July 2010
Franchising World

By John Francis 
  
The International Franchise Association’s Multi-Unit Franchise Best Practices Conference was a great opportunity in many ways. The conference focused on the “how-tos” and what’s next for franchisees looking to grow their business. I learned many tips and techniques that others have used to develop and expand. Topics I took home included ideas from financing, operations, people-development and working with the franchisor.
  
I learned about many new brands and systems looking to expand in my markets. I may be considering them for possible new brand development.
  
I learned about other existing multiunit brands and systems and how they’ve done it, and the challenges they’ve encountered and overcome, both from the franchisees and the franchisors. 
 
I met with owners of other multi-unit concepts and multi-brand franchisees. The discussion was open and easy, with many workshops and networking opportunities. We all shared and gained a lot more than we expected!
  
Having the ICSC’s RECon event in conjunction with the IFA conference allowed me to leverage my time and opportunities. I was able to set up appointments with retail location brokers, landlords and developers and city officials from markets in my area. This was an unexpected and added benefit of being there together with ICSC.
  
Next year I plan to schedule more time for the ICSC meetings, because the efficiency of working with multiple location possibilities all in one place, in person, with no extra travel or communication costs was a huge bonus. I was able to learn about new retail developments and vacancies that I will be considering for expansion of my area development for PostNet.  
  
I was also able to share ideas with landlords about ways to promote my PostNet brand in their vacancies that meet our criteria. We will be putting in signs that read: “This site approved for PostNet, call an 800 number for franchise information.” This way I can pull new franchisees from the local area by attracting them with great location opportunities for new stores, working through the landlords. 
  
The ICSC event allowed me to set this in motion with multiple landlords across Minnesota and Wisconsin all at one time–a fantastic benefit for my growth plans and efforts. I will definitely be putting more PostNet units on the map because of this connection and opportunity from the joint IFA-ICSC events.

John Francis is a PostNet franchisee of Minnesota and Wisconsin and a member of the IFA board of directors. He can be reached at 
JohnFrancis@PostNet.com  .