It’s the Franchise Marketing Fall Preview on Social Geek!
Matt Haller, CEO of The International Franchise Association gives a preview of this year’s IFA Advocacy Summit in DC and the association’s view on top issues for small business.
Ali Kraus of Benetrends and Bloomin’ Blinds’ Kristopher Stuart discuss the launch of Furry Frans, the franchise community’s exciting new non-profit project.
Ford Saeks, keynote speaker and author, shares the topics that his audiences are asking about the most this year.
Brent Greenwood of Sport Clips gives us an update on the Multi-Unit side of franchise and the growth he’s seeing for his brand and sector.
And Shawn Caric of Smoothie King wraps up the show with a discussion about the 2025 Franchise Leadership & Development Conference. Shawn is this year’s FLDC Chair and gives a sneak peek this year’s content.
And all of today’s guests share their take the hottest Franchise Development and Franchise Marketing trends including:
- GEO / AEO / SEO impacting franchise lead generation
- LLM seeding for fran dev
- A confident outlook on franchise growth for 2025/2026!
Thanks to Citrin Cooperman, Northeast Color, Hughes, and Thunderly.
Transcript for Franchise Marketing Fall Preview
AI was not used in the creation of this podcast. This is the Social Geek Radio Network.
Hello, Geeks, and welcome to the Social Geek Podcast. I’m Jack Monson, your host and marketing Consigliere. Today is the Franchise Marketing Fall Preview.
We’re talking to the top thought leaders of franchising about the trends they’re watching for this fall. You’ll hear from Matt Haller, Kris Stuart, Ali Kraus, Ford Saeks, Shawn Caric and Brent Greenwood.
All right, today’s show is brought to you by Hughes, Northeast Color, Citrin Cooperman and Thunderly. This fall, it’s time to electrify your franchise development marketing. Visit thunderlymarketing.com.
Okay, first up, IFA CEO Matt Haller joins us to share a preview of the 2025 IFA Advocacy Summit.
What is it about that event, Matt, that makes it so special for IFA and for all the members of the IFA?
Well, you’re advocating for yourself. So rather than advocating just for your brand, you’re advocating for your future, and we’re doing it collectively. And I think that’s what makes this event really special, is the opportunity to stand up for something that is making everybody’s living, right?
Which is franchising, whether you’re a franchisee or you’re a franchisee or you’re a supplier. And you do it together, you do it in state delegations. And there’s very few other events in franchising where you’re going to hear from the people that are making decisions here in Washington about your future.”
“And for the most part, right now, we have people that are making decisions that are really helpful to the future of franchising. So that’s a bit of a pivot of where we’ve been over the last four years. And not to get too political here, but, hey, elections have consequences, and the consequences of this election were we have a more pro-franchising government and Congress than we did when we had this meeting a year ago.
And so I’ll segue myself to this is opportunity. That is what this meeting is all about. Let’s take advantage of the opportunity that is in front of us to do something meaningful for franchising, not just fight bad ideas, but take those bad ideas off the table once and for all.
So you see this as we’re not playing defense as much this year’s. Maybe we’ve got some growth potential happening here.”
“Yeah, I mean, we’re today. Tonight is the first night of the NFL preseason. This is going to be the greatest show on turf.
IFA Advocacy Summit. We’re going on offense. We’re going to score as many points as we can.
And that’s a really exciting thing to do. Ultimately, you got to score more points than your opponent. And we’ve got a real chance to do that to win.
So let’s talk about some of the agenda items. Are we still talking joint employer? But maybe now it’s in more of a legislative area and maybe more of a permanent solution.
Yeah, exactly. So look, there’s been legislation that we’ve supported in the past around joint employer. But for the most part, that’s not really had a chance of becoming law, either because the bills go too far in the eyes of some in the Democratic Party, or the political environment isn’t shaped in a way where they could ultimately get across the finish line to be signed by a president in a law.”
“I believe that we’re going to take a more narrow approach with the policy, which will give us a greater amount of support in both parties, and we have a dynamic with Republicans in control of both the House and the Senate, and a president that we know supports franchising and clarifying the Joint Employer Rule that would sign a piece of legislation if it were to pass Congress. So I think all of those scenarios coming together, this Congress gives us a two-year window to get something done, and we need to take advantage of that opportunity, and that’s why I think this is the most important year for somebody listening to this that might be contemplating, is it really worth my time to come to DC for two or three days? I say the answer is unequivocally yes.”
“And I like that you said a two-year window because it feels like this year and maybe next year are really the opportunities for us to really grow in franchising. Who knows what will happen after the next set of midterms and the next set of elections, but it feels like we do have a pretty good two-year runway right now.”
“We do, and a lot of the policy risk around taxes has been taken off the plate because Congress surprised everybody and got it done earlier in the year than waiting until December. So Congress is, they’re really looking for things to do, and they’re looking for bipartisan things to do that aren’t going to require reconciliation. They have to kind of fill the calendar in some ways.
