Emerging Franchisor Conference

Everyone makes mistakes. Some learn from those mistakes and go on to tremendous success as a result. This panel of accomplished franchise executives will set their egos aside for this session and talk about the mistakes they made and how they overcame them; so you don’t have to learn the hard way. 

Moderator: David Barr, Chairman, PMTD Restaurants; Managing Director, Franworth; IFA Chair of the Board
Speakers: Jeremy Morgan, CEO, WellBiz Brands, Inc.; Bob Ritter, EVP, Operations, Frisch's Restaurants, Inc.; Steve White, President & COO, PuroClean, Inc

Come to this session with the top 2-3 “burning issues” or top challenges you face at your business. Attendees, seated around roundtables, brainstorm solutions, share best practices and ideas to address these challenges. Each table is facilitated by an experienced franchisor C-Suite executive. These potential solutions are reported out to the group live.

Join us for an intimate fireside chat led by conference emcee, Susan Beth, as she interviews Beth Laird, Co-Founder & CEO of Creative Nation; a music publishing, management and record company located in Nashville. Beth will share her journey in launching and building a brand as well as her experiences as a female CEO in the music industry.  What is her recipe for building an effective team? How does Beth build strong relationships between Creative Nation and her singer/songwriters? In this candid Q&A, Beth will also discuss insights on the importance of enlisting the right clients and how each one impacts the company culture. Sounds a lot like running a successful franchise operation? Well, it is! To top it off, Beth will share some fun facts about the Nashville music scene. This will be a unique and enlightening session you don’t want to miss!
 
Moderator: Susan Beth, COO, NRD Capital
Speaker: Beth Laird, Co-Founder & CEO, Creative Nation; a music publishing, management and record company located in Nashville

One of the biggest challenges for emerging franchisors is not the franchise network’s products and services, but rather learning how to be an effective franchisor in addressing all of franchising’s nuances and challenges. During this session we engage in a robust discussion on the following:

• How do we lead franchisees in a way that builds trust, and what are the key leadership differences now that I am an emerging franchisor?
• How do we create the right culture where franchisees have a voice and are key stakeholders in the brand, but we don’t give up my decision-making authority as the franchisor?
• How do we build productive franchise relationships to sustain our brand’s growth through effective system change and ever-changing customer demands?

Speakers: Ken Hutcheson, CFE, President, U.S. Lawns; Brian Schnell, CFE, Partner, Faegre Baker Daniels LLP

• When should we begin to discuss funding with a candidate?
• How involved should I be in the funding process?
• What are the best practices?
• Am I ready for the SBA?

Moderator: Dallas Kerley, CFE, President & CEO, Benetrends Financial
Speakers: Rocco Fiorentino, CFE, President & CEO, PrimoHoagies; Matthew Karahalios, Franchise Development Manager, Burn Boot Camp

1. Get a Grip on Your Business: Traction and the EOS Way to Structure for Success 

A vision without a plan is a wish. Join us and learn how EOS [Entrepreneurial Operating System] can put your business on an organized path to success through action, not wishful thinking. We share important elements of the system we use and offer real, actionable tips and insights from franchisors and franchisees that use this tool. Learn why so many companies have used this tool, and your first steps to implement in your business.

Speakers: Brian Church, Managing Partner, Clear Summit Group; Tam Kennedy, CFE, Franchisee, Owner-Taco John’s, Twin City TJ’s, Inc.; Richard Simtob, Partner & Director, ZOUP! Eatery

2. Building Your Advisory Board: What No One Else Will Tell You But What You Really Need to Know

Wondered the best way to go about pulling together a top-notch, momentum-building Advisory Board but not sure how to do it or if you even should? Join us for this session as we explore best practices along with the “What Not to Do’s” of assembling a winning Board to help move your company forward. We cover how to outline parameters for participation, compensation, terms of service, service roles, meeting frequency and other must-cover topics you need to hear before you step into building your Advisory Board. If you’ve been thinking about bringing on an Advisory Board, but wondered if you should, this session is for you.

Speakers: John Francis, Board of Directors, Sport Clips, Inc.; David Oppenheim, CFE, Shareholder, Greenberg Traurig, LLP; Shannon Wilburn, CFE, CEO & Co-Founder, Just Between Friends

• Understanding the pain of not adjusting properly for growth.
• How to know when to hire the next group of employees.
• Best practice of a franchisor org chart.
• Understanding the ROI of proper franchisee support.
• Franchise engagement throughout the process of growth.

Speakers: Evan Hackel, CFE, Founder & CEO, Tortal Training; Dustin Hansen, CFE, CEO, Americas, InXpress; Steve Truett, CFE, President Aire Serve Heating and Air Conditioning

1. The Operational Cycle of Success: Comprehensive Scalable Franchise Support

• Foundation/Infrastructure: Decide what you want to build and how to get the franchisees to follow you. Understand their needs, your goals and align them.
• Tools: Field visits and calls; technology that gets you relevant data; third-party resources
• Execution: Use technology to make calls, visits, meeting content et al prescriptive. Be ahead of the franchisees as they grow and learn to help them with specific needs. Make sure all the tools and prescriptions are aimed to achieve your mutual goals.
• Measurement: Use technology to gather and analyze data pertaining to results and to adjust support as needed. (Lather, rinse, repeat).

Everything is scalable so that an emerging franchisor can use resources wisely. Technology, used well, will expand a person’s reach so the need for support staff can be modulated.

