Parable Franchise Benefits Brochure

Franchise Benefits

A Love for Ministry

A Mind for Business

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Our Mission: To resoundingly impact the Kingdom of God by leading and equipping a team of Christian retail ministries to be successful, sought after havens of Christ’s love.

Why a National Brand?

A number of years ago a group of leading independent stores met to tackle the question—how will independents continue to survive and thrive? The outcome of that industry-wide meeting was three fold— develop a national brand, increase our margin and decrease our costs. And as a result, the Parable Franchise was developed to tackle these issues.

A national brand is crucial to the success of your business. It positions your store in the mind of the customer, saving them time and giving them confidence in the shopping experience. Consider your own interaction with national brands such as Ace Hardware or McDonalds— you know exactly what to expect for service, time and price. All this saves you time in deciding where to shop and provides you with a confidence in your shopping experience. A national brand also differentiates your store from others. Let’s say you arrange to meet a friend for coffee in a strange city. Would you meet at the independent no-name coffee shop or Starbucks? You are most likely to choose Starbucks because you are familiar with the service, products and atmosphere, and trust the brand. Your brand is more than just a name.

Another major benefit you have as a franchise store is the ability vendors have to promote us. For example, Zondervan cannot list each of our store names in a national ad, but they can easily promote the Parable brand which allows the customer to easily identify you and your stores as part of that brand. In this market environment, it is almost impossible to build a successful independent business with the necessary investment in e-commerce, promotional material, the consumer experience, technology systems and inventory mix without the resources of independents working together under a national brand.

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Parable | Your National Brand Power Today you are part of a well-respected and recognized national brand. And the strength we have together in Parable Franchising gives you specific benefits you wouldn’t have on your own.

• National brand advertising • Cost-savings • Professional merchandising • Inventory assistance • Digital marketing • Business systems and standards • Vision and continuing development • Expert training • Partnerships with vendors and other Christian retailers

National Brand Benefit On your behalf, resources from the Parable Brand Marketing Fund are used to create coordinated brand promotions. In the last year, Brand Marketing Fund advertising campaigns have yielded millions of impressions for all Parable Franchise stores!

2009 Christmas TV Commercial

Parable Branded Billboard

In addition to these campaigns, we actively promote the brand by: • Sending 298,000 e-mails per month • Mailing over 5.9 million print pieces in 2009 • Hosting Parable.com, your e-commerce website • Nurturing vendor relationships • Acquiring new customers and reactivating inactive customers Because you have joined hands with us and other franchise stores, we can do so much more together.

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Parable | The Bottom Line Margin Benefits Preserving your margin on products is important to all of us. We work with vendors on your behalf to create programs that get you the best margin on the best products, so you and your store can thrive. Here is some great news: • In 2009, our print promotions gave you an average 39% margin - and that’s including sale-priced products! Margin varies by store.

• Our partnership with Ingram Entertainment allows you to offer Dove Approved family DVDs at sale prices while maintaining an average margin of 40% for your store.

• You get special terms with 13 preferred gift companies.* • Parable Essential Inventory is now a franchise-only program that gives you discounts on everyday orders and stock-up specials.* In 2009, Parable stores received over $87,000 in pass-through discounts by being part of the PEI program.

• The new Frontlist Buying Service program saves you time and money.

*See MemberNET for complete list

Outside Vendor Cost-Saving Benefits As a franchise group, we can negotiate lower rates and fees on a variety of programs and services with outside vendors — saving you money! You currently receive discounts with the companies listed below…and the list is always growing.

• Six & Geving Insurance

• When-to-Work scheduling software

• Credit card processing

• Bookstore Manager Program pricing

• CBA membership

• Christian Buying Network

• Leading From Your Strengths evaluations

• Intuit (Quickbooks) software

When you take advantage of these special deals, you add to your bottom line and free up resources to do even more with your store.

Merchandising Benefits Helping customers find life-changing products is the life-blood of your store. With professionally-designed promotional POP kits and franchise-only merchandising programs, you can easily transform your store into your top “salesperson.” Unique to franchise stores are: • Study Bible Display unit and signage • Church Supply signage • Bible Department merchandising plan • Feature Tower Design and signage • Department signs

Bible Department and Study Bible Display Unit

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Inventory Assistance Benefits One of the most essential parts of your business is managing your inventory well. With the right inventory on-hand, you can impact your sales and your cash flow. Take advantage of franchise benefits like inventory programs and store-specific analysis in easy-to-use reports to create a purchasing strategy that fits your store.

• Parable Essential Inventory • Frontlist Buying Service • Suggested Returns Report

Digital Marketing Benefits Parable.com Consumers today do more product research online than ever before. Our 2009 Tell Us About Us survey found that 60% of your in-store customers who recently visited Parable.com, used it to research products before coming in to buy. Parable.com is your professional e-commerce retail site, and in today’s market you can’t survive without it. With 5.1 million page views in 2009, the site is consistently updated with customer reviews, product descriptions, videos, chapter excerpts and song clips.

