Bring Excitement and Passion: Interview with Chris Seman, President of Strategic Franchising
I recently went one on one with Chris Seman, President of Strategic Franchising.
Adam: Thanks again for taking the time to share your advice. First things first, though, I am sure readers would love to learn more about you. How did you get here? What experiences, failures, setbacks or challenges have been most instrumental to your growth?
Chris: As I like to tell my staff, my franchising journey wasn’t a straight line. I got started after university working in retail management and then ended up in the large-scale industrial staffing business. My career was humming along, and I felt successful and financially rewarded. I worked 70-80 hours a week, keeping all the locations staffed and happy with our services. As a father of two small boys at the time, I didn’t think I was available the way I would like to be. The company started some financial challenges, and I started to think about what was next for me.
I was approached to take a position coaching franchisees at a newer handyman concept that had launched a year or so earlier. It would be a pay cut and step down from the leadership positions I had worked in for the last few years. I weighed the pros and the cons and decided that I would take a job as a Franchise Business Coach where I would be working with 30 relatively new franchisees. It was the best decision I ever made. I went from successful, where all my value was based on financial rewards, to a career where I was excited and fulfilled to be part of something larger than myself.
The step where I feel my career took the next step was when I convinced a couple of coworkers to go in with me and buy an existing franchise. The owner of the business wasn’t profitable and was resistant to change. He wanted to take a job back in consulting and leave the business. The revenue generated was exciting, and I felt that with three major tweaks, we could turn a profit in a short time. The short version is that we bought the franchise and immediately made those critical changes. We went to the franchise and met with the staff and held a meeting announcing the sale and the changes all at the same time. We went into the business and aggressively set it up for success.
A key to that was that while making the changes for those staff members that got on board, they would also see better pay and bonuses. I learned early in my career that you must align the employee’s behavior with the business’s goals. They should be rewarded when they do the activities that drive the business. With the changes, we were profitable by the end of the second month. Learning how to leverage that knowledge and educating our franchisees across the system was a critical factor in learning how to influence behaviors. After taking over the business, I was stronger for it, my coworkers were stronger for it, and the system was stronger for it.
Adam: In your experience, what are the key steps to growing and scaling your business?
Chris: In my experience, the first step to growth is to truly understand the business you are in and what business your customers think you are in. If you know and are aligned, you can make the necessary decisions that will allow you to grow. When scaling, you need to understand your strengths and weaknesses both as a business and as a leader. You need to build those areas of weakness by hiring individuals who will succeed. Many start-ups need help with growing their customer base. If you are not the marketing and salesperson, figure out the ROI you need and then hire someone who specializes in it and then hold them accountable to the goals. Then look at every area of your business and determine if that same step in other areas is necessary to grow. You only grow once you realize you cannot do everything yourself.
Adam: What are your best tips for franchisors?
Chris: I could write a book on all the success traits for franchisors but if I had to give my number one tip, is to focus your organization on driving revenue and profitability to your franchisees. Look at what you are your staff is doing, and if it is not franchisee-focused, then why are you doing it? If you focus on that goal, you will see the impact of all areas of your business, including franchise development.
Adam: What are your best tips for franchisees and prospective franchisees?
Chris: For prospective franchisees, find a business model that you can be passionate about. You will never work harder than when you launch a new business; make sure that time is well invested because you are committed to it. All businesses have challenges; when you are engaged and passionate, those challenges are minor inconveniences to be overcome. If you are not engaged, those challenges become significant barriers to success, and you will struggle. For brand new franchisees, take in all the learning you can, and focus on following the system as it is set up. The time spent in your first year learning the model and developing your tools to drive the brand is critical to your success.
After you have locked down the existing model and system, you will know why those processes and procedures exist. At this point, once you have the current system locked in, you can then engage your creativity and perspective to look at new ways of doing things. If your system supports that, of course. For existing franchisees, I like to remind them that you are part of a support group of fellow franchisees. Don’t ever reach that point where you think you can no longer learn, and you quit engaging. Your fellow franchisees and your brand’s home office can be sounding boards, share best practices, and get those creative solutions flowing. If you disengage, you will be missing out on the power of the group, and your business will feel the impact.
