Franchise Today

This week on Franchise Today the topic is culture and who better to discuss with co-hosts Stan Friedman and Paul Segreto than someone from a franchise organization that lives and breathes culture and everything that are key components to culture. This week's guest fits the bill perfectly and from an organization, The Dwyer Group that epitomizes the right culture in franchising. A returning guest to Franchise Today is Mark Liston, President of Glass Doctor, a brand of The Dwyer Group. In franchising since 1981, Mark has been very involved with the International Franchise Association in a variety of roles and is currently on the Board of Governors for the Certified Franchise Executive Board, having served as Chairman of that Board for two years.  He is also on the Educational Foundations Board of Trustees. Previously he served the VetFran and Marketing and PR Committees.

Franchise Today airs LIVE every Wednesday at 11AM CT / 12PM ET. Each show is available on-demand on iTunes. Franchise Today is also on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/FranchiseToday.

This week on Franchise Today, show founder, Paul Segreto welcomes as his co-host, long-time and well-established franchising professional, Stan Friedman. For the past few months, Paul and Stan have been reformatting the show to build upon the success that Franchise Today has already established for the better part of the past six years.

 

With that as a platform, Paul and Stan will use this week's show to discuss their mutual philosophies and how together, they will continue building on this legacy and taking Franchise Today to new levels and heights. As well-networked franchising professionals these guys have their ears to the ground and have a good sense of what you may want and need to hear more about. The co-hosts will discuss their thoughts on sustainable and sensible franchising, and how Franchise Today will focus on the same. To that end, they will talk more about the program’s new format.

This week on Franchise Today the focus is on something that seems to be in the news every day - data breaches! With data breaches more than doubling since 2009 to more than 25,000 incidents in 2013 and with 467 of those breaches occurring in the retail sector, franchises have been affected as well. Our guests this week are Tom Epstein, CEO of Franchise Payment Network and Lee Plave, Partner at the law firm, Plave Koch. Both are active IFA members on the Marketing & Technology Committee and are also some of the leading thought-leaders in franchising on today's topic.

About Our Guests

Lee Plave has extensive experience counseling distributors and franchisors, including drafting and negotiating franchise agreements for complex international and domestic transactions and advising clients on all aspects of franchise and distribution law. He also counsels clients on the application of technology to franchise and distribution systems. Lee focuses his attention on matters such as social networking and social media issues, e-commerce, data use and security policies, cybersquatting and domain name disputes, consumer complaint and cybersmear sites, as well as software and hardware licensing. In addition, he represents clients in matters before the Federal Trade Commission.

In addition to his role as CEO of Franchise Payments Network, Tom Epstein continues works with the IFA, serving on Supplier Forum, The Marketing & Technology Committee, FranPac supporter, host of IFA FBN (Franchise Business Network) in Orlando, has been published in all major Franchise Trades as well a sponsor of countless industry events though out the year. FPN works exclusively in the franchise space, utilizing Tom’s extensive knowledge in retail and payment processing to facilitate the unique needs of franchise systems.

We've chosen this archived segment of Franchise Today for this week's replay as it's about relationships and that's what holidays are all about - relationships! Happy Thanksgiving to all

In the second week of last year's The Franchise Model Series, host, Paul Segreto welcomed as his guest, Mark Liston, President of Glass Doctor. Paul and Mark discussed operations support and franchisee relations best practices with emphasis on the franchise relationship itself.

About Our Guest

Mark Liston is President of Glass Doctor, a brand of the Dwyer Group. In franchising since 1981, Mark is very involved in the International Franchise Association (IFA). He is the immediate past Chairman of the Board of Governors for the Institute of Certified Franchise Executives having earned his CFE in 2005. Mark is also on the IFA’s Educational Foundation Board of Trustees. Previously, he was a member of the VetFran Committee and IFA’s Public Relations Committee.

This week on Franchise Today the Doctor is in the house. That's right. The Telephone Doctor, Nancy Friedman will join host, Paul Segreto as they discuss the ins and outs of customer service. After all, when Oprah, The Today Show, CBS This Morning, Good Morning America, Good Morning Canada and Great Britain, CNN, Fox News, Wall Street Journal, USA Today and other well respected publications need an expert on Customer Service they call on Nancy Friedman.

About Our Guest

Nancy Friedman has appeared on hundreds of radio and TV shows over the years. Her common sense and “down to earth” actionable material provides a great package for any conference or major event.

The author of eight books on communications, sales, and customer service, Nancy will energize, inspire, and motivate you with tips, ideas, skills, and techniques you’ll use the rest of your life. Nancy’s keynote speaker presentations are high-energy, high in content, and best of all, high-results!