In addition, there are consumer resources like the Bible Buying Guide and church resources like the VBS Workshop. We have also made strides to co-brand your website and make your specific store information easily accessible. You can even post event information and staff photos.

Weekly E-mails Between 2-5 times per month a traffic-driving e-mail is sent to your entire e-mail list.

These e-mails promote what’s new, what’s hot and what’s on sale. And most importantly, they drive customers to your store.

Parable.com

Targeted E-mails These e-mails produce a higher response rate because they are sent to a very specific list of customers based on their past purchasing history. These customers are more likely to be interested in and purchase the products promoted in these targeted e-mails.

Social Media In the last year, we have joined the social media trend to promote the Parable brand and your franchise store. Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are great ways to get the message out about new products and content from authors and artists. This is an additional way to connect with your customers. We highly recommend that you create a Facebook page unique to your store with your address, hours, product specials, store and staff photos, videos and events.

Targeted E-mail

Digital Marketing is a necessary avenue for interacting with your customers. Take proactive steps in this area and you are sure to see results.

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Parable | Your Business Systems & Development Business Systems & Standards Benefits When you lease the Parable Franchise brand, you can rest assured you are part of a group of like-minded independents who want to succeed in our mission to the glory of God. We have done the research to give you systems that will benefit your business and save you time and money wherever possible.

• Best Practices Manual • MemberNET and Dashboard for Franchisees • ComParable Report/Financial metrics • Store layout and design standards • Brand standards • Department and category standards • Quality store check lists

MemberNET Dashboard for Franchisees

Vision & Development Benefits With Parable Franchising, we continually develop new programs and improve existing ones to give you a competitive edge. Listed below are programs we have recently implemented or are coming in the near future.

• E-mail marketing • Parable.com e-commerce improvements • Online product reviews • Promotion and staff training • Store layout and design • POS integration • New gift card program (coming soon) • Vendor standards (coming soon) • Electronic Data Interchange (coming soon) Store Layout Example

Parable understands the importance of always developing these systems, standards and new programs for your store.

These are necessary for you to stay aggressive and ahead of the curve in today’s retail environment.

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Training & Support Benefits Parable Franchising is about working together to help make the most of your business. Parable offers expert training for you and your staff and provides a network of support. At almost any moment, you can get the help you need through: • In-store visits from coaches • Monthly webinars • Annual Franchise Meeting • Regional store meetings • One-on-one phone calls with staff experts • Online training We understand the daily challenges you face running your store.

With these tools you can take control and get the support you need.

2009 Annual Franchise Meeting

Partnership Benefits As a well-respected group of franchisees, we have the ability to create partnerships to develop special projects. From promoting the brand in new ways to selling unique products, these partnerships bring value to your store. Some of the recent partnerships are: • Women of Faith promotion

• Publisher programs (i.e. Singer jewelry branding)

• Catholic.org

• Vendor-sponsored digital marketing

Parable Membership Benefits In addition to the many advantages you have as a Parable Franchise store, you receive all the benefits of a member store, and so much more!

• Strategic catalogs and flyers throughout the year • Targeted mailing strategy • Full year of Promotional POP kits • Info-On-Hold • Online training • Special events • Promotion Stocking Report • Top 25 Bestseller Stock Status Report • 80/20 Report

Flyer Cover

In-store Window Poster

In-store Endcap

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Get the Best of Both Worlds The Parable Franchise combines the strengths of a national chain and a locally-owned independent store, so you get the best of both worlds and a winning strategy.

Locally-owned, independent store strengths:

Chain store strengths: • National brand for consumer trust and recognition

• Personal calling to be good stewards of what the Lord has given you

• Vendor partnerships and buying power to improve margins and terms

• Desire to serve and impact your community for Christ

• Advanced technology and research and development to stay ahead of the digital curve

• Dedication and a will-to-succeed produce a work ethic like no other

• Proven operations and financial business systems

• One-on-one sales floor interaction creates relationship-selling at its best

• Professional advertising and promotions for maximum consumer impact • Training to keep retailers in top form

• Relationships with church leaders and others in the community that give a “face” to your store • A passion and personal stake in growing the Kingdom by being part of the very fabric of the local Christian community

You and your store reap the benefits of this marriage between the two strength sets that form Parable Franchising. Individual stores can’t accomplish all this on their own. But together you can take advantage of the many benefits you get just by being a part of the bigger whole.

A Love for Ministry...A Mind for Business Christian retail requires both a love for ministry and a mind for business. With professional solutions in the key areas of marketing, merchandising and operations, working with Parable can help you succeed.

Ask us how we can partner together to use these valuable tools to make your business even better.

For more information contact: John Strifler

Steve Adams

Parable Franchise Coach

Parable Franchise Coach

(800) 366-6031, ext. 587 john.strifler@parable.com

(800) 366-6031, ext. 588 steve.adams@parable.com

3563 Empleo St. • San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 (800) 366-6031 www.parablefranchise.com ©2010 The Parable Group

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