Lance Hood (FranPro): 0:00

Hi everyone, I would like to welcome you to the call. Today we have Chris Neib, the president of Franchise Evolution Partners. Chris, welcome.

Kris Nieb (Fran EP): 0:09

Thank you so much for having me Good afternoon.

Lance Hood (FranPro): 0:11

Well, chris, I would love to transition to some insights, maybe even some action items, and just get your wisdom in the franchise industry. But before we start, let's just take a second and explain what your company does for franchise owners.

Kris Nieb (Fran EP): 0:27

Absolutely so. When we started the company back in 2019, our goal was to come in and acquire franchise owners. We are part of a family office based here in Denver, colorado, and that was 100% the goal. We were going to acquire companies, help them grow and then flip them. We've just seen it be super successful in franchising, as all of us have, and so it was an opportunity for us that we wanted to go after. And what happened is, as we started going down that process, we just had numbers that didn't match up, companies that weren't the right fit. They would find out who our investors were and they'd want a bigger number, which every founder has every right to want and go after. And we decided to go ahead and reverse engineer this and go ahead and come in and sell for a brand first and foremost, and then turn around and then look for investment opportunities. So we're in the franchise sales organization space, but we use sales as an opportunity to go ahead and look for investments into franchise owners.

Lance Hood (FranPro): 1:24

Right, which is very smart, because then you get to know everything you need to know about them, and you actually you know what it's like versus what you're being told it's like.

Kris Nieb (Fran EP): 1:35

You see if they pay their bills on time, you see if they're franchisees like them, you see if they've got good validation, bad validation, you see how their team interacts with things. And so you're right, we see it all. It's fun to be able to go that path, first and foremost, but you know, we could have a brand for three months and say these guys got it. We could have a brand for three years and say, gosh, we got to figure out to put some money behind some of these guys, because some companies want to have that opportunity and a lot don't, which is good. And you know they've got every right to kind of decide how they want to grow their business, which is great.

Lance Hood (FranPro): 2:06

Well, knowing that we're having a conversation around that is going to be listened to by franchisee or maybe some franchisees or other people, but what do you think is the most important thing we could talk about today?

Kris Nieb (Fran EP): 2:20

You know, I think the biggest one that we see a lot of is processes. Do they have a process and that can be a sales process or education process you don't want to say the word sales process a process to support their franchisees as they build and grow their business, and then, ultimately, what an exit could look like, and that could be on the franchise or side or the franchisee side. So the one thing we really dig into up front is what are your processes? How are you going to support your franchisees, get them open and then, more importantly, make sure that they're successful. You want to make sure these guys are making money and that, at the end of the day, happy franchisees cures everything, and so sales takes care of itself. Operation takes care of itself then, and then ultimately they're profitable, which then helps for what an exit process could look like for a franchise, or if that's what they're looking for.

Lance Hood (FranPro): 3:08

Yeah, well, if they don't have good processes, then it almost seems like the way to keep funded is to sell more franchisees, which exacerbates the process, the problems, when really your customer is the existing franchisee, not the next franchisee. That will actually make things just roll smoother.

Kris Nieb (Fran EP): 3:29

And we see that right. I mean you just paid a bunch of money for an FDD, just paid a bunch of money for a new fancy website and you hope you've got nice pictures and videos. But if it's about that next franchisee that comes in to keep the lights on, well, what about the guy who just gave you a check a week ago or a month ago or a year ago? Are they building a big business? Are you supporting them? And you hate to admit it.

Kris Nieb (Fran EP): 3:50

We've seen it all. We've seen it to where it's gosh. If you can fog up a mirror and write a check, you're a franchisee and that's hard not to take when you're a new franchise or because you just want to grow and you don't know what you don't know yet. And what we tend to see is those first call it 10 to 15 franchisees. They're buying into you, they're buying your vision, they're buying what your goals were to grow this business. They may not be the right fit and that's hard to say no upfront, but sometimes saying no upfront is better in the long run.

Lance Hood (FranPro): 4:19

What do you see as the kind of growth milestones in number of units, like 10 units, 20 units, like? How do you break it down?

