April 3, 2023 • 39 mins
In this episode, Melissa Pang talks with Jeffrey Polino from The Alternative Board.
About Jeffrey Polino: I have a very interesting position and role at The Alternative Board: I am charged with the responsibility for innovation and all that it brings.
Here at TAB, we bring together business owners, presidents, and CEOs of non-competing businesses to overcome challenges, seize new opportunities and optimize their businesses through a combination of peer-advisory boards and business coaching.
TAB Members meet monthly - led by a highly trained facilitator/coach - to share their business expertise and address each other’s challenges confidentially. Members learn from one another's successes and mistakes, empowering them to overcome challenges and grow their businesses.
Have you ever dreamed of operating a professional service, or consulting practice with no overnight travel and consistent predictable monthly income? I can help you explore becoming part of the international TAB community of facilitators/coaches and make a real difference to the businesses in your community.
Franchise Friday, where you can watch or listen as we explore franchising, entrepreneurship, and small business ownership, speaking with the franchise industry thought leaders and subject matter experts that shape the Future Of Franchising. #FranchiseFriday – For more about our podcast, visit our website: https://futureoffranchising.com/ Produced by Franchise Source Brands International and The Entrepreneur’s Source.
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Episode Transcript
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Unknown (00:13):
Hey there I am here, Melissa Pang with the
entrepreneur source and I amhere with Jeffrey Pollino of the
alternative board. Hi, Jeffrey,welcome. Thanks for joining. I
really appreciate theopportunity.
Absolutely. I have to say I'mexcited to have this
conversation. So before we jumpin, start talking about all
(00:34):
things franchising, and thealternative board and
entrepreneur source. Tell us alittle bit about yourself, your
background, how you got intofranchising, and how you came to
be at the alternative form.
Okay, well, starting from thevery beginning, I'm a former
business owner, I own afranchise that was not in tap
(00:56):
space, but certainly in thefranchising industry. Had some
had some challenges, you knowabout the business, things were
going great. And then all of asudden, the the economy turned,
and I had bought a brokeragebusiness, extremely challenging,
to say the least, however, I hadthe support of my partner and
(01:19):
spouse. And what I can say isanyone who's interested in
investing in a business, if youhappen to be in a relationship,
very, very important to makesure that you have those very
candid and frank discussionsabout investing in a business,
what its gonna be like to be abusiness owner, talk a little
bit about the highs and lows.
And fortunately for me, Imarried up, she's much smarter
(01:42):
than me. So when I told her whatI was looking to do, we dotted
all the i's and cross all thet's. However, even with that,
when the challenges happen,because of my education, and
university, my experience inworking in corporate America,
all the training that Ireceived, and the support from
(02:02):
my family, we were able to turnit around. So it doesn't have a
happy ending, we turned itaround after several years of
really having a hard time, youknow, a lot of sleepless nights
staring at the ceiling at threeo'clock in the morning, working
1214 hour days, but when weturned around, we were then
eventually able to sell thebusiness. And I did very well,
(02:22):
thanks to my lovely brides help.
So once that happened, I have tosay that I was kind of ruined. I
couldn't go back into corporateAmerica again, Melissa, because
I had a taste of freedom. Andeven though it was challenging,
and there were moments of tease,should I have stayed with the
job. All that came to an end,and I realize I'm just not cut
(02:47):
out for a corporate job anymore.
Now that was me. So then in2005, I got a phone call from a
recruiter. And this recruiterwas telling me about a company
that was looking for a globalbusiness developer. And I'm
like, well, who's the company?
And they said, the alternativeboard and like the alternative?
What what are these people do?
Well, when the recruiter wasexplaining it to me, Melissa,
(03:09):
being a former business owner,and making the transition, I
quickly got it. So I'm verygrateful that I was able to take
the opportunity for theinterview. So in 2005, I met
with the founder and chairmanand the president CEO. And for
me, one of the most importantthings about investing in a
business is what's the vision ofthe of the company? What's the
(03:32):
vision of management? Where doyou see this business going,
challenges us opportunities,etc. Well, interviewing with the
founder and chairman got itstraight from, you know, the
creator, if you will, and thePresident CEO was adding to it
as to their vision for globalexpansion. So I'm happy to
(03:53):
report that 17 years later, whenI started in 2005, we were in
the US and Canada and thenrapidly expanded to 24 other
countries. So I'd like to thinkof like small role and
developing tap into theinternational brand that it is
working with very, very talentedpeople. And to yes has been
(04:14):
instrumental and sending ustalented candidates who became
talented franchisees. So we'vebuilt upon those years and years
of experience that eachfranchisee brings to the
community. And here we are todayin 24 countries and just ready
to make it 25 Pretty soon andcontinues to have an awesome
(04:38):
relationship with what Te esbecause of the quality of the
candidates that te es sends ourway.