And we, I think fit nicely into a basket of issues that they’re looking for. And I’ve had a number of conversations with lawmakers and staff and White House and both parties, as has the rest of our GR team over the summer to get this ready. And we feel really optimistic about it.
But I will say something. I think there’s a bit of complacency out there in the franchise community about, is this really necessary? Do we really need to do this?”
“I think the answer again is you wouldn’t miss an opportunity for your business if you saw an opportunity to take more market share from a competitor, would you?
Yeah, you wouldn’t sit back and rest.
Yeah. That’s what we’re doing right now. So think about it like you’re a business, right?
And we have an opportunity to put this issue to bed permanently. And while we’re not facing policy risk at this exact moment, we know that another election is right around the corner. And we know if we don’t take advantage of the opportunity now, that we’re going to be faced with some regulatory issue in a future administration.
If we’re successful legislatively, that goes away. This also helps us in the States. So this is a huge opportunity for us to take advantage of.”
“But we need to build momentum. We need people to understand the importance of coming to DC to make the case directly in their lawmakers’ offices to get this done. So that’s the plea that I’m making to the franchise community.
Thanks to Matt Haller for joining us today. Hear the rest of that full interview now over on the IFA Franchise Voice Podcast on Apple or Spotify. And join the IFA at the Advocacy Summit September 15th through the 17th in Washington, DC.
Register now at franchise.org.
—-
Also happening that week in DC is the kickoff of Furry Frans. Here’s my conversation with that charity’s founders.
I think one of the biggest trends that I’m going to see this fall in franchising and all of these events is something called Furry Frans, which I had no idea what that was a year ago because it didn’t exist. So I thought I’d bring on the co-founders of Furry Frans. It’s Kristopher Stuart of Bloomin Blinds and Ali Kraus of Benetrends.”
“Let’s jump into it. What exactly is Furry Frans? Ali, how do you describe this new thing, this new entity that you guys have created?
That’s the most commonly asked question right now. And I always tell the story the same. So I feel like for brand standards, I should stick with the same story.
You need a unified messaging document, I think, right?
Well, we do have that now. Everything has kind of gone so fast, I think, for both Kris and I since we started. And it all started one day when I posted a picture of my daughter, Millie, with about a hundred of her stuffed animals.
She calls them her babies. And she was laying on the couch in a pile of them. And I posted it on LinkedIn because I so badly was trying to take one of these things to Las Vegas for convention and then to Nashville for whatever.”
“And I wanted to travel with it and be like, look where Millie’s baby is going. And she told me, I made this whole post, and it was hilarious because she tricked me as little ones do to their mothers and told me she would miss her babies too much and couldn’t take it. But that picture, for some reason, really struck a chord with Kris, who we joke after all these months of building this non-profit together, we actually haven’t even met yet.
So that picture struck a chord. And we hopped on a call and an hour later, I think both of us were like in tears and goosebumps and all the fun things that happen when you get really emotionally excited or challenged about something. And Furry Frans was born that day, and by the next day we had a freaking website and a non-profit form filled out.”
“It was like literally in April, and here we are at the end of August, gearing up for our first event on September 16th. And what started as a funny post on Instagram and LinkedIn really turned into Kris and I having some deep conversations about how important it is to give back to communities for both of us and both of our experiences, being involved with non-profits and charities and community events. And so much of that lends itself back to franchising.
So Furry Frans was born from a LinkedIn post.
You know, I think the post resonated so much because anybody who’s traveling for work knows that picking up of the little stuffed animal at the airport convenience store on your way home, there’s just something kind of magical about that, right? And there must be a lot of us or they wouldn’t sell them by the thousands at every airport in the country. So, I don’t think we’re alone, so I think you really touched on something there.”
“Kris, tell us what goes on after I bring the thousands of stuffed animals that I’ve bought for my daughter over the years, after I bring those to one of the events that we’ll talk about in a minute. What are we doing with all these stuffed animals?
Yeah, and that’s really kind of what gave me cause to reach out to Ali and do this with her was, I’ve seen the face of that kid whose life just got torn asunder through whatever input that they didn’t plan on. And the impact of that small unexpected stuffed animal that is normally such a treat from that traveling parent or such an unexpected treasure. And now all of a sudden this scary environment just provided them another one.
And wow, how comforting that is. And you see their face instantly change the way they wrap their arms around it. So that’s the destination point of all this, the collective effort of everyone in franchising that’s coming to support this causes.”
“All these stuffed animals are going to be prepared to be convenient for the first responders to deliver to the children at the point of need, on the emergency scene, behind the wire, behind the ropes, where they’re having to somehow. And it’s such a tool for the firefighters too. I was thinking about this this morning in preparation for the call.
