Sherri Sieber

Lance Hood (FranPro) 0:01

Today we have Sherri Sieber , president of Fran Fund . Sherri , welcome to the call .

Sherri Seiber (FranFund) 0:07

Thanks so much , Lance . I'm happy to be here .

Lance Hood (FranPro) 0:10

Sherri , can you tell us a little bit about your background and how you became the president of Fran Fund ?

Sherri Seiber (FranFund) 0:18

So my career began in Durham , north Carolina , which at that time was known as Tobacco Road because we had two tobacco companies in town , and I worked in the sales and marketing department of Liggett and Myers Tobacco Company where we had signs on our desks that said thank you for smoking . I'll skip forward a few years and say that then I worked for Motorola for several years and Motorola . Many of you will remember Motorola but some won't , because they more or less made themselves irrelevant with a couple of poor technology decisions . But I was with Motorola through a tremendous growth phase . There and Motorola . I had a great career at progressively more responsible positions , from starting in the purchasing department as a buyer and leading to director of operations and running factories and teams around the world actually one time a few factories , seven factories , I think , around the world . There I was recruited . So at Motorola I was always in operations . From there I was recruited to a company called Flextronics I think they now shorten their name to Flex because they're a Silicon Valley company and got a keep changing .

Sherri Seiber (FranFund) 1:52

Flex followed the industry trend of outsourcing manufacturing and so they made products for other companies . So some of the highlights of that part of my career were that I was on the Microsoft Xbox launch team . Flextronics made the first Xboxes and that was exciting to see how fast they moved and how just agile they wanted to be sometimes unrealistically , but that's how leaders lead is push , push , push . So that was a lot of fun and there I became the titles Nothing's better than owner , let me just interject that . But the title I had at the time was a global vice president of business development or something like that , and the top 10 customers of Flextronics were my responsibility supporting and I called it high level babysitting , actually because people would want to see somebody from , let's say , apple would want to go to China and see their product being made in our factory , and so I'd be the one to go with them , escort them and make sure they had a good experience and saw what they wanted to see , plus a few other things . But I had again business development folks reporting to me from around the world and what was happening in that time , which is 15 or 16 years ago . The world was really moving more to Asia and I was having to fly to Hong Kong or Beijing or Shanghai or Tokyo or somewhere in Europe twice a month . And as you get older , the quality of life gets replaced by the amount of money you're making and you decide I don't need this kind of jet lag in my life .

Sherri Seiber (FranFund) 4:01

Around that same time , my husband , who is the CEO of Franfun , and we own this company . My husband had been franchising his entire career , starting with Domino's Pizza when they had 300 units worldwide , can you imagine , and he was part of the store development team that grew them from 300 to 3000 . And he had some exciting positions there . So we've been franchise owners after that . Anyway , back when I decided to leave Flex , that was about the time that Jeff was he had been a franchise consultant . He'd then been running a franchise company that he bought and Franfun had . He'd gotten involved with Franfun with the idea of multiple funding solutions under one roof , which was a novelty at the time . So I really thought I would be able to retire , be a lady who lunches and get involved in charities . But it turns out I need stimulation and I love people and I just I needed more . And so Jeff said , hey , would you mind sort of looking into the sales and marketing Franfun and voila , I have done about every job here , culminating with president .

Lance Hood (FranPro) 5:27

Very nice . And what a background . I don't think anybody else can say that background that's in the industry here doing this .

Sherri Seiber (FranFund) 5:35

Oh , lots of people have very interesting backgrounds , I for sure .

Lance Hood (FranPro) 5:39

Well , tell us about Franfun and then kind of explain how what you do is different than other people . That kind of group loan projects products together .

Sherri Seiber (FranFund) 5:54

So Franfun helps folks that are buying a franchise find the money that they need to get that business started . We are really proud of the fact that over 96% of our business comes from referrals , either from our favorite kind or from previous customers of course , because that's the biggest compliment you can receive but directly from franchise orders around the country , directly from franchise consultants around the country with attorneys , cpas you know , etc . Etc . And so people that need us or that benefit from using us are usually not somebody that owns 10 taco bills right , it's somebody who this is a new process for them , the idea of leaving a job and becoming a business owner . I mean , there's a lot of moving parts to that right , and so Franfun is simply trying to help somebody find the right solution for their particular situation , and so we have the ability to look at their financials and say , ok , an SBA loan might be the best avenue for you , or the rollover for business startup might be a good track . Or you don't really have much there , but we've got an unsecured loan product that's a 10-year term that would work . Or we can talk to somebody about how their home equity might be effective , or their marketable securities that they have stock bonds , mutual funds , cash , whatever that they have with a wealth manager . You can get a quick loan on stuff like that .