Love that I have I've manyquestions. There's a lot of
different directions we can goin. I do want to just touch on
the point that I findinteresting where you came from
corporate America. You were abusiness owner. Uh, and then you
(05:02):
joined tab as a businessdeveloper, but I'm, you know, as
a job and kind of looking atyour own mindset around, okay, I
didn't even know what thealternative board was, I didn't
want to go back to corporateAmerica, I wasn't planning on
going back to a jobunnecessarily. But after you,
(05:22):
and I'm just drawing a parallelbetween kind of your journey and
the journey of our clients a lotof times is, you know, you don't
know what you don't know. And soyou were able to learn more
about the alternative board,what even is it, and then it
checked off a lot of boxes foryou in terms of mission values,
and their, you know, what thecompany was doing it lined with
(05:46):
you, and you made a veryeducated choice. And I think
that's kind of the journey thatour clients take as well. So
just interesting to hear you saythat, um, and and I'm, you know,
are you able to, then do youthink that that helps you, in
your conversations with, with,you know, TDS clients or
candidates in general who arelooking at becoming a tad
(06:08):
franchisee Ireally do, Melissa, and here are
the reasons for it. Being fromcorporate America, even with the
support of my bride, it's scaryto make that switch. But I
understood that and I was notforced into it, things were
going very well. For me, I justknew that repetition, same old,
(06:31):
same old, I'd rather have asharp stick in the eye. So when
I got to that point where I wasmaking good money, I had
benefits, etc. It was justreally a process of do I want to
continue to do this, or do Ineed to make that very scary,
and difficult decision. But thenI realized I'm not starting from
(06:54):
scratch, I'm starting fromexperience, I had decades of
training from corporate America,business development experience
with them global businessdevelopment experience, and they
weren't paying me a lot ofmoney, because they liked me.
And were paying me a lot ofmoney because I performed a very
valuable service to thecorporation. And quite candidly,
I'm saying myself, and I thinkI'm making them a heck of a lot
(07:17):
more money than I'm making. Andfor me, if I'm going to be
separated from my family, I betearn a lot of money, because
that's the most precious thingto me. So I made the switch. And
when I made the switch, how Iknew it was right, was the, the
fit, if you will, as to what tabdoes, what I enjoyed doing, and
(07:39):
kind of like doing what I am. Sothey first asked me to be a
mentor. So I was actually in thefield, helping our franchisees
acquire clients. One of mytalents, I enjoyed it. And then
what I experienced is that mostcases, when we're working with
(08:03):
candidates, some of thecandidates that you know, T S
will send us the biggestconcern, Melissa is how do I get
these clients I've not reallyexperienced in business
development and more operationsand more finance. And going into
business is scary enough as itis. But then all of a sudden,
you say, Well, wait a minute,how do you get this thing
(08:25):
started? How do you get theseclients, and quite candidly,
it's a process of coaching,which two Es does very well with
their candidates, of talkingthem through the process. And
what these candidates end uprealizing is, I guess I have
been doing that in my job, Ijust never really put that
(08:45):
definition to it. So going uprising up through the ranks, you
got to be pretty good atdeveloping business, you've got
to be pretty good at networkingand having conversations with
people. So when you can showthem the similarities between
what made them successful inlet's say, corporate America,
and help them understand thatthey're not starting from
(09:06):
scratch, but you're going totake all of that experience,
knowledge and wisdom they haveand transfer into tab. When
you're working with theseprivately held business owners,
which are just tremendouspeople, Melissa, they first off,
they may not have that type ofeducation, they certainly don't
have that type of training thatcorporate America paid for. And
they may not have thatexperience that you do. So
(09:27):
they're like sponges, if youwill, when you talk to these
business owners, but here's thekey. The key is you really have
to be a good listener. No onelikes someone that comes in and
just talks all the time. No onelikes anyone to come in and say
(09:48):
how smart they are. They want toknow and this is why I think the
transition for me was sosuccessful, that you've
experienced failure that you'vevariants struggle, and how you
manage that whether you'resuccessful or not. But it's sort
of like they want to know thatyou've kind of experienced or
walked in their shoes a littlebit, rather than reading in a
(10:11):
book somewhere. So those are thetypes of candidates that we
really value from to ESS tothose men and women that are
extraordinary listeners, thatcan empathize with someone in a
tough situation and then respondand kind as to you know, I, that
happened to me or somethingsimilar happened to me, and
(10:31):
here's how I resolved it.