We don’t even think about how comforting that is to the firefighter or the police officer to have something to give that kid. Normally, we’re looking for a medicine or a splint or a bandage or something. But that’s not what they need at the time.
They need something intangible, emotional. And for somebody who trains so much to have all the tools in the toolbox when something’s needed to not have something to give is a helpless feeling for someone who is a helper by definition. And so there’s another tangible benefit to those that are offering these to the children who need it the most.”
“And so it’s just this kind of full circle thing of Ali’s Post, like my own children, I’ve bought hundreds of them myself, guilty of it, donated, thrown away. They’ve gone a million different places. And then all the way back, it just kind of rekindled like, and there’s a few of them that I can see in my head.
Just the difference it made. And to be able to have work both sides, to be able to package, prepare them, they’re gonna be vacuum packed. So, an ambulance can carry multitudes of them and not interfere with some of the other equipment that they have to carry, which is always the case when they’re not packaged.
So, trying to consider that full life cycle that really franchising taught me, consider all the inputs and the outputs of every action. And more so than firefighting, which is very kind of not robotic, but methodical. And those processes convey easily into creating this.”
“So, all of the things that we’re collecting at some of these events coming up, are those going to a central location? Are they going to local first responders wherever that event is happening? What does that process look like?
Ideally, by the final miles delivered by local franchisees, we’ll look for supporting brands that want, not monetarily, but want to action-wise support, like actually put foot to pavement, and be the final mile delivery for these stuffed animals to the first responders. We would help coordinate local media, and so those franchisees get a little local media pub, a little community service involvement as well, and the threads stretch all the way down. It may be those people’s children that those first responders come give back that stuffed animal to a kid.
It’s unexpected. It is emergency services for a reason. So the knowledge that those are your local communities, your local first responders, and business owners, and operators interacting together just ties that community field together.”
“So at the national, the regional, the local level, every layer of support, just like a franchise layer, right? Like it mimics the franchise relationship very much so.
I love that you’re getting local franchisees involved in those communities, because we talk about that all the time. That franchising is all about local, and getting some help from, you know, somebody who’s a thousand miles away, that’s terrific. But having that franchisee, that local business owner, involved with their local first responders, it really doesn’t get any better than that for everyone involved.
So what’s next on the calendar? I know with fall coming up, we’ve got franchisee events, what, about every four days for the next four months, right?
Yeah.
Where are we going to be next and where are we kicking this thing off?”
“Yeah, so the first kickoff is September 16th. It’s a Tuesday from 4 to 6 p.m. at a restaurant called The Pink Tiger. During the advocacy event, it’s Tuesday on the water.
We actually have the DC Fire and EMS services coming. Fingers crossed that we’ll have some very important people there. But they’re also bringing the fire boat.
I didn’t previously know what that is. But the fire boat is actually going to pull right up to the dock, spray water. We have a whole stage.
We had a goal of collecting 300, but I think we already have that many in my house. And Kris is the count.
Okay. Yours don’t count, right?
So only move. I can only steal so many of hers, but the Women’s Franchise Committee actually surprised us and got together and bought 150 of them pre-vacuum sucked. So they helped us get halfway to our goal already.”
“So very grateful for the WFC for coming together and the IFA for allowing us to collect during the event. But I think for the remainder of the year, we’ve already had people calling us from local WFNs and FBNs and different smaller events happening across the US. And that’s been Kris and I’s goal from the beginning is we’re almost operating as if we’re the corporate headquarters, the same as our franchise brands are.
And then everybody who wants to host an event will have the tools and the resources the same as a franchise would. And all of those operating events are acting almost as our franchisees so I believe, fingers crossed, the Houston chapter of the WFN and the FBN will be hosting one in December.
Oh, cool.
Yeah. And a couple more will probably pop up. You’ll find those on our website at furryfrans.com.”
“And anybody interested in hosting their own event can reach out through our form on that site and follow our social media channels because we’re still building but it’s moving fast and we’re excited to have our first quote, if you could see my hands, air quote, corporate kickoff event again on Tuesday the 16th during the advocacy event in Washington DC.
All right, great. And if people are going to join us there, should they bring a stuffed animal or if you just can’t fit one in, can they bring a donation? What would you like to see from everybody?
That’s a great question. So we’re saying food and beverage including our gummy bear martinis are going to be on the house free. We have some wonderful sponsors.
Answer Connect is our leading sponsor of that event. So everything will be covered. We also have Franchise Fastlane and Voxie as our second tier sponsors of the event.”
“So yes, we are asking that you bring a stuffed animal, pop into your airport on your way. A tiny one is fine. We don’t want oversized.
We’re going to be vacuum packing them on site. Some wonderful volunteers, some awesome WFC ladies and Abbie Schmidt is helping that can pack them when you enter the room. So we’ll be physically giving them also to the firefighters as they’re there that day.