Kris Nieb (Fran EP): 4:29

The royalty. Sufficiency is always the goal right? How much do we need to bring in royalties? We're paying all of our bills and, based on the industry and based on what an average unit volume could look like, or just go right to what a royalty payment could come in how many locations do you have to get to where all your bills are paid?

Kris Nieb (Fran EP): 4:46

You've seen that number, based on industry, anywhere from 70 to 100 franchisees. So you're going to run it lean and mean for the first 20 that you sell. So then that means that you're cooked, lined, bottle, washer, all the above and you're doing all the work to help those franchisees get their businesses open. So it's bringing on franchisees to get to 20. And then from 20 to typically up to 40 or 50, that's where you're hiring a bigger team. You might have a VP of operations, a VP of support, you might have a new CFO in place. So I kind of look at it as in the first, 20 becomes typically the founder doing everything they can do to slowly start to build their team. 20 to 50, you're hiring a bunch of people to support those franchisees and then 50 plus is where you have a pretty decent size team in place because you're getting to the promised lands, of getting to that 70 to 100 that are typically what you're looking for to get opened.

Lance Hood (FranPro): 5:38

Have you noticed, like I've seen, what do you think it is? Around 20% of people have an item 19?.

Kris Nieb (Fran EP): 5:45

For seeing that more I get nervous. If they don't, I think that you should. If you don't, I wonder why you don't, why you're hiding your numbers. That's the scary part.

Lance Hood (FranPro): 5:57

That's the big concern, because people buying into a business, I mean they're trying to get a return and for some of them, like that's their life savings. And if they're jumping into it like it's sink or swim, and so not having numbers and being told to just validate with franchisees, my first reaction is, if the numbers were better, they would proudly wear them on an item 19. If the numbers are mediocre, they might be hiding them and then they'll say well, my lawyer says we shouldn't and it's like what's your thoughts on all that?

Kris Nieb (Fran EP): 6:31

I think that you've proven out a business model and you've gone ahead and made an investment into a disclosure document. I would tend to think that if your numbers were good and someone's going to bind to your business, you should show them what they can potentially make. And there's so many different ways to do an item 19. You could show top line revenue. You could work way down and go all the way down the bottom line revenue. You could get very creative with the P&L to say here's the major expenses minus these different expenses. So I don't disagree.

Kris Nieb (Fran EP): 7:00

I think that if they're not willing to put an item 19 in place, it makes you a little nervous when you're looking at a brand Because, let's say they have one franchisee or they don't have any franchisees, how are they going to know how to build and grow their business? And go back to the food mentality Did they get on an airplane? They tasted the food and they saw a bunch of customers and they had a gut feeling that this could work well. Well, sure, but does a gut feeling pay your bills? So I get a little anxious when they do not have an item 19. I understand why some franchisors would not, but it's hard to go find franchisees for somebody who doesn't know how much money can you make in a business.

Lance Hood (FranPro): 7:36

I've even seen them use corporate location and then back out the estimated royalties based upon that as an example just showing corporate information. I mean yeah.

Kris Nieb (Fran EP): 7:49

It's hard with attorneys too right, because they're really smart at what they do. We all need them for all the right reasons. But when somebody says, don't put an item 19 together, well, they've got a track record. I mean, go back to the Korean barbecue concept that you and I have talked about in the past great corporate facilities, great numbers. And we literally had to do that. We said here's corporate numbers and let's minus out royalties, ad fees, et cetera, et cetera, just so somebody can see what that ultimately looks like. And the return is still amazing.

Kris Nieb (Fran EP): 8:14

So to me you kind of question though well, why isn't there an item 19? Does that raise a red flag? Because sometimes it can. And so you start to identify what's the best way for somebody to learn those numbers. And building proformas is dangerous. I mean, there's a lot of lawsuits out there right now for people who are building proformas without an item 19 or even against the item 19. So you've got to be a little cautious in how you do it to make sure it's the right fit. But more importantly, you've got to understand why aren't they giving you the information and helping make an informed decision?