This week on Franchise Today the focus is on franchisee satisfaction and validation and how they ultimately combine for franchise success. Host, Paul Segreto welcomes as his guest, Michelle Rowan, President of Franchise BusinessREVIEW as they dive into the pitfalls that franchisors may face that slow down or even prevent growth and brand success. Paul and Michelle also discuss recent reports by Franchise BusinessREVIEW on emerging brands and in celebration of Veterans Day a peak into their recent editorial, Vet Report.

About Our Guest

Michelle Rowan is the president of Franchise Business Review, a market research and consulting company specializing in franchisee and customer satisfaction, as well as franchise relations issues. After working in the hospitality and telecommunications industries, she joined Franchise Business Review in 2005 as the first full-time employee. Over the last nine years, Rowan has worked with over 800 franchise systems. She is an active member of the International Franchise Association and a Certified Franchise Executive. She has facilitated CEO Performance Groups and Executive Networking Groups over the last 2 years within the franchise industry and regularly speaks at industry events.

This week on Franchise Today, Host, Paul Segreto is joined by Mary Ann O'Connell, Founder of FranWise, a full-service franchise-consulting firm, specializing in strategic planning, operations, documentation and compliance. Women in Franchising is the topic of discussion that will parallel Mary Ann's long career in franchising from franchisee to franchise corporate executive to business owner providing guidance and support to the franchise community.

About Our Guest

Mary Ann was introduced to franchising as the first Money Mailer franchise. For 11 years, she and her partner expanded two franchises while she coached other franchisees. She then worked for her franchisor, Money Mailer, Inc., as VP of Franchise Support Services for over 600 franchisees. Mary Ann then joined Great Clips, Inc. and as part of its leadership staff, she launched two major markets and continued to develop two mature markets overseeing all aspects of operations and training.

As a consultant and founder of FranWise® she has worked with major brands, new concepts and the top professionals in the world of franchising.  FranWise® boasts an impressive client list of over 80 brands and maintains strong relationships with its past and present clients. Mary Ann is also an active member of the IFA and serves on many committees and the Supplier Forum Advisory Board.  She is frequently asked to contribute articles and be a speaker for many franchise-related events.

This week on Franchise Today, host Paul Segreto welcomes as his guest, Evan Hackel, CEO of Ingage Consulting. Both members of the International Franchise Association's Franchise Relations Committee, Paul and Evan will focus on the franchise relationship and how engagement is the driving force in creating franchise brands that are "Better Together."  

About Our Guest

Evan Hackel is the Founder and Principal of Ingage Consulting, a consulting firm focused on improving the performance of franchises by improving the relationship between franchisees and the franchisor. He is also the CEO of Tortal Training, the largest provider of training to the franchise industry.

Evan has over 30 years of experience in franchising. During that time, he helped start three different, successful franchising systems. He is very active in the franchise community. Evan isa co-chair of the International Franchise Association’s Knowledge Share Task Force, a board member of the New England Franchise Association and a Certified Franchise Executive.

This week on Franchise Today, our guests are co-founders of Pinot's Palette, Charles Willis and Craig Ceccanti. They will discuss how they've started their "sip and paint" brand at the height of tough economic times and have successfully grown to a world-class franchise brand despite being a relatively new industry segment and entertainment option while competing against a multitude of copycat brands. Pinot's Palette has been ranked by Entrepreneur Magazine in its Annual Franchise 500 and recipient of Entrepreneur's Fastest Growing Franchise, Top Service Franchise and Top New Franchise awards in 2014. It has also been recognized as a leader in franchisee satisfaction by Franchise Business Review as FBR50 award winner two years in a row, 2014 above average in every category and ranked #8 in franchisee satisfaction in FBR’s Emerging Trends report.

Returning to Franchise Today is Greg Vojnovic, Chief Development Officer at Popeye's Louisiana Kitchen and Chairman of the upcoming Franchise Update Media's Franchise Leadership & Development Conference. Greg and host, Paul Segreto will preview this year's event, including some big changes that is believed to take the Conference to the next level.

While the Franchise Leadership & Development Conference each year consistently presents the top breakouts for the Franchise Sales and Recruiting process, this year finds the scope of what happens AFTER recruiting a new franchisee. There will also be a new set of brealkouts focused on Market Planning and Development for long-term successful growth of franchisees. Also, for emerging brand or a brand at a transition point, there will be breakouts focused on Building Your World Class Brand.

Another change will take a conference favorite and super-size it. The annual Mystery Shop / Annual Franchise Development Survey has been changed to provide a more in-depth look into the industry's gold standard survey. Of course, there will also be keynote speakers and a one-of-a-kind CEO Summit and opening Bootcamps.

The Conference is October 15-17 at the Intercontinental Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia.

About Our Guest

Greg Vojnovic is Chief Development Officer for Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen. He is responsible for franchise development, franchise real estate, construction, design, equipment, and franchise recruitment activities. With over 30 years experience in restaurant development, Greg has held leadership positions as VP of Development at Huddle House, been Director of Franchise Development at MaggieMoo's and held development positions at Denny's and Arby's.