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by Stephen Parezo

Al French

January 15, 2007—Fiducial held its first ever Town Meeting last week via an online teleconference where company staff and franchisees had a chance to talk about some key business matters.

“It’s our vision to build a stronger relationship with our franchisees and discuss open issues and questions that they have,” said Al French, a franchise relations manager for Fiducial.

The 45-minute event went off smoothly with participants being able to dial into the meeting after entering an access code. They could even join the meeting from their cell phone.

French noted that the meeting was a positive step to foster the kind of relations Fiducial needs to have with its franchisees as long as questions are asked and issues are raised in a professional manner.

“If you’ve got a concern, the only way to do that it is to put it on the table,” he said.

Larry Recor, a franchisee with upstate New York offices in Boonville, Old Forge and Utica, commented on the interaction that occurred between franchisees and franchisor representatives.

“It’s essential to keep the communication going so that peoples’ concerns get addressed,” said Recor. “Those are the kinds of things that are important.”

Franchise relations manager Roger Bierman found the online vehicle a handy way to get a large group of people together at a designated time.

Staying in the loop

Roger Bierman

“I prefer face-to-face meetings and ones that you can see the expression on people’s faces,” said Bierman, “but the next best thing are functions like this one where we can still get together at a particular time to discuss issues even though the meeting won’t always bring resolution. It gives us time to work on issues that are important to us all.”

By holding the Town Meeting on the Web, franchisees weren’t taken away from their businesses.

“We can use email to update them so it keeps them in the office and allows them to get the job done and stay in the loop,” Bierman said. “This also brings the expertise to the room, so to speak, to get questions answered.”

Jim Crisafulli dialed in from his franchise office in Woonsocket, RI. He thought the intent of the meeting was good but it was tough to fit it into his schedule since tax season is starting to pick up.

Bob West

“A meeting like this in May, August or November would be fine but in January through April there should be a light agenda for any of these types of things,” said Crisafulli. “I hope they continue with it.”

Bob West, a Fiducial franchisee in Annapolis, MD, summed up his take on the meeting by saying it’s a good start as far as the relationship between the franchisee and franchisor is concerned.

“I don’t think you need it monthly but a few times each year would be fine,” said West. “Some people simply can’t get to the [annual] convention so this gives you an opportunity to ask some specific questions and get some specific answers.”

In an effort to continue the dialogue until the next meeting, Fiducial has established a new email address for attendees: townmeeting@fiducial.com.

Stephen Parezo is the Media Manager for Fiducial.

Whatever your small business needs, your Fiducial tax and financial professional can analyze your situation and recommend an appropriate action plan. To locate a Fiducial office nearest you on fiducial.com, see the Zip Code Locator located in the upper right hand corner of the page. Do you have a particular topic that we should be writing about that can help your business? Please send your suggestions to: stephen.parezo@fiducial.com.

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