Lance Hood (FranPro): 0:09

Welcome everybody. I would like to introduce you to Sabrina Wall, the CEO of the Franchise Broker Association, or FBA. Hi, hey, Sabrina. So can you share a little bit about FBA and how it got started?

Sabrina Wall (FBA): 0:28

Well, FBA has been around since 2008.

Sabrina Wall (FBA): 0:31

So we've been around for quite a while now and it's basically an organization where we kind of act like an MLS, but for franchises instead of real estate.

Sabrina Wall (FBA): 0:45

So if you've ever gone through the process of buying a house, you would go onto the MLS or a search tool and it would help you to find the houses that match what you're looking for in the neighborhoods that you want. And our organization kind of started by just being that MLS for the franchise industry, so we call it the FranLink system and it's a place where franchise brokers can go and enter in the criteria of what their franchise buyers are looking for and find brands that match what those specifications are, so that they spend a lot more time talking to franchises that are going to help them achieve those goals, as opposed to spending a lot of time with franchises that go nowhere or aren't truly a right fit for what they're trying to accomplish. So it cuts the time in half and being able to match the right franchise with the right person and make sure that all of those pieces align in the process.

Lance Hood (FranPro): 1:55

Yeah, I know that I've actually gone through and used the FLS system and I love it. You can sort it, slice it and dice it any way you want to find the right things for your clients and it has all the information and data you need. But you know there are more things, because just being listed on an FLS doesn't mean that anyone's going to get any sort of traction or even be noticed. Can you kind of like share a little bit more about the other things that you do for franchise source too?

Sabrina Wall (FBA): 2:26

Yeah, so every franchise that makes the decision to work with franchise brokers.

Sabrina Wall (FBA): 2:33

They may have worked with brokers in the past or they may have never done that. And what we find is that when you establish a good relationship with that franchise and the broker, magic can happen. Because when the broker understands the type of people that are really good at helping that franchise grow and thrive and have successful, top performing franchise owners, well then the broker can kind of cater their efforts to find people and match them with those brands. So our role in the process in helping match those brokers and franchises together but also make sure that the franchises understand the sales process and what do buyers really want to see, what do they want to look at, what do brokers want in order to be successful with their brand? And so we help with that education process, we help to support the communication, we let them know if there's anything that it doesn't quite look right or isn't working right, isn't standard or normal process, so that the franchise can correct those things and can make sure that it's a really good, strong relationship with the broker and ultimately with the candidate.

Lance Hood (FranPro): 3:54

You know, in listening to you, one of the things that stood out is the question that wasn't asked in advance, which is if a company is not working with brokers right now, why would they want to work with brokers, versus just trying to do all the marketing themselves and try to do it all at house?

Sabrina Wall (FBA): 4:10

Well, that's kind of the reason why our brokering industry came to be is because the process of finding the right buyer or franchise owner for a system is expensive and it is difficult because every franchise has its own ecosystem, its own mix of pros and cons and characteristics and qualities, and so a franchise might spend three, four, five times what a broker would spend on finding a person that is a match for that brand.

Sabrina Wall (FBA): 4:49

And so that's how the brokering industry really came to be is that the franchise oars were spending all of these resources and they said there's got to be a better way. And the brokers what they're able to do is to match somebody more specifically, and so they're not sending just anybody that replies to an ad to a particular brand. They're going through a qualification process and talking through what the buyer really wants and making sure that it's not just a kind of throat at the wall and hope that it works out, but it's a more crafted, introspective, more refined process. And so the franchise loves it because they have the ability to work with referral style candidates, not just anybody that's clicking on a link, and the buyers tend to be a lot more educated and a lot better at going through the process. So they present their franchise knowledge differently than if they were just kind of coming off of the internet search or something.

Lance Hood (FranPro): 6:04

Right and you think as a franchise, or you're buying access to leads, which sometimes is just contact information that may never pick up the phone, and it's really hard to find a buyer of $150,000 to a million dollars out there that specifically wants your brand and is willing to risk working with a specific company. But as a broker, what I have found is that you can take and I get a lot of people that I work with and I ask them. It takes about an hour to go through the whole process of finding out what they're looking for, what types of industries they believe in and all those things, and so it's easier for a broker to find somebody who financially matches, who has a match of what they're trying to accomplish and all these other things in there, than it is to just try. You have one product to sell.