But you do need one to get in. So that’s your little pack. But I will happen to have hundreds of them if you forget one.
But this really is the first one. And that’s, I think, the beauty of this too is when we first started looking at this, we wanted everybody to feel like they could contribute in the franchise community. If you’re a company like Answer Connect that can raise their hand and say, yes, I can sponsor this event, amazing.
That’s what Karen Booze and Answer Connect can support. Same for Fastlane and Voxie. But if you can’t do that and you personally want to give 100 bucks, you can do that.”
“If you want to bring one stuffed animal, if you want to ship a thousand to my house, there’s so many opportunities to get involved. And I think that that’s what makes a great nonprofit is that any person can contribute what they can financially and emotionally contribute, which isn’t always the case for nonprofits looking for large amounts of money or donations that we all can’t feel like we’re part of something. And that’s what we want for Furry Frans is to make the franchise and community feel like they get every single person, no matter what your abilities are, you can feel like you can contribute to something good.
Very well said. Thank you for that. And pro tip, if you’re coming in for the IFA Advocacy Summit and you just can’t fit one into your bag, there’s plenty for sale at Dulles Airport and Reagan Airport.
So when you land, pick one up, pick up two, why not three, right? And bring them on down. That would be great.”
“Before we go, guys, I’ve been asking everybody on our fall preview special here today about what they are discussing with their colleagues and their friends and their clients and their franchisees coming up this fall. What topics do you guys see as something that we’re going to be talking about at every coffee shop and hotel lobby bar and panel discussion at all of these events this fall? What’s really sort of top of mind?
Kris, we’ll start with you.
I think the support, the just radical support we’ve gotten for Furry Frans since this has gone out, I think tells me that there’s a hunger for people to get involved. Like people, I think post COVID, there was some kind of everyone’s slowly went back outside a little bit, started hugging again. And now I think there’s just this, it’s time to unleash it.
And whether that’s a cause or a movement of your own or whatever, I think people are hungry to do something impactful. Like they don’t want to be insignificant anymore. I don’t think individuals, groups, societies want to have significance.”
“And I think it’s so much digitization and gen AI and everything else that is hard to trust. I think what is easy to trust is humanity again. And I think we’re going to find a way to elevate that and not lose the tech flow, but somehow create almost like a thermal climb between the two.
So I think it’s going to be some more action to significance. And that’s what I’m focusing on.
So the end of lurking may be getting a little bit more engaged, right?
Yeah. Very good.
Love it. All right, Ali, last word to you. What are you talking about with all of your colleagues and customers and friends and partners this fall?
So I’ll get off Furry Frans for a minute and talk more from the marketing landscape. Yeah. Also because I’ve been bugging my Thunderly team every darn day to do something new.”
“And I’m probably annoying that because I’m a weirdo. But I read a really interesting article that the New York Magazine posted a couple of weeks ago and the title was, SEO is dead, say hello to GEO. And so I think people are starting to shift the way they think about targeting people, not for what they do, but how people search.
And so I think the how of search is something I’ve never asked myself. How do people search? You type something into Google, but nobody.
I had someone on my team the other day who just learned how to use GPT. And he said to me, I don’t even use Google anymore. And I was like, oh my God, even like every generation is just asking GPT now.
And so I think we’re all, it was one thing to learn how to use it. And we are finally at that step now as businesses and marketing teams are really evaluating how people search. It’s with Hey Google and Hey Alexa and ChatGPT.”
“So I think people starting to shift their mindset in, okay, I’m using it. I kind of get it now. But how is my business succeeding on this is a whole new conversation that I’m really excited to start hearing people stop necessarily talking about AI and more so how is my business going to thrive on search engines is really fascinating to me.
So I have a whole post coming out about it. I want to hear all the marketers thoughts. So really stuck on that GEO right now.
Yeah, the those Thunderly guys are talking about that about 23 hours a day right now. And I think I think where you landed is perfect because we spent two years talking about what are we doing with AI, right? What tools are we using?
What app are you using to make cool pictures of dinosaurs or whatever, right? Like that’s cute, that’s nice. You can write your training manual with it, terrific.
But what’s important is what are your customers using AI for? What are those potential candidates using AI? Like how are they using it?”
“What are they, yeah, and how are we planting those seeds out there? So when someone has a question that we can answer, we are number one on the list. So love to hear more about that.
And I’ll tell you what, let’s chat further about that at the Furry Frans inaugural event. That is September 16th at the Pink Tiger on the Wharf in DC. Guys, thank you so much for joining me today and I will see you in DC.
Thanks Jack.
Can’t wait.
Back in a moment after a word from Northeast Color, here’s a franchise reality check. Your brand standards mean nothing if every location looks different. That’s where Northeast Color comes in.”