Sherri Seiber (FranFund) 7:38

Anyway , we sort of just talk about the gambit of what could be possible , based on , of course , what their financial situation is , and then we help them execute on those things .

Sherri Seiber (FranFund) 7:52

So , for example , if we decide that a loan , an SBA loan , is the right avenue , then we do the first level of underwriting here at Franfund with a staff of very well-trained recovering bankers and some production specialists that work hand in hand .

Sherri Seiber (FranFund) 8:11

And if you want to read our reviews online , they're sort of everywhere You'll see just previous loan clients just saying things like oh my gosh , we would have never gotten through this process without Jessica or Kimberly or Joe or whoever they were working with , because it can be a daunting process . And so having somebody on your side who simply wants to see the candidate be successful is very effective , and being able to see all your solutions at once is also effective . And then the biggest impoverage everybody says they're good communicators , but we really are , and communication is what can bite you or help you , and so that's one of the feathers , that it's hard to explain the differentiation and communication , because that seems really simple , but we take it a step further so that everybody's informed where , what , who , when , all of those things that people are interested in , and that helps everybody move forward .

Lance Hood (FranPro) 9:20

Yeah , communication is so huge , you know , and having the specifics because a lot of people can say the word communication , but knowing specifically what kinds of communication you need to follow up on are so important , exactly so you guys have any stories of some absolute disasters or big turnarounds that you've helped . Either you know franchisees that were struggling and you guys got behind them and helped them , or you know even clients that had got theirself into a mess and you were able to make it happen .

Sherri Seiber (FranFund) 9:57

We could talk for a few days on that subject , but I will try and edit myself . First I need to say this if we know something , we Friend Fund , cannot unknow it . Okay , that means if , when you're going through the loan process , the lender wants to know everything about your background I mean everything about because it speaks to your character , speaks to your potential for repaying that loan , which is the number one thing lenders care about Okay , so you can't tell me halfway through the loan process that oh yeah , I did have the third DUI a couple of months ago . I didn't think that that would be important . Okay , well , that's a deal breaker . Okay , because if it's a couple of months ago and you didn't disclose it , I can't unknow that . I'm not going to pretend , we are not going to pretend we don't know that . We know that . And when you tell the bank that , that's going to be a deal breaker . So people sort of conveniently forget some important information and we don't have a solution to recover from that with the SBA . That's where you'd have to use a 401k rollover or go to one of the three Fs the friends , family or bulls to loan you the money . Sorry about that .

Sherri Seiber (FranFund) 11:39

Second thing is so again that disclosing everything , some things can have a workaround . I mean the SBA , they're part of the US government and so there's a form for just about everything if they know about it . But not knowing about it means it's a big problem . So we try and have places where people have to put their initials . Yes , I understand , blah , blah , blah , blah . I mean we have done . We have changed our process and our forms and done every possible thing we can do to eliminate those kind of gotchas .

Sherri Seiber (FranFund) 12:20

Another so one that we had . We had a wonderful couple that was buying a hair salon , a well-known brand that everybody would recognize , and they were a little tight on liquidity but they had enough , and so we started the loan process . Of course there's bricks and mortar involved , or , you know , tenant improvement involved , and so there's a period of time and they were told and they signed their initials and their signature several different times that said , do not buy anything big . No cars , no boats , no big expenditures , don't , you know , don't go on a big vacation . No , no , no , no , no .

Sherri Seiber (FranFund) 13:09

Okay , so the day comes when the salon is ready , it's shiny and new and the keys are ready to be dropped into the very excited business owner's hands and on the day before the lender distributes the rest of the funds , all the funds pay off the landlord and blah , blah , blah , blah blah , they do a really deep financial dive into a person's credit and though they've probably pulled it three or four times in the process perhaps , but for sure on the day before they give the money out , Well , this person had put in a $50,000 swimming pool over the summer . So again , that is not something Franfun can fix , because they used the liquidity which was so important for them to have in order for the loan to work , to put that pool in , and that pool didn't mean a thing . That is not equity . Swimming pool is not equity . So they had a brand new salon that they could not close the loan for , and so that's just another cautionary tale to you can't borrow money with secrets .