Lance Hood (FranPro): 7:03

I have many, many hundreds, so yeah, it's definitely easy and if somebody is going to be part of a broker network, just being in a portfolio doesn't mean anything. So the things that you guys do with your connecting the brokers with the franchise, or that's what really gets them on the radar and causes people to what do you say? Connect with the brand, because it's that list of brands that people connect with that they really spend their time promoting. So, just being in a portfolio, you really still have to connect with the brokers and you don't need all of them like you think. Oh, I have all these brokers. You know you could kill it with just a handful of brokers.

Sabrina Wall (FBA): 7:46

Exactly. Yeah, well, the broker becomes in a way, an extension of the franchises process and if they're a good broker, they're doing a fair amount of, one, understanding the brand at a deeper level and, two, really helping communicate what the buyers needs are and what they're looking for and working together with that franchise to make sure that it's good for the buyer and that it's good for the franchise and that all parties are coming together. I think a lot of deals get lost and a lot of transactions don't work out, not because they're not a good fit, but because egos can get in the way, and so sometimes it's just having that outside perspective, that person that is helping each side understand the other. It is incredibly effective, and so much business in this world gets lost from lack of communication and lack of coming together, and that is what the broker does. The broker helps to bring the parties together to have real conversation and conversation that is actually going to move them forward in either the decision to work together or the decision not to. But they're having real, meaningful conversation that helps them to decide that.

Sabrina Wall (FBA): 9:21

And that's kind of the soft, underlying thing that people don't really understand about the value of a broker, but it is one of the most important things that the broker offers, because the broker, they are literally helping the person discover for themselves who they're going to be and how to operate in this relationship and how to communicate well and how to present themselves well and those kind of soft skills, those things that are not as easy to pick up on. They make a huge difference and that that fires ability to be awarded the franchise and the franchise wanting to work with that person and then the franchise also getting good quality people that understand what they're getting into and how to be successful with it.

Lance Hood (FranPro): 10:18

Well, what would you say, makes FBA different from the other broker organizations?

Sabrina Wall (FBA): 10:26

I mean we, what do we do the same. We promote franchises, we have listings, we have relationships with members. What we do differently is our members know that we're always working on their behalf, that it's not about a short-term transaction, it is about really building people, because I think if you stay at the surface level with any kind of relationship, you're never really you're getting like a thimble of progress. But if you actually go deep and help people with their challenges, with their struggles, with the thing they're venting, you know the things that aren't going right. If you address them and go deep and help them to get a resolution and help them to even work through the emotional side of it, when you're able to have that level of relationship and engagement, the way that they grow is exponential.

Sabrina Wall (FBA): 11:39

It's like a fire hose instead of a thimble, and we are excellent at that conflict resolution side. So we're really good at helping the franchisor and the broker work together and the candidate or the buyer and the broker work together and helping to train these skills that a lot of the marketplace lacks, and there are skills that are really important to establishing a high-quality relationship in working together. I mean, a franchise contract is 10 years in most cases. And so when a franchise is connecting with a buyer and they're doing that in a way where they don't really understand each other and they're kind of starting on false pretenses or not having a clear picture, well then they start the relationship off track and it just gets more and more off track as it goes. But if they start the relationship on track, if they start the relationship where they're clear and understand each other and support one another, then they know how to work together in those future challenges and our organization helps all parties to do that.

Lance Hood (FranPro): 12:56

What would you say then are some of the biggest challenges that you solve for franchise orders? I know we think sales, we think, oh, I'm going to get a new franchisee potentially and I don't pay anything unless an actual deal is struck. But I mean, sometimes there's other things with your, I would say, wisdom and advice that you guys do, because some franchisees need some of that steering Right.

Sabrina Wall (FBA): 13:26

A lot of franchisees need that steering and I would say that we do check all FDDs before somebody, a brand, is allowed to enter an inventory. So, whereas you can have an FDD with other systems and just load it on there, we take the more proactive approach because, just to give you an example, we had a franchise group, like a company, that was turning independent businesses into franchises, and every one of their franchises that they would send to us had a disclosure document. That was a complete mess and we had to basically end the relationship with that vendor and say until you can get the agreement part correct with these disclosure documents we can't offer you because you're setting every relationship up with a improper disclosure and we're not going to put anyone at risk by doing that. So we basically have that franchise or that development company pulled from the system. But some of the franchises that tried to be a member, we gave them the feedback and said here are the things you've got to correct, because this is not accurate and we can't present it.

