what the FRANCHISE

Should you build or buy your tech stack and what is a tech stay anyway?In the service franchise space, tech stacks - the cloud-based software that powers the franchisee's business - has become one of the most important ways to grow a system and produce much higher revenue for owners.Today's off the shelf CRM and truck management systems are light years ahead of where we were even 2-3 years ago. The question, 'What technology do you have' is becoming much more important for owners when they are researching franchise brands to buy.Join Thomas Scott, CEO of Home Run Franchises and Didi Azaria, CEO of WorkIZ, the technology company all of the Home Run Franchising brands partner with, as they discuss the following:1. Should you build or buy your CRM system2. Why is sales automation so important today?3. Tips for implementation4. How franchisors cover the cost5. Training and onboarding a tech systemIf you are in franchising or work in a service business, listen in - let us know what you think!

For years, generations of young people have been pushed into college and post college, white collar careers.Today, home service franchises are dominating the franchise industry and are giving young entrepreneurs a new path: run a service franchise. Trades that have image problems - think 'but crack' plumbers or the handyman who rolls up in a white 'murder van' with 'free candy inside' plastered on the outside. Blue collar trades have been negatively stereotyped by our society for almost all the wrong reasons. Today, a whole new generation is discovering that the riches are in the niches and for the price of a typical car, they can open a successful service franchise.Join Thomas Scott, CEO of Home Run Franchises and Aaron Harper, CEO of Rolling Suds, a mobile pressure washing franchise as they discuss this positive trend.

Join Thomas Scott, CEO of Home Run Franchises as he chats with Daniel Clap.They both just returned from the Titus Center for Franchising at Palm Beach Atlantic University where they attended a 2 day Franchise Sales Bootcamp.This was a industry insider event full of marque speakers and uber-valuable content for anyone in franchise development!Some of our takeaways;1. Personal Branding for franchise sales and franchise lead generation - something new to the franchise recruitment space2. Changes in the franchise broker space that might make it harder for existing or new franchisors to use the broker channels to find new buyers3.  Younger buyers changing the way franchise sales processes work4. Conversational marketing - its changing rapidly! Buyers DON'T WANT TO TALK TO YOU ON THE PHONE!Listen in!

If the first few weeks of 2023 are any indication of the year ahead, 2023 is shaping up to be a banner year for franchise development.Join Thomas Scott, CEO of Home Run Franchises and Jack Monson, new CEO of Brand Journalists and podcaster of the popular Social Geek Radio podcast, the top franchising podcast.We talk about why it is important to take a fresh look at your franchise marketing plans, the sweeping changes facing franchising such as ChatGBT and conversational marketing and short form video.Franchise marketing and development strategies that worked a year ago may not work as well today and the pace of evolutions on the marketing front is breathtaking - listen in and hear what we're talking about!

Since COVID, our society has shifted to a remote work mentality. Downtown offices are empty, commercial space has flooded the market and the typical job for a college grad has a remote work component. Gen Z and young millennial workers have embraced this, saying this evolution is not only needed - it is liberating.  Why spend your entire day chained to a desk when you could enjoy working from coffee houses, home offices or wherever? 8 hour days are exhausting when some workers are able to break up their workload over a more manageable time.It seems to be a win-win for everyone.But is it?What if in 5-10 years an entire generation of workers wake up and realize they are no longer valuable and don't have real seniority - that their employers can easily replace them with younger, less expensive workers.Here's the deal - when you work remote you simply miss out on years of professional development. You don't get the collaborative experience so valuable from working literally alongside older, more experienced workers. A slack isn't a replacement for 5 days and hundreds of interactions with colleagues. In this podcast, I talk about how franchise ownership - the ultimate remote work gig - has a nifty solution for replacing this missing professional development for young workers.See if you agree!Thomas Scott - tscott@homerunfranchises.com 

Join Thomas Scott, CEO of Home Run Franchises and Brand Journalists as he holds a coaching session with Richard Gould, founder of Richard's Painting Franchise.Richard's just celebrated a milestone of opening its 15th location after 3 years of franchising!Richard is not a typical franchisor - like a lot of successful business owners, he dreamed of building a national brand. His two original Richard's Painting locations both exceeded $1m in sales and he had a proven approach to the premium painting segment AND he felt he could share his approach to a whole generation of new franchisees.That didn't mean he was ready for the challenges and obstacles and STEEP learning curve being a successful franchisor comes with.I often coach new franchisors like Richard on how to become better - after franchising 9 brands and helping grow over 400 franchise systems, I've learned a lot. Franchising is a unique industry - we believe in sharing best practices and helping each other and this call is a great example.Richard shares his organizational, development, marketing and culture challenges and we talk through some solutions.If you are considering franchising your business or have already started franchising, take some time to listen in - you'll learn some valuable insight into how to grow smartly, even if you are starting out without a lot of franchise experience or large capital resources - it is ALWAYS possible to grow!

