Why Candidates Aren't Choosing Your Brand - FranConnect

Franchise brokers typically tee up a franchise sales candidate with three to four different franchise brands within their portfolio for consideration. Best case, one of the brands will be selected, while the remainder of brands failed to win hearts and minds. Watch and listen in as a Broker, a Franchisor, and a Franchisee Buyer share what they’ve learned about why candidates choose one brand over the others and get their recommendations on how to increase your odds of winning the sale.

If you are looking for insights on how to improve your broker closing effectiveness rates, you’ll want to join us as we’ll discuss:

The three recurring missteps that franchisors are making when working with brokers' candidates
Utilizing the Franchise Brokers “best practices checklist”
Resolving delays in territory checks
Advice on selling through fear, uncertainty and doubt during a recession
How to leverage the knowledge that your broker is gaining through “fricking & fracking”
How to increase the number of referrals that you receive from brokers

Our expert panelists represent three unique perspectives from a leading broker, a franchisor and a franchise buyer.

About the Presenters

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Keith Gerson, CFE, President of Franchise Ops, FranConnect

Keith Gerson brings 40+ years of executive level expertise as a passionate and driven Franchisor and Franchisee with a proven track-record in building rapid-growth, and highly profitable franchise organizations. Over the last eight years, Keith has served as President and Chief Customer Advocate for FranConnect. Recognized in franchising circles for his extensive leadership experience, and ability to drive execution, Keith is a highly-rated keynote speaker and has created several leading franchise systems from conception through launch and sustained growth.

Todd Eppert - Head

Todd Eppert, Certified Business Coach, FocalPoint

Todd has served in a number of leadership roles during his 23 year career in small to mid-sized manufacturing businesses including VP of Manufacturing roles at IPC Power Resistors/Post Glover and Skilcraft, and COO at Senneca Holdings. He has worked with continuous improvement teams, improved operational performance, and developed leaders. Another key focus was helping his teams through a merger and multiple acquisitions, with most of his time spent on the integration efforts. Todd realized there was a significant gap with family-owned businesses seeking to transition leadership to the next generation, forcing them to sell. He left the corporate structure in late 2017 to follow his passion of developing people, coaching, and mentoring.

In early 2018, Todd started a FocalPoint Business Coaching franchise in the Cincinnati area. In this role, Todd focuses his time helping business owners and leaders achieve results they otherwise could not achieve on their own. He is a certified Business and Executive Coach as well as a Certified Exit Planning Advisor. He is proud to be a multi-year award winner at FocalPoint.

Jania Bailey, CFE, CEO, FranNet

Jania Bailey joined FranNet in August 2006 as President and COO while the company was transitioning to new ownership. In 2015, Jania assumed the role of CEO of FranNet. Under her leadership, she’s led the company through unprecedented growth and has established FranNet as the most respected voice in the franchise consultant industry in North America.

In 2018 she led FranNet to publish the first Broker Disclosure Document and Client Bill of Rights. Both documents seek to place more transparency in the relationship between franchise candidates and Franchise Brokers. Her background includes over 30 years of experience in the banking and franchise industries.

Bailey also authored the book, “Thriving – The Journey to Success in the Business World” and co-authored the Amazon best-selling book, “More Than Just French Fries.”

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Merri Cronk, Franchise Consultant, FranNet

Having achieved her dreams through franchise ownership, Merri Cronk consults with dozens of entrepreneurs each year. She is a recognized speaker, conducting over 50 seminars and webinars per year on franchise ownership. Many of these seminars and webinars have been conducted in cooperation with the Small Business Administration, Small Business Development Centers, and SCORE.

Merri and her husband currently own several businesses including several franchise locations. Having bought and sold many businesses, Merri easily relates to her clients evaluating making the transition from salaried employee to entrepreneur as well as those looking to their next business venture. Over the last 20 years, Merri has helped hundreds of people into franchise ownership and has been honored with several FranNet awards for her dedication in helping aspiring franchise entrepreneurs:

John Armstrong-1

John Armstrong, Market President - NYC, FranNet

John Armstrong is the FranNet Market President for New York City. At FranNet, we provide education, support, and matchmaking services to individuals who are interested in exploring franchise ownership. To help our clients find the right franchise opportunity, we use a specific profiling and consultative process. Our goal is to help our clients determine if franchise ownership is right for them, and if so, help find and research the right franchise for them and their goals. John has been with FranNet since 2008. Before joining FranNet, he worked at Morgan Stanley’s Global Capital Markets. While at Morgan Stanley, John worked in their commercial paper origination group and on their equity syndicate desk. John is a graduate from Colgate University with a degree in Mathematical-Economics.