Sabrina Wall (FBA): 14:52

And though we just had a franchise or from that process, spend a year correcting the issues and then came back and said I've got it, now I'm corrected, can we work with you, and so that's just one example of one of the things that we do. But we often teach them what a proper sales process is, what they need to do to present themselves well. We also do kind of like the summaries of their disclosure document so that everybody's clear about what's going on with that brand, the broker and the franchise system. And what happens is questions come up from that summary of their disclosure document and those become the areas of coaching and improvement for the franchise brand to get better and better at being a high quality franchise brand in the process. So as long as the franchise is willing to learn and willing to listen and is a team player and has the right attitude, we can do a lot with helping them to be successful as a franchise brand who works with good quality brokers.

Lance Hood (FranPro): 16:09

And you have any stories of how some companies have worked with you guys and seen some dramatic changes or results in their franchise?

Sabrina Wall (FBA): 16:19

Yeah, one franchise that we have worked with. They years ago they had a very dated system so their materials were just, you know, like 15 years old, they hadn't been updated and their sales process was kind of arduous and just clunky and so they weren't having a lot of traction in the process. So we worked with the leadership of that brand and said you know, you've got some things that need to be updated and corrected in order for us to really get traction. So they brought in a new rep who was young and yet she was very driven, she really cared about being successful. So we worked with her to basically have her not only kind of clean up the process and get updated but also to practice her pitch and got her in touch with some senior franchise brokers to actually practice the pitch before she was presenting to their buyers, and so that process of just engaging with the brokers and asking for help the collaboration with our community is really high and so they're willing to help one another and the brokers were sharing insights with them.

Sabrina Wall (FBA): 17:40

And then, through this process of getting her connected with people, we also helped her to form join a little group of other young professionals in this industry, and so that young group started meeting on a regular basis and having all these sessions where they were talking about how to grow in the profession. And you know that was several years ago. And last year they were actually named franchise of the year by our brokers because they had done so well. They had also been purchased by a company like a development group, so they're just continuing to grow and expand. It's been a really cool experience. But she was willing to do the work, she was willing to engage with the community and she asked for feedback. And our brokers some of them weren't that easy. They said this is a really bad presentation. We can't present you until you get more skilled. And so she worked on it until she got to the point where they approved and then they felt comfortable sending their candidates to her.

Lance Hood (FranPro): 18:54

Yeah, and the ability to how do you say, be kind of humble and teachable is hard, because all of us, every one of us, has a degree of ego, and so when someone's like listen, you know there's some, I know you have this brand, but there's some things you need to tweak, things you need to pay attention to. And sometimes people say, sure, I'll listen to you, but they don't always or they don't follow up on what they've learned. But if somebody really engages, I mean there's really, there's no limits on it. I was used to look at it as somebody wants to get really good at basketball, but they don't want to go up and shoot the basket in front of everybody until they can make it every time. I'm like so how's that gonna happen? You need to just be willing to go. We don't have it all figured out. We'd love your help and try implementing it, and then you'd be shocked at the results you can make. Yeah.

Sabrina Wall (FBA): 19:52

Absolutely.

Lance Hood (FranPro): 19:53

Well, what's the process of a company working with you? So imagine I'm a brand, I'm talking with you guys, I'm looking to work with you and get in front of all the brokers. How does that process go?

Sabrina Wall (FBA): 20:05

Well, first we have to have an FDD, because any brand that comes with us we have to check and make sure it's correct and everything looks good. We check it into a database and compare it to other brands and things like that, and then we give an approval on whether or not they can come into membership. Then we collect their marketing and sales materials and then help them to build one of those listings in the FLS and then from there they are listed and brokers have the ability to find them and we have different levels of membership. So franchise owners can have a higher level of engagement where they're kind of featured and have more events with the brokers. But at the base level we invite them to things like membership mixers, which are kind of like speed networking events where the brokers and the franchise owners get an opportunity to have one-on-one time and, in a remote capacity, get to know each other and just spend time learning about those brands. We also do things like speed rounds where candidates and buyers can join and learn about specific brands in a category. So the brokers learn what brands are semi-passive and they'll learn what brands are good for building a legacy or a serial entrepreneur. So we create these events that brokers and buyers can come to to learn about brands within a segment, and then we have all kinds of other membership events, but another one that we do is we'll actually bring a franchise on and we'll have a collaborative discussion about what's unique about their brand and kind of work with them in how they're presenting it and get questions from the brokers.