Lance Hood (FranPro): 8:46

One of the big things that people have trouble with. When I ask about differentiation and being unique, there's got to be something that just lets people know how you're different, so that if there's lots of people doing the same thing, they can tell. Or something that's so novel that it just draws people to you. What do you think it is if you were to describe what it is that makes a company stand out or unique, versus just saying they're unique?

Kris Nieb (Fran EP): 9:10

Well, go to the end user, the customer, the customer of that franchisee, right. So when you have a franchisor that literally almost teaches their franchisees that the customer I hate to say the customer is always right because we know that's not the case, but they almost treat that franchisee as though they're the customer and then the franchisee can focus on their end user. Their customer. Customers are what's going to drive revenue. That customer experience is what's going to drive revenue. So the franchisee are really focusing on that customer experience.

Kris Nieb (Fran EP): 9:41

We could use frozen yogurt as an example. How many frozen yogurt places popped up and then went away and, as bad as this sounds, was that vanilla really different than the same gummy bear that was on top of a different cup? Probably not. But if they had a great customer experience, that's what kept people coming back more and more and more again. You see the same thing with restaurants. What's that customer experience? Look like Gyms. How's that fitness concept working? Fair end retail if it's a swim school or a slunk concept, like with Slons by JC, what makes them different than all the other brands that are out there? And it's ultimately that customer end customer experience who's the one hand in cash over a credit card that the franchisee are that focus on what that experience is, are the ones that are growing bigger businesses faster.

Lance Hood (FranPro): 10:21

Yeah, and if you're just in business, but it really isn't, that you're not able to differentiate or it doesn't seem to stand out or hold your attention much, it doesn't have the customer grab, which isn't going to help the franchisee it's not I mean go back to that.

Kris Nieb (Fran EP): 10:38

I mean it's all about that customer experience and the need for them coming back. I mean tree business my tree could fall down but I need another tree, and then was it hard to get an arborist or a company over to do it, because if I'm not getting something, I'm going to the next one or then the next one, and then the next one. So if there's a good customer experience, I think all of us follow that and we can go past COVID and what we all went through there. But I think the customer experience is so incredibly important right now and if they're willing to give you more and more of their cash or their credit cards, that's what you're looking for.

Lance Hood (FranPro): 11:09

Yeah, that was the same thing. I first learned about Slons by JC. I was just like, so what's unique about this company? And as I went through it I really learned how it was different and it was very impressed by it and I've definitely done quite a few territory checks on that specific brand over the years just because it's. I mean, the history and the numbers, the financials are incredible, but also how they run, the business model is just different.

Kris Nieb (Fran EP): 11:39

It really isn't. They had that concierge sitting at the front, so the franchisee is not there. They don't want them there. Right, just built a great they've got. Go back to processes. They've got great processes to identify franchisee, great processes to get open and great processes to post-opening to fill a location. So they've done a very good job at making sure, ultimately, their customer, their franchisee, is making money and then their customer for the franchisee is that the individual's renting space are busy month over month over month so they can continue to pay the rent payments. So they've done a really good job with their business model.

Lance Hood (FranPro): 12:15

When I see a bunch of young brands, I usually have to warn people okay, listen, if you're talking with a young brand, they don't have the structure in place, so they're probably just going to want to get on the phone and talk to you and then say sound good, here's an FDD, let's talk in a couple of weeks. But when you talk with an established brand, they're going to have an organized sales process that might have some webinars, economics calls, training calls. They'll have where they want to meet you, what's kind of what you consider an effective process, so that people can get an idea of what that would look like.

Kris Nieb (Fran EP): 12:49

I think you got to go into what we've seen. I'll keep comparing a young restaurant concept for an all-you-save splash as an example a very established brand. So with the younger concept we do build a lot of processes in place to teach people about the concept, about their real estate, about their food, about what it's going to be like to operate a business. But to that point, when we have a discovery date, it's okay. Time to taste the food, let's see what the experience is like, let's see if people are actually coming and going from the restaurant or restaurants, which is very helpful. But you've also still got to build a business because even though we have awarded a bunch of franchises, they're all in construction, so there's not going to be a lot of validation. So what we've been able to do with that founder who loves to be on an airplane is he'll go on an airplane and go meet with a candidate. So he's going to take that step to go ahead and go out there and meet people in their market, potentially look at different areas and different sites, which is a big time commitment. But he's trying to find those right franchisees, which most franchisors at young stages will not do, whereas we flip that coin over, swing that pencil model.

