WEBVTT
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All right.
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Good afternoon.
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Welcome to Tuesday Talks, where we have an opportunity to dig a little deeper into various aspects of franchise ownership with Bright at Home.
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My name is Brady Schwab.
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I'm the Chief Growth and Strategic Operations Officer.
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Today we're going to be exploring franchise business performance coaching with my good friend John Crow, one of our very own business performance coaches.
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John, I'll hand the mic over to you for a little bit of an introduction, and then I get to dig into all my questions.
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Sure.
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Hey, thanks, Brady.
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I hope you had a good Labor Day weekend.
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As you said, my name is John Crow.
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I'm a business performance coach here at Right at Home.
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I've been with the company a little over a year and a half now.
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Prior to coming here, I was a franchisee, a multi-unit franchisee in a national brand with four locations here in Nebraska and up in South Dakota.
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And these days you'll find me uh coaching a group of about 45 Right at Home owners, mostly located in the mid-Atlantic, but I do have owners spread from coast to coast, all the way from New York to Washington State, from Nevada to South Carolina.
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Nice tight geography.
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That's uh that's good.
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You you get around.
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Well, John, for somebody that's not familiar with uh kind of the role of business performance coaches, um, tell us a little bit about how you support franchise owners.
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Sure.
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Well, I imagine if I was sitting in this audience, I might be asking myself, all right, I signed the franchise agreement, I go through the onboarding and training.
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What's next?
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Am I on my own?
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Well, the answer to that question is no.
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Um, the answer to that question is that I show up as your business performance coach.
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And what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna work with you one-on-one on an ongoing basis, on a cadence that makes sense for us to really help you take a step back and look at the business as a business, get you away from that day-to-day where you might be wrapped up in the minutia of the business.
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And I'm gonna help you set goals and really help hold you accountable to achieving those goals.
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And so when we review performance, we identify kind of the greatest opportunities, um, the biggest risks, we determine what an owner should focus on next.
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And sometimes that means looking at financial performance, sometimes that means operations metrics, um, sometimes it's staffing, recruiting, all of the above.
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I really um help you identify and prioritize what it is that we need to work on together.
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I also um I'm not an expert, I kind of know a little bit about a lot.
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So I work here in the corporate office with a lot of what we call subject matter experts.
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And so while I might be your first point of contact, if I don't know the answer to something, chances are I know somebody that does know the answer to that question, I'm gonna put you in contact with that particular expert.
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Yeah.
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So you're you're you're uh not not only uh super knowledgeable, but you're a connector with uh all the resources here at the home office.
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Exactly.
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So, you know, kind of a jack of all trades and a master of none, but I have good friends.
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That's right.
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That's right.
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So that's how we get it done.
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What's a common misconception that owners have about a business performance coach?
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Um, you know what?
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I'll tell you what a business coach is not.
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Um, it's not a person that's calling you from corporate to tell you what you did wrong.
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It's not someone that's trying to tell you how to run your business or run your business for you.
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Really, it's an added set of eyes to take a look at things and say, hey, you know, have you thought of this?
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Really ask good questions.
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Um, again, in addition to the connections that I have here in the corporate office, I work with, like I said, 45 different owners that have been there and they've done that um all in various different stages of their business ownership lifecycle.
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And so I can bring at a perspective that that maybe you haven't considered or thought of yet.
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And, you know, you might tell me I'm wrong still at the end of the day, but at least it's something that um maybe you hadn't thought of that you were able to consider when tackling whatever particular issue you're tackling with your business.
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Which which is so so much the value of being part of a franchise network, right?
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You've got um, as I like to say, success leaves a trail, and um, you know, you're you're in situ with with all of those owners as well as all the best practices and uh subject matter experts that you have access to.
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So um I'm I'm curious, um, how how does the coaching support kind of differ when you're working with a new owner versus, you know, we have owners that have been in the business 15, 20, 25 years.
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How how does that change or or how is it similar?
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Yeah, I'd say um the fundamentals of the relationship are the same or similar, but the coaching relationship does evolve over time as the business evolves and the needs of the business evolve.
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Um, you know, somebody that's brand new to the system, we're gonna focus probably more on what I call blocking and tackling the fundamentals, the basics.
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The um are you going out and building referral relationships?
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Are you staying on top of your hiring?
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Are you staying on top of a lot of those first-time decisions that need to get made?
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Things like that.
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And then as that relationship evolves to 10 or 15 years, we're we're talking, you know, more strategic plans.
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We're looking three years down the road.
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We might be looking at secession plans or hey, in four years, I want to sell my business for X amount of money.
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What do I need to do to get there?
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Those types of conversations.
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And it might even be a business that has reached a point of stagnation and they want to reignite and get back to those basics.
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So it's not that I would need to tell them what the basics are again, it's just reminding them, hey, let's get back to that basic blocking and tackling that you were so good at five years ago.
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Those sorts of conversations.
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Does that kind of answer the question for you?
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Yeah, no, that's great.
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And uh, as my uh friend used to say, even Michael Jordan needed a coach, right?
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It's um all those different points in our career and um phases of business and and uh kind of the business cycles.
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Um I'm I'm curious when when you first started working with an owner, you know, how do you uh uh assess where they need support the most?
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Not not you know, you uh an owner is in all things to to all people, and uh as a coach, you want to come in and kind of identify where those those strengths and opportunities are.
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How how do you do that?
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So I'm a big believer and I have two ears and one mouth for a reason.
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So I'm gonna ask questions and I'm gonna do a lot of um intent listening and trying to pick up on things that maybe I've heard from other conversations I've had with other owners along the way.
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Um and you're right, it's it's such um a highly individualized thing, I think, when when you have a coaching relationship with somebody, so it does take a lot of investment up front to get to know them, to find out what motivates them, what matters to them, what are their specific goals, and then you kind of walk it back from there and identify and try to get identify what's in their way and try to help them get it out of the way, if that makes sense.
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Yeah, yeah, it's great.
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Now I I know that um, you know, I know you to be somebody who who manages business by the numbers and and really understands the the metrics in a business.
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Which which KPIs do you focus on first and and why are these the most important metrics in in your mind?
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Well, I'm gonna tell you again that that really depends on the honor and the situation that we're looking at.
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Um, but for the most part, I'm just gonna start with the the basics.
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You know, um look at revenue, is it growing or declining?
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I'm gonna look at hours, are they growing or declining?
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Um, caregivers, are we adding caregivers or losing caregivers?
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And clients, are we adding clients or losing clients?
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From there, you know, if the answer is yes or no, you start to drill down to some more minute KPIs as you go further and further down, trying to answer why.
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So, okay, revenue is declining, why?
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Is it because we're not bringing in clients fast enough?
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Is it because you know we don't have enough caregivers to keep up with demand?
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What is it?
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And the further you drill down and ask those why questions, hopefully you find an answer.
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And then from that point you can make a plan and start working a plan.
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Yeah.
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No, I I I love that.
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There's those those big metrics and not only where they sit today, but what what are the trends?
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And then, you know, what are the drivers under those trends and and continue to peel back the onion?
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And um, you know, this is such a uh dynamic and diverse business.
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Um you know, there's there's so many of those dynamics that are working together.
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It's uh you're you're right, it is really individual and tied to where folks are in their um their business cycle and that um that that growth trajectory of the business.
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Um it's uh that that's the fun part.
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So when you start working with with new owners, um what are the what are the things that that are kind of the most common challenge that that new owners negotiate or navigate during their first 12 months or so?
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So I think a lot of people wrestle with this question, um kind of the chicken or the egg of do I do I go get caregivers first or do I go get clients first?
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And I think the answer is yes and yes.
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Um, but you can't do it without the caregivers.
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So I'd say people um tend to wrap their head around pretty quick the fact that you need to start hiring caregivers early and often, and it needs to continue.
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It's not something you ever get to ignore.
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You always need to make sure you have a talented pool of caregivers in order to bring on those clients and take care of them.
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Um the other things I think important to get um a head wrapped around in the beginning is that this is a very relationship-based business.
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And getting out of an office and making those relationships and fostering those relationships is really the biggest key to early success, I see with the new owners that I support.
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The ones that are out there shaking hands and kissing babies, as I like to say, um, they're the ones that that see the growth early and the sustained growth.
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Um everyone is looking for an easy button in every business too.