“For over two decades, they’ve specialized in turning franchise brand guidelines into reality. Their value-engineered approach means you get consistent results without breaking the bank. From design and fabrication to installation, Northeast Color handles the entire process so your brand looks exactly the same whether you’re in Maine or California.
As they say at Northeast Color, they’re not just making signs, they’re building partnerships and creating spaces where brands can thrive. When you’re ready to stop playing signage roulette with your brand, visit northeastcolor.com.
Using digital menu boards is a strategic decision that can boost revenue and improve customer experience. Hughes Digital Signage delivers immersive digital experiences that engage customers, employees and visitors. Show your customers targeted communication, in-store picks or video of menu items they can order.
Exhibit promoted items that match in-market ads or highlight items that meet inventory availability. Hughes Digital Media Solutions are easy to use and managed via an online administrative dashboard. Reach out today to find out how Hughes can become your digital menu board and digital signage provider.
Visit hughes.com/franchise.”
“Citrin Cooperman is proud to be the home of one of the leading franchising practices in the country. With over 40 years of franchise experience, Citrin Cooperman provides a full range of services to a vast number of franchise concepts. They work with the owners, operators, controllers and CFOs of a wide range of franchisers and multi-unit franchisees to help them establish their brands and grow their businesses to the next level.
The Citrin Cooperman franchise practice is comprised of experienced CFE accredited professionals, providing franchisers and multi-unit franchisees the guidance and insight they need to minimize uncertainty, meet compliance and contractual obligations, and stay focused on building their businesses. For more information, please contact Erin Czajtowski and Michael Iannuzzi at citrincooperman.com.
Chatting now with Ford Saeks. What’s going on, Ford? How are you?
Hey, I’m doing great. I can’t believe this year is just flying by.
Right? I mean, we’ve got, what, a month left of Q3, and then suddenly, here we are, almost at Q4. Ugh!
Yeah, I know. They say that as you get older, it goes faster. So it’s going fast for me now, but it’s still fun, a lot of opportunities.”
“Faster every year. Like the days get longer and the years get shorter. So I know you’re probably on the road a ton this fall.
I know you’ve got a lot of speaking events and things like that. So I wanted to find out what topics are you covering this year? What’s a big trend that your audiences want to hear about?
Well, you know, working with brands, both big and small, inside franchise and outside franchising. Right now, you know, the biggest thing is the disruption that’s going on in the buyer behavior. You know, Google, the cost to acquire a lead has gone up.
It’s harder to get organic traffic because Google is now an AI search engine and the large language models are now search engines. So they’re molding and everybody’s competing for eyes. And the way that people buy are different now.
You know, they used to have a linear path. You could mark it and get people into a funnel. And now they’re searching, they’re scrolling, they’re streaming, and then they’re shopping.
So they come from a much different buyer behavior and people have to adapt.”
“Yeah. The audiences you’re speaking to, and let’s focus on the franchise brands right now. Where are they at with this process right now?
Are they still in that, I don’t know what to do, Ford, please help us mode? Or have they sort of moved into, you know, they’re already planting those seeds for LLM and things like that. Where do you think they are right now?
Well, full disclosure for everybody watching and listening to this. These questions were not pre-determined. This is my short little message to talk about with Jack.
So certainly as an opening keynote speaker for conferences, I come in and help franchisees maximize local marketing and boost sales. But right now, the biggest thing that they’re all trying to figure out is this disruption from AI, because everybody who has a laptop is now an AI expert. And what I’ve found, Jack, is that people come from two different camps when it comes to AI.
They’re either completely overwhelmed and they’re sitting on the sidelines waiting to see what’s going to happen. And they’ve dipped their toe in the water and they’ve played a little bit. And they’ve wrote a blog with ChatGPT.
“Or then you got the other side of the table that is grossly overconfident, or dangerously overconfident, that they understand it. And I have people all the time tell me, well, I already understand this. And I’ll go in and I’ll do a presentation.
And I’ll grade them before on a scale of 1 to 10 before my keynote. And then afterwards, and when I first grade them, there’s people that stand all the way up to 10. 10 being they’re a rock star and they get it, 1 being they’re novice.
And then I rate them again, and everybody sits down by 1 or 2 because they don’t know what they don’t know. And that’s the thing with AI right now is they’re just confused.
Yeah. It’s funny, you mentioned Google. We were having this conversation yesterday about, where is Google even going to be?”
“Let’s say, man, I don’t even know if it’s two years from now. Where’s Google going to be a year from now? The trends we’re seeing are just ridiculously bad for Google and for people using Google and anyone under the age of 30 just trying to get them to use Google, it’s not going to happen.
Yeah. It’s just changed so differently. In franchising, the franchisor is wearing many hats.