Kris Nieb (Fran EP): 13:48

The other side, safe splash. Very well established. We had a discovered date literally yesterday with and every department service and booking and real estate and construction and ongoing support and marketing. They have a bigger team and that's just because they've been around longer and they just had a more defined sales process in place to identify if it's the right fit for someone to buy into their business or not. So you'll see it all over the board. You'll see franchisors that are young, that are just will do what it takes to get on an airplane and go make it happen, whereas with more established brands, they'll have more department heads as part of a discovery process because they can. Yeah.

Lance Hood (FranPro): 14:28

And I've seen like if you have more leads or more opportunities, you can do more marketing, but when you have less, you really have to switch to sales. And what you're saying is is, you know, with that younger brand, he's willing to step out and meet face to face, he's qualifying them. But also, I mean, if you're meeting the founder of the company face to face, that's pretty easy, that's pretty entice. I just think that that would that would get your attention you know it shows you a commitment.

Kris Nieb (Fran EP): 14:54

I mean he's. He's on the food network. All the time. We joke around about how we can tell when there's a rerun on diners, diet and dives, dried and dyes, whatever it's called, and all of a sudden you'll see a large amount of people come through because they're very interested in the concept. It doesn't mean they all become owners, because that's absolutely not the case, but he wants us to build the foundation of franchisees and so sometimes it takes a little bit more time, a little bit more money to do it. But if a founder is willing to do that for you up front and then ultimately continue to come into the field or go into the field from his team as he's been growing it, it just shows you commitment. It really does, because he needs it to work. I mean, that's a big piece for a younger brand. Do what it takes to make it work.

Lance Hood (FranPro): 15:37

Right, what do you think like for lead sources for companies, Because that's going to change. Do you use, like you know look, you know you're talking to people differently or sourcing people differently, depending on brands? Like how do people determine what would be the right place to find the candidates for their kind of company?

Kris Nieb (Fran EP): 15:58

So it's a budget response, right. And so the International Franchise Association right now says it typically costs anywhere from $8,000 to $12,000 to acquire one franchisee. Now you're seeing that number go up just because people are spending a little bit more money or people are becoming a little bit more sophisticated and the number of buyers A little bit harder to find right now. So that might go 12 to $15,000. So if you're looking for one a month, let's go to the high side plan on spending $15,000 a month in marketing. That can be social media, which is big, linkedin, which is big, google, which is big.

Kris Nieb (Fran EP): 16:34

But you're competing with a lot of franchisors, a lot of franchise consulting groups that are out there looking for the same type of candidate to identify, helping them find a business and then ultimately work with franchise consulting groups, right. I mean you can't just say I want to work with you and then here's, you know, but here's a contract and we're going to go. They've got to be the right, fit, right and you've got to be validation from your side. Ultimately work with franchisee, or so it's one of those. It's expensive to build and grow, but you've got to anticipate being able to spend some money to get there and ultimately you can sell to friends and family all day long. But sooner or later you've got to start, you know, putting some money behind this, to grow your business faster, to acquire franchisees, because you can do both. You can work organically on your own with different marketing tools or you can work with franchise consulting groups. We have brands that do both because they want franchisees open, so they're willing to do those things.

Lance Hood (FranPro): 17:23

What do you think is the minimum amount of capital that somebody needs to have on hand when they're like? You know what I want to convert this concept I have into a franchise, because I think that a lot of people come in either a little underprepared financially they have higher expectations or they invest their money incorrectly in the beginning and they run themselves dry.

Kris Nieb (Fran EP): 17:46

That's. That tends to be the worst part of our industry and let's just call it for what it is. Somebody comes in undercapitalized or you hate this, and it's happened to all of us where you hire the wrong people and they're just really expensive and they don't deliver the results you're looking for. So we go back to if a type of numbers and some of the things that we all continue to hear about. If you're not anticipating between four to $500,000 to launch your brand, it's going to be tough. I mean, we average FDV right now is between $35,000 and $50,000 with an attorney. Can it be lower or higher?