Because that's the only way Ithink you're gonna get these
member clients to trust you,Melissa
100%, and again, so much goodinformation there. And I'll I do
want to talk about yourexperience with TDs and working
with the clients and thecoaches. But one thing I also do
want to kind of underline whatyou said was, these these
(10:54):
individuals who are looking atbusiness ownership, maybe for
the first time, a lot of t e sclients are looking at business
ownership. For the first time,you know, they're coming from
that corporate America job. AndI think a lot of times, people
in general think, okay, I don'thave experience in this specific
industry, I don't haveexperience doing exactly this,
(11:15):
whether it is tab, or whetherit's owning a restaurant, or
running a handyman, paintingcars and feel like they're like,
I don't know this, or I don'tnecessarily want to be doing
that. But to your point, it'slike no, it's the those skills,
the transferable skills thatyou've learned and have so much
experience in you know, a lot ofthese people are 1520 30 years
(11:39):
in a corporate job, they'vepicked up a great deal of skills
and abilities that then actuallytransfer beautifully over to
let's say, tab or somethingelse, even though they never
would have thought, wow, I couldapply this to a b2b coaching and
consulting company. I didn'tknow I could do that. And so
(12:00):
that's what I think that's why Ilove franchising. And that's
also why I love you know, kindof what we get to do. And what
our coaches do is actuallyintroduce people to the idea
that they can use all the skillsthat they've spent years honing,
and you know, building on, theycan take those and use them in
their next kind of, you can callit a career, their next kind of
(12:20):
take on life, we call like goingfrom the 1.0 to the 2.0. And so
that's exactly what you justdescribed. So, you know, again,
could talk about that for forhours, but I want to just kind
of jump over now to yourexperience with the entrepreneur
sores, and working with thecoaches working with clients.
(12:40):
What, um, what are just maybesome main kind of highlights for
you, or things that you havemaybe picked up over the years
that you enjoy working with,let's start with the coaches.
And on that side,on how to say that. When you're,
when you're speaking with acoach, you have to help them
understand the model, beforethey can help you identify a
(13:08):
candidate. So that type ofconversation is once again, a
lots of questions to the coachas to what what's the coach's
background, that they come fromcorporate America? How did they
find the transition? Have abuild that relationship with a
Melissa as to saying, Look, bothof us came from, let's say
(13:30):
corporate America, both of usbusiness owners. Tell me a
little bit about the challengesthat you've experienced in
making that decision? How didyou make that experience? What
were the process steps in yourprocess. And when you find out
from them, especially the newercoaches, as to their process,
you'll find out sometimes Igotta say it, that sometimes
(13:53):
people are running to something,or people are running from
something. Now it doesn't matterhow you get there, as long as
you get there. But you've got tofind out, help the coach and
then the coach can help thecandidate. Understand that
you're running to are runningfrom process may be similar, but
the conversations and thequestions will be different.
(14:14):
Because there'll be that thatkind of concern. So working with
coaches, especially the theexperienced coaches with what to
Yes, I mean, there's there'sthat click going on. So you do
the Vulcan mind melt with theexperience ones and you spend
time with the newer coachesbecause they will be the new
sheriffs in town. Just give thema little time. Give them a
(14:35):
little coaching. Give them alittle understanding that Yeah,
I know what it's like to be inprivately held business. I was
once franchisee challenges andissues because again, Melissa,
if we're going to be candid andhave a conversation and
conversation, it's not easy,what your consultants do.
There's a lot of rejection.
(14:56):
There's a lot of denial, there'sa lot of ghosting and that goes
along with what we do. know whatthe reward is when you find
those candidates that really,really want to help. I see your
coaches light up. I mean, theyare just beaming, that they were
able to help someone make thattransition. So from my
experience with Te s, it's yourexperience coaches, read what
(15:20):
they send you. Here's, here's anidea of people, the RFP that
they spent time on,it's like an open book test.
It's just read it. And all of asudden, you know, when you talk
to the candidates, it's like,Man, this conversation
is going really well. Or don'tread it, and waste all of that
valuable information and blowthe shot. You know, with the the
(15:43):
newer consultants, help themunderstand what you look for, in
the RFP, what's helpful to you,in conversations with their
candidates to help them be moresuccessful. So to me, it's not
very challenging. When you buildthe relationship with the T S
coach, the experience ones, youbetter read their information,
because they take no prisoners,and the ones that are just
(16:05):
learning, help them understandthe information that's helpful
in these RFPs. Follow up withboth of them experienced new,
follow up quickly with them,give them the feedback as to
exactly what happened in theconversation where you have may
have concerns. Because if youdon't have that type of
relationship, it's really goingto be a struggle. Now one other
(16:28):
thing, I know that their missionis basically to present other
brands. Sometimes franchisorshave a hard time with this, I
look at it as there's only twoways to have the tallest
building in town, build yourown, or tear somebody else's
down. I would never receiveanother referral from Te s if I
(16:51):
tore somebody else's down. Usewhat you got, present what you
got, if you've done a good job,and there's a fit, sweet spot
for both you and the candidate,most likely, you'll have a new
franchisees, if not make surethat if they get back to the T S
coach that they say to them, youknow, tat really wasn't for me,
(17:12):
but I'm so grateful that youintroduced that brand to me,
rather than do falling into yourhead, why did you send me to
that guy? So those are a coupleof things, Melissa, that really
top of mind for me,thank you, thank you for sharing
those things. And, again, I goback to and I talk about all the
time, you're probably tired ofhearing me say it, but it's it's
(17:32):
collaboration, but I love thatyou put kind of painted a
picture of what collaborationcan look like and should look
like, on a very simple level.