Lance Hood (FranPro) 14:25

Right . So if you looked at going up to the , you know , during the loan process , a huge no-no is to take out a big loan or make a big purchase or something like that . Are there any other ? Quick , if you just said it's these five things or the big things .

Sherri Seiber (FranFund) 14:42

Yeah , one thing that is particularly concerning to a lender is debt to income ratio or credit card debt . So I think by now most people understand that credit cards , even ones for department stores if you own one of those even department store credit cards have a limit . That is a known number . Let's say it's Dillard's I think that's fairly national and you've got a Dillard's card because they gave you 10% off one day and your credit limit with Dillard's is $1,000 . Okay , so that goes in your equity pile . And then you've got a master card and a visa in American Express and whatnot . Okay , so let's say all that adds up to $10,000 .

Sherri Seiber (FranFund) 15:36

And your average balance , in other words your average owed amount , and let's say you pay some off 100% , blah , blah , blah , but your average amount that you owe on a monthly basis is , let's say , $45,000 or $50,000 . That is a big red flag to a bank because now your debt to equity ratio on those credit cards is 45% to 50% . They would really like to see way less than 30 , but it could get to 30 if there are a lot of other positive factors around the credit situation . So the point is with not making big purchases , worrying about your debt to equity ratio , making sure that your credit report not only reports a credit score but it reports a number of late pays . And if your house payments late a week every month , you may not think that's a big deal . But the lender does , because if it's late that's interest that is building , that now is owed and blah , blah , blah , blah blah . So credit is character in a lender's mind and they are looking at your character to see if you are a worthy risk for a business loan .

Lance Hood (FranPro) 16:57

That's perfect . Thank you for that . So , gosh , what are some of the biggest mistakes and false beliefs that you see holding companies back ?

Sherri Seiber (FranFund) 17:10

Companies . Life is certainly the key to the dollar payment . These you know there are 4,000 franchise brands in the United States , which is a very impressive number around almost you know 850 or 860,000 franchise locations . Every single segment of the market that exists outside of franchising also exists inside of franchising . So we have smart potential business owners out there and they want the truth . They want to know what can I make you know what's possible , what's , what are my true cost , what is my expected revenue , etc .

Accurate Financial Disclosure in Franchising

Sherri Seiber (FranFund) 17:56

So franchisors need to be very diligent about making their FDD as accurate as possible . And you know item 19, . Just making sure I don't throw out these terms without explaining them item 19 in a franchise disclosure document are earnings claims and they can be done a thousand different ways , but the most typical franchise orders will show like the top 10% of their , the franchise units , and the bottom 10% and some kind of average or some brave company show the revenue of all of the units they have . If they're a smaller company , you know there's a few different ways you can do that , but the and so it's important to keep those accurate .

Sherri Seiber (FranFund) 18:44

It is also important to keep item 7 accurate .

Sherri Seiber (FranFund) 18:48

Item 7 is your expected total project cost .

Sherri Seiber (FranFund) 18:52

So if you go through a year I don't like referencing COVID because that's in our past but if you go through a year where costs start to escalate and your total project cost for your brand was 250 , but now , based on , you know , inflation etc .

Sherri Seiber (FranFund) 19:13

Now that cost is more like 300 or 350 , and you do not disclose that and somehow the candidate does not discover that during the discovery process , that's a gotcha and that's somebody who might get all the way up to getting ready to open their doors and then not able to . So being able to have your FTD accurate , making sure your candidates hear from other franchisees that can give them data , because we all know about the disclosure requirements around franchising . You can't make false earnings claims or the US government will take very good care of you in one of their facilities that you don't want to be in , but anyway . And then making sure that your franchisees are adequately and potentially excessively funded or capitalized so that they have enough money to participate in all the different things that they can participate as being a franchisee of that system .