Kris Nieb (Fran EP): 18:17

Yeah, operations manuals, you know, putting the right marketing in place, right systems in place and having capital available to you. Can you do it for $200,000, $250,000, you can, but you're really bootstrapping yourself. So a lot of what we look into when we talk to these younger brands is do you have the timeframe and the appetite and the capacity slash capital to spend to get to that point? So I tell people $400,000 to $500,000. And can that be scary? Absolutely it is and it can be. And it's making sure that they're in position to be successful. Build established, good, solid brand of support franchisees.

Lance Hood (FranPro): 18:57

Right, and it's going to be. If you're trying to get it on that younger, that smaller number, then you should probably plan that you're going to have what do you say? Your concept has to be really unique and really have gravity that pulls people to it. Because if you don't really have that differentiator, that where people are drawn to want to buy and own a franchise and drawn to want to do business at the franchise locations, you're just going to be slugging more marketing to try to get it off the ground.

Kris Nieb (Fran EP): 19:28

I mean, that's really it. So go back to selling a franchise to pay your bills, selling your franchise to get to that next one, to get to the next one, to get the next one. It's a successful model. Does it work that way? Yes, but do you make some decisions and support decisions based on trying to get that franchise fee, and you will. And so we've seen lots of franchise orders do it that way and become successful. But the ones that can take a deep breath and make the right decisions up front to turn somebody down if they're not the right fit, it's going to happen that way.

Kris Nieb (Fran EP): 20:00

We all like to tell funny stories. We had a discovery day two weeks ago with a cream concept that we work with and husband was 100% all in. The wife was falling asleep and the boardroom like literally falling asleep, and it was one of those. Well, you could sell a franchise. And Joe was able to come back and say why would I sell a franchise to a family where the wife is literally falling asleep multiple times during presentations with our team? That's embarrassing, and so we ultimately turned down the deal, which was a smart move on his part. And could he use another franchise or franchisee as a young franchise, or sure he could have, but to be able to make those calls up front, and it's a story that we're all laugh about forever, like gosh remember when that lady fell asleep in a discovery day it's kind of a fun one, but it happened and he was able to make the decision on. I don't want them as ranchisese and nobody from our team could have predicted that. Right, I mean, it was just one of those things that happens.

Lance Hood (FranPro): 20:55

So I know there are certain situations where I bring in some espressos with me.

Kris Nieb (Fran EP): 21:03

Yeah, I'm going to have to sit. I literally just shook my head. It was like, you know, we see a lot in franchising and that was definitely a first, hopefully a last right. But I mean, I was more and this is fun to say I was proud of him to not just say go ahead and sell my franchise. It was like, ah, we're probably not the right fit. And then it's that you know fear of loss. Well, why can't I have this? Well, your wife was sleeping and you kept waking her up. Like how are we going to let you guys invest, you know, a bunch of money into a business if she doesn't even want to be here?

Lance Hood (FranPro): 21:34

So you're going to be on your own. You know, that's just saying he's going to be on his own. You know for sure, absolutely. What are a few things that you think really choke? Brands, productivity you know we're trying to get this business off the ground and you have the whole process you know of either. You have the sales process, but you also have the training process and then, once they're open, that additional support. But there's some, maybe some choke points that people don't realize that they need to prepare for.

Kris Nieb (Fran EP): 22:04

So I think the key in all three of those buckets would be marketing.

Kris Nieb (Fran EP): 22:07

If they're not willing to spend money on marketing to identify franchisees in whatever capacity, that's going to be tough. If they're not willing to spend money on marketing, ultimately get these guys open for grand opening campaigns, how are they going to find customers Post opening if they're not willing to spend money? Franchisee is not willing to spend money to bring in customers. That's always an issue. So there was an old saying back in the day when businesses were failing and it could be a gym as a great example. Well, what are you doing for marketing? Well, the first thing people tend to tend to cut out is their marketing. Well, we've got customers here, let's just do we can to keep them happy. Well, no, you need new customers to come in to raise that bottom line. So I think marketing falls into all those buckets that if they're not willing to spend, they're not going to see customers. So that could be again franchisees, current franchisees, potential franchisees. Then, once they're open, they got to spend. They got to spend to get the customers they really do.