But really, it's that back andforth. And again, not just you
as the franchisor. You know,doing all the follow up and
(17:52):
getting back to them and allthis stuff. It's also on the
other side, you know, where thecoaches also have this great
rapport, they've gathered a lotof great information that also
as a franchisor, you canleverage and should leverage,
you know, so again, to yourpoint, taking time to read the
information and and understandthe the details that maybe some
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of the more tenured coaches aregoing to send and with the newer
coaches, yes, getting in withthem and talking about, you
know, these are the people thatdo well, these are our
franchisees and starting tobuild the relationship, because
I think sometimes people willsay, on both sides, Coach
franchisor, they'll say, Listen,I don't have time, I'm too busy
working with too many candidatesor I'm, I'm working with so many
(18:41):
clients, I just don't have timefor the relationship between
franchisor and coach. And it'slike, that's actually
overlooking a big piece of it.
Because without thatcollaboration, it doesn't matter
how many clients you're workingwith, it doesn't matter how many
candidates you're working with,it's going to be really hard to
bring everything togetherwithout the collaboration. So
again, I would agree,and you know, you bring up the
(19:03):
topic. It's not how I want tocommunicate, it's how the
consultant or the coach wants tocommunicate. I have a DISC
profile and I'm what is known asa very high D. So I sometimes
can communicate rapidfire shortsentences so when I'm talking to
(19:26):
a coach or consultant was afellow ID we do the Vulcan mind
meld when someone happens to bemore of the SRC more compliant,
more steady, calmer. Theconversation has to be you have
to communicate in theirlanguage, not your preferred
language. So depending on thecoach will also determine the
(19:48):
length of conversation, theamount of information, the
conversation because some ofyour coaches consultants are
probably going to be like me,you don't have to say a lot like
What's the highlight what'swhat's the bullet point leave
with the headline. And then wedon't have to talk about the
rest. But some coaches are alittle bit more detailed, just
like our franchisees, andthey're probably going to
(20:09):
attract those types offranchisees or those types of
candidates. So when someone, oneof one of your coaches sends us
a candidate, and I understandthat coach is more steady,
consistent, you know, lesstalkative, pretty sure that's
going to be a candidate, that'sprobably they're going to refer.
(20:29):
So if I don't understand how tospeak their language, I'm not
going to have success with them.
And there is no correlation withregard to desk, who is
successful and who's not. Soalioli, I only use that in order
to be able to effectivelycommunicate with them. So I
think you brought up a greatpoint, because it's not how I
(20:50):
want to communicate, it's howthe, the consultant or coach
wants to communicate, it's myjob to make them comfortable in
presenting candidates to us,it's my job to communicate with
them. And if by chance, again,this is a very real and genuine
conversation, if the consultantis busy, so busy, they got a lot
(21:13):
of candidates in the pipeline,and they're not sending you
feedback. Please understand,when I say this, too bad,
continue to send them thefeedback, continue to keep them
in the loop, and understand thatthey may have a lot of
candidates right now thatthey're looking to help your job
is to provide them with thatinformation, that feedback. So
(21:36):
when they do talk to thatcandidate, you've got them up to
speed. I think too many timespeople are worried about Well,
they didn't reply to my email,too bad, you know, continue to
send them the information, Itell you that they always read
it, they'll always payattention. But you know, try not
to make it all about you tryingto make it about the candidate
(21:58):
and the coach and theconsultant. That's, that's my
thinking.