Sabrina Wall (FBA): 22:01

So the brokers provide real-time feedback about. This is the things that I would like to share and these are the things that aren't really relevant and we're spending a lot of time on it. My buyers don't want to know that, so can you not talk about that? It just doesn't matter. Like you're where your kids, where you grew up and where your kids went to school, for instance, you'd be surprised. People think they're rapport building, but they're going way deep in it. So that's just a simple example of one of the sessions, but we basically invite these franchisors to learn, meet the brokers. We have different announcements and events. I mean, we're a very collaborative community, so we're always doing stuff together and talking about brands with the brokers and highlighting certain brands that we found do this special thing that maybe a candidate or a buyer was looking for and a broker didn't know which brand did that. So there's a lot of collaboration and connection that comes with being a member.

Lance Hood (FranPro): 23:09

Yeah, and when you talk about all those things that people talk about that maybe they don't need to and things they need to talk about that they don't. It's funny because I remember going through the FLS and reading franchise after franchise and I about lost a couple computers over it because I was like what do you do? Like the first sentence about your company should say we are a painting company and we do this, but all you get is we help companies save money, we're the best and fastest in the industry. And I read through paragraphs with no idea of what they actually do for a business and so some of these companies don't even realize is like there's no way I'm promoting that because I don't even know what it is and now I have a headache.

Lance Hood (FranPro): 23:56

So it's like so simple that the thing that you do should be clear in the very first sentence and just simple things of business that big companies still just they don't have in their marketing department because they're not thinking about explaining what they do, they just think about how to stand out. But I don't even know what you are. So what is the process if a company wants to work with you? I know you have the process, but what's the timeline? So getting started getting some traction and maybe even getting leads flowing in from some interested brokers that want to send people your way? What's that kind of like timeline?

Sabrina Wall (FBA): 24:34

Yeah, well, it doesn't take very long. Once they come on board, we, just as fast as the franchise can, get us the information. That's pretty quickly. We can turn around that franchise listing within a few days and then have it ready for the brokers to be able to access. And then we go through a series of announcements and training on the brand and highlighting them and featuring them so the brokers know about them.

Sabrina Wall (FBA): 25:01

So the point that it takes for the broker to engage with them the brokers are always curious about inventory, so they do want to know about different brands and I think if you're a brand that looks good, a lot of franchises actually don't do a good job at branding their own company, like they'll have kind of an antiquated looking brand for their brand. So when you've got, when you look together, you've got a good profile, you're relevant for different searches that their clients are searching for and the branding looks good, you tend to get a little bit more initial attraction, and so you do. The brand does matter in this space. It matters to the buyers. The buyers care about if it looks cool or not, and so you want to have something that looks clean and nice, and you know in this century. And so if you get that process, you know brokers will start interacting pretty quickly on territory checks. So long as they have a good feel for what is it, what are some of the benefits of it, why would my candidate want to work with this brand?

Sabrina Wall (FBA): 26:22

Now, that is a pro an a con, because if you get a broker, if the broker does a territory check and then the franchise says yeah, we're available, or the franchise doesn't respond or doesn't provide any meaningful feedback, well then the broker is kind of already evaluating can they handle me and my buyer?

Sabrina Wall (FBA): 26:48

And so if the brand isn't responsive and communicating and doing a good job upfront, they can actually hurt themselves later on in the process because the brokers will stop presenting them if they don't feel that they're doing. They're buttoned up and they're clean and they're doing things well from the beginning. So that does matter. And something franchisors should definitely be aware of as they're communicating with brokers these are your most valuable referral sources, the brokers. When they get behind a brand, it spreads like wildfire, I am not kidding. Like brokers, they come onto these mentoring sessions and we'll talk about brands that we've had a good experience with this one, a challenging experience with this one, and the ones that are doing well and they're clean and they're organized, the brokers are all just start like well, let's talk to that one, let's talk to that one.

Sabrina Wall (FBA): 27:49

So the momentum and the experience you have with them. It spreads and it spreads quickly. So just do a good job with communicating.