Lance Hood (FranPro) 20:19

Yeah , that would be a huge mistake for a franchise company to try to make their franchise location look affordable by showing kind of numbers that aren't as accurate with the current costs , because then somebody's going to get started and not have the funds to go the distance and it can destroy people's finances and it will get back to the franchise for sure and be a reason that stunts them or puts them out . Just like you said , when a brand grows so fast and so much that they take a pause to just absorb everything that they have and do a good job of helping those people get started , because if they don't , they can grow so fast that they collapse because people are not being taken care of .

Sherri Seiber (FranFund) 21:08

I have some advice for franchisee or new founders . What's on your balance sheet as a new franchisee is of interest to lenders potentially when they start trying to lend to new franchisees , because you either have strength of brand so that's a franchise system typically that has at least 50 units , or more 50 , 75 , over 100 , or if you have less than 50 units out there , you need strength of borrower . That means that the bank is looking at your new franchise system similar to a mom and pop or a business that that candidate would bring in . That was not part of the franchising world . Keeping that in mind , one of the things that the franchisor should consider is how that system is going to grow out .

Sherri Seiber (FranFund) 22:08

When you are considering that , one of the things that they should think about is having a banker that is their partner . By that I mean go to a bank of your choice . Maybe you screen a few to find out who would be interested in a relationship like this . Most of them are Put your personal finances in there , but the business's finances in there your loans , your business bank accounts , etc . Then find the liaisons on there on the second floor , not on the first floor . Ask them can I share my P&L with you . Can I share my numbers with you and have that meeting at least a minimum of once a year , if not twice a year ?

Sherri Seiber (FranFund) 23:02

If you are sharing that information with them , then when you need a line of credit they are going to be more likely to work with you on that . Maybe your first line of credit is $50,000 . Maybe your next one is $500 and then one after that is $1 million , etc . Hopefully those parallel your growth pattern . A line of credit is not a . I mean , that's actually a healthy way to run a business , because revenue doesn't come in evenly on a daily basis . I think we all know that Having a line of credit available is always good . The franchisor having that relationship and keeping all of their funds in one place will make them look stronger to other lenders and also help them tell their story about their brand .

Lance Hood (FranPro) 23:55

Yeah , you have more peace of mind when you have such transparency . Part of the reason for this is to make sure that I see brands , that they're good brands , but they have some things to work on . And because they have things to work on , their focus is now they've even gotten tired of trying to fix things and make them perfect or they just are just thinking about making money . Now they're too much in the process of growing and selling , but they're selling something that's okay , not selling something that's great . Part of what we're doing sharing is helping people make it great , because it's going to take off much easier , much faster , much cheaper and grow much bigger if things are made great . There's some little tweaks that can do that , and it's talking about your transparency and stuff can make a difference . Then it makes your job easier in getting them alone , but it just makes everything easier .

Sherri Seiber (FranFund) 25:03

And also all of those things you mentioned add up to validation . So if you put , you're growing , growing , growing in your selling units and you're excited and , oh my gosh , all of this revenue is coming in from franchise fees and that kind of thing and you are not supporting your existing franchisees that you just put in there and they're all struggling together and they are building a liaison because there's not enough operations people and there's a ratio and each business is different . So there's no , I don't think there's a defined formula of how many operations people you need per number of franchisees . I mean , that's probably a whole other podcast , but still you got to have the operations and field support people to keep your franchisees happy and when they become unhappy and then you want them to speak to potential new franchisees , they are not going to say what you want them to say and then your sales are going to decline . And , by the way , your funding partner is the first one usually to know this , because if we're starting to talk to candidates that are in the process and they've got three to five franchise brands they're considering and we've built an early relationship with that candidate and we're sort of talking to them you know every well , depending on how fast they're going through the process , but whatever period of time is appropriate , they will be the ones to tell us .

Sherri Seiber (FranFund) 26:40

I didn't really like those folks . It took a while to call me back and blah , blah , blah . I mean you are losing deals . You don't even know you're losing , or you may not know why you're losing , and so there's a lot of moving parts to the industry . But if you get it right , there's nothing more beautiful than the franchise space .

Lance Hood (FranPro) 26:59

Right , and your franchisees will tell the new franchisees the truth , because it's hard for them , because they're in it , it's hard for them to subdu something or stretch something because these are people putting their faith in them and they're going to meet them every year and they're going to have their cell phone and they're going to call back and go . Why did you tell me this ? So they're going to give them the truth . So take care of your existing franchisees and they'll take care of you .