I like that. And just ingeneral, too, I feel like that's
great advice in terms of whetheryou're working with a coach or a
coach working with a client or afranchisor working with the
client or me working with thepeople that I work with, it's
you want to meet people wherethey're at, and just in general,
(22:18):
you know, being able to whetherthat's meet them where they're
at in communication style. Soyou mentioned desk, you know,
that's a communicationassessment tool. Or maybe
someone's just having a bad day,or there's some kind of stressor
happening, I hear lots ofstories to where the coach is
like, Melissa, you'll neverbelieve it. But I had my client,
(22:39):
he was really excited about acertain brand, he was getting
ready to go for it. And then andthen all of a sudden, his wife
served some divorce papers. Andnow he's just literally just out
in, he has no idea what just hithim or that's like a very
aggressive example. But that hashappened or all of a sudden,
there's a family emergency orthings come up, like, we're like
(23:00):
you're talking with people, youknow, you're not just talking
with a checklist, or you're notjust talking with a person that
you can just move x, y, zthrough the process, linear,
nothing's going to change, youtreat everyone the same. You
know, and it doesn't work likethat in life in general, but
especially when it comes to, youknow, working with coaches or
(23:20):
working with clients, that's abig part to understand meet
people where they're at in thatmoment on that day, so
I couldn't agree more. So if yougot an opportunity, if my camera
would do that, I would show youthat there's always a mirror,
right over my computer. Why oldschool, but it's like if you're
not, if you're not looking goodsmile and positive. Do not pick
(23:46):
up the phone, reschedule thecall, do whatever you got to do,
but sometimes they have toborrow your passion and your
energy. And when you talk aboutyou know, a bad day or you know,
folks, you know, not respondingthe way you want. There again,
it gets into the coaching as toyou know, it just sounds like or
(24:07):
it feels like that today notmight not be the best day to
have this conversation. AnythingI can help with eight times out
of 10 Well, here's whathappened. My mother just got
rushed to the hospital. My sonis not feeling whatever it
happens to be. So you're rightyou have to really watch for the
(24:29):
indicators and not well the shotnot assume he is someone who
didn't make the call didn't wantto have the call. Life happens a
lot of people have a lot of lifegoing on you're so right unless
the so then you communicate backto the coach not typing it in as
to that didn't show up and theyblew me off. I'm concerned. You
(24:51):
know, Frederick wasn't on thecall. Do you know anything about
Frederick? Is he okay? Becauseusually some Nothing happened.
Now if someone is not reallyready, and it does happen, work
with them as much as you can.
And understand that the coach,their mission is to send as many
(25:14):
people your way as possible. Soif you need to have a
conversation with the coach,because they're sending someone
over, that's perhaps not quitequalified, don't get upset,
don't be disappointed, don't getangry, coach them, help them
understand why it might not be afit. And if you have one of
(25:37):
those conversations that are notgoing well with the candidate,
once again, talk to the coach,tell them I spoke to them and
quite candidly, their theirspouse, their significant others
not on board. So bad newsdoesn't get better with time. So
it usually doesn't end up well.
(25:59):
When it's like that. However,the coach not might not be aware
of it. So surely information,then both of you are talking to
the candidate. And that's thecase, then the coach may
understand. And you mayunderstand that maybe timing is
not right, or it's just notgoing to happen, because they're
just digging in. But you didn'truin the relationship, because
(26:20):
you failed to ask the questionor you fail to be understanding,
you fail to be empathetic as toyou've got a lot of life going
on. And you will rob yourself afuture opportunities. That's,
that's what I think,great, great insights on that as
well. And again, just great, youknow, kind of real life examples
as to what it could look likeand how to handle certain
(26:40):
things. So thank you. And so wehave a little bit of time left.
So I want to move on, we talkeda lot about great discussion
around the coach piece of it,what that looks like, I'd like
to ask you, if you have any,like specific story of a client
that kind of sticks out to you aTTS client and, and kind of
talking through what it waslike, working with the TTS
(27:04):
client? And what drew them totab, like what was exciting for
them about tab? And if you sawany kind of like mindset shift,
similar to your own experienceof corporate America to business
owner, and then looking at tabin the way that you did? Have
you seen that with client, aspecific client that a story
(27:27):
that you'd want to share?
The most, the most recent one,Melissa was candidate that sent
our way that he you know, whenwhen someone feels as though
they're makes you feel as thoughthey're extremely suspicious? By
(27:52):
how they ask questions. It's notnecessarily the question, but it
might be the tone of thequestion. It might be multiple
questions, like, you know, Igotcha. Or there's something
behind this, you know, you'resomething perhaps you're not
telling me. So, when we hadconversations with this
(28:13):
particular candidate at first,and I'm sure that coach probably
experienced the same thing. Butthey were very skeptical,
skeptical, and sometimes alittle cynical, and downright
paranoid, because they reallywanted to make the move. But
they were, I'll say fearful thatthey didn't know what they
(28:34):
didn't know. And they wanted tocome across as you know, I don't
know, analytical, whatever itwas, but it was just like,
firing questions, firingquestions, firing questions. And
the response, and the least interms of how we've been trained,
and the coaches been trained is,answer those questions the best
(28:55):
you can, but try not to answerit in the same tone. Because you
don't, it just escalates. And loand behold, I'm not quite sure
what happened. But after awhile, and of course, after
communicating with the coach asto look, we're not the enemy
here. The choice is always goingto be the candidates, they can
(29:17):
do it or not do it. You know,our job is to provide them
information. Your job is alsoprovide them information, help
them through the process. We'dwelcome them into the community.
