick things off, as his blend of humor and encouragement helped get our group engaged and excited. I was very impressed with the amount of research Waldo did ahead of time in preparing for our convention, making sure he understood our audience and their motivation for attending the event. His stories were relatable and thought-provoking, and I found myself captivated by the overall presentation.”
Peter Taunton, Founder/CEO
Snap Fitness
“We booked Waldo for our annual franchise summit where our theme was centered on leadership. Waldo spent several hours with us on the phone in the weeks prior to the summit to ensure he understood our business and our desired message. He even went to one of our Sub Shops to get the “Lenny’s Experience” first hand. As our closing speaker, his powerful, compelling and Lenny’s customized presentation resonated with all of our franchisees and corporate staff.”
George Alvord, CEO
Lenny’s Sub Shop
What Our Clients Say About Us!
“Working with SPEAK! is an absolute pleasure in every way. They listen carefully and provide the perfect solutions to meet our learning objectives, timing and budget. We consider Katrina and the entire SPEAK! team a valued partner in helping us help our franchisees succeed. If you are a franchisor and are not working with SPEAK!, you should be!every way. They listen carefully and provide the perfect solutions to meet our learning objectives, timing and budget. We consider Katrina and the entire SPEAK! team a valued partner in helping us help our franchisees succeed. If you are a franchisor and are not working with SPEAK!, you should be!”
Heather Lane, VP of Training and Development, FOCUS Brands
“SPEAK!’s expertise really shines through. For the third year in a row, we put our trust in Katrina’s knowledge of great franchise speakers and successful franchise conventions. That expertise coupled with her knowledge and understanding of our culture and our brand really paid off. I can’t think of anything they could have done better!”
Rob Weddle, COO
The Cleaning Authority
“SPEAK! has helped us hit a home run with our annual franchise Reunion speakers three years in a row! They helped me move quickly to find the perfect speaker and kept us on track through the entire process. We rely on SPEAK! as a trusted partner in helping us create a great experience for our franchisees and I really appreciate that we don’t have to worry about the speaker element of our event in any way – from overall fit, to preparedness, to seamless management of the logistical details, SPEAK! nails it for us every time!”
Alex Bingham, Senior VP Operations
The Little Gym International
“When I make an investment in a speaker, we get one shot; it’s a sizable investment in what could be a HUGE miss. As it turns out, working with SPEAK! was one of the best decision of my professional career! Katrina’s guidance and expertise took the guesswork out of the process, and ensured that my investment was a HUGE HIT instead. The value the speakers brought to the conference was incredible. Almost all of our franchisees came up to us and said, “This is by far the best conference we have ever had!” and they are a pretty discerning bunch. There isn’t anything SPEAK! could have done better – and we’re already looking forward to working with them next year!”
Allan Young, CEO, ShelfGenie Franchise Systems, LLC
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Franchise Speakers