[00:00:06] Speaker A: Hey, everybody. Welcome to another episode of All Things Considered Franchising, powered by Scottmylusfranchisecoach.com. I am your host and founder, Scotty Milas.
Today we're going to kind of take a deeper dive into some of the workflows and things that business owners should be concentrating on in regards to employee retention and things like that. But a little bit about allthingsconsidefranchising.com. We are a podcast dedicated to the entrepreneur, people who are interested in learning about business ownership, possibly for the first time, or people who are looking to diversify their portfolio.
Scottmylosfranchisecoach.com is a consulting organization that I founded as well that provides a free service, helping people navigate the world of business ownership, helping to making sure you're asking the right questions so that eventually you can get to a validated decision and not an emotional decision. So we'll get into more into that a little bit later. But today's guest is kind of an interesting way to start off this podcast because typically we usually have people who are franchisees or franchiseors. And one of the things that I have found over the year that we've been doing this and a lot of the questions that are coming in from our website and people calling me is that I own a business and I'm having some issues with employee retention, building a leadership.
Uh, and coincidentally, our guest, Clifton Savage reached out to me and said, hey, look, I think I could be an asset to you on your podcast. So, Clifton, welcome to the show.
[00:01:49] Speaker B: Thank you, Scotty. Yeah, no, I appreciate it and I look forward to helping out your viewers.
[00:01:53] Speaker A: Yeah. You are president and founder CEO of Service Leader Society. You've been in the 15 years experience specializing in reducing the cost of untrained and disengaged employees. Like anything, everything always starts at the top.
The problem is, sometimes business owners think that the problem starts at the bottom, but doesn't realize that what happens at the top trickles down to the bottom. So it's that old saying, whatever goes up must come down.
But your experience in working with business owners and you have done some work in the franchise space. You've worked with franchisees. So let me ask you kind of the loaded question. When somebody since our listening audience is people that are interested in potentially opening their own business, how important and franchiseors give you the fundamentals and the basics of running a business, but how important is it coming up with techniques and management style to build an internal location, an internal office to run smoothly? I mean, what are the essential key attributes to that?
Am I asking the right question here? Because like I said, sometimes people don't want to start at the top. They want to start at the bottom. So somebody coming into a business for the first time. Yeah, the easy stuff, it's easy to point the finger at that guy or that person. So somebody who's starting a business and they want to make themselves better and become a leader that provides guidance, education to their employees. What's the best way to go about that?
[00:03:39] Speaker B: Well, first things first, Scotty. I mean, you and I both know, and a lot of the audience knows the benefits of a franchise buying into a franchise. They figured it out. They know what works, and they hand it over to you. Essentially, right? Where people go wrong in franchisees or in their own business is they either disregard the basic fundamentals of how things should work and they say, you know what? I'm going to do it this way instead. And a lot of times that happens with their leadership style is they don't emphasize the training enough. Like the tools are right there, but they say, you know what? We don't have time for that. Don't worry about that. You're just going to learn on the fly. You're going to figure out yourself. And that's where a lot of people, the employees, feel disengaged, they feel unempowered, they feel helpless. And so that's where a lot of them go wrong and they miss the first step. Whether it's the franchise, franchisee, or your.
[00:04:31] Speaker A: Own business, talk to us about your three step process because it's interesting.
As a business owner, I guess it's easy to kind of sweep it under the rug, so to speak. You know what I mean? Just it's one time. It won't happen again. Or employee on the same side. On the employee, okay, he didn't catch me this time or they really didn't see the mistake this time, maybe see it again.
What are some of the three keys here that you talk about that make management and having I use the word happy, but engaged employees with the business and having a successful team?
[00:05:20] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. So, yeah, those three key elements that you're talking about, Scotty, is the focus of the responsibility of the leaders to enlighten, empower, and equip their employees. And essentially what's that saying? Kind of like what you mentioned is being an engaged employee, there's that positive byproduct of being happy, right. But not the other way around. Sometimes they try and achieve making them happy and they're enabling bad behaviors, missteps mistakes. But the beauty of those three key elements is to really improve communication. Why are they here in the first place? What is the benefit to them as the employee? How is this going to grow them? Not just their wallet, right? Maybe pay their bills, but how is it going to make them excited to come to work, but then also how they fit in as a team and as a company and as a community, and then helping nourish that and nurture that throughout the process. Once they hit day one to day 90, all the way to hopefully three, 4510 years in the company.
[00:06:18] Speaker A: Right. So does this start at the leadership level when you're interviewing and starting to build the team in franchising? Let's just say somebody's putting together a service based business and they have to build a team to provide the service, or if it's a retail business, a food business, does all this start in asking the right questions in an interview? And where does it all start from? I guess that's my question.
