Episode Transcript
[00:00:06] Speaker A: Hello, everybody.
Welcome to another episode of Rapid Fire Q-A-I am your host, Scotty Milas, CEO founder of All Things Considered Franchising, powered by Scottmilusfranchisecoach.com. All things considered franchising is podcast Channel, entrepreneur channel.
We have discussions regarding business ownership, future business ownership, franchises, and anything relevant to being an entrepreneur. With me, I have president and founder, CEO, wears all the hats.
Wendy Hill of Market Momentum. Hello, Wendy.
[00:00:48] Speaker B: Hello, hello.
[00:00:50] Speaker A: Welcome. We have some exciting news to share with everybody a little bit later, but we're going to start off with these questions. These are questions that have come in through my website and just some general questions that Wendy has received as well through the power of social media. So fire away, Wendy.
[00:01:12] Speaker B: Okay, great. Thank you. So, like Scott was saying, these come in, sometimes we get the same question over and over again. Sometimes we just get a random one off. I thought this was a good one to start with. This one says Scott. Do you have franchise experience? I want to make sure the consultant I work with knows the know.
[00:01:29] Speaker A: Wendy, this is a great question because I think it goes to working with a consultant.
If you're a listener deciding to work with a consultant to be comfortable about the industry experience, for me, I've been an entrepreneur for 35 plus years.
I have spent a large part of that as a franchise or helping build a fast casual, better burger concept that I was part of in the executive team, executive management headed up US development. So my expertise, and I did that.
[00:02:06] Speaker B: For almost.
[00:02:09] Speaker A: My expertise in the franchising space is there. I've also been a consultant now. I think I'm going on for seven years, eight years now.
I have educated myself. I have a CFE certificate, Franchise Executive Certificate, Franchise Consultant as part of the IFPG Referral Network. So I've spoken at industry events. So I think it's important that you do some research when working with a consultant feeling comfortabLe.
And for me, I have no problem giving referrals to my clients who ask or sometimes volunteer. Hey, why don't you talk to a few clients that I've worked with if you want to get more comfortable with how the process works?
The biggest question mark in this whole thing, Wendy, is that people want to know how it costs them nothing. It's almost like, okay, when are you going to drop the bomb? And people don't realize that I am compensated by the 700 and plus brands that I represent, helping them find and match potential franchisees up with the brand. So that's usually the biggest question, right?
[00:03:25] Speaker B: That one come in a lot? The second question is, when is the right time to contact a franchise consultant? I know nothing about the industry yet. Should I start researching things on my own first?
[00:03:37] Speaker A: Again, this is, again, one of those things that you're going to have to decide as someone who is interested in business ownership. Obviously, if you've been a business owners before or owned a franchise, you may not need as much handholding or information or guidance.
Your Q A is probably going to be more specific to certain opportunities or brands or categories, I should say, as well. But if you're in the early stages or really considering it, it doesn't hurt to talk to a consultant initially. You're going to save yourself a lot of time, energy and effort, because if you start clicking boxes online, inquiring, you're going to be inundated with information. And what you're going to do is you're going to find yourself more confused because you have more information and you're not going to be comfortable or know how to decipher the information that you're getting. So working with a consultant, like someone like myself, who provides a lot of education and a lot of guidance, my process usually takes 90 to 120 days. So again, I'm not in a rush and you shouldn't be either. But again, this is a decision that you have to make. There are some people that just want to do it on their own and love to be scrambled with information, and others want to be more precise and get the answers to their questions when they need them.
[00:04:59] Speaker B: You just said something that I've also seen people ask about. You said 90 to 120 days. Is that someone who's staying on a regular schedule of calls and talking? Okay, so that's the normal time frame?
[00:05:10] Speaker A: Yes.
Nobody should be in a hurry to make a decision. And if anybody's pushing you to make a decision before the process has ended, then I would certainly run and run fast.
[00:05:24] Speaker B: Absolutely. I'm not ready to invest yet. Will you check in with me for a while until I decide?