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And I think that um, you know, there's a tendency to try to think that if I spend money on you know this online marketing campaign or or whatever individual solution it is, that that's gonna solve all my problems.
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It's really a balance of all that.
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You know, you don't you need to have the investment in things that um generate leads, but you need to also have that presence in your community.
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Every small business is local.
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And so while someone might see an ad for your business online, what really makes them click it is because they know somebody that knows somebody that met you a week or two ago.
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And so it's kind of this um, I don't know, this uh ecosystem that works together and and really drives success.
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Yeah, and and you know, you answered one of my questions, you know, what what can the owner do the first 90 days that will pay dividends later?
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It's it's that you know, being present and visible in the community and start start shaking hands and kissing babies and and telling your story out out in the community.
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Yeah, and and as somebody that used to own a small business, I can tell you that you have a magic superpower attached to that word owner.
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When you go out and you meet people, I don't care what you own, they want to know more about it and how you ended up owning it and what you're doing with it.
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And um, are you a family person or are you involved in this organization, that organization?
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They want to know your story, and that opens up doors that don't open easily for other folks.
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Yeah, no, that's great.
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So um that that's kind of the maybe maybe where the the the focus where you'd you'd push people to focus.
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Where where do you think new owners tend to overcomplicate things?
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Um, I can tell you where they're most tempted to overcomplicate things, and it's it's recreating the wheel.
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Um, you know, I like to remind people that they bought into a franchise system for a reason.
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Um you know, if I wanted to go open up John's home care service, I'm free to do so.
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But I I bought into Right at Home.
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And Right at Home has been doing this for 30 years, and so gosh knows we've made all the mistakes you can possibly make, and then some over those 30 years and learn something from it.
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So don't make the same mistakes that we did that we can teach you about.
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I'm reminded of um when I went through my discovery day with my former franchise or um the individual in charge of franchise development at the time told me a story.
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Uh, and this guy was a former Subway franchisee back when Subway was in their heyday, right?
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And Subway told him, in your lobby, put plastic plants.
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And he said, Why would I do that?
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Plastic plants are cheesy, the real plants look nice, and I can afford to do it, so why not do it?
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So he went ahead and did that.
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Well, pretty soon the plants got bugs, so he had to pay somebody to come in and exterminate the bugs from the plants, and the plants need water, so now he's paying somebody to water the plants, and now it's winter time and the windows are cold, and the plants are giving off humidity and it's making the windows dirty.
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He's got to pay somebody to clean the windows, and it became the snowballing thing with this one tiny little decision that he just decided to go rogue on.
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And all this not to say that becoming a part of a franchise system doesn't mean you can't have ideas.
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You can.
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There's just a process of enacting them.
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Um, but there's a reason that we do just about everything that we do, and it's okay, question things, but at the end of the day, um, you bought into a franchise system for a reason.
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Yeah, that's a that is a great story.
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Fantastic.
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Um so if we can maybe uh think about um uh the you know, the you you've got a broad portfolio of owners that you support, and and when you think about you know the the things that separate those that grow year after year and those that you know struggle to to gain or maintain momentum, what what habits or disciplines do you do you think that the strongest, you know, uh perennial growing business owners kind of build early?
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What what what what what do you what activities and and focus do they have that that maybe uh somebody else doesn't?
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I mean in addition to what we talked about with getting out and and shaking the hands, um I think tracking, well, first off, recording good data, getting good data um into our uh what we call well sky um and being able to take a look at that data with your key stakeholders and um track it on a trailing, you know, if you look at whatever term you picked with the last five weeks, look at that and see what the story tells you.
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Because almost always before a problem becomes a problem, you should be able to identify it in some trailing KPIs.
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Um I'm a big believer in meeting with your key people on a weekly basis.
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Uh, and whether you embrace a system like EOS for running your business or you like to follow an RPI format to your to your meetings, have some sort of structure there.
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Um, involve you know your key people in the decisions, ask for feedback not only from your coach, but from from those that are working with you.
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They're the ones on the ground making it happen.
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Um, so I think a combination of those things is really what leads to long-term success.
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You know, realizing you can't do everything on your own.
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Um, in the beginning, you're gonna wear a lot of hats, a lot of different hats.
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Some hats you're gonna like wearing better than others.
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Um, and some hats you might like wearing, but you're not good at wearing that hat.
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And so being able to recognize where you as an owner are kind of a bottleneck in the process, and that's probably a good um indication that it's time to hire for somebody for that position.
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You know, you might have the hat that you like, but you realize that somebody you already have in the company is way better at it than you.
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You know, I might like go going out and talking to people, but if I'm not closing sales and this person that works for me already is doing that, well, they're they're probably the right person for that role.
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Getting the right people in the right seats is key for uh long-term success, in my opinion.
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So again, it's it's that you know, being really um committed to the data and understanding the KPIs, it's being that leader in the community, it's it's being the leader in the office and and really starting to think about building that team, both from uh you can't can't do everything all the time, and there's there's things that you're gonna do better than anybody else, and making sure that you you delegate those other things off to the to the folks that can support the business and and grow themselves.
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You said it better than I did.
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No, no, no, I'm just repeating it back.
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So so now uh talk a little bit about um kind of kind of the the the coaching owner relationship.
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Um in in your opinion, how how can owners get the most value from from somebody uh in in your role?
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Ask for it.
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Um, you know, I I hear a lot when when I go out and visit some owners that that maybe don't engage with me as often as I would like.
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Um I'm kind of shocked that the answer is, well, we don't want to bother you.
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And I'm like, well, that's my whole job, is for for you to bother me if you say it's not bothering me.
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Um I want to talk to you.
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And I also like to remind them, well, you're paying for me, whether you use me or not, so you might as well use me.
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But um, I think that you know, being willing to be vulnerable and open with what's going on in your business, you know, kind of like I said in the beginning, I'm I'm not there to get you in trouble or um wag a finger at you.
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Like if something's something's going wrong, bring it to my attention early and often because it's going to be a lot easier for us to work together and figure it out before it becomes something that snowballs out of control.
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So I think um that can be hard for some folks, uh, you know, especially if you've built something and that's been successful and maybe there's some cracks in the foundation and there's a pride element involved, and you might not want to admit it to yourself or to anybody else.
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But being willing to identify that and and say, hey, I might need a little bit of help, um, there's no shame in that.
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That's exactly what we're here for.
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Uh, that's what I found to be really great about um right at home as a franchise or how highly focused we are on the success of our franchisees.
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Um it's a real asset, and I just suggest embracing it and utilizing it.
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Yeah.
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What what do you think distinguishes an owner that's more coachable versus somebody that you know kind of struggles to receive the support or um is it'll is maybe less likely to seek it out or or put it into action.
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Okay, so when I was growing up, my my dad always told me that good leaders are willing to be the dumbest person in the room.
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And I'm not saying not to say that the the coach is smarter than you, but you know, when you're surrounding yourself with people that work for you, it's always good to surround yourself with people that challenge you, that might be better in certain aspects of the business.
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But with a coach, again, they're an added set of eyes and they're an added perspective and background that typically is just asking you questions.
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Have you considered this, have you considered that?
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Being open-minded to that stuff instead of no, that'll never work.
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You know, ask questions back.
00:19:23.759 --> 00:19:32.319
If you don't agree, poke holes back at it, and we'll go back and forth until you know you have enough information to make a decision to take a next step.
00:19:32.480 --> 00:19:34.480
Again, we're not there to make the decision for you.
00:19:34.559 --> 00:19:41.119
We're there to give you information and arm you with information to make the best choice, an educated decision for yourself.
00:19:41.279 --> 00:19:50.000
And it does yourself no good if um you know you just shut down and and don't accept any sort of outside perspective on on what whatever it is you're working on.
00:19:50.240 --> 00:19:50.799
Yeah.
00:19:51.039 --> 00:19:56.880
Yeah, it's um it's really that kind of emotional side of business ownership.
00:19:57.039 --> 00:20:01.200
And um, you know, how how do you help with owners?
00:20:01.359 --> 00:20:13.279
You know, ownership comes with stress and uncertainty and you know, that um that need to, you know, kind of uh build your own confidence in in some some instances.
00:20:13.440 --> 00:20:20.640
And there's you know a lot of discouragement that can come with any business or any endeavor that's uh worthwhile.
00:20:20.799 --> 00:20:28.240
How how do you help kind of coach around some of those softer aspects of um franchise ownership?