In the Wheel of Excellent, they’re dealing with operations and staffing and marketing and sales and then delivering the product or service depending on what their franchise brand is, whether they’re a QSR, Fast, Casual, For Service Dining or whether they’re in a service based business, they’re all struggling to, for that market share and it’s all disrupting everything, the whole process. And I always tell people, look, if you’re gonna leverage AI, you want to keep the human in the loop. I mean, I’m an advocate for AI, but at the end of the day, I’m a business guy.”
“I mean, I care about business and how do you expand your influence and how do you reduce the cost of a business and how do you increase the average transaction? And I mean, I want to help them with business. So AI is a tool.
It’s an and, it’s not an or. And some people have gone too far. And it’s just like when you have those automated phones, when you call into a company and you have to go through the phone tree and they’re supposed to help you.
I don’t know about you, but I get frustrated every time I, I call one of those.
Yeah. Yeah. Only sometimes the only thing worse is actually getting a live human being.
And sometimes you’d rather have the chat bot that you’re talking to.
Well, I’d rather have a chat bot, an intelligent chat bot, because sometimes you call in and they’re like, well, you need to go to the website. Then you go to the website and it says, call us. And then you open up the chat on their website and the old chat systems were not smart.”
“What I like about the new chat bot systems on a website is now they’re trained in AI to actually have complex conversations and actually guide somebody toward a sale. And those are very helpful. Those actually help because we find that the younger generation, when I say younger, I’m talking about under 40, they don’t necessarily want to talk to people, right?
They’d rather check it out online.
Even some old guys like me don’t want to talk to people anymore. If you can get the chat bot to the point where they can replace my typical customer service rep at, oh, I don’t know, United Airlines, that would be very helpful for me right now.
Yes, and we’re only talking hypothetical because neither one of us want to get on the no fly list since we fly so much.
Yeah, I’m just kidding, United.
Yeah, but it is true though. I mean, I think what’s going to happen when you say in the future, I think that customer service, the personal touch is going to become premium. Those brands that embrace the relationships and the dialogues with their customer are going to save the customer.”
“The ones that go too far to automating and to make it too sterile, those are the ones that are going to challenge, be challenged.
You know, you’ve got a really healthy perspective on AI in that, at the end of the day, it’s just another tool for business. 100%. It’s just the newest version of the telephone or the newest version of the printing press or something like that.
It isn’t something that, sure, it can change your business, but it’s not something that’s going to put you into a different business. So I love your perspective on that. Ford, tell me what else you’re working on this fall.
Any plans for new books and new content and new other projects you’re working on?
Well, one of the things that we’re doing right now is we’re being asked by brands to do two things. We’re helping them with the chief development officers to help them stand out in a sea of over-competition when they’re all trying to find franchise candidates. So we’re helping them communicate and elevate their communications to get more ideal franchise.”
“They don’t want more franchisees. They want the ideal ones, right?
They want better ones. Yeah, yeah.
Multi-unit, multi-brand. And then the other thing is I’m working with them to set up AI workflows. So on the level one, everybody’s using ChatGBT or Claude or Perplexity, hopefully.
Those listeners, if you haven’t played with Perplexity, please go check it out. And for the purposes of this short episode, this is for information, educational purposes only. We are not giving you legal advice.
OK, there we go. I’ve got the disclaimer in there.
He’s not a lawyer, but he plays one on a podcast.
Yeah, that’s right. I’m working with workflows. What’s happening, Jack, right now is people are coming to me because they’re looking at their technology, they’re looking at their CRM, they’re looking at their up-on marketing and marketing automation.”
“And since I run a digital marketing agency on top of being a Hall of Fame keynote speaker, some people, they want to know about it. So that’s where the keynote speaking comes in and open up their conference, kicking them off with a bang and getting everybody aligned with good takeaways. But then sometimes they just want to hire it out.
And so what we’ve been working on is workflow automations with AI to where AI can actually produce real results as opposed to level one where people treat AI like Google instead of treating it like a tool that can actually be transformative.
Excellent. Well, keep doing what you’re doing. You’re definitely lifting a lot of people out there and a lot of brands in the franchise space.
Ford, if people want to connect with you and maybe find out how you could help them with some of these projects, where should we be sending people right now?”
“Well, I would send people to the website that’s on the screen if you’re watching this or if you’re listening, go to profitrichresults.com. And on that website, there’s all kinds of resources that are free. Obviously, you can watch my speaker demo video.
If you have a conference and you’re interested in having something, check out my Google reviews, check out my clients that I’ve worked with. I mean, I just had the opportunity, Jack, to meet with Rourke Capital Group out of Atlanta. They have four floors and I knew they worked with a lot of brands when I went there.