[00:05:31] Speaker A: Yeah. The beauty of the program working with someone like me is that this is all about you and not about me. So at some point, and I say this to all of my clients, that during the process you may realize that this is not for you or the timing is off, and I'd rather you tell me now than after you've made the investment and realize you made a mistake. So calling time out or saying, hey, look, I got to regroup. There are certain in betweens to that that we get into is okay. And like I said, I think it's all part of the process. Fear and anxiety is going to set in. We just want to make sure that fear and anxiety is not the reason why you're postponing everything, because fear and anxiety is going to come up again six months, a year. But to answer your question is, yes, I have had many, many clients pick up the phone and call me and say, hey, Scott, we worked together six months a year ago, even two years ago. I'm ready now, or feel I'm ready now. Can we start the process again? Okay, so the answer to that question is yes.
[00:06:35] Speaker B: Okay, good. Okay. Number four, why are franchiseors okay with me working with a franchise consultant? Isn't it easier if I just go directly to them?
[00:06:46] Speaker A: One of the reasons that franchiseors like to work with someone like myself consultants, is that when time I'm presenting a client to them, I have done all of the legwork, the Q and A. I've really gotten to know the client and know that the opportunity that they have chosen their brand, the brand that the person that I'm presenting, so if I'm presenting it to ABC Company, ABC franchise, the franchise, or knows that I've done the homework and the potential prospect is ready to have that dialogue and start the process. So in most cases, good franchiseors, good brands, want to work with consultants that have a good practice, have a good following, because they know when they get that candidate. And also the fact that the consultant, like myself, is going to be continuing to work with the candidate through the process is very beneficial to the brand.
[00:07:42] Speaker B: Okay, good. That makes sense. Here's the last one. Your podcast is all Things Considered, franchising. Is that a good place to find information about?
[00:07:51] Speaker A: Wendy, I'm glad you brought this up because you and I had started discussing a podcast probably 1415 months ago at least.
And I'm elated to say, and I know with all your help and guidance, we just celebrated our 50th episode and we just celebrated our one year anniversary.
It's just awesome. And yes, the podcast channel is filled with information. Different stories, franchisees, franchiseors. We even have people who are authors, people who are involved in independent businesses. So we try to give a spectrum of information because franchising is not for everyone, and being an independent is not for everyone. Business owner I'm elated.
We have a calendar filled with guests coming up for 2024. We're elated. And we will continue to provide the best information and stories in franchising entrepreneurship on all things Considered.
[00:09:01] Speaker B: Franchising well, and I think you saw that email last night. When I see my phone blowing up. With notifications of people hitting the podcast site, we can tell we're yeah, it's a great feeling.
[00:09:11] Speaker A: And sometimes people, to your previous question, some people want to do a little research, get comfortable.
I tell people there's no such thing as a silly question when you're working with someone like me. But some people want to be a little bit more prepared, and it is a great place to go to get a flavor of what the industry is and the different categories and brands. And of course, ScottMilosFranchiseCoach. Com's website also provides information on certain brands and also on how the process works.
[00:09:41] Speaker B: And I think you were smart to do a video version as well so people can see you, get to know you on YouTube, and then have you on all the different podcast platforms as.
[00:09:51] Speaker A: Yep, yep. Associated name with the faces, they say.
[00:09:54] Speaker B: There you go. Well, that's all I have for today.
[00:09:57] Speaker A: That was good, Wendy. This has been great again, and I'm looking forward to the next episode of Rapid Fire. Q A. This is your host, Scotty Milas. All things Considered, franchising, powered by Scottmylasfranchisecoach.com. Check us out again on all the podcast channels. Spotify, Apple, you name it. Allthingsconsidefranchising.com. And scottmilosfranchisecoach.com. You can check myself out on LinkedIn, and you can also find more information about market momentum. Go to Wendy Hill's LinkedIn page, start a conversation. I tell you, if you're not doing marketing within a small to medium sized business, then you may want to reconsider. So this is Scotty Mila signing off. Until next time, have a great day.
[00:10:44] Speaker B: Thanks. Take care. Bye.