Sherri Seiber (FranFund) 27:26

Absolutely Very good advice .

Lance Hood (FranPro) 27:30

So we've talked about this , but what are some ? How are the top performing brands doing things differently from struggling brands ?

Sherri Seiber (FranFund) 27:44

They have more operations people than they need to start with .

Sherri Seiber (FranFund) 27:50

I'm sorry to be redundant , but that's just an absolute fact because you know , all franchise brands are bringing in I mean the majority of their candidates , and I guess I can't make this broad sweeping statement , but I'm because a lot of the established brands they get people who are adding to their portfolio of other big established brands right .

Sherri Seiber (FranFund) 28:14

With these newer under 50 unit brands they are sort of in the middle of that growth and having the right amount of people for support is incredible and having them available before they need it gives them , gives all their new franchisees , a good start , because these people let's say they were working for IBM for 30 years and now they're franchisee Well , when you leave your corporate job and where you possibly had processes and you didn't do 100% of the things right , you did your part of the things and now you're a business owner and you are responsible for 100% of the things .

Sherri Seiber (FranFund) 29:00

You need people and you need to know who to call and you don't want to wait very long to hear back from them , and so general satisfaction and growth comes from happy franchisees . Also , I recommend that the most successful franchisees they have their , their franchise or requires them to submit their financials monthly and they're open and and not public but they share among the company and they identify the best practices and the things that didn't work out so good and they talk about those things and they don't keep it a deep , dark secret why Sally in Florida is doing so much better than Fred in Virginia . They put it out on the table because within a franchise system you know you're in it together .

Sherri Seiber (FranFund) 29:56

And a franchise system . I liken it to a recipe for the french fries . To just to make it as most simplest form , the recipe for the french fries is very rigid , black and white . Step one through ten , step one through ten , boom , you get a successful french fry . That's the way franchising is , and so if you're not sharing within your own system , you are missing opportunities , because nobody's as smart as all of us .

Lance Hood (FranPro) 30:25

Yeah , and if you're not taking those top line activities and those bottom line activities and discussing them and making adjustments , things are just going to go all crazy . People are going to go in all different directions and do things . But if you're looking to finance this , you can go oh , food costs are too high . Like you can communicate and make those things happen , but it takes an effort , you know , and a collaborativeness . And I know that with French ICs they didn't get into their own business to be an employee . They still want to be a business owner , but we still need to have rails to make it effective for everybody .

Sherri Seiber (FranFund) 30:59

That is exactly right . And one additional benefit from that transparency philosophy is that you know , in validation , inevitably the candidate's going to hear from somebody who's having a bad day . It may have nothing to do with their actual business , they're just having a bad day , or it might have something to do with their business . But if whoever if the franchise business development folks or the franchise broker or the , or the franchise broker or whoever is working with them happens to know that that candidate that was , or that franchisee that was so negative , is also one of the bottom performers , as is shown in the FDD , well then you can have a discussion about that , right .

Sherri Seiber (FranFund) 31:52

So , you know , is this person following the process and is that why they're getting that result ?

Lance Hood (FranPro) 31:58

Mm-hmm .

Sherri Seiber (FranFund) 31:59

All good questions .

Lance Hood (FranPro) 32:00

I had a person that , everyone's way , you get some people that think they're going to get some secret knowledge .

Lance Hood (FranPro) 32:05

So , like , well , I want to talk to the bottom performers and I said , yes , you can do that . I said the top performers are where you're going to learn how to make the system work and the bottom performers are going to be where you learn how to make the system not work . And when you talk because I would interview people and I would always interview the people at the top and the people at the very bottom and not the people in the middle because you get confused and you listen to their language and what they say and you couldn't learn a lot about it . And so , like you said , having that that conversation , well , this was one of the people who is struggling right now , so you can hear what they're going through . And then let's talk to some of these other people . You know , because they know how to make it work and you know , so it's good to hear from both sides , but you want to make your decision on who you want to replicate , you know .