But after walking through the hall and just seeing, well, a lot of them were my clients that I’ve worked with, but just the amount of brands and the whole space there and multi types of brands. What I love about franchising is that an entrepreneur can be very successful. They don’t have to reinvent the wheel if they just follow their systems”
“The franchisor says, look, we’re giving you this system, please just follow our systems. So that’s where I really have worked for 34 years, is helping bridge that gap between franchise relations and marketing and sales, and helping them really leverage it to grow a strong business.
All right, very good. Thanks for jumping on with me today, Ford.
Hey, thank you.
Brent Greenwood is the new VP of Franchise Development at Industry Giant, Sport Clips. He joined me to share trends he’s seeing right now in Fran Down. What do you see happening right now in franchising overall, and what trends are you watching maybe for the rest of 2025?
Sure. Well, if you look back to the same time last year, there was a lot of economic uncertainty with the political climate. Capital was relatively expensive the same time last year, and I think that caused a lot of aspiring entrepreneurs to sit on the sidelines and choose maybe the path of corporate America over diving into starting their own business and getting into franchising.”
“I think that over time is really improved. After the election results became clear and new policy started coming out, then the economic climate started to improve, and stocks are at all time highs, and I think there’s much more comfort now from those perspective investors in that economic climate and also in the political climate. And capital is getting cheaper.
I was really hopeful next month and later into the year, we’ll see some rate cuts and make it easier for investors to get the funding that they need. So really just keep a close eye on those trends that are leading towards much more comfort from investors and getting involved in business ownership.
There’s got to be a feeling at some point for some investors, especially at the multi-unit level, that if they don’t do it now, then when? Right? Like you want a better GDP?
You want a better economic outlook? I don’t know that you’re going to find that in your lifetime than what we’re seeing right now going into halfway through Q3 of 2025. So if they don’t do it now, I’m not sure when they’re going to do it.
Yeah, agreed.”
“What have you seen as far as changes? Let’s say in the past couple of years, you know, we got out of a certain sort of downturn in everything for a few years. And we’re a couple years out of that now.
What changes have you seen in the way you’re developing franchises and the way that you’re working with new candidates?
Sure. You know, coming out of the great recession, we saw a huge wave of investors that were interested in an owner-operator approach to their businesses, really replacing corporate America and diving feet first or head first into owning and operating their own franchise business. Over the last couple of years, I’ve seen that really transition to more of an entrepreneur approach that includes interest and flexibility of models, like semi-passive involvement in operating the business.”
“So keeping that corporate trajectory, keeping that guaranteed source of income, and complementing that with business ownership. So our model typically works very well with those that are looking to dip their toe in through more of a managed model versus that owner-operator approach that many other brands do require. So I’ve continued to see that trend where investors are looking for that flexibility and looking for the opportunity to get their businesses started while they continue their careers and may eventually work their way into completely replacing that corporate role with their business.
What makes a great franchisee for Sport Clips right now? Is it a multi-unit owner with a certain number of locations that they’re interested in investing in? Is it something else?
What are you really looking for when you’re talking to new folks right now?”
“This model is definitely built to scale. So we do seek out investors that have that long-term plan in mind to grow and scale a business over time. That’s why this is a great model for investors to start and scale to a point where they can eventually step out of those corporate careers and focus full-time on maybe their Sport Clips business, if that’s the chosen path.
But it is designed for multi-unit ownership. When we look for new team, and we call our franchisees team leaders. Love that.
I’ll use those words interchangeably sometimes, but team leaders refers to our franchisees, and we look for new team leaders who are going to emulate some of the same things that our most successful team leaders do in their respective businesses. So looking for those that appreciate more of a values-driven leadership style, prioritizing integrity, treating clients and stylists like family. Also, excel operationally who are executing our playbook at a very high level.”
“They’re resilient, they’re adaptable, they invest in their teams, they know the stylist are the heart of our business, and they foster supportive environments, align with initiatives and drive retention and satisfaction. And finally, they’re just community-focused and have an entrepreneurial spirit. Building local connections and leveraging our low-cost proven system to create wealth and impact.
Thanks again to Brent Greenwood for stopping by today. Hear the rest of that full interview on the Franchise Freaks Podcast later this week on Apple, Spotify or at thunderlymarketing.com. Last up today is Shawn Caric, VP of Franchise Development at Smoothie King.
Shawn is also the Chair of this year’s Franchise Leadership and Development Conference in October, and he joined me to share a preview.
Okay, let’s talk about FLDC 2025. It is absolutely my favorite event of every calendar year in the Franchise space. What’s your favorite part of this particular show?”
“Well, certainly, I think, like you, it is my favorite date on the calendar every year. You know, I’ve been with it a long time. You know, it’s hard to believe how many years.
I think we got a T-shirt a few years ago celebrating the 20th anniversary and whatnot. But, you know, it begins and ends with the networking. I think this industry, and I was glad to be introduced to it, you know, so many years ago, I think this industry takes care of itself, if you will.