Do you know who the perfect franchisee is for your system?Do you have strategies to market for and recruit them? Join Thomas Scott, CEO of Home Run Franchises and Jack Monson from Social Geek Radio as they discuss the mistakes many franchisors make and talk through some very helpful tips on how to adjust your mindset when it comes to franchise recruitment.All franchise prospects are not monolithic! Every franchise system exists for specific people who have very different passions, skills, drive and experience. Don't make the mistake of missing your next top performing owner!

Thinking about franchising your business or new to launching a franchise system?The International Franchise Association hosts an annual Emerging Franchisor Conference each year to help educate new franchisors. This is an excellent and highly educational conference and this year's Nashville event did not disappoint.Join Thomas Scott, CEO of Brand Journalists and Home Run Franchises and Kayla Ryan, VP of Marketing for Home Run Franchises as they talk about their key takeaways for smart growth, franchise development, staffing and marketing!

Who is your franchise buyer? As we wind down 2022 and head into 2023, have you taken a step back to think about why a buyer would chose your franchise opportunity?  With looming economic and political uncertainty, franchising should boom but if you haven't taken stock of how buyers have changed the way they look at your brand, now is the time.Successful value propositions today have changed - what was OK a couple of years ago or even 6 months ago may not be relevant today. Are you sure your messaging is dialed in?Join Thomas Scott, CEO of Brand Journalists and Founder of Home Run Franchising in an organic conversation with Ingrid Schneider from Stay In Your Lane Marketing as they discuss why its time to find your NEW WHY and how to start this important process. Enjoy!

Are you worried about the economic and political path looming in the year ahead?Join me as I have an interesting conversation with Jack Monson, owner of Social Geek Radio, as we talk through our predictions for 2023. Is it a time of tightening growth or some new opportunities?What will happen to staffing and labor issues for franchise systems?What are the marketing changes and shifts that will force you to change the way you search for new franchisees?What are the changes to franchisor staffing and how will it impact you?A recession forces companies to pivot and those that do may find some smooth waters with strong headwinds.Let us know what your opinions are! 

Have you heard about conversational marketing? This new lead generation strategy is boldly different than what the franchise industry typically uses to generate franchise leads. Conversational marketing pair very specific, relative ads with a Facebook messenger connection and forgoes forms, phone numbers and website links. Prospects ask questions using a real one-to-one connection and a real recruiter or trained lead screen answers the message in real time. This provides quick and authentic answers to questions and create a safe place to have a conversation without getting hounded. It is at the prospects' peak emotional point so the results are much higher than typical.We're seeing a 500% increase in sales activity with a 100% contact rate which makes for a much more efficient sales process.Listen in as Thomas Scott, founder of Brand Journalists and CEO of Home Run Franchises talks with Kayla Ryan, former CMO of Home Based Franchise Group and owner of Flick Switch Marketing as they discuss the detail of this exciting new franchise marketing trend. 

Why do so many franchise recruiters and salespeople underperform or fail?Join us as we discuss the 5 essential qualities of a successful franchise recruiter with our friend Brett Larabee, a veteran pro at franchise sales for many systems. There are huge differences in performance in salespeople and if you are considering hiring or upping the results in your franchise development department, listen to this for some key insight.Join Thomas Scott, CEO and Founder of Brand Journalists and Home Run Franchises as he has a thought provoking conversation about the franchise industry's performance gap with franchise recruiters.

Are you worried about how the down market will affect your ability to keep growing your franchise system in the year ahead? There has been a significant market shift and understanding what you need to do differently next year from what you are doing now could mean the difference in success or failure. Listen in as Thomas Scott, Founder of franchise development marketing firm Brand Journalists and  Founder / franchisor of Clozetivity, Frost Shades, Dryer Vent Squad and The Lighting Squad talks to The Joint Chiropractic Area Developers about important keys for turning a recession into an amazing opportunity.

1851 rolled out their top franchise development website awards for 2022, and Brand Journalists' produced websites were over 75% of the top 10! In this episode, Thomas Scott, founder of Brand Journalists, speaks with Mike Ackley, Chief Operating Officer, as to what makes a top-performing website and why every franchise brand needs one.