However, before they come in,they really have to have a mind
shift as to imagine them doingthat to a potential client,
(29:37):
where it was like, you know,it's not a conversation, it was
an interrogation. So I don'tknow if it was the coach and US
combination. But then all of asudden it was like a switch
thrown. And then we had aconversation with this
candidate, and they were veryrelaxed. Very are very much
(30:01):
contributing to conversation. Weweren't getting that, that quick
fire question. And I think itmay have a lot to do with when
we allowed them when they wereready for validation calls that
seemed to have like calm thesituation down where they were
talking to people that they knewtheir only vested interest,
Melissa's, they needed someoneelse who was just a talented to
(30:23):
help us build the brand. Thatwas the only thing that they
were interested in. Quitecandidly, they weren't looking
at Well, geez, I hope I can helpJeffrey sell a franchise was
nothing like that they want toknow was this person qualified?
Would they represent the brandwith they continue to add value
to the business that theyinvested in. So in that must
also be in the turning point.
But that was a perfect exampleof how we took someone along
(30:44):
with the coach from cynicalskeptical, maybe even downright
paranoid, worked with themthrough the process didn't get
defensive, stuck with him,because we knew there was
something there. And then all ofa sudden, they had such a
paradigm shift in their in theirthinking, they're one of our
best new franchisees. Go figure,Wow, I love this story. Because
(31:10):
it first of all, just kudos toyou and your team, kudos to the
coach on sticking with it.
Because I think a lot of times,you can disqualify someone out
early on because of maybe theirpersonality. I know, sometimes
(31:30):
it's financials, and it's justdifferent things. Or you're just
thinking, you know, why am Iwasting my time with this
person, they don't even, they'renot even showing like the
interest. They're not excitedabout this. They're asking so
many questions. But that youguys really, you know, what, we
see something here, which, youknow, kudos to you guys, again,
for looking beyond just the, youknow, here. And now that day,
(31:53):
that time, how he was how thosepeople were presenting, and
going through that, you kind oflike wore them down so that
they, they really saw the value,and they were like, hang on, and
they there was something thatthey saw about you guys, too, it
must have been because I tellyou this, that
this was one of your experiencecoaches. So they they knew what
(32:16):
they were doing. And their RFPwas one of the keys that kept us
focused in terms of sayingthere's something there. And if
we can allow this person to be alittle bit more open just a
little bit more and help themunderstand that doesn't
relinquish control. They'restill in control of making the
decision, whether it be yes, ourfavorite answer, or no, our
(32:39):
second favorite answer, youknow, everything's gonna be
okay. But in order for them tobe successful here, they, they
cannot have that approach. Whenthey're looking for member
clients, it just, it justdoesn't work. No one, no one
wants to be interrogated. So Ithink the combination of the
RFP, the experience of thecoach, our ability to have those
(33:01):
types of conversations withoutbeing defensive, allow them to
get into validation, where theyknew the franchisees had no
hidden agenda. We ended uptaking them in and again, for a
new franchisee they, they're onan accelerated path of being
very well. So it's one of thoseexamples, I guess, of just have
(33:24):
a little patience sometimes withpeople.
Absolutely, I think that's goodagain, in someone else was in
kind of your role, your positionof bringing in new franchisees
and for coaches who are workingwith clients, there's so many
different personalities, andthen just in general, you know,
if you are in a role or positionwhere you have to work with
(33:44):
other people, just to rememberthat and give people the benefit
of the doubt, we and we say toyou know, 95% of our clients who
end up going into a business,they end up going into one that
they never would have looked at,or they would have prematurely
dismissed without the help of acoach. And you can also say
without the help of that thefranchise brand as well. Because
(34:07):
you know, what, you're justyou're giving education, you're
letting someone make their owninformed their informed choice.
And we also say you have to bedetached from the outcome, which
a lot of times, you know, let'ssay you're attached to, you
know, the outcome that I want isfor that person to, you know,
move forward with the franchise.
That's not the outcome. It's,it's really, can we give this
(34:28):
person education? Can we letthem explore what this
opportunity is, and then theoutcome is really that they make
an informed choice one way oranother. That's what we're
looking for. And more often thannot, it actually does end up
that they move forward with awith a franchise and to your
point become a like, fabulous.
(34:49):
I think I'm gonna make my nextcandidate call because when you
said that from the outcome. I'mlike, I should have said that.
That was great. because that'sthe case in terms of, you know,
rather than selling, our job isto solve and serve. Rather than
closing, our job is to coach. Soeven though we want, let's say,
(35:13):
our favorite answer our secondfavorite answers, okay, too,
because we're detached from theoutcome. It's not like we're
going to do everything we canto, quote, close this person.
You know, like, we've been doingthis for several decades, and I
think we've been having arelationship with T Yes, for
several decades, thatrelationship would have never
flourished. If we were that way.