00:20:29.359 --> 00:20:35.039
So some of my favorite people to work with are ones that are um their own worst critic.
00:20:35.119 --> 00:20:39.599
However, that that comes with a downside is that they don't remember to celebrate wins.
00:20:39.759 --> 00:20:53.599
And I think it's important, um, especially with somebody that has a high standard for themselves, to recognize some of those smaller things that happen over the course of a week that um you might take for granted or might get overshadowed by something bigger you're working on.
00:20:53.680 --> 00:21:02.160
So I think um some folks like that, it you know, they don't often take a lot of motivating in the sense of um you need to hold a high standard for them.
00:21:02.319 --> 00:21:03.759
They have the highest standard in the room.
00:21:03.839 --> 00:21:09.440
It's just reminding them, hey, you know, you got five more applications last week than you did the week before.
00:21:09.519 --> 00:21:12.319
That's that's a win, that's momentum, that's a step forward.
00:21:12.559 --> 00:21:14.000
Celebrate those things.
00:21:14.160 --> 00:21:25.519
Um and then, you know, I'm I also recognize that that part of the coaching role is the fact that you know, when when you own a business, you're at the top.
00:21:25.599 --> 00:21:35.279
And if you've got something you're frustrated about or something that's bothering you, the the rule about being a leader is you never complain down, but you don't really have anybody to complain up to.
00:21:35.359 --> 00:21:41.519
So I'm I'm willing to also be that person that hey, just reach out, call me, and get off your chest, whatever you need to get off your chest.
00:21:41.680 --> 00:21:45.759
If I can help in any way and make it a plan and deal dealing with it, that's what I'm gonna do.
00:21:45.839 --> 00:21:52.640
But you know, call me, don't let it, don't bottle it up, just uh get it out of your system with me and we can work out a plan together.
00:21:53.039 --> 00:21:53.759
That's great.
00:21:53.920 --> 00:21:55.039
That's great.
00:21:55.359 --> 00:22:11.519
Um tell me about uh I'm uh be just Curious if you have a story of a franchisee that you know we you're working with from a coaching perspective that had a major challenge that you were able to overcome together.
00:22:11.680 --> 00:22:13.599
Any anything come to mind?
00:22:13.680 --> 00:22:26.240
And and you know, was there a breakthrough moment and kind of how the owner uh approached their business or maybe their their mindset, reset, um, any anything that that you could talk about specifically?
00:22:27.440 --> 00:22:35.920
Yeah, I I think there's actually one that I'm kind of halfway through um working on a solution with right now that I think is kind of a good example of this.
00:22:36.240 --> 00:22:39.839
Um, you know, without getting into any confidential information.
00:22:40.079 --> 00:22:48.640
Um there's an owner that he's a somewhat tenured owner and um was dealing with a bit of a revenue slide, things were going the wrong direction.
00:22:48.720 --> 00:22:56.160
And um it's kind of right when I started uh working here, and so I kind of just was digging into seeing kind of what the data told me.
00:22:56.559 --> 00:23:05.519
And basically from a high level, it looked to me like he didn't have a client satisfaction problem, he didn't have client turnover that was outside of the norm.
00:23:05.680 --> 00:23:07.039
Um so it was something else.
00:23:07.279 --> 00:23:17.039
So clearly um client acquisition was not outpacing the sort of normal client turnover that happens in any home care business.
00:23:17.279 --> 00:23:22.960
And so that focused me over to the uh sales and marketing side and you know, asking for business.
00:23:23.119 --> 00:23:29.599
And uh as I got to looking further under that hood, I noticed that okay, there were two problems from my perspective.
00:23:29.839 --> 00:23:45.440
One was that um we weren't really using the right at home um best practices and and resources when it came to our marketing efforts, we were kind of creating our own idea for what represented good marketing.
00:23:45.599 --> 00:23:56.960
And then the second problem was that all the data from that those marketing efforts were getting recorded on a separate spreadsheet outside of our our Wells Guy system.
00:23:57.039 --> 00:23:59.279
So I didn't really have any visibility into that myself.
00:23:59.440 --> 00:24:09.200
And then, you know, when you try to get caught up on it on a one-hour call and they have to explain to you how it works and and all the different color coding and things like that, it just wasn't working.
00:24:09.519 --> 00:24:16.319
And as I kind of you know slowly built built trust over time, I kind of said, hey, you know, this this is kind of hard.
00:24:16.400 --> 00:24:21.680
You're you're again recreating that wheel two times in this instance, and it's not really doing you any favors.
00:24:22.000 --> 00:24:26.319
Have you considered kind of getting back to the basics of the way right at home would do this?
00:24:26.559 --> 00:24:29.759
And you know, the first couple of times, I don't know, I don't know.
00:24:29.920 --> 00:24:33.119
And then finally, I think it was on the third or fourth call.
00:24:33.279 --> 00:24:37.440
I said, you know, we keep getting the same results, but we're we're not changing anything.
00:24:37.519 --> 00:24:41.839
Like again, I hear that this works over the course of 30 years.
00:24:42.000 --> 00:24:44.559
It seems like it's worked at a point or two in the past.
00:24:44.640 --> 00:24:46.640
And um, would you consider trying it?
00:24:46.799 --> 00:24:48.960
And so to his credit, he said, you know what, yeah.
00:24:49.039 --> 00:25:01.759
And so he doubled down, he took the right-at-home best practices and and the resources available to him, and he created a very detailed and thorough marketing plan, and he uh implemented that about three months ago.
00:25:02.079 --> 00:25:12.079
And the results were instantaneous, they're not where we want them to be, but that sliding that revenue that was sliding down flattened out almost immediately.
00:25:12.640 --> 00:25:15.359
And so three months later, now we can go back in.
00:25:15.599 --> 00:25:17.440
We just did this, I think, last week.
00:25:17.599 --> 00:25:29.680
We we took a look at what the data was telling us, and what it said was on the same over the same period of time, three months prior, we've increased leads by more than 100%.
00:25:30.400 --> 00:25:31.920
So now we don't have a lead problem.
00:25:32.000 --> 00:25:39.519
We have leads coming in, and now we have data on what happens to those leads afterwards, and we identified that okay, we've got the leads coming in, but now they're not converting.
00:25:39.599 --> 00:25:44.640
But now we know what the problem is and where it is, and we can grab some other right-at-home resources.
00:25:44.720 --> 00:25:59.839
Um and I I hooked them up with uh what we call Write Connect, which is a new and exciting AI role-play tool to really help his people kind of navigate that that point that they're stuck on and maybe increase those conversions just a little bit.
00:25:59.920 --> 00:26:05.759
And that along with some help from some experts, I think, to help us lice and dice it even further.
00:26:05.839 --> 00:26:11.599
I I just I'm excited for where it's going because we stopped the bleeding and we've identified the next step.
00:26:11.759 --> 00:26:17.359
And I think it's it's an example of somebody that really opened up and they became you know willing to be coached.
00:26:17.440 --> 00:26:31.839
Uh, they might have pushed back in the beginning, but they had immediate results and they had measurable results with the with the lead generation just by being open to you know, going back and doing the things that that right at home would do the way that right at home would do them.
00:26:32.240 --> 00:26:34.000
That's a it's a it's a great story.
00:26:34.160 --> 00:26:54.240
It's not a you know, not a great story because we we you know the our our best practice saved the day or anything like that, but just that, you know, um the openness of the owner, you know, you you building that relationship and um you know uh immediately being able to kind of stop the negative trajectories just just huge, right?
00:26:54.319 --> 00:27:03.279
And and then you know, you the way you just systematically build back up, that's um kind of the the the process of building the business.
00:27:03.440 --> 00:27:08.720
And um, you know, not not many businesses just go up forever and ever.
00:27:08.799 --> 00:27:15.279
Um there there's always going to be a plateau or you know, maybe a little loss of momentum we've gotta overcome.
00:27:15.359 --> 00:27:17.519
So I think that's uh that's a great story, John.
00:27:17.680 --> 00:27:18.079
I love it.
00:27:18.319 --> 00:27:19.279
Yeah, thank you.
00:27:20.079 --> 00:27:32.559
So um looking across all the owners that you've coached and and um you know all all the business experience that you have, what's the single most important lesson that you'd want to leave with with the audience?