Sherri Seiber (FranFund) 32:58

Here's a story that's sort of counter to that one , and you may have heard this before , but Subway's $5 footlong was invented by a franchisee that did not ask permission . So what they started doing was offering this , you know $5 footlong , and their revenue went through the roof . And so , at corporate um , you know that was a Florida store , subway corporate was Michigan , I think , or I can't remember , but anyway , um , sales are going through the roof and it's continuous and it's just climbing and it's . And so they're congratulating the franchisee and they're just going wow , you really got your act together and that's so exciting . You're following the process and you're a real role model for the other franchisees in the system .

Sherri Seiber (FranFund) 33:55

So one day they uh some of the leadership , including the founder um , was coming through Florida and they decided to surprise the franchisee by just showing up at the store at lunchtime on a Friday . And as they're driving down the street towards the unit , they see these um uh , tent signs saying $5 footlong , $5

Franchise Industry Challenges and Advice

Sherri Seiber (FranFund) 34:19

footlong . So the founder um , fred DeLuca , uh , who was one of the most wonderful people in the franchise industry um , by the way , um , he nearly had a coronary right there on the street and they walk in and they like what the heck ? Um , but the results were still astonishing . That they couldn't punish the franchisee , and so they decided to adopt that throughout the rest of the system . And of course the rest is history , but uh that . So the point is that doesn't mean , as a franchisee , that you are locked into no innovation forever , but if you do it as a team and collectively , then the rising tide raises all boats , not just one .

Lance Hood (FranPro) 34:59

Mm-hmm , mm-hmm . Exactly that whole collaboration method . You know you learn from each other and then implement those top strategies , right ? Well , um , what are , uh , what are some of the biggest challenges your company has run into , and how did you solve those ?

Sherri Seiber (FranFund) 35:20

Well , we um , the start of Franfun was just about , uh , directly correlated with the start of financial crisis back in 2007-08 , uh time frame , which is probably about the worst time you'd want to start a funding um company , uh . But what we established then , and we continue to this day , is to operate with integrity . Again , I said before communication not all communication is equal and I'm going to tell you , not all integrity is equal , but when we make decisions based on our own personal integrity , it keeps us and our candidates , our existing clients , it keeps everybody in good shape . So during that time , we were one of the only companies like ours that still had lenders that would work with us , because none of the loans we had brought to them were the ones going belly up , and so that established a relation , a reputation , that we have continued to this day and , as a result of that , when we made it through the financial crisis , we've had every year .

Sherri Seiber (FranFund) 36:43

The big joke is where we get to say this is our best year ever .

Sherri Seiber (FranFund) 36:47

We've never had a year we didn't get to say that , except 2020 , and we were only off by just a minimum amount , so you could actually fudge it , but again that whole integrity thing comes around , so we don't .

Sherri Seiber (FranFund) 37:01

So that was the only year we couldn't say it was our best year ever . And it's because the people that work with us know that , for example , we don't give a client a pre-approval unless we think we can get the loan done . We don't send a loan package to a lender unless we think that is a viable loan . If we think that a candidate has ill intent with their tax-deferred , penalty-free retirement funds , we say please call another company , because we have a pristine record with the IRS and Department of Labor and we're not about to risk that on one deal . And so from time to time there have been franchise consultants , I'll say , that have been less than happy with some of the decisions we've made along those lines . It's kind of a rarity , but still , when we position ourselves as authority on the topic and if you want to be the authority , then you need to be consistent . And so we feel that our way of operating makes us better every day , and we've never regretted the single decision we made that went that direction .

Lance Hood (FranPro) 38:22

Yeah , that makes a difference , and I was shocked to hear your numbers were so good in 2020 , because after about March it was a lot .

Sherri Seiber (FranFund) 38:31

Well , the first thing we did in 2020 when you know , because , as a provider of the rollover for business startup , we have a few thousand clients who we do third-party administration for in-house . But those clients are not just a name , they are business owners and so the first thing we thought of is , oh my god , what's gonna happen with these folks as they have to shut their ? You know , some of them were not considered . What was the term ? The government was using Crucial , essential , essential , yes , thank you . They weren't essential , so they had to actually shut their doors and we're worried about them .

Sherri Seiber (FranFund) 39:15

And so , in six days , we had a software program written to bolt on to our current Salesforce software , which we use as our CRM . That allowed us to intake PPP loan candidates and then push them off to the different banks that we knew were doing those loans , because you've got a bunch of people out there that goes PPP , what ? How do I do that ? Where do I go ? Blah , blah , blah .