That it just wouldn't, youwouldn't send us candidates. So
(35:34):
when they talk with us, I hopethat they always feel there's no
pressure. But there'sinformation, this collaboration,
this cooperation, regardless ofwhether it's our favorite
answer, or second favoriteanswer, so you're so right, we
try to emulate the coach, as toit's the candidates decision.
(35:55):
And if the candidate makes thedecision, it's got to be the
right decision for them.
100%. And I think that's why wehave had such a long successful
relationship Jeffrey with theTTS and the alternative board,
because that that does go a longway. And it's funny, because I
(36:16):
think a lot of times people lookat certain outcomes and think
that's the most important thing.
But when you take the approachthat you've described during
this, these past, you know, ourjust our past conversation are,
that is the most importantthing, and the rest will follow
in everything kind of falls intoplace, you know, but it does
(36:38):
take, it does take some time andeffort and commitment on all
party sides. But I think wheneveryone has, especially the
client's best interest at heart,then again, no, it's
easy to it's easy to say, sohard to do, when you're in the
middle of it, when you're in thethick of it just you've invested
hours, yeah calls. So it's, it'sdifficult for the coaches, it's
(37:03):
difficult for us. But you'reright, if we always keep in mind
that it's for the benefit of theclient, the benefit for the
candidate. And for us, Melissa,if they choose another system,
they may become a membersomeday, because they're a
privately held business ownernow. And if I said this at one
(37:25):
of the sessions, one of thebreakout groups, if by chance,
they should decide that te s isthe best fit for you stings a
little bit, but then this thingis taken out, because now they
know all about the alternativeboard. They really, really liked
us, we may have come in second.
But we may be first now with thecandidates that they have in
terms of presenting brands. Sowe're trying to look at it as
(37:48):
from either way, it's a it's awin for us win for the
candidate, and hopefully, a winfor the coach as well.
Absolutely. That's how we liketo do things. So thank you so
much, Jeffrey, for taking sometime with me, I thoroughly
enjoyed this conversation, as Iknew I would. But you brought up
a lot of really great, a lot ofreally great points on a lot of
(38:10):
different topics that I thinkactually can be broadly applied
to a lot of different things andjust relationships in general
relationships with clients,customers, candidates, and co
workers, teammates, partners,all the above. So thank you so
much forThank you. Last thing I have to
say is, every single time I seewhat conference and I'm looking
(38:34):
forward to seeing you this yearand GA, you've always always
demonstrated patience. I knowthat you know the buildings on
fire, you get 1000s of things todo. And yet when I come up and
ask this kind of silly question,you never make me feel silly.
You always stop you always focusand say, well, here's what I
(38:56):
would do. Here's the situation.
And then as soon as that's done,I see you go right back in
action again. So you absolutelypractice the culture and the
values of T S especially whenyou're working with with Azores.
So I just want to say thank youvery much for that because I
never felt like I wasinterrupting or disturbing you.
(39:17):
You were always very focused onwhat I had to say and the
challenges that I had at thattime. So thank you very much for
that.
Well, thank you Jeffrey. It's mypleasure. I love working with
you guys. I love working withyou. So looking forward to
absolutely you years. Thank you
Hey there I am here, Melissa Pang with the
entrepreneur source and I amhere with Jeffrey Pollino of the
alternative board. Hi, Jeffrey,welcome. Thanks for joining. I
really appreciate theopportunity.
Absolutely. I have to say I'mexcited to have this
conversation. So before we jumpin, start talking about all
(00:34):
things franchising, and thealternative board and
entrepreneur source. Tell us alittle bit about yourself, your
background, how you got intofranchising, and how you came to
be at the alternative form.
Okay, well, starting from thevery beginning, I'm a former
business owner, I own afranchise that was not in tap
(00:56):
space, but certainly in thefranchising industry. Had some
had some challenges, you knowabout the business, things were
going great. And then all of asudden, the the economy turned,
and I had bought a brokeragebusiness, extremely challenging,
to say the least, however, I hadthe support of my partner and
(01:19):
spouse. And what I can say isanyone who's interested in
investing in a business, if youhappen to be in a relationship,
very, very important to makesure that you have those very
candid and frank discussionsabout investing in a business,
what its gonna be like to be abusiness owner, talk a little
bit about the highs and lows.
And fortunately for me, Imarried up, she's much smarter
(01:42):
than me. So when I told her whatI was looking to do, we dotted
all the i's and cross all thet's. However, even with that,
when the challenges happen,because of my education, and
university, my experience inworking in corporate America,
all the training that Ireceived, and the support from
(02:02):
my family, we were able to turnit around. So it doesn't have a
happy ending, we turned itaround after several years of
really having a hard time, youknow, a lot of sleepless nights
staring at the ceiling at threeo'clock in the morning, working
1214 hour days, but when weturned around, we were then
eventually able to sell thebusiness. And I did very well,
(02:22):
thanks to my lovely brides help.