00:27:32.799 --> 00:27:44.319
Like what's the the one one action or mindset um piece of advice that that you would give to uh any new or anybody considering right at home?
00:27:45.839 --> 00:27:53.440
Well, I'll tell you, um when I sold my business and I kind of looked back, I said, what would I have done differently?
00:27:53.839 --> 00:28:01.839
And what I wish I would have done differently is that when times were good, I wish I would have pressed a little bit harder than I did.
00:28:02.000 --> 00:28:05.680
Uh I wish I would have tightened things up a little bit more than I did.
00:28:05.839 --> 00:28:11.039
You know, um good times, you know, they hide kind of the sins of the business.
00:28:11.119 --> 00:28:23.440
When when revenue's great, you stop paying attention to some of those smaller things that when times aren't so great, they become a bigger deal and they can really risk um setting you back uh on a lot of progress that you've made.
00:28:23.599 --> 00:28:34.160
And so dang it, I wish I would have listened to my coach when she said, let's get into that strategic business plan and let's figure out what the next steps are instead of just you know taking my foot off the gas a little bit.
00:28:34.400 --> 00:28:45.599
But um that's the advice I would I would give to folks is that even though you know things might be looking real pretty, let's let's stay focused and let's look at the the tiny little things on your business that we can make better.
00:28:45.759 --> 00:28:51.039
And that's real progress, and that's something that's sustainable and something that's ultimately sellable one day.
00:28:51.359 --> 00:28:53.519
Yeah, and and and that's the goal, right?
00:28:53.599 --> 00:28:58.720
You you start building building the business with an eye for the day that you you're gonna sell the business.
00:28:58.960 --> 00:29:00.720
Um just one last question.
00:29:00.799 --> 00:29:11.759
You know, what are some of the tools that that um you and franchisees have available that that you uh really lean on when it comes to to coaching and and kind of your approach to coaching?
00:29:12.400 --> 00:29:12.960
Sure, yeah.
00:29:13.039 --> 00:29:35.279
I mentioned the strategic business plan, um, which is a tool that allows us to work together and really look those three years out and say where we want to be, okay, what does that mean a year from now, and then identify the gap between the baseline of where we are and where we want to go and break that down into okay, smaller bites that need to happen over the course of the year.
00:29:35.440 --> 00:29:41.440
And so that allows us to set kind of quarterly goals and then track to that as we move forward.
00:29:41.680 --> 00:29:50.079
Um, other things, you know, we have different dashboards that we look at KPIs through, but um one that we call right focus 2.0.
00:29:50.160 --> 00:29:54.240
Um, it's a really good one for visualizing data if you're a visual person.
00:29:54.319 --> 00:29:56.960
I I have many owners that love that.
00:29:57.119 --> 00:29:58.880
Um, that's kind of how I am.
00:29:58.960 --> 00:30:04.960
I like to see things and a and a nice pretty picture, whether it tells a pretty story or not, it's a different conversation.
00:30:05.039 --> 00:30:06.720
But I that's how I like to see things.
00:30:06.960 --> 00:30:14.160
In the background, we have a nice AI data analyst tool that we can use to prepare for our meetings with our owners.
00:30:14.319 --> 00:30:25.440
And um, I really like that one because it it kind of can quickly tell you where there might be smoke, and then you can look a little further and see if there's any actual fire there or if it's not anything really to worry about.
00:30:25.920 --> 00:30:35.279
Um those are the those are the big ones that I utilize uh to prepare for calls and to work with owners on, you know, just improving the business.
00:30:35.440 --> 00:30:35.680
Yeah.
00:30:35.839 --> 00:30:39.920
That that and the great relationships that you you build with all the owners you work with.
00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:42.720
I think that's uh uh tip of the hat to you, John.
00:30:42.960 --> 00:30:54.079
It's uh it's a blast to be your teammate, and I appreciate you spending some time with us here on Tuesday Talk to uh walk us through a a day in the life or the the life of the life of a business performance coach.
00:30:54.240 --> 00:30:57.200
So uh appreciate all you do and and thanks for the time today.
00:30:57.440 --> 00:30:58.319
Yeah, thanks, Bernie.
00:30:58.559 --> 00:30:59.119
Appreciate it.
00:30:59.279 --> 00:31:00.720
All right, bye.
00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:00.800
All right.
00:00:00.959 --> 00:00:01.760
Good afternoon.
00:00:01.919 --> 00:00:09.439
Welcome to Tuesday Talks, where we have an opportunity to dig a little deeper into various aspects of franchise ownership with Bright at Home.
00:00:09.679 --> 00:00:11.039
My name is Brady Schwab.
00:00:11.119 --> 00:00:13.679
I'm the Chief Growth and Strategic Operations Officer.
00:00:14.240 --> 00:00:24.800
Today we're going to be exploring franchise business performance coaching with my good friend John Crow, one of our very own business performance coaches.
00:00:25.120 --> 00:00:32.560
John, I'll hand the mic over to you for a little bit of an introduction, and then I get to dig into all my questions.
00:00:33.039 --> 00:00:33.280
Sure.
00:00:33.359 --> 00:00:34.479
Hey, thanks, Brady.
00:00:34.640 --> 00:00:36.560
I hope you had a good Labor Day weekend.
00:00:36.799 --> 00:00:38.320
As you said, my name is John Crow.
00:00:38.479 --> 00:00:41.200
I'm a business performance coach here at Right at Home.
00:00:41.280 --> 00:00:44.799
I've been with the company a little over a year and a half now.
00:00:45.039 --> 00:00:55.359
Prior to coming here, I was a franchisee, a multi-unit franchisee in a national brand with four locations here in Nebraska and up in South Dakota.
00:00:55.600 --> 00:01:10.480
And these days you'll find me uh coaching a group of about 45 Right at Home owners, mostly located in the mid-Atlantic, but I do have owners spread from coast to coast, all the way from New York to Washington State, from Nevada to South Carolina.
00:01:11.359 --> 00:01:12.719
Nice tight geography.
00:01:12.879 --> 00:01:13.920
That's uh that's good.
00:01:14.239 --> 00:01:15.599
You you get around.
00:01:15.840 --> 00:01:25.359
Well, John, for somebody that's not familiar with uh kind of the role of business performance coaches, um, tell us a little bit about how you support franchise owners.
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Sure.
00:01:26.640 --> 00:01:34.959
Well, I imagine if I was sitting in this audience, I might be asking myself, all right, I signed the franchise agreement, I go through the onboarding and training.
00:01:35.120 --> 00:01:35.760
What's next?
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Am I on my own?
00:01:36.719 --> 00:01:38.480
Well, the answer to that question is no.
00:01:38.640 --> 00:01:42.719
Um, the answer to that question is that I show up as your business performance coach.
00:01:42.879 --> 00:01:58.079
And what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna work with you one-on-one on an ongoing basis, on a cadence that makes sense for us to really help you take a step back and look at the business as a business, get you away from that day-to-day where you might be wrapped up in the minutia of the business.
00:01:58.239 --> 00:02:04.640
And I'm gonna help you set goals and really help hold you accountable to achieving those goals.
00:02:04.879 --> 00:02:14.479
And so when we review performance, we identify kind of the greatest opportunities, um, the biggest risks, we determine what an owner should focus on next.
00:02:14.560 --> 00:02:22.560
And sometimes that means looking at financial performance, sometimes that means operations metrics, um, sometimes it's staffing, recruiting, all of the above.
00:02:22.800 --> 00:02:29.199
I really um help you identify and prioritize what it is that we need to work on together.
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I also um I'm not an expert, I kind of know a little bit about a lot.
00:02:34.159 --> 00:02:38.240
So I work here in the corporate office with a lot of what we call subject matter experts.
00:02:38.319 --> 00:02:47.840
And so while I might be your first point of contact, if I don't know the answer to something, chances are I know somebody that does know the answer to that question, I'm gonna put you in contact with that particular expert.
00:02:48.240 --> 00:02:48.479
Yeah.
00:02:48.639 --> 00:02:56.800
So you're you're you're uh not not only uh super knowledgeable, but you're a connector with uh all the resources here at the home office.
00:02:57.120 --> 00:02:57.599
Exactly.
00:02:57.759 --> 00:03:01.680
So, you know, kind of a jack of all trades and a master of none, but I have good friends.
00:03:01.919 --> 00:03:02.400
That's right.
00:03:02.560 --> 00:03:02.960
That's right.