Sherri Seiber (FranFund) 39:45

So we started doing the first company that asked me to do a webinar about PPP loans , where their franchisees was authority brands . At the time , they had 900 franchisees and they said , sherry , will you do a webinar with what's going on and what's the next steps . And that launched me and my husband doing webinars multiple times a day for about a 60-day period , until the US government and the SBA got their game squared away . The answers were consistent every single day and we didn't do PPP loans in itself , but we were able to intake them , direct them and then provide communication to , and we only did it for our clients not open to the world , because we were just concerned about these business owners .

Sherri Seiber (FranFund) 40:41

That we felt we have a stake in the game and so really proud of that . Don't want to do that again , though , but we started recovering , I think , really faster than a lot of companies , because our two down months were May , march , april . In the middle of May , people started saying , well , I'm not going to wait around to start my business , and so things started coming back . So it was really that dip that caused a little decline , and then the remainder of the year went up high enough , and again the difference was minor , so exciting stuff .

Lance Hood (FranPro) 41:27

Well , that just shows how a company can go outside of what they normally do to make a difference and help out , and that strengthens all your friendships and relationships on the backside of that .

Sherri Seiber (FranFund) 41:38

Trust and integrity .

Lance Hood (FranPro) 41:39

Yes . Well , what would be some of the most valuable business advice or that you could offer people ?

Sherri Seiber (FranFund) 41:53

So you heard me say credit score is a number , but it's not the only number , and that is true . But think of your credit score as your reputation , and I want this specifically to apply to all the millennials that are waking up every day and saying I don't want to go to my job . You know , nine to five . I want to own my own business , and that's great . We are excited about that because this group of folks are smart , they are innovative and they are capable of being business owners .

Sherri Seiber (FranFund) 42:27

However , if you make foolish decisions with your credit score , you could actually exclude yourself from a lot of opportunities . That goes not only for business ownership , because if you've ruined your credit score , then the repair of that could take a significant period of time . And then many , many , many companies now are looking at credit scores before they hire somebody as , again , a reputation . You know it's like prom queen can go from hero to zero on prom night , right . So it's the same type of situation . You protect your credit as a part of the key part of your reputation , and that will serve you well throughout your entire life .

Lance Hood (FranPro) 43:17

I'd heard your car insurance was even based on your credit score .

Sherri Seiber (FranFund) 43:21

Absolutely . As a matter of fact , my mother was 85 years old and her car insurance . She got a bill for car insurance and the rate had gone up significantly . She called to find out why and they said well , your credit score has gone down . She owed nothing to I mean , she didn't owe anybody anything no mortgage , no car payment , no , nothing . She made everything with cash and it actually hurt her on her car insurance .

Lance Hood (FranPro) 43:52

Any new trends or technologies that people need to be paying attention to .

Sherri Seiber (FranFund) 43:58

Well , there are some things that I don't have the answer to that just are worthy of mentioning , but any of this are . You know , artificial intelligence has been around for a while , but nothing like what's coming out on a nearly daily basis right now . I just heard a statistic that chat GBT . So there's a chart that people track of how long it took a particular platform to obtain a million subscribers . Chat GBT took them three days . The next closest one was Netflix , and that was five months , and then all the other ones just far longer than that . So Chat GBT does some things that will make people consider shortcuts that they may not have . I just caution everybody to . You know , yay , it's great , but think twice before you just cut and paste what Chat GBT says .

Sherri Seiber (FranFund) 45:00

You know , going in the whole tech stack thing , by that I mean your company has an automated solution from beginning to end . That is a reality , it's becoming a reality . Some franchise systems will likely need to adjust some of their processes and softwares and you know ways that they view things because of that being a necessity . You know the consumer today . They expect everybody to be Amazon , the buy it now and get it in four hours . I mean that's dramatic , right , but lead time nobody wants lead time . So those kind of technologies that shorten the cycle are going to start to make a difference , and the things that people can do today in the franchise industry whether you are a franchise , consultant , broker , franchise or franchise developer people expect to be communicated with quickly , and it's often the first one that gets to a new lead that closes the deal .

