A few years ago I was working as a CEO across 3 x organisations concurrently. It was an interesting time for sure !
One of the issues one of these companies was facing was its business brand not being embraced by Licensees who were located in various parts of New Zealand. The owners of this company were doing a good job of developing a professional brand image, but the people in the field (i.e. the Licensees) were not embracing the brand direction being mapped-out by the owners. Why was this the case ?
Largely it was because the License Agreement that was in place called for the Licensee to do this, that and the other thing in order to help build the company’s business brand and its transaction volumes, yet none of these efforts would ultimately benefit the Licensee when the time came to sell their business interests in the company because the company was the only party that was authorised to set the price for the business interests of the Licensee, for the Licencee’s interests to transfer to an incoming new Licensee.
The Licensees (rightfully) argued that they should, because of their devotion to helping build the business brand over whatever time-frame, have the opportunity under the License Agreement to set (in conjunction with the company owners) the price at which their business interests are offered to buyer prospects. Such a price would recognise and reflect the goodwill and brand awareness that the exiting Licensee had developed among customers in the region that they operated in.
This adjustment to the License Agreement was very well received by the Licensees. It also served to engender a sense of closer bond (tighter working relationship) between the Licensees and the company owners.
A good reminder of the power of “inclusivity” in an organisation !