00:03:03.199 --> 00:03:04.560
So that's how we get it done.
00:03:04.800 --> 00:03:10.000
What's a common misconception that owners have about a business performance coach?
00:03:10.800 --> 00:03:11.520
Um, you know what?
00:03:11.599 --> 00:03:13.759
I'll tell you what a business coach is not.
00:03:13.840 --> 00:03:17.599
Um, it's not a person that's calling you from corporate to tell you what you did wrong.
00:03:17.759 --> 00:03:22.240
It's not someone that's trying to tell you how to run your business or run your business for you.
00:03:22.400 --> 00:03:28.000
Really, it's an added set of eyes to take a look at things and say, hey, you know, have you thought of this?
00:03:28.159 --> 00:03:29.680
Really ask good questions.
00:03:29.919 --> 00:03:42.960
Um, again, in addition to the connections that I have here in the corporate office, I work with, like I said, 45 different owners that have been there and they've done that um all in various different stages of their business ownership lifecycle.
00:03:43.199 --> 00:03:48.319
And so I can bring at a perspective that that maybe you haven't considered or thought of yet.
00:03:48.479 --> 00:03:59.199
And, you know, you might tell me I'm wrong still at the end of the day, but at least it's something that um maybe you hadn't thought of that you were able to consider when tackling whatever particular issue you're tackling with your business.
00:03:59.520 --> 00:04:03.280
Which which is so so much the value of being part of a franchise network, right?
00:04:03.439 --> 00:04:15.919
You've got um, as I like to say, success leaves a trail, and um, you know, you're you're in situ with with all of those owners as well as all the best practices and uh subject matter experts that you have access to.
00:04:16.079 --> 00:04:28.800
So um I'm I'm curious, um, how how does the coaching support kind of differ when you're working with a new owner versus, you know, we have owners that have been in the business 15, 20, 25 years.
00:04:28.959 --> 00:04:33.120
How how does that change or or how is it similar?
00:04:33.839 --> 00:04:44.319
Yeah, I'd say um the fundamentals of the relationship are the same or similar, but the coaching relationship does evolve over time as the business evolves and the needs of the business evolve.
00:04:44.560 --> 00:04:53.279
Um, you know, somebody that's brand new to the system, we're gonna focus probably more on what I call blocking and tackling the fundamentals, the basics.
00:04:53.519 --> 00:04:57.279
The um are you going out and building referral relationships?
00:04:57.439 --> 00:04:59.279
Are you staying on top of your hiring?
00:04:59.360 --> 00:05:03.839
Are you staying on top of a lot of those first-time decisions that need to get made?
00:05:04.000 --> 00:05:04.560
Things like that.
00:05:04.720 --> 00:05:09.839
And then as that relationship evolves to 10 or 15 years, we're we're talking, you know, more strategic plans.
00:05:09.920 --> 00:05:11.680
We're looking three years down the road.
00:05:11.920 --> 00:05:18.240
We might be looking at secession plans or hey, in four years, I want to sell my business for X amount of money.
00:05:18.319 --> 00:05:19.360
What do I need to do to get there?
00:05:19.519 --> 00:05:21.120
Those types of conversations.
00:05:21.360 --> 00:05:27.040
And it might even be a business that has reached a point of stagnation and they want to reignite and get back to those basics.
00:05:27.199 --> 00:05:36.000
So it's not that I would need to tell them what the basics are again, it's just reminding them, hey, let's get back to that basic blocking and tackling that you were so good at five years ago.
00:05:36.160 --> 00:05:37.199
Those sorts of conversations.
00:05:37.360 --> 00:05:38.800
Does that kind of answer the question for you?
00:05:39.040 --> 00:05:40.079
Yeah, no, that's great.
00:05:40.160 --> 00:05:44.560
And uh, as my uh friend used to say, even Michael Jordan needed a coach, right?
00:05:44.639 --> 00:05:53.199
It's um all those different points in our career and um phases of business and and uh kind of the business cycles.
00:05:53.439 --> 00:06:00.800
Um I'm I'm curious when when you first started working with an owner, you know, how do you uh uh assess where they need support the most?
00:06:01.040 --> 00:06:10.800
Not not you know, you uh an owner is in all things to to all people, and uh as a coach, you want to come in and kind of identify where those those strengths and opportunities are.
00:06:10.879 --> 00:06:12.480
How how do you do that?
00:06:13.519 --> 00:06:17.360
So I'm a big believer and I have two ears and one mouth for a reason.
00:06:17.519 --> 00:06:27.519
So I'm gonna ask questions and I'm gonna do a lot of um intent listening and trying to pick up on things that maybe I've heard from other conversations I've had with other owners along the way.
00:06:27.680 --> 00:06:52.160
Um and you're right, it's it's such um a highly individualized thing, I think, when when you have a coaching relationship with somebody, so it does take a lot of investment up front to get to know them, to find out what motivates them, what matters to them, what are their specific goals, and then you kind of walk it back from there and identify and try to get identify what's in their way and try to help them get it out of the way, if that makes sense.
00:06:52.399 --> 00:06:54.079
Yeah, yeah, it's great.
00:06:54.399 --> 00:07:04.240
Now I I know that um, you know, I know you to be somebody who who manages business by the numbers and and really understands the the metrics in a business.
00:07:04.399 --> 00:07:11.439
Which which KPIs do you focus on first and and why are these the most important metrics in in your mind?
00:07:12.480 --> 00:07:18.240
Well, I'm gonna tell you again that that really depends on the honor and the situation that we're looking at.
00:07:18.399 --> 00:07:22.240
Um, but for the most part, I'm just gonna start with the the basics.
00:07:22.319 --> 00:07:25.199
You know, um look at revenue, is it growing or declining?
00:07:25.279 --> 00:07:27.839
I'm gonna look at hours, are they growing or declining?
00:07:28.000 --> 00:07:30.959
Um, caregivers, are we adding caregivers or losing caregivers?
00:07:31.199 --> 00:07:34.160
And clients, are we adding clients or losing clients?
00:07:34.399 --> 00:07:42.879
From there, you know, if the answer is yes or no, you start to drill down to some more minute KPIs as you go further and further down, trying to answer why.
00:07:42.959 --> 00:07:45.199
So, okay, revenue is declining, why?
00:07:45.519 --> 00:07:49.040
Is it because we're not bringing in clients fast enough?
00:07:49.199 --> 00:07:54.079
Is it because you know we don't have enough caregivers to keep up with demand?
00:07:54.319 --> 00:07:54.800
What is it?
00:07:54.959 --> 00:07:59.759
And the further you drill down and ask those why questions, hopefully you find an answer.
00:08:00.000 --> 00:08:04.079
And then from that point you can make a plan and start working a plan.
00:08:04.560 --> 00:08:04.879
Yeah.
00:08:05.040 --> 00:08:06.240
No, I I I love that.
00:08:06.319 --> 00:08:11.040
There's those those big metrics and not only where they sit today, but what what are the trends?
00:08:11.199 --> 00:08:16.319
And then, you know, what are the drivers under those trends and and continue to peel back the onion?
00:08:16.399 --> 00:08:20.959
And um, you know, this is such a uh dynamic and diverse business.
00:08:21.199 --> 00:08:26.240
Um you know, there's there's so many of those dynamics that are working together.
00:08:26.319 --> 00:08:36.399
It's uh you're you're right, it is really individual and tied to where folks are in their um their business cycle and that um that that growth trajectory of the business.
00:08:36.559 --> 00:08:39.039
Um it's uh that that's the fun part.
00:08:39.200 --> 00:08:52.720
So when you start working with with new owners, um what are the what are the things that that are kind of the most common challenge that that new owners negotiate or navigate during their first 12 months or so?
00:08:53.679 --> 00:09:03.360
So I think a lot of people wrestle with this question, um kind of the chicken or the egg of do I do I go get caregivers first or do I go get clients first?
00:09:03.679 --> 00:09:06.320
And I think the answer is yes and yes.
00:09:06.720 --> 00:09:09.200
Um, but you can't do it without the caregivers.
00:09:09.360 --> 00:09:19.440
So I'd say people um tend to wrap their head around pretty quick the fact that you need to start hiring caregivers early and often, and it needs to continue.
00:09:19.519 --> 00:09:21.279
It's not something you ever get to ignore.