[00:06:51] Speaker B: It does, Scotty. And that's where most people mess up, either because they're hiring out, know being know whether they're just getting started and their timeline's shorter than they expected and they're just trying to get butts and seats they neglect to look at just like what you're alluding to.
You have, for example, a service company, okay, that's great, but there's specific personality styles and specific work skills that fit in certain positions. If you have someone answering the phone all day, you don't want someone that's more of an introvert that wants to just kind of sit in a quiet environment, give the time to think through things, versus someone that's extroverted and wants to just talk to people all day. Right. So that's a huge part that people miss in the screening process. And so they could have the work experience, but they don't have the personality to really thrive long term, and so they're going to suffer one way or the other. And that's missed a lot.
[00:07:45] Speaker A: We're talking to Clifton Savage here, who's CEO and founder of Service Leaders Society for the past 15 years, has specialized in reducing costs of untrained and disengaged employees. Uses a three step process.
Sitting here listening to you, Clifton, it would seem to me that ego comes into play here a lot, especially on the management or ownership side of the business. It's kind of, you know, I really don't need training. I don't really need kick get into the weeds on all this. My employees are fine. Yeah, I have some headaches every once in a while. But how does one realize that obviously they're the things that you can see turnover, employees leaving, people that are late, people maybe not be hitting quota or depending on how you're building your business, but what are some of the signs an owner should be looking at for themselves that, hey, you know what? Maybe I need somebody like Clifton to come in and really kind of help me out here, because is it when the problem continually happens over and over again? I think, you know, insanity is when you continue to do the same thing over and over again. So maybe walk us through that a little bit. Is that when should somebody kind of realize, hey, I need some help here? Guidance?
[00:09:05] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. No, that's a great point, Scotty. I would say the definition of insanity, doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result. Perfect example I can think of is when the owners management are having meetings with either their middle management or even their frontline employees and they're trying to incite, like, feedback or ideas from their team. And no one wants to speak up. That's usually a reflection of leadership. At some point, they created this environment where ideas aren't allowed, thinking outside of the box, sharing your opinion, your feedback was ignored or completely shot down. And so now everyone like you're saying is disengaged. And so you can't just have a regular meeting expecting people to, whether it's group or one on one, feed information to you because you've put up a barrier. The leadership has essentially put up a barrier of communication, and it's hurt the growth of the team.
[00:10:02] Speaker A: Now, that's interesting. So let's talk about the timing for our
[email protected], powered by Scott Milos franchise Cope. Our audience is probably 60% to 70% made up of people who are interested in exploring business ownership for the first time. And they're contemplating and thinking, oh, do I pick up the phone now? Do I wait?
Franchising or franchise opportunities is a strong possibility for them. The other 25 30% of our audience is people that are already business owners, multi unit, multibrand operators. So when somebody for the first time is looking at business or thinking about business ownership, is this a step that they should be taking first to educate themselves on being an effective leader? It's kind of know, do you put the cart before the horse or the horse?
Or is it go through training, become the franchisee, get your feet a little wet, and then give Clifton a call and say, hey, look, I really want to make this work, build an effective leadership team.
The brand has given me kind of that outline, right? When do I call Clifton?
[00:11:20] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, that's the beauty of a franchise, right, Scotty?
The framework, the blueprint is right there for them to take and run with. But where a lot of them get it wrong, whether it's a franchise or they're just starting their own company, right? I want to be in business for myself. I don't want to have a boss, is they neglect to think about the responsibility that they have of preparing themselves to be a good leader. That's where most get it wrong. They're great at their industry, they're great at their job, or they're great at starting and flipping businesses, for example. But where the cracks start showing is their lack of leadership ability. And it's a reflection of the lack of development that they put in themselves to be effective leaders. And so that's know, I would say prepare yourself now like you should have started yesterday.
The best time to plant a tree was yesterday. So work on that leadership development now. And then as you start diving deeper, talking to Scotty, talking know somebody, know the franchise opportunities, starting your own business, what it really takes, okay, then you're working on both paths now, which is that's interesting.
[00:12:26] Speaker A: That's a great point. The earlier seems to be better. And when you really think about it, at least in the franchising space, franchiseors are awarding franchises to people who they believe can be great leaders and build. They're not looking for somebody who can flip a burger, make a pizza, paint a house. They want somebody there are franchises out there that are single ownership. Kind of the man in the van, women in the van type businesses. Keep it as simple as you want or build it as big as you want. But ideally, franchiseors are looking for people to come in and kind of build the legacy, build the team and kind of expand, get into multiple territories, multiple units. So the idea to seeing if you're a good leader and need the credentials, but they're not looking for somebody to flip the burger or the hair. They really want somebody who can put a team together to manage that process. Is that mean? Am I looking at this the right?