Lance Hood (FranPro): 23:00

Right and when it comes to somebody who's looking at it, and engagement, you know, because some people go dark on you. They might be good people, they might have their reasons, but if you're not able to reach them in a way that connects with these people, it might be that they're not the right person, but sometimes they are. What are some things that you've found when people are just kind of like disengaged, because it just shows me that they're not interested enough or maybe life got busy, but what are some engagement things that you found that help?

Kris Nieb (Fran EP): 23:30

You know. So I'm a big actions person. You know they could tell you. They read it. They could tell you that they're in a good spot. Their actions are going to teach you everything you need to know about these people.

Kris Nieb (Fran EP): 23:39

So we spent a lot of time building a rapport with candidates. We need to know who they are, who their kids are, what life items could come up and get in the way of your decision. And those are hard questions asked, because if they're seeing all the right stuff and they're telling you they're doing all the right stuff, it's hard to not think that they're the greatest people out there. But they miss a phone call, they don't fill out an NDA, they don't send an FDD receipt. Small little pieces in the process start showing you are they engaged or are they not. And so if you base your process on actions, you're spending your time on the people that want to move forward with things, and I was trained at a very, very young, early age because I was not process oriented. I was probably the worst salesperson ever to work with with.

Lance Hood (FranPro): 24:21

You know, years and years ago because I would just like oh, they're saying all the right stuff but they weren't doing all the right stuff, and it just helps you identify.

Kris Nieb (Fran EP): 24:29

Spend your time on the people who are showing you that they're interested in, they're showing you they want to own a business and potentially your business, versus the ones who are saying all the right stuff but they're not doing all the right stuff. So it's that get to and know as quickly as you possibly can so you can focus your efforts on the individuals that are starting to say yes and their actions are going to show you that in the process itself, yeah, I don't know how many times I've told people listen, I appreciate what you're saying, but I can't hear your words through your actions.

Lance Hood (FranPro): 25:01

I said actions mean everything. You can say anything, but actions is where your head at it shows what's important to you.

Kris Nieb (Fran EP): 25:09

I mean, we see it all the time. You've seen this a lot. If people are moving through the process and they're doing what you're asking them to do they're making the phone calls, they're on time, they're ready for you, they're good Whereas we had this happen with one of our sales directors the other day. Makes her phone call guy said all the right stuff, his financials look great, but he was running another business and no, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here. But that's not fair. They're not going to learn about a business when you're doing 10 other things and we literally said close the file, didn't hear from the guy again, which is fine. I mean, it's hard every now and then, but actions are going to show you exactly how serious these guys are about their business and potential.

Lance Hood (FranPro): 25:47

Right, and I've had to say that to clients. Like you know, listen, you're going to be expected, as somebody who's looking to be a business owner, to act like a business owner, and so you need to be able to show up for meetings, schedule meetings, be prepared for meetings, respond. If you're not responding and you're not following up with people or you miss meetings, you look more like an employee that doesn't have their act together than a business owner, and so you're going to need to make sure you do that, and I have those conversations with people and then, if I have to follow up, I'm like hey, looks bad, doesn't look like a business owner. I understand you got stuff going on, but what happens when you're in business and these same situations happen?

Kris Nieb (Fran EP): 26:33

You know it's hard for people. It's hard people and you know there's a lot of people that we all talk to you that sound great, they look great on paper, but to that point is it's hard. I mean, life happens. We all know that sick I have a sick at home today Life happens right, but it's one of those. You got to, you got to push forward in certain areas and that's what Nintendo switches and iPads, stuff is for right. And again life happens and people understand that. Like, hey, I missed, I missed our call. So you pick up the phone and you call them, you send a text message, send an email.

