June 2010
Franchising World
By Meredith Nethercutt 
The International Franchise Association extends a challenge to its franchisors: do you have educated, politically-active franchisees in your system who would serve as good representatives in IFA’s Franchise Congress initiative?
  
As you are probably aware, IFA has launched an elite advocacy program known as Franchise Congress, which will host active and educated franchise   members to create and build relationships with their members of Congress, as well as serve as key contacts on the association’s target issues. While it is not a huge time commitment compared to running a business, which is incredibly consuming, the program does encourage participants to create and cultivate a relationship with their elected officials throughout the year.  
  
Currently hosting more than 180 leaders in more than 35 states, Franchise Congress has established an essential foundation of franchisor, franchisee and supplier contacts across the United States. Strong recruitment efforts from franchise systems such as ServiceMaster, Tasti D-Lite and Driven Brands, Inc. have provided a direct boost in enlisting franchisees to the Franchise Congress program. These franchisors have not only passed along several names of qualified franchisee members, but also sent “head’s up” e-mails alerting their recruits and promoting the program.
  
Peer-to-peer recruitment is often the most powerful and effective method when building a widespread and reliable advocacy network. Much like fundraising for political campaigns, and for IFA’s political action committee, FranPAC, business leaders reaching out to a handful of fellow business leaders carries a lot of weight, and gives immediate validation to the program through executive support.
  
While IFA staff is continually reaching out to potential Franchise Congress candidates, our franchisor leaders are much more involved back home and within their brands, and have a strong feel for which of their fellow franchisors and franchisees could be assets to the initiative. If every franchisor passed along five contacts who would be reliable leaders in the Franchise Congress, imagine how many of our targeted 435 congressional districts we could cover. 
  
In its recruitment of new members, IFA is looking for anyone in the franchise community who is interested in cultivating and maintaining a relationship with their member(s) of Congress, as well as making contact on key franchise issues. Do you know anyone who has a personal relationship with a member of Congress? Are any of your franchisees comfortable speaking on behalf of the franchising industry on issues like health-care reform, union card-check and access to credit for small businesses? Would they be willing to invite their member of Congress to come to their franchise for a site visit? Are they involved in local or national election activities?
  
To see if you have any current Franchise Congress members from your brand, or to obtain additional information on the program’s requirements, contact me at 
mnethercutt@franchise.org  .
  
Franchise Congress is off to a fantastic start and has a very solid foundation but, as always, there is room to grow. Pick up the phone, send an e-mail, or pass along some names for this incredibly powerful key contact program. It doesn’t take much time, but can have an impressive effect.

Meredith Nethercutt is director of advocacy for the International Franchise Association. She can be reached at 202-662-0760 or 
mnethercutt@franchise.org  .