It’s one place where competitors sit at the same table, sharing best practices, sharing challenges, sharing solutions. And we really do, like I said, help each other through difficult times and celebrate with each other when others are celebrating.”
“That’s so true. I’ve been in a couple of other industries prior to franchising and didn’t see a lot of helping out your competitors and other people in the industry in most other spaces, like the way we see here in franchising. There’s a lot of great franchise development leaders out there, so many great CDOs and VPs of franchise development.
Being named chair of this event in my mind is a pretty big deal. Tell me about that. How did you find out you were going to be chair this year?
Thanks for that. It really is a significant moment in my career, quite honestly. I can’t understate that.
As I mentioned, I joined franchising in 2003. I wasn’t in the food space, I wasn’t in the franchising space, and a friend of mine who was my trainer at a previous job recruited me over to the industry. I literally thank him every day.”
“I remember I went to the IFA conference that year. It was in San Antonio, and I stood in the back of the room, a large conference room, and I was reminded, I think the keynote might have been Bill Clinton or something at the time. The room was packed, and I didn’t know anybody.
It was my second week on the job, and they invited me, said I could join. I didn’t even know some of my team members. I stood in the back of the room.
It was standing room only, and I stood in the back of the room, and I saw speaker after speaker and legend after legend in the franchising space come on stage. I really set a goal for myself to be on that stage one day at an IFA event. Over the years, I’ve participated in different events.”
“Certainly, we’re all at trade shows, and I’ve been on panels, and I’ve moderated panels, and things like that. But when Diane called me from FLDC and said, hey, and Teresa had mentioned it to me about a year ago. She said, you’re on our short list going forward, and I didn’t know how long that list was.
But I thought it might hopefully get to me before I retire. But then Diane reached out to me earlier this spring and said, hey, we’d love to have you serve as our chairman. And I just paused for a moment and thought about that.
And then obviously, with the merger this year, with the IFA, which is gonna make it stronger, better than ever, the resources and the talent that we’re able to attract, technically it is an IFA event, so I am chairing and on that big stage.
There you go, yeah.”
“For an IFA event, like I set that goal in 2003. I guess it took a little longer. People might say, well, it took you so long, but.
You were waiting for the right event. You wanted to be.
The right event. That’s exactly right.
The first FLDC after the merger. Yeah, there you go.
Yeah, so I told Diane, you know, I don’t do anything halfway, so it’s gonna be the best event, the most well-attended event. Those are the goals I’ve set for this, Kate, you know, this this year’s conference and and we plan to deliver on that.”
“You know, your story reminds me too of something I always tell my friends at these events is look for those people who might be standing around in the back of the room, and it’s probably the first time they’ve been there, and they may not have a colleague, they may not have a co-worker, they may not have a client there, they may not know anyone. You know, we get so used to walking into a room and we know 100 people, but there are so many bright, smart, talented people, especially of the next generation of franchise leaders, who this might be their first event. So, look for those people, and as you said earlier, you love the networking.
Network with those people and introduce yourself, and I think that’s something that I’m always trying to push myself to remember every time I go to these events as well.
Yeah, I could not agree more. You know, a few years ago, I think they added one of those ribbons to the nametags, you know, first time attendees. And, you know, it’s funny about that.”
“We did that at our brand conference this past summer. We added that first time attendee ribbon to nametags, and I think that is critical. Look for that color, look for that phrase on their nametag, and introduce yourself, and like I said, bring others into it.
And I’ve noticed that, really, this probably about the last year or two cycle is that, just some of the new faces, the fresh faces, the fresh ideas, the fresh talent that’s coming through the industry, just, again, energizes me too, right? To think differently, and that’s why I was glad when you reached out about being on the podcast, all the cool kids are doing podcasts these days. So I wanted to keep myself current and certainly, again, get to our guests, get to our clients, get to our industry through all the right channels.
So yeah, I think that’s very valuable to get this next generation into the mix quickly.”
“All right, well, you’re officially one of the cool kids now, and as well as being chair of the FLDC for 2025. Shawn, we’re so thrilled for you. Thanks so much for joining us today.
And a quick note, if you haven’t registered yet, please do so. We’ve got some great speakers and keynotes coming up, including Morris Morrison, a futurist. I can’t wait to hear his keynote speech at FLDC.
Again, brought to you by Franchise Update Media and The International Franchise Association. You can register right now at franchisedevelopmentconference.com.
Thanks again to all of today’s guests for sharing their thought leadership on franchise trends and topics for this fall. Thanks, Matt Haller, Ali Kraus, Kris Stuart, Ford Saeks, Shawn Caric and Brent Greenwood. We’ll see you all at a franchise event real soon.”
“And thanks to today’s sponsors, Hughes, Northeast Color, Citrin Cooperman and Thunderly. And thanks to you for listening, telling a friend about us and staying connected on the Social Geek Radio Network.”