Speakers: Nancy Bigley, CFE, COO, Painting with a Twist, LLC; Mary Ann O’Connell, CFE, President, FranWise®

2. How to Grow Your Brand on a Modest Budget 

Developing your brand doesn’t have to break the bank. Join us for this session and learn how to generate exposure by implementing creative and cost-efficient strategies to increase brand awareness and grow your brand. 

Moderator: Ashley Schuetz, CFE, VP, Marketing, Massage Heights
Speakers: JD Busch, CFE, Regional Developer & Multi-Unit Franchisee, Massage Heights and Amazing Lash Studio; Keith Dziki, CFE, Executive Director, Development, Wireless Zone; Bryan Lively, VP, Operations, Goldfish Swim School Franchising, LL

The growth of a franchise brand is dependent on a strong business model, solid unit level economics, great brand recognition and choosing the right franchisees. During this General Session you learn how to profile your ideal franchise candidate and how to build a sales strategy to find, qualify and on-board them. A brain power exercise helps identify the top three lead sources for awarding franchises. Finally, you learn how to budget appropriately for your growth and develop sound marketing strategies to effectively spend your franchise development marketing dollars to provide a solid ROI for your efforts. Join us to strengthen and improve your franchise sales process!

Moderator: Alan Majerko, VP, Corporate Development, Winmark Franchise Partners
Speakers: Candace Couture, CFE, VP, Business Development, Planet Fitness; Matt Kurowski, COO, Soccer Shots Franchising, LLC; Steve Murphy, President, Franchising, Winmark Corporation; Amy Reed, CoOwner & Co Founder, Woofie’s Pet Ventures, LLC

How do I run the financial side of my business? In this session, our expert panel will share the systems you should have in place to drive a healthy P&L statement.

Speakers: Bobby Fradella, Director, Franchise Operations, Walk-Ons Bistreaux & Bar; Ron Herbert, CFO, FASTSIGNS International; Doug Hornsby, Operator, Walk-Ons Bistreaux & Bar of Myrtle Beach, SC

What’s in a name? The answer may be more than you think. A brand name is one of the most valuable assets a company possesses. It lends credibility to a product or service, provides an assurance of quality, and lets consumers know what they can expect. Franchising is built on the “Power of Brands.” 

Hear from IFA’s Vice President of Political Affairs & Advocacy, Erica Farage, about the IFA’s “Power of Brands” campaign and how you can get involved to highlight your growing business. And then, sing along to performers from the Nashville Songwriters Association International who have written some of your favorite country hits. NASI is dedicated to protecting the rights, intellectual property and brands for the future of the profession of songwriting and to educate, elevate and celebrate the songwriter and to act as a unifying force within the music community and the community at large.

Speakers: Erica Farage, Vice President, Political Affairs and Advocacy, IFA; Chris DeStefano, Grammy Award-Winning Songwriter, Producer and Multi-Instrumentalist; Brett James, Grammy-Winning Songwriter and Owner, Cornman Music

1.    From Business Owner to Franchisor: Best Practices for Happy, Healthy Franchisees

Now that you have recruited and closed the sale, how do you ensure your franchisees are successful? Learn best practices for onboarding, training and continued franchisee engagement including:

• Smart Start: Setting your franchisee up for success.
• Communications: Gone are the days of reading email: Consider Intraweb, Webinars, Video, Face-to-Face in order to be effective.
• Benchmarking Data: Business is all about tracking results.
• Freedom Within the Framework: How to manage brand integrity while working with entrepreneurial franchisees.
• Franchisee Engagement: Feed Them! Brand promise, cause marketing, franchising gives back.

Moderator: Saunda Kitchen, CFE, Owner, Mr. Rooter of Sonoma County, CA
Speakers: Tom Baber, Franchise Owner, Money Mailer of Mercer, Somerset County and Owner, IHOP; Mitch Cohen, Franchisee, Jersey Mike's Subs of East Meadow, NY

2. Unit Level Economics - The Key to Franchisee Satisfaction and Achieving Robust Franchise Sales

Few things are as critical to franchisee satisfaction and franchise sales than strong unit level economics. Fortunately, as a franchise system grows, the opportunities for improving unit level economics also become more numerous. Learn some of the steps that franchisors can take to improve unit level economics, ranging from implementing purchasing and advertising co-operatives to using data and technology to achieve operational efficiencies. Hear best practices for sharing information about the cost of opening and operating a franchise and the financial performance of franchisees with prospective franchisees in Items 7 and 19 of the Franchise Disclosure Document.

Moderator: Alexander Tuneski, Of Counsel, DLA Piper LLP (US)
Speakers: Jordan Levine, VP Operations, Amazing Lash; David McDougall, COO, Your Pie Franchising LLC

No strategic plan can be successfully executed upon without the right team, and getting the right people in the right positions to win is amongst the hardest of tasks. The panelists will discuss how you find, interview, on-board, train, evaluate, provide feedback, promote, discipline and dismiss team members as you build out your emerging team. Be sure to stay for this candid fireside chat so you and your company have an advantage in the quest for outstanding talent. 

Moderator: Susan Beth, COO, NRD Capital 
Speaker: Kerry Olson, Chief Legal Officer, General Counsel & Secretary, CKE Restaurants Holdings, Inc.; Andrew Robinson, Chief Human Resource Officer, CKE Restaurants Holdings, Inc.