00:09:21.519 --> 00:09:27.440
You always need to make sure you have a talented pool of caregivers in order to bring on those clients and take care of them.
00:09:27.600 --> 00:09:36.480
Um the other things I think important to get um a head wrapped around in the beginning is that this is a very relationship-based business.
00:09:36.799 --> 00:09:47.120
And getting out of an office and making those relationships and fostering those relationships is really the biggest key to early success, I see with the new owners that I support.
00:09:47.200 --> 00:09:56.399
The ones that are out there shaking hands and kissing babies, as I like to say, um, they're the ones that that see the growth early and the sustained growth.
00:09:56.639 --> 00:10:01.039
Um everyone is looking for an easy button in every business too.
00:10:01.120 --> 00:10:14.399
And I think that um, you know, there's a tendency to try to think that if I spend money on you know this online marketing campaign or or whatever individual solution it is, that that's gonna solve all my problems.
00:10:14.559 --> 00:10:15.840
It's really a balance of all that.
00:10:15.919 --> 00:10:23.039
You know, you don't you need to have the investment in things that um generate leads, but you need to also have that presence in your community.
00:10:23.200 --> 00:10:25.039
Every small business is local.
00:10:25.279 --> 00:10:34.480
And so while someone might see an ad for your business online, what really makes them click it is because they know somebody that knows somebody that met you a week or two ago.
00:10:34.639 --> 00:10:42.240
And so it's kind of this um, I don't know, this uh ecosystem that works together and and really drives success.
00:10:42.480 --> 00:10:49.440
Yeah, and and you know, you answered one of my questions, you know, what what can the owner do the first 90 days that will pay dividends later?
00:10:49.600 --> 00:10:59.519
It's it's that you know, being present and visible in the community and start start shaking hands and kissing babies and and telling your story out out in the community.
00:10:59.919 --> 00:11:06.879
Yeah, and and as somebody that used to own a small business, I can tell you that you have a magic superpower attached to that word owner.
00:11:07.039 --> 00:11:13.759
When you go out and you meet people, I don't care what you own, they want to know more about it and how you ended up owning it and what you're doing with it.
00:11:13.840 --> 00:11:18.480
And um, are you a family person or are you involved in this organization, that organization?
00:11:18.559 --> 00:11:24.480
They want to know your story, and that opens up doors that don't open easily for other folks.
00:11:24.720 --> 00:11:26.320
Yeah, no, that's great.
00:11:26.639 --> 00:11:35.120
So um that that's kind of the maybe maybe where the the the focus where you'd you'd push people to focus.
00:11:35.279 --> 00:11:38.879
Where where do you think new owners tend to overcomplicate things?
00:11:40.399 --> 00:11:46.000
Um, I can tell you where they're most tempted to overcomplicate things, and it's it's recreating the wheel.
00:11:46.159 --> 00:11:51.360
Um, you know, I like to remind people that they bought into a franchise system for a reason.
00:11:51.519 --> 00:11:56.320
Um you know, if I wanted to go open up John's home care service, I'm free to do so.
00:11:56.399 --> 00:11:58.879
But I I bought into Right at Home.
00:11:59.120 --> 00:12:08.559
And Right at Home has been doing this for 30 years, and so gosh knows we've made all the mistakes you can possibly make, and then some over those 30 years and learn something from it.
00:12:08.639 --> 00:12:12.080
So don't make the same mistakes that we did that we can teach you about.
00:12:12.399 --> 00:12:22.960
I'm reminded of um when I went through my discovery day with my former franchise or um the individual in charge of franchise development at the time told me a story.
00:12:23.039 --> 00:12:29.360
Uh, and this guy was a former Subway franchisee back when Subway was in their heyday, right?
00:12:29.840 --> 00:12:34.639
And Subway told him, in your lobby, put plastic plants.
00:12:35.120 --> 00:12:36.960
And he said, Why would I do that?
00:12:37.200 --> 00:12:43.679
Plastic plants are cheesy, the real plants look nice, and I can afford to do it, so why not do it?
00:12:43.759 --> 00:12:45.360
So he went ahead and did that.
00:12:45.679 --> 00:13:02.240
Well, pretty soon the plants got bugs, so he had to pay somebody to come in and exterminate the bugs from the plants, and the plants need water, so now he's paying somebody to water the plants, and now it's winter time and the windows are cold, and the plants are giving off humidity and it's making the windows dirty.
00:13:02.320 --> 00:13:09.679
He's got to pay somebody to clean the windows, and it became the snowballing thing with this one tiny little decision that he just decided to go rogue on.
00:13:10.000 --> 00:13:16.879
And all this not to say that becoming a part of a franchise system doesn't mean you can't have ideas.
00:13:17.039 --> 00:13:17.360
You can.
00:13:17.600 --> 00:13:19.600
There's just a process of enacting them.
00:13:19.679 --> 00:13:29.519
Um, but there's a reason that we do just about everything that we do, and it's okay, question things, but at the end of the day, um, you bought into a franchise system for a reason.
00:13:29.840 --> 00:13:32.159
Yeah, that's a that is a great story.
00:13:32.720 --> 00:13:33.759
Fantastic.
00:13:34.320 --> 00:14:03.120
Um so if we can maybe uh think about um uh the you know, the you you've got a broad portfolio of owners that you support, and and when you think about you know the the things that separate those that grow year after year and those that you know struggle to to gain or maintain momentum, what what habits or disciplines do you do you think that the strongest, you know, uh perennial growing business owners kind of build early?
00:14:03.279 --> 00:14:10.240
What what what what what do you what activities and and focus do they have that that maybe uh somebody else doesn't?
00:14:10.960 --> 00:14:40.320
I mean in addition to what we talked about with getting out and and shaking the hands, um I think tracking, well, first off, recording good data, getting good data um into our uh what we call well sky um and being able to take a look at that data with your key stakeholders and um track it on a trailing, you know, if you look at whatever term you picked with the last five weeks, look at that and see what the story tells you.
00:14:40.559 --> 00:14:46.960
Because almost always before a problem becomes a problem, you should be able to identify it in some trailing KPIs.
00:14:47.039 --> 00:14:50.799
Um I'm a big believer in meeting with your key people on a weekly basis.
00:14:50.879 --> 00:15:00.799
Uh, and whether you embrace a system like EOS for running your business or you like to follow an RPI format to your to your meetings, have some sort of structure there.
00:15:01.120 --> 00:15:09.600
Um, involve you know your key people in the decisions, ask for feedback not only from your coach, but from from those that are working with you.
00:15:09.759 --> 00:15:12.000
They're the ones on the ground making it happen.
00:15:12.080 --> 00:15:17.120
Um, so I think a combination of those things is really what leads to long-term success.
00:15:17.279 --> 00:15:20.000
You know, realizing you can't do everything on your own.
00:15:20.159 --> 00:15:23.360
Um, in the beginning, you're gonna wear a lot of hats, a lot of different hats.
00:15:23.519 --> 00:15:26.320
Some hats you're gonna like wearing better than others.
00:15:26.559 --> 00:15:30.720
Um, and some hats you might like wearing, but you're not good at wearing that hat.
00:15:30.799 --> 00:15:41.679
And so being able to recognize where you as an owner are kind of a bottleneck in the process, and that's probably a good um indication that it's time to hire for somebody for that position.
00:15:41.919 --> 00:15:47.919
You know, you might have the hat that you like, but you realize that somebody you already have in the company is way better at it than you.
00:15:48.080 --> 00:15:57.200
You know, I might like go going out and talking to people, but if I'm not closing sales and this person that works for me already is doing that, well, they're they're probably the right person for that role.
00:15:57.360 --> 00:16:03.200
Getting the right people in the right seats is key for uh long-term success, in my opinion.
00:16:03.679 --> 00:16:31.279
So again, it's it's that you know, being really um committed to the data and understanding the KPIs, it's being that leader in the community, it's it's being the leader in the office and and really starting to think about building that team, both from uh you can't can't do everything all the time, and there's there's things that you're gonna do better than anybody else, and making sure that you you delegate those other things off to the to the folks that can support the business and and grow themselves.
00:16:32.080 --> 00:16:33.600
You said it better than I did.
00:16:33.919 --> 00:16:36.799
No, no, no, I'm just repeating it back.
00:16:36.960 --> 00:16:45.360
So so now uh talk a little bit about um kind of kind of the the the coaching owner relationship.