[00:13:27] Speaker B: I mean, even Chick fil A, right? It's very little money to put down to get into a franchise of Chick fil A, but they have these massive requirements behind that of, well, what is your business acumen, what is your leadership acumen? How are you going to steward this effectively moving forward? We don't want to come in and fix all the fires and put out all the messes. We want someone that's going to be able to take this. And like you said, the beauty of a franchise is it's very scalable. The systems are already there, but it's up to the owners, the leaders to make that possible and make that effective.
[00:13:59] Speaker A: Yeah, be able to delegate the systems we have. We don't need you to change the chicken recipe or we don't need to change the burger. Don't touch it. This is the way we paint the house.
It's funny because I always coach my clients that are going to the Discovery Day. Kind of that last step in the process, in the awarding process, is that you want to stay away from questions like can I do this? Can I do this? Why can't I do that? How come we don't do it this way? Because they're really looking for people that want to follow, who can follow the system and delegate the systems that they've implemented. And that's not to say that great ideas aren't our literature. They are. But you got to spend six months to twelve months running the business first before you think you have a great idea.
[00:14:48] Speaker B: Exactly.
[00:14:50] Speaker A: You can't change the burger recipe or the pizza sauce.
[00:14:53] Speaker B: Yeah. You got to know why first before you can ask a good question on what about this?
[00:14:58] Speaker A: Yeah, let's just have a little fun here. I mean, for a second. And you've been at this for 15 years and I think you've seen the best of the best. And if you're anything like me and been doing this as long as I have, and I think we've been both at this for a very long time. There are people you just scratch your head and you go, okay, so let's have a little fun here. What is kind of that interesting management person or people that you've come across that if somebody was listening right now and it was a common theme, that they should be picking up the phone to call, you just say, hey, look, they're sitting back listening, saying, oh, I don't need any of this.
This is all pie in the sky kind of stuff. So what are some of the things? Tell us a funny story of something that maybe somebody did pick up the phone, they work with you and talk about the results, if you could.
[00:16:03] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. Well, Scotty, I know you've probably dealt with enough of these know, when we get into business, when we have this entrepreneurial mindset, right, a lot of us like to call ourselves visionaries. We have a lot of ideas. We see the vision, we see the future. But so many fall short with the actual implementation, and it's not due to a lack of skill, but a lack of discipline. And so when I hear people and you probably get it all the time, people throwing ideas at you, they're going to do this, they're going to do this next and then this next. But they haven't even started on step one, and they've barely gotten to step two. That's where those conversations I have with people all day long, every day with clients, with people just know me as family or friends and are interested in what I do, they'll share the same thing. Oh, I've got this idea. I've got that idea and they've been sitting on it for years or years comes down to implementation and having a plan. And a lot of times it's because some of the first steps are not that fun or they're a little difficult, a little scary.
[00:17:01] Speaker A: Well, you mentioned the word I was going to use. You mentioned scary. And just to kind of close this out here, fear and anxiety plays an integral part in anyone's decision process. But then when you start thinking about spending money, fear and anxiety becomes a bigger issue. And fear and anxiety, a lot of people look at fear and anxiety as a negative. I kind of look at it. There are some parts of it that are positive, because if it's the right fear and anxiety, it's generating questions or bringing questions to the forefront to get answered. Obviously, you don't want fear and anxiety to steer your decision process just because you're scared.
I look at it. Being nervous and scared and fearful is normal. If you're not, that's when I really become concerned.
I got this, no problem, this is easy. And I'm just like, oh, my God.
So talk about fear on this whole thing. It's got to be tough for somebody who, let's just say for six, seven years has been doing it one way and just kind of struggling, swimming upstream, paddling upstream and waking up in the morning. And, you know, I got to call Clifton because it's not working out. How much of that is much?
Is it majority fear or is it embarrassment? Is it ego? I mean, we talked about that earlier.
[00:18:29] Speaker B: Yeah, well, I think ego is a fear of being looked down upon, right. And so it really does come down to the root of fear.
I'd say a lot of people going back to the case of insanity is that they are doing the same thing out of fear, that if they take their hand off this wheel, they're going to start falling backwards. But the reality is like you're saying, they're stuck in place. They're not even moving forward. They're just trying to hang on. And so a lot of times I see fear ruling people in their decisions. Either they'reactive or they're overreactive.