Sherri Seiber (FranFund) 46:13

Now , that sounded like a really salesy line , but if somebody calls you and they're interested in your concept and two other brands call back before you do , automatically you're third on the list . So think about things like that , because your candidates are thinking about them , because , remember , they're millennials . They've always had a TV remote control , they've always had streaming services , they've always had Amazon . So they want to conduct business the way they conduct their personal life and they've had some conveniences that were not previously known in the business world .

Lance Hood (FranPro) 46:53

So I totally agree . And also the other thing is , if you take longer to get back with them , then they might assume that that's how you're going to be for the relationship of working together is it takes longer to hear from you when they need you , versus the person that's just out there and on it immediately . What ?

Sherri Seiber (FranFund) 47:11

we've found is that this is worthy of a short discussion . Very few people will answer their phone if they don't recognize the number . Either it's a name they don't recognize or a number they don't recognize . They won't answer the phone . That has changed dramatically in the last three years three to five years , I'll say , but definitely in the last two years nearly 98% of the people won't answer the phone if they don't recognize the number .

Sherri Seiber (FranFund) 47:41

So what we do is we send them an email saying we're going to return their call , and in that email we put the Calimly link of the person that they can set their schedule to .

Sherri Seiber (FranFund) 47:54

But then we also follow up again with the phone call , because you don't know what age group you're actually dealing with , and so that whole Calimly thing might not work too well with an older , a more mature person . But some people don't like to talk on the phone , so it's a perfect solution . So make sure you're paying attention to the trends out there and adapt your own processes so that you don't shoot yourself in the foot . And then we don't text somebody for the first call , because there's texting as an art and if we're the little , we can't sell anything unless somebody's buying something . That sounds kind of crazy , right , but we're the money people , so we're not just selling money to anybody on the street . We are working with our referrals and finding them the solution to help them realize their dreams . And so texting somebody that you've never met seems invasive to some people , so kind of be careful with that . In some cases it's good , but we're still sort of email phone , then after we to confirm future conversations text possible .

Sherri Seiber (FranFund) 49:14

And that's different for every company . I'm not saying our way is the highway , but just something to be aware of .

Lance Hood (FranPro) 49:20

Right . Well , you have a more specific customer than some people , in a more specific relationship , Absolutely . And I've also found that if you are going to call personally me , I like to leave a voicemail because I think if people can hear your voice , you sound more approachable and friendly and real that they just can't get from reading text or anything else . So I always like to leave a voicemail . Plus , if they keep getting a call from the same number they don't know constantly , then that number is like do not answer .

Sherri Seiber (FranFund) 49:53

Right , absolutely , we agree .

Lance Hood (FranPro) 49:56

Well , last question is we've had a great conversation here today . Why do you think it's important that we get together , communicate , share information , collaborate in a think tank like this ?

Sherri Seiber (FranFund) 50:13

I'm going to go to the International Franchise Association philosophy for this comment . The International Franchise Association is the entity that has been created over the years to protect , promote and enhance the franchise industry , and that has done a lot of different ways . Partially , that's a lobbying group that is protecting these small business owners in the country that sometimes the US government forgets about when they make these wide , sweeping changes to policy that negatively affects small business , and so the IFA reports on what they're working on to that end and what the results are of those efforts

The Excitement and Community of Franchising

Sherri Seiber (FranFund) 51:02

. And then the annual conference or the annual convention , and then subsequent various conferences around the country around the year . There are mature system brands that want to give back . They want to teach the next generation , and then there's the newer generations that are willing to learn and learn from the previous folks' mistakes or from their successes what to implement .

Sherri Seiber (FranFund) 51:29

And so the franchise industry in my mind is a big small town , kind of crazy , but it's absolutely true and you can't believe . If you participate in a lot of these international franchise association events , you will gain a couple thousand of your best friends , you will see them frequently and everybody has the same goal in mind , and franchising contributes so much to the US economy and to so many jobs to the economy . We is in all of our best interest to adopt that philosophy of protecting , promoting and enhancing the franchise industry , and so that's what makes it so exciting . And my other line around the big small town thing is franchising is also like Hotel California you can check out but you can never leave .

Lance Hood (FranPro) 52:25

Well , thank you , Sherri . I just want to thank you again for joining us on this call and sharing your insights , and for everyone listening . If you'd like to learn more about FranFund , you can go to ​https://Franpro . vip/GoFranFund . All right , thank you .

Sherri Seiber (FranFund) 52:42

Thanks , Lance .