Kris Nieb (Fran EP): 27:09

It's too easy to communicate with people this day and age to say it's not the right fit or I didn't get to this. Let me save you your time and to your point, like you're going to be looking at this as though you'll be a business owner, what will you do when your clients miss an appointment or they don't show up for something, or something else is missed? And again it just goes back to their actions. Their actions are going to teach you every single thing you need to know. So it's time to book a discovery day if they don't book a plane ticket, but they're telling you all the right stuff, they're still not booking the plane ticket. Well, what does that tell you? They're not ready for this or they're not going to do this. So you know, again an experience. We've all kind of seen a lot of things come and go and go up and down here, but process shows you everything and then actions in that process show you who you should be spending your time with.

Lance Hood (FranPro): 27:57

Yeah, and I found that your volume of lead flow depends on your motivation to hang on to leads that are less than stellar. If you have an abundance of leads, then you're just like I don't have time and you focus on who's moving forward fastest, and if you have a lack of leads, you're in lead starvation. Then you do you over follow up with lesser qualified leads just because you don't have anything else, and so that's something for people to think about with their actions. Is you know? Do you have enough leads to find the right people, or are you trying to squeeze everybody through because you need it to?

Kris Nieb (Fran EP): 28:34

happen. You know, there is an old joke that you know, if you're lonely, call a franchise salesperson, they'll talk to you.

Kris Nieb (Fran EP): 28:42

It's kind of a funny story, but you know, even even to that franchise or that franchise sales individual has a very small lead pool. They still have to follow the process and you've got to hold them to that process because we've had it happen to us with this company. We've had individuals that say, gosh, they're saying all the right stuff. We're like, yeah, but they've moved a decision date three different times at their request and they're still not giving you a decision. It's not going anywhere. Well, I'm still going to call, I'm still going to call, I'm still going to call. And you're like, no, they're not going to, it's not going to happen.

Kris Nieb (Fran EP): 29:09

But they just want to hold on to that lead because they're saying all the right stuff. They're not doing all the right stuff, right, whereas that busy person's like, just get them in, get them out, get them in, get them out. Let's focus on the ones that are focused on trying to say yes right now, which is which is really good to do, and you've got to have that mentality of you know what. So and so just miss their phone call at one PM, I'm on to the next. I'm not going to sit here and dwell on it. I got to focus on moving forward, and I get excited when people miss phone calls because I get an hour back Like this is great, thank you, never talking to you again, no problem, I'm on to the next person or the next item that I have on my list, because, as a as a business owner, you've got to get to that next item, and that's typically what happens.

Lance Hood (FranPro): 29:50

So I have found from interviewing people since about 2007 that the wealthiest, most successful people I've ever interviewed they talk short and they have less time and they want to get to whatever you need to get to and then get off the phone onto the next thing because they have less time to accomplish what they're trying to accomplish. But the people who hold you on the phone and won't get off the phone usually are people who are kind of broke. They don't have anything going on and you might potentially be that lifeline. They don't know what to do with you yet, but you might be that lifeline that might bring them something, and so they want to stay on the phone with you as long as possible. And I start getting a little nervous sometimes. If someone is just continuously talking and they have nothing going on or they want to call all the time as a client, you know they just need a buddy. They're not looking to buy a business or they're not looking to make things happen. Have you noticed that?

Kris Nieb (Fran EP): 30:47

I have. I mean, our most valuable asset everybody that we all talk to, everybody we interact with, is our time, right, our time is our most valuable asset and you've got to spend your time where you've got actions that are showing you where to spend your time right. And so the ones that are just saying all the right stuff don't really have much going for themselves. They're not going to buy anything, and that's hard for a lot of people because, gosh, they filled out an application form. They look great on paper. That doesn't mean anything, right, that just gives you enough to know if they qualify for something. So, again, with time being our most valuable asset, you've got to spend it where people are going to be the most effective for you and showing you through their actions if they are worth your time. And that's hard, it is, but it's something that you kind of learn over the years that, gosh, they're saying the right stuff, but these guys are doing the right stuff. So it just comes back down to their actions again, because we've all had them before where they say all the right stuff but they just don't do it.