Adam: What do you feel are the defining qualities of an effective leader? How can leaders and aspiring leaders take their leadership skills to the next level?
Chris: A question I like to ask new leaders is, who do you serve? An effective leader must be adaptable and open to change as the world changes around us, often at a faster and faster pace. If you do not have your focus on who you serve and believe leadership is about growing your salary at the expense of others, you will fail. It’s not about who is in charge. It’s about who is charting the path and leading others to success. You don’t have to have all the best ideas. You need to develop an organization that offers up the best ideas, and you then lay down the road to get those ideas implemented as quickly as possible. In growing your leadership skills, the ideal solution is to find a Mentor, someone you can admire that is open to discussing the pitfalls as well as the successes. If a mentor is available, read. There are great books out there that will open your skill sets and make you think about things from another perspective. Start with why and Influencer are two influential books that I recommend to anyone looking to jumpstart the leadership and communication process.
Adam: What are your three best tips applicable to entrepreneurs, executives, and civic leaders?
Chris:
Know what you are trying to do. What business are you in? What is the result you want to see?
Know why you are doing it.
Listen. You don’t have all the answers, but you can bring them together and get everyone on the same page. Just don’t forget to credit the person who created the idea!
Adam: What is your best advice on building, leading, and managing teams?
Chris: You might have the title, but the more you listen to, support, and encourage your teams, the better results you will get as an organization. When you get others to buy into an idea larger than themselves, they will astonish you with what you accomplish. Your team members will often bring a focus to their position and create solutions that you wouldn’t have time to even think about as you run the company. Take pride in their success and encourage sharing of ideas and best practices. If you see yourself as an educator and a facilitator, you can drive and inspire.
Adam: What are your best tips on the topic of sales, marketing, and branding
Chris: Sale and Marketing both have one critical component that you need to remember. To build your business, you must always be out in the marketplace. Your sales and marketing efforts cannot ebb and flow based on your current revenue. In other words, you must be out selling even when you are busy and have plenty of customers, and you don’t only sell or market when you are slow. If you do, your business will be one heck of a roller coaster, and you will never see the revenue you hope to achieve.
There are a multitude of selling systems and processes for people to follow. They approach the craft of selling from all sorts of angles and perspectives; find one that works for you. For me, if you take the time to learn about your customers and what motivates them, you have more chances to craft a solution that will work for them. Persistence is critical, and effort is necessary. There are no shortcuts to sales; hard work, commitment, and desire for success are the necessary building blocks to winning.
Adam: What is the single best piece of advice you have ever received?
Chris: I once went on a ride along with one of my top salespeople as we were prospecting for new clients. We had the worst meet and greet that I had ever had in my career. The prospect was not thrilled to see us and spent the next couple of minutes using very colorful language about why he didn’t want to see us and would never use our services. I walked out of the meeting depressed and upset and not ready to see any more prospects that day. As we walked to the car, I noticed the salesperson whistling, and they seemed happy.
I was astonished and asked, “How can you be happy after that?” They replied, “On a sales day, you are going to get hear no so many times every single day. At least we got that one out of the way, and the next one will be better, and we have a great chance to hear a Yes!” I didn’t understand the logic of what they said as much as I understood the message of what they said. In life and business, you must be optimistic about the opportunity and not carry baggage from a past encounter into a new encounter. Prepare for every client engagement as if this was the first one you have ever been to. Bring excitement and passion, and engage your prospects, clients, and employees. They deserve your best, bring it with you and leave the rest behind.
Adam Mendler is the CEO of The Veloz Group, where he co-founded and oversees ventures across a wide variety of industries. Adam is also the creator and host of the business and leadership podcast Thirty Minute Mentors, where he goes one on one with America's most successful people - Fortune 500 CEOs, founders of household name companies, Hall of Fame and Olympic gold medal winning athletes, political and military leaders - for intimate half-hour conversations each week. Adam has written extensively on leadership, management, entrepreneurship, marketing and sales, having authored over 70 articles published in major media outlets including Forbes, Inc. and HuffPost, and has conducted more than 500 one on one interviews with America’s top leaders through his collective media projects. A top leadership speaker, Adam draws upon his insights building and leading businesses and interviewing hundreds of America's top leaders as a top keynote speaker to businesses, universities and non-profit organizations.
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