00:16:45.600 --> 00:16:54.399
Um in in your opinion, how how can owners get the most value from from somebody uh in in your role?
00:16:55.679 --> 00:16:56.639
Ask for it.
00:16:56.799 --> 00:17:03.360
Um, you know, I I hear a lot when when I go out and visit some owners that that maybe don't engage with me as often as I would like.
00:17:03.519 --> 00:17:06.960
Um I'm kind of shocked that the answer is, well, we don't want to bother you.
00:17:07.200 --> 00:17:11.680
And I'm like, well, that's my whole job, is for for you to bother me if you say it's not bothering me.
00:17:11.839 --> 00:17:13.680
Um I want to talk to you.
00:17:14.000 --> 00:17:20.240
And I also like to remind them, well, you're paying for me, whether you use me or not, so you might as well use me.
00:17:20.400 --> 00:17:34.079
But um, I think that you know, being willing to be vulnerable and open with what's going on in your business, you know, kind of like I said in the beginning, I'm I'm not there to get you in trouble or um wag a finger at you.
00:17:34.240 --> 00:17:46.720
Like if something's something's going wrong, bring it to my attention early and often because it's going to be a lot easier for us to work together and figure it out before it becomes something that snowballs out of control.
00:17:47.039 --> 00:18:02.160
So I think um that can be hard for some folks, uh, you know, especially if you've built something and that's been successful and maybe there's some cracks in the foundation and there's a pride element involved, and you might not want to admit it to yourself or to anybody else.
00:18:02.480 --> 00:18:10.880
But being willing to identify that and and say, hey, I might need a little bit of help, um, there's no shame in that.
00:18:10.960 --> 00:18:12.480
That's exactly what we're here for.
00:18:12.559 --> 00:18:22.160
Uh, that's what I found to be really great about um right at home as a franchise or how highly focused we are on the success of our franchisees.
00:18:22.559 --> 00:18:26.960
Um it's a real asset, and I just suggest embracing it and utilizing it.
00:18:27.200 --> 00:18:27.839
Yeah.
00:18:28.319 --> 00:18:44.319
What what do you think distinguishes an owner that's more coachable versus somebody that you know kind of struggles to receive the support or um is it'll is maybe less likely to seek it out or or put it into action.
00:18:45.759 --> 00:18:52.960
Okay, so when I was growing up, my my dad always told me that good leaders are willing to be the dumbest person in the room.
00:18:53.279 --> 00:19:07.759
And I'm not saying not to say that the the coach is smarter than you, but you know, when you're surrounding yourself with people that work for you, it's always good to surround yourself with people that challenge you, that might be better in certain aspects of the business.
00:19:08.000 --> 00:19:16.240
But with a coach, again, they're an added set of eyes and they're an added perspective and background that typically is just asking you questions.
00:19:16.400 --> 00:19:18.480
Have you considered this, have you considered that?
00:19:18.720 --> 00:19:22.160
Being open-minded to that stuff instead of no, that'll never work.
00:19:22.240 --> 00:19:23.599
You know, ask questions back.
00:19:23.759 --> 00:19:32.319
If you don't agree, poke holes back at it, and we'll go back and forth until you know you have enough information to make a decision to take a next step.
00:19:32.480 --> 00:19:34.480
Again, we're not there to make the decision for you.
00:19:34.559 --> 00:19:41.119
We're there to give you information and arm you with information to make the best choice, an educated decision for yourself.
00:19:41.279 --> 00:19:50.000
And it does yourself no good if um you know you just shut down and and don't accept any sort of outside perspective on on what whatever it is you're working on.
00:19:50.240 --> 00:19:50.799
Yeah.
00:19:51.039 --> 00:19:56.880
Yeah, it's um it's really that kind of emotional side of business ownership.
00:19:57.039 --> 00:20:01.200
And um, you know, how how do you help with owners?
00:20:01.359 --> 00:20:13.279
You know, ownership comes with stress and uncertainty and you know, that um that need to, you know, kind of uh build your own confidence in in some some instances.
00:20:13.440 --> 00:20:20.640
And there's you know a lot of discouragement that can come with any business or any endeavor that's uh worthwhile.
00:20:20.799 --> 00:20:28.240
How how do you help kind of coach around some of those softer aspects of um franchise ownership?
00:20:29.359 --> 00:20:35.039
So some of my favorite people to work with are ones that are um their own worst critic.
00:20:35.119 --> 00:20:39.599
However, that that comes with a downside is that they don't remember to celebrate wins.
00:20:39.759 --> 00:20:53.599
And I think it's important, um, especially with somebody that has a high standard for themselves, to recognize some of those smaller things that happen over the course of a week that um you might take for granted or might get overshadowed by something bigger you're working on.
00:20:53.680 --> 00:21:02.160
So I think um some folks like that, it you know, they don't often take a lot of motivating in the sense of um you need to hold a high standard for them.
00:21:02.319 --> 00:21:03.759
They have the highest standard in the room.
00:21:03.839 --> 00:21:09.440
It's just reminding them, hey, you know, you got five more applications last week than you did the week before.
00:21:09.519 --> 00:21:12.319
That's that's a win, that's momentum, that's a step forward.
00:21:12.559 --> 00:21:14.000
Celebrate those things.
00:21:14.160 --> 00:21:25.519
Um and then, you know, I'm I also recognize that that part of the coaching role is the fact that you know, when when you own a business, you're at the top.
00:21:25.599 --> 00:21:35.279
And if you've got something you're frustrated about or something that's bothering you, the the rule about being a leader is you never complain down, but you don't really have anybody to complain up to.
00:21:35.359 --> 00:21:41.519
So I'm I'm willing to also be that person that hey, just reach out, call me, and get off your chest, whatever you need to get off your chest.
00:21:41.680 --> 00:21:45.759
If I can help in any way and make it a plan and deal dealing with it, that's what I'm gonna do.
00:21:45.839 --> 00:21:52.640
But you know, call me, don't let it, don't bottle it up, just uh get it out of your system with me and we can work out a plan together.
00:21:53.039 --> 00:21:53.759
That's great.
00:21:53.920 --> 00:21:55.039
That's great.
00:21:55.359 --> 00:22:11.519
Um tell me about uh I'm uh be just Curious if you have a story of a franchisee that you know we you're working with from a coaching perspective that had a major challenge that you were able to overcome together.
00:22:11.680 --> 00:22:13.599
Any anything come to mind?
00:22:13.680 --> 00:22:26.240
And and you know, was there a breakthrough moment and kind of how the owner uh approached their business or maybe their their mindset, reset, um, any anything that that you could talk about specifically?
00:22:27.440 --> 00:22:35.920
Yeah, I I think there's actually one that I'm kind of halfway through um working on a solution with right now that I think is kind of a good example of this.
00:22:36.240 --> 00:22:39.839
Um, you know, without getting into any confidential information.
00:22:40.079 --> 00:22:48.640
Um there's an owner that he's a somewhat tenured owner and um was dealing with a bit of a revenue slide, things were going the wrong direction.
00:22:48.720 --> 00:22:56.160
And um it's kind of right when I started uh working here, and so I kind of just was digging into seeing kind of what the data told me.
00:22:56.559 --> 00:23:05.519
And basically from a high level, it looked to me like he didn't have a client satisfaction problem, he didn't have client turnover that was outside of the norm.
00:23:05.680 --> 00:23:07.039
Um so it was something else.
00:23:07.279 --> 00:23:17.039
So clearly um client acquisition was not outpacing the sort of normal client turnover that happens in any home care business.
00:23:17.279 --> 00:23:22.960
And so that focused me over to the uh sales and marketing side and you know, asking for business.
00:23:23.119 --> 00:23:29.599
And uh as I got to looking further under that hood, I noticed that okay, there were two problems from my perspective.
00:23:29.839 --> 00:23:45.440
One was that um we weren't really using the right at home um best practices and and resources when it came to our marketing efforts, we were kind of creating our own idea for what represented good marketing.
00:23:45.599 --> 00:23:56.960
And then the second problem was that all the data from that those marketing efforts were getting recorded on a separate spreadsheet outside of our our Wells Guy system.
00:23:57.039 --> 00:23:59.279
So I didn't really have any visibility into that myself.
00:23:59.440 --> 00:24:09.200
And then, you know, when you try to get caught up on it on a one-hour call and they have to explain to you how it works and and all the different color coding and things like that, it just wasn't working.
