Franchise Development Workshop - New Orleans, LA

Five Most Surprising Trends in Franchise Sales

A 15-minute report on industry/data trends for franchise sales.

Speaker: Keith Gerson, CFE, CMO & President, Franchise Operations, FranConnect

“Know How To Grow” Building A Sales Process and System That Is Right For Your Brand

Learn how to create the right sales process and build the right system for your brand. This program will give you insight on creating a process that fits your brand and your culture. Learn how to set the speed. Are you growing too fast or growing too slow? What are the benefits, challenges and costs of the speed you set for growth? Our panel of experts will share their experiences with you to get you on the right track.

Moderator: Rocco Fiorentino, CFE, President & CEO, PrimoHoagies
Speakers: Bill DiPaola, CFE, COO, Ballard Brands, LLC; Keith Gerson, CFE, CMO & President, Franchise Operations, FranConnect; Amy Reed, Co-Owner & Co-Founder, Woofie's Pet Ventures, LLC

In order to strategically grow your brand, you need to understand your target audience. Who are they? What motivates them? How is your audience evolving over time? From targeting millennials to seasoned corporate executives to owners of other brands, we will discuss how to sell to today’s buyer.

Moderator: Jen Campbell, President, Hot Dish Advertising

Speakers: Michael Arrowsmith, CDO, Pinch A Penny, Inc.; Charles Watson, CFE, CEO, Tropical Smoothie Café

The decisions you make today will determine the future of your franchise. This informative session will focus on the options available for finding prospects, managing the process and screening the prospects to become true candidates.

Speakers: Jania Bailey, CFE, CEO, FranNet Franchising, LLC; Catherine Deano, CFE, Owner, Painting with a Twist, LLC

In this session you’ll learn proven and field tested best practices for not only creating and building a financial recruiting plan, but also how to monitor and manage the often limited and precious resources. You’ll complete this session with tools and knowledge to quickly get your own winning financial plan and budget in place.

Speakers: Art Coley, CFE, CEO, CGI Franchise; Josh Wall, CFE, Chief Franchise Officer, Urban Air Adventure Parks

Haven’t you always wondered how some franchise brands go from zero to hundreds of locations, in what seems to be, overnight? While that’s the perception sometimes, it actually takes a lot more time and effort to go from concept to franchise award to opening. A lot of strategies are conceived behind the scenes and implemented over a period of time - well before the results appear. Modeled after the mystery case study featured at the IFA Annual Leadership Conference, join other attendees at this seminar in collaborating to solve a real-world, franchise brand’s challenge in turning their sales and development efforts around to fuel growth. Attendees will review a mystery-brand’s real history, its struggles with franchise development and be asked to create a plan to accelerate its growth across the U.S. Once teams define and share their recommendations, you will be joined by a current brand executive who will share the actual plan they implemented, its success and their current state of business.

During this session we will identify best practices on successfully getting candidates through the process to Discovery Day, signing and then through opening and on their way to fully engaged franchisees. Topics will include: 

Effectively using Item 19 FPRs and franchisee validation. 
Building trust into the sales conversation and building positive relationships with candidates.
Avoiding common mistakes that can lead to unrealistic expectations in the early stages of the franchise relationship.
Speaker: Ralph Yarusso, CFE, CDO, FullSpeed Automotive

This presentation provides an overview of common issues in the franchise sales process that often lead to litigation between franchisors and franchisees. Discussion surrounds guidance on best practices to avoid such claims and topics include financial performance representations and how to draft an Item 19, unregistered sales, initial investment information and other disclosure issues that may lead to litigation. This presentation also covers procedures that franchisors should have in place to ensure that they are complying with federal and state franchise regulations so that they are not needlessly exposing themselves to claims brought by disgruntled franchisees within the system.

Speaker: Kyle C. Lennox, Associate, Greenberg Traurig, LLP

This session will discuss which KPIs are most important and how best to measure them. We will also discuss warning signs that indicate changes are needed.

Speakers: Richard Leveille, CFE, CDO, Painting with a Twist, LLC; Joe Lindenmayer, CFE, CEO & Owner, California Closets of the Gulf Coast; David Mesa, CFE, Executive Vice President & CDO, Ballard Brands, LLC

Join fellow attendees and franchise executives for informal discussions on topics focused around the seminar sessions. Dive deeper into development topics and get direct feedback on issues that are important to you!