Lance Hood (FranPro): 27:59

Yeah, because I can tell you that it's trust. So when you're sending clients to a brand, if they're not responding to the territory checks, you get concerned of what it's gonna be like to do follow-up with them. And then if they're not giving you updates on what's going on with your client, then you start worrying if the client's being followed up with or anything. So it's like definitely how they interact with you and your clients, inviting you to be part of it, giving you notices when something happens. Those are all important things that they don't think about. And you talked about the branding I have.

Lance Hood (FranPro): 28:35

I know that when you have a business and you already have a brand and a logo and your business is okay, that might be doing well for you in your area. But when you go take it and fish it to new people, I've seen some that were I mean, a logo is like under $1,000. And so I've seen some that look so childish. I didn't promote them because I thought my clients would mess with me about it. So definitely it's. You're saying this is us and people are looking at it to evaluate you. You might take what you already have. It doesn't mean you have to radically change it, but you might polish it Like something that doesn't look like it was made on word with a snag. It you know snipping guy paperclip.

Lance Hood (FranPro): 29:22

Free software to create that. So let's see. And then, what can people do to speed up or shortcut the process? And it just and I know it doesn't take long to get started with you guys but speed up or shortcut the process of getting that traction with brokers Because, honestly, that's. You know these are your sales people. They're a free sales staff but they have to be interested. You know they have to want to work with you and they all talk. So if you have a great product and a great sales team and you are good at closing deals and you're a good opportunity for their buyers, it's a solid business. You know you're going to get all the attention, but if not, then you're going to work really hard to talk to people that are half interested, right, so what advice do you have for the brands?

Sabrina Wall (FBA): 30:11

I think you do have to have certain things in place. Like you have to have a good profile, a good listing, you need to have a good rep, the person that's actually presenting the brand. They need to know what they're doing, they need to understand how to communicate and they need to be good at their job. A lot of times the reps are like their cousin or their uncle or somebody who doesn't know franchising, but they're so in their own channel or their own way of doing it that they don't understand that it's not working. So having a good rep, having a good brand, having a good communication and sales process like the going back and forth with the broker is really, really important. And having a sales process that's defined and you take, the client knows what the expectations are in the process, because this is not a kind of business that you can confuse. If you confuse, you lose, and so having those clear expectations here's the plan, it's organized, here's what we're going to do, here's the beginning of the call, here's what we're going to do. The end of the call, here's what we're going to do. That kind of clarity really helps people feel at ease, and so the brand needs to make sure that they have that clean sales process, and then I would say you do have to have a competitive referral fee.

Sabrina Wall (FBA): 31:53

Let's face it, franchising is. Franchise development is expensive. It costs a lot of money to be able to find the right people for a particular brand and the brokers have to pay upfront for that, that advertising, that lead generation. They have to pay for all of the people who didn't buy franchises and all of the work that it took to sort and find those individuals. And so when you're paying a commission, it's not just the commission on that one deal, it's for all of the work that it took to get that one deal. And so franchise owners do need to keep that in mind, that they have to be competitive within their industry and within franchising as a whole, so that the brokers can. This is their business. They have to be able to make a sufficient return on the effort that they are putting into the business in order to make it make sense for them.

Lance Hood (FranPro): 32:54

Right, they're putting in their money so you don't have to, and they might pay anywhere from $75 to several hundred dollars a lead for contact information and nobody might even pick up and they'll spend a massive amount of money. And then, when they deliver lead, if that person does actually end up buying a franchise, that could be three, four, six, 12 months down the road by the time the franchise brokers compensate it. So putting out all that money and then waiting all those months just to get paid and then waiting for the next deal, it's an expensive business. So they have a lot of faith in you as a franchise brand and I mean when they really I can't speak for everybody, but when you really take the time to find the right fit and you really qualify people and they've decided I'm going to work with this company. You're hoping for a hundred percent placement and it's a big deal or catastrophic if it doesn't work out and so those things.

Lance Hood (FranPro): 33:58

People definitely make decisions on how things go and how things are handled and it starts with the quality of the brand. But also, if you have deals that just continue to fall through, there's no way you're going to work with that company or that franchise representative, even if they move to another company, Because it can be catastrophic to the broker. So this is great information. I think that we provide a lot of information for people to think about and learn and, Sabrina, I appreciate you joining me today and I just want to tell everybody go. here https://Franpro. vip/GoFBA you are interested in having conversation with FBA and learning more, you can . Thanks, Sabrina.

Sabrina Wall (FBA): 34:49

Welcome yeah.