00:24:09.519 --> 00:24:16.319
And as I kind of you know slowly built built trust over time, I kind of said, hey, you know, this this is kind of hard.
00:24:16.400 --> 00:24:21.680
You're you're again recreating that wheel two times in this instance, and it's not really doing you any favors.
00:24:22.000 --> 00:24:26.319
Have you considered kind of getting back to the basics of the way right at home would do this?
00:24:26.559 --> 00:24:29.759
And you know, the first couple of times, I don't know, I don't know.
00:24:29.920 --> 00:24:33.119
And then finally, I think it was on the third or fourth call.
00:24:33.279 --> 00:24:37.440
I said, you know, we keep getting the same results, but we're we're not changing anything.
00:24:37.519 --> 00:24:41.839
Like again, I hear that this works over the course of 30 years.
00:24:42.000 --> 00:24:44.559
It seems like it's worked at a point or two in the past.
00:24:44.640 --> 00:24:46.640
And um, would you consider trying it?
00:24:46.799 --> 00:24:48.960
And so to his credit, he said, you know what, yeah.
00:24:49.039 --> 00:25:01.759
And so he doubled down, he took the right-at-home best practices and and the resources available to him, and he created a very detailed and thorough marketing plan, and he uh implemented that about three months ago.
00:25:02.079 --> 00:25:12.079
And the results were instantaneous, they're not where we want them to be, but that sliding that revenue that was sliding down flattened out almost immediately.
00:25:12.640 --> 00:25:15.359
And so three months later, now we can go back in.
00:25:15.599 --> 00:25:17.440
We just did this, I think, last week.
00:25:17.599 --> 00:25:29.680
We we took a look at what the data was telling us, and what it said was on the same over the same period of time, three months prior, we've increased leads by more than 100%.
00:25:30.400 --> 00:25:31.920
So now we don't have a lead problem.
00:25:32.000 --> 00:25:39.519
We have leads coming in, and now we have data on what happens to those leads afterwards, and we identified that okay, we've got the leads coming in, but now they're not converting.
00:25:39.599 --> 00:25:44.640
But now we know what the problem is and where it is, and we can grab some other right-at-home resources.
00:25:44.720 --> 00:25:59.839
Um and I I hooked them up with uh what we call Write Connect, which is a new and exciting AI role-play tool to really help his people kind of navigate that that point that they're stuck on and maybe increase those conversions just a little bit.
00:25:59.920 --> 00:26:05.759
And that along with some help from some experts, I think, to help us lice and dice it even further.
00:26:05.839 --> 00:26:11.599
I I just I'm excited for where it's going because we stopped the bleeding and we've identified the next step.
00:26:11.759 --> 00:26:17.359
And I think it's it's an example of somebody that really opened up and they became you know willing to be coached.
00:26:17.440 --> 00:26:31.839
Uh, they might have pushed back in the beginning, but they had immediate results and they had measurable results with the with the lead generation just by being open to you know, going back and doing the things that that right at home would do the way that right at home would do them.
00:26:32.240 --> 00:26:34.000
That's a it's a it's a great story.
00:26:34.160 --> 00:26:54.240
It's not a you know, not a great story because we we you know the our our best practice saved the day or anything like that, but just that, you know, um the openness of the owner, you know, you you building that relationship and um you know uh immediately being able to kind of stop the negative trajectories just just huge, right?
00:26:54.319 --> 00:27:03.279
And and then you know, you the way you just systematically build back up, that's um kind of the the the process of building the business.
00:27:03.440 --> 00:27:08.720
And um, you know, not not many businesses just go up forever and ever.
00:27:08.799 --> 00:27:15.279
Um there there's always going to be a plateau or you know, maybe a little loss of momentum we've gotta overcome.
00:27:15.359 --> 00:27:17.519
So I think that's uh that's a great story, John.
00:27:17.680 --> 00:27:18.079
I love it.
00:27:18.319 --> 00:27:19.279
Yeah, thank you.
00:27:20.079 --> 00:27:32.559
So um looking across all the owners that you've coached and and um you know all all the business experience that you have, what's the single most important lesson that you'd want to leave with with the audience?
00:27:32.799 --> 00:27:44.319
Like what's the the one one action or mindset um piece of advice that that you would give to uh any new or anybody considering right at home?
00:27:45.839 --> 00:27:53.440
Well, I'll tell you, um when I sold my business and I kind of looked back, I said, what would I have done differently?
00:27:53.839 --> 00:28:01.839
And what I wish I would have done differently is that when times were good, I wish I would have pressed a little bit harder than I did.
00:28:02.000 --> 00:28:05.680
Uh I wish I would have tightened things up a little bit more than I did.
00:28:05.839 --> 00:28:11.039
You know, um good times, you know, they hide kind of the sins of the business.
00:28:11.119 --> 00:28:23.440
When when revenue's great, you stop paying attention to some of those smaller things that when times aren't so great, they become a bigger deal and they can really risk um setting you back uh on a lot of progress that you've made.
00:28:23.599 --> 00:28:34.160
And so dang it, I wish I would have listened to my coach when she said, let's get into that strategic business plan and let's figure out what the next steps are instead of just you know taking my foot off the gas a little bit.
00:28:34.400 --> 00:28:45.599
But um that's the advice I would I would give to folks is that even though you know things might be looking real pretty, let's let's stay focused and let's look at the the tiny little things on your business that we can make better.
00:28:45.759 --> 00:28:51.039
And that's real progress, and that's something that's sustainable and something that's ultimately sellable one day.
00:28:51.359 --> 00:28:53.519
Yeah, and and and that's the goal, right?
00:28:53.599 --> 00:28:58.720
You you start building building the business with an eye for the day that you you're gonna sell the business.
00:28:58.960 --> 00:29:00.720
Um just one last question.
00:29:00.799 --> 00:29:11.759
You know, what are some of the tools that that um you and franchisees have available that that you uh really lean on when it comes to to coaching and and kind of your approach to coaching?
00:29:12.400 --> 00:29:12.960
Sure, yeah.
00:29:13.039 --> 00:29:35.279
I mentioned the strategic business plan, um, which is a tool that allows us to work together and really look those three years out and say where we want to be, okay, what does that mean a year from now, and then identify the gap between the baseline of where we are and where we want to go and break that down into okay, smaller bites that need to happen over the course of the year.
00:29:35.440 --> 00:29:41.440
And so that allows us to set kind of quarterly goals and then track to that as we move forward.
00:29:41.680 --> 00:29:50.079
Um, other things, you know, we have different dashboards that we look at KPIs through, but um one that we call right focus 2.0.
00:29:50.160 --> 00:29:54.240
Um, it's a really good one for visualizing data if you're a visual person.
00:29:54.319 --> 00:29:56.960
I I have many owners that love that.
00:29:57.119 --> 00:29:58.880
Um, that's kind of how I am.
00:29:58.960 --> 00:30:04.960
I like to see things and a and a nice pretty picture, whether it tells a pretty story or not, it's a different conversation.
00:30:05.039 --> 00:30:06.720
But I that's how I like to see things.
00:30:06.960 --> 00:30:14.160
In the background, we have a nice AI data analyst tool that we can use to prepare for our meetings with our owners.
00:30:14.319 --> 00:30:25.440
And um, I really like that one because it it kind of can quickly tell you where there might be smoke, and then you can look a little further and see if there's any actual fire there or if it's not anything really to worry about.
00:30:25.920 --> 00:30:35.279
Um those are the those are the big ones that I utilize uh to prepare for calls and to work with owners on, you know, just improving the business.
00:30:35.440 --> 00:30:35.680
Yeah.
00:30:35.839 --> 00:30:39.920
That that and the great relationships that you you build with all the owners you work with.
00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:42.720
I think that's uh uh tip of the hat to you, John.
00:30:42.960 --> 00:30:54.079
It's uh it's a blast to be your teammate, and I appreciate you spending some time with us here on Tuesday Talk to uh walk us through a a day in the life or the the life of the life of a business performance coach.
00:30:54.240 --> 00:30:57.200
So uh appreciate all you do and and thanks for the time today.
00:30:57.440 --> 00:30:58.319
Yeah, thanks, Bernie.
00:30:58.559 --> 00:30:59.119
Appreciate it.
00:30:59.279 --> 00:31:00.720
All right, bye.