Kris Nieb (Fran EP): 31:42

We've had multi-unit franchisees that we've worked with who own different businesses. Who I'm doing it, I'm doing it, I'm doing it, but then they don't. And then they miss phone calls and you're like gosh, you own 15, 20 pizza locations and you want to get out of that. We're a solution for you, but you're missing phone calls. You come to a discovery day, but you're not willing to move forward on things. So you kind of just start to see where do we spend our time and where do we not.

Lance Hood (FranPro): 32:05

So it's a big one. Well, you know thing is we're running out of time for this call, but I have so many more questions for you. I would like to ask you another one here, which is what do you think are the biggest? Because the responses we're getting when we're talking to people and they're intergaging with us are not engaging with us and their, their actions don't match their words. There are some Objections or concerns that are happening that are kind of steering them right. What do you think are some of these bigger Unmentioned concerns that are holding people back? Maybe, especially even if they're a valid candidate? Maybe they're, they're valid, but there's this thing that we haven't addressed yet and that will kind of free people up to move forward.

Kris Nieb (Fran EP): 32:50

There's always going to be outside noise and I think you have to address that up front. You're gonna have and think Ferris Bueller, oh, you're looking at such and such business from a family member or a neighbor Gosh, my best friend's brother, sister's, girlfriend's friend that 31 flavors passed out. His dad owned one and he was. He failed miserably at that. Well, it's got nothing to do with what we're talking about and what this process is right. So I think people have to address outside noise up front to say let us teach you our process, let us show you who we are and how we build the business, because people are gonna tell you this isn't the right fit. People are gonna say why would you do something like that? Well, it's not for them, it's for you.

Kris Nieb (Fran EP): 33:28

And so you've got to identify on those first few phone Calls what are their motivations? Why are we on the phone? And this is an old sales trick, right, it's, it's a. How do we Identify something for why they're on the phone with us? Is it a bad boss, is it? They want more vacations, they want more time with their family. So you can kind of come back to hey, Remember when we talked about this, this was something that can get you back in front of your family more, get you more family vacations or get away from that boss that just treats you poorly.

Kris Nieb (Fran EP): 33:57

So I think you've got to figure out those motivations are and those first few phone calls or those first few steps to help these people know like, hey, I'm looking at this for a reason, someone's gonna have something to say. But we more importantly want to make sure that they make an informed business decision which you can coach them through with your process to help them get away from some of that noise, because it's gonna happen. It comes up all the time but if they're prepared for it up front, they know it's coming. So I think that that becomes helpful. That oh gosh, lance talked me about this a month ago and guess what just happened?

Kris Nieb (Fran EP): 34:24

My next door neighbor where I was out cutting the grass On here and it's not a big deal then because they were prepared for it. So I think if you prepare people up front or here, so we're gonna understand what this looks like here. So your actions during this process are going to show you for serious or not, and then some of the anxieties that are going to come up might change some of it and they're coached up front. It's going to make it that much easier.

Lance Hood (FranPro): 34:50

Right and I have always found that if people don't have a vision, something that they have an attachment to, that they're like I see it, I want it, you know, then having that disappear and seeing all the fears and other things, there's nothing holding them to it, because they already have all these worries and concerns that we all have, but they have no, nothing that they're losing. It's almost like you know Handing, you know having, like this, beautiful meals slid in front of you, and then someone's like, oh, that's not for you. And then you're like, oh, I kind of want this, but but yeah.

Lance Hood (FranPro): 35:26

Yeah, yeah, exactly. So it's like you know, if you don't build that up front in people, there's nothing that they're losing, there's nothing that's holding them to Doing this. It's just, you know, it's easy to walk away because of all the distractions in the world. Well, it is Well. Chris, I appreciate you. I appreciate everything that you shared. I think everybody listening appreciates everything that you've shared today, and I just want to encourage everybody. You can go to this link https://Franpro. vip/GoFranEvolutionPart That'll get you in connection with Chris. Again, I can't thank you enough. I would love to spend the next hour asking you more questions, but I appreciate your time.

Kris Nieb (Fran EP): 36:05

Thank you so much. Have a great day.