Signed an engagement with a guy who owns 4 Subway franchise locations in the Pensacola area served by Gulf Power. The utility accounts are in his name as the franchisee so the LOA was straightforward. But now he wants me to pitch the same service to his regional franchise group — about 30 locations across the panhandle owned by different franchisees under the same regional developer. Can the regional developer sign one LOA covering all 30 locations or does each individual franchisee have to sign separately?
Handling LOAs when your client is a franchisee not the franchisor
Each franchisee has to sign individually since they're separate legal entities with separate utility accounts. The regional developer might have influence but they don't have legal authority over each franchisee's utility account. I did a similar engagement with a group of Burger King franchisees in Georgia. The regional developer made introductions and encouraged participation but I still needed individual LOAs from each owner. The good news is if you find savings at the first few locations, the rest sign up fast because word travels in franchise groups.
Lee's right about each needing to sign. But here's a workflow tip — create a packet with a cover letter from the regional developer endorsing the audit program, a one-page summary of what you found at the first few locations, and a pre-filled LOA where each franchisee just needs to add their account numbers and sign. Make it as easy as possible. I did this with a pizza franchise group in Jacksonville and got 22 out of 28 franchisees to sign up within two weeks.
Franchise groups are excellent clients because the locations tend to have similar usage patterns and the same utility, which means findings at one location often apply across multiple locations. Rob's packet approach is smart — reduce the friction for each individual franchisee. Once you have a template and a success story from the group, each subsequent signup gets easier.