And so they're not, like you said, making logical decisions. They're not looking at the evidence, the data, and they're basing off of emotions instead, which a lot of times I mean, I could say today is great, well, the sun's out, but if it gets cloudy now, my perception has changed, right. But I'm still physically sitting here. I'm still physically okay. And so looking at the data is much better way to overcome those fears and to see kind of like a warning light on the dash of your car. You've got the fuel tank, right? It's on half. Okay, that's not bad. Don't need to freak out yet when it starts getting low. Okay, well, I should have seen that coming. I knew it was at half a while ago.
[00:19:39] Speaker A: Right.
[00:19:40] Speaker B: So it's something that you have to navigate with a little bit more logic.
[00:19:44] Speaker A: Than emotion closing out here.
We've touched on ego, fear, anxiety.
Someone who's been in management for 20 years seems to be I call it riding that wave because I love the water. I've done some surfing. I sail. So people get on that wave, they don't realize that eventually you're going to hit the beach and you got to paddle back out. But where are you seeing most of your clients coming in from experience level? Is it the person who's been trying this for 10, 15, 20 years and wakes up and says, you know, it's just not working, I need some help and guidance, someone like you? Or is it we touched on earlier that the sooner the better to get involved in this and develop that style. But if somebody was listening now, what kind of experience level are you looking for in a person to work with and feel that you would be able to be an asset and help kind of change that direction a little bit?
[00:20:47] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, there's a lot of free resources out there for people that want to just get going. Maybe they're interested in getting that journey going. But I'll be honest that our services are more beneficial to people that have four or five years under the belt at a minimum. Right. That really helps. That really helps, because then there's something that we can bite into. There's a lot of data of the mess around them that we can assess rather than starting from ground zero. So we can help them a lot better with assessing the problem that they're already in and make a bigger impact that way.
[00:21:19] Speaker A: That's awesome. Clifton, if somebody wants to get a hold of you and talked about service leaders, society, and the programs that you offer to that experienced business leader, somebody who's looking for personal improvement, overall improvement, what's the best way for somebody to get in touch with you?
[00:21:40] Speaker B: The best way for someone to get in touch with me is my website serviceleaderssociety.com. From there, they can contact me by phone, email, or even my primary social platform, which is LinkedIn. They can find that there. And of course, my services, examples and testimonials from others. That's where all my information is for their first shopping experience, if you will.
[00:22:01] Speaker A: Great. One last question, and I forgot to ask this.
Sometimes when we talk about education and services and training and things like that, people have a misnomer that this is only for people who are managing large corporations, large staffs, large employee base.
Can you just talk really about kind of the level of management that you're interested in working with? What kind of experience is it? A sole entrepreneur?
I think you know where I'm going with this because I think it's important. Somebody may be saying, hey, look, I only got one employee. What kind of help do I really need?
Talk a little bit about the experience level and the requirements that you're looking for.
[00:22:51] Speaker B: Absolutely. Well, I believe in us as business owners finding ways to put ourselves out of the job. Right. Which means we have to be in the mindset of multiplication, which means to some degree, we have to have controllable, growth and scalability, because if we're limiting ourselves, we're going to limit our future and what we can do for others. And so a lot of times I look at it, teams of five to ten and growing all the way up to 50 or 60 is realistic. But yeah, ultimately they have a mindset for growth. And if they have a great service and a great internal team, they're naturally going to grow. They're going to grow to multiple locations, to larger service areas. They're going to need more people. Anyone that tries to stay at one person as a solopreneur, they're limiting their reach, they're limiting their impact. And I feel like they need to be more growth minded.
[00:23:39] Speaker A: Great. Well, Clifton, it's been great to have you on the show.
I hope that we can get you back on, get an update from you four to six months from now just to kind of recap. And I encourage anybody who is looking for self improvement management styles, leadership development. You're certainly looking at the been listening to the right person to kind of get you in that direction. And I know it's hard. It's hard to pick up that phone or fill out that inquiry form because, look, we all have egos, but sometimes it never hurts to get yourself educated. So, Clifton, thanks for being on board again. Clifton Savage, who is president and founder of service leaders society, works for the last 15 years, has specialized in reducing cost of untrained and disengaged employees and, of course, personal improvement and leadership roles. I am your host of all things considered, Franchising.com Scotty Milas, powered by Scottmylasfranchisecoach.com. If you have any questions regarding entrepreneurship, investigating, researching franchise opportunities, feel free to email me at
[email protected] or give me a call 860-751-9126. You can also visit allthingsconseredfranchising.com and scottmilos franchise for further information. Until next time, everybody, this is Scotty Milas signing off. And again, Clifton, thank you for your time. I appreciate it.
[00:25:08] Speaker B: Thank you.