So once that happened, I have tosay that I was kind of ruined. I
couldn't go back into corporateAmerica again, Melissa, because
I had a taste of freedom. Andeven though it was challenging,
and there were moments of tease,should I have stayed with the
job. All that came to an end,and I realize I'm just not cut
(02:47):
out for a corporate job anymore.
Now that was me. So then in2005, I got a phone call from a
recruiter. And this recruiterwas telling me about a company
that was looking for a globalbusiness developer. And I'm
like, well, who's the company?
And they said, the alternativeboard and like the alternative?
What what are these people do?
Well, when the recruiter wasexplaining it to me, Melissa,
(03:09):
being a former business owner,and making the transition, I
quickly got it. So I'm verygrateful that I was able to take
the opportunity for theinterview. So in 2005, I met
with the founder and chairmanand the president CEO. And for
me, one of the most importantthings about investing in a
business is what's the vision ofthe of the company? What's the
(03:32):
vision of management? Where doyou see this business going,
challenges us opportunities,etc. Well, interviewing with the
founder and chairman got itstraight from, you know, the
creator, if you will, and thePresident CEO was adding to it
as to their vision for globalexpansion. So I'm happy to
(03:53):
report that 17 years later, whenI started in 2005, we were in
the US and Canada and thenrapidly expanded to 24 other
countries. So I'd like to thinkof like small role and
developing tap into theinternational brand that it is
working with very, very talentedpeople. And to yes has been
(04:14):
instrumental and sending ustalented candidates who became
talented franchisees. So we'vebuilt upon those years and years
of experience that eachfranchisee brings to the
community. And here we are todayin 24 countries and just ready
to make it 25 Pretty soon andcontinues to have an awesome
(04:38):
relationship with what Te esbecause of the quality of the
candidates that te es sends ourway.
Love that I have I've manyquestions. There's a lot of
different directions we can goin. I do want to just touch on
the point that I findinteresting where you came from
corporate America. You were abusiness owner. Uh, and then you
(05:02):
joined tab as a businessdeveloper, but I'm, you know, as
a job and kind of looking atyour own mindset around, okay, I
didn't even know what thealternative board was, I didn't
want to go back to corporateAmerica, I wasn't planning on
going back to a jobunnecessarily. But after you,
(05:22):
and I'm just drawing a parallelbetween kind of your journey and
the journey of our clients a lotof times is, you know, you don't
know what you don't know. And soyou were able to learn more
about the alternative board,what even is it, and then it
checked off a lot of boxes foryou in terms of mission values,
and their, you know, what thecompany was doing it lined with
(05:46):
you, and you made a veryeducated choice. And I think
that's kind of the journey thatour clients take as well. So
just interesting to hear you saythat, um, and and I'm, you know,
are you able to, then do youthink that that helps you, in
your conversations with, with,you know, TDS clients or
candidates in general who arelooking at becoming a tad
(06:08):
franchisee Ireally do, Melissa, and here are
the reasons for it. Being fromcorporate America, even with the
support of my bride, it's scaryto make that switch. But I
understood that and I was notforced into it, things were
going very well. For me, I justknew that repetition, same old,
(06:31):
same old, I'd rather have asharp stick in the eye. So when
I got to that point where I wasmaking good money, I had
benefits, etc. It was justreally a process of do I want to
continue to do this, or do Ineed to make that very scary,
and difficult decision. But thenI realized I'm not starting from
(06:54):
scratch, I'm starting fromexperience, I had decades of
training from corporate America,business development experience
with them global businessdevelopment experience, and they
weren't paying me a lot ofmoney, because they liked me.
And were paying me a lot ofmoney because I performed a very
valuable service to thecorporation. And quite candidly,
I'm saying myself, and I thinkI'm making them a heck of a lot
(07:17):
more money than I'm making. Andfor me, if I'm going to be
separated from my family, I betearn a lot of money, because
that's the most precious thingto me. So I made the switch. And
when I made the switch, how Iknew it was right, was the, the
fit, if you will, as to what tabdoes, what I enjoyed doing, and
(07:39):
kind of like doing what I am. Sothey first asked me to be a
mentor. So I was actually in thefield, helping our franchisees
acquire clients. One of mytalents, I enjoyed it. And then
what I experienced is that mostcases, when we're working with
(08:03):
candidates, some of thecandidates that you know, T S
will send us the biggestconcern, Melissa is how do I get
these clients I've not reallyexperienced in business
development and more operationsand more finance. And going into
business is scary enough as itis. But then all of a sudden,
you say, Well, wait a minute,how do you get this thing
(08:25):
started? How do you get theseclients, and quite candidly,
it's a process of coaching,which two Es does very well with
their candidates, of talkingthem through the process. And
what these candidates end uprealizing is, I guess I have
been doing that in my job, Ijust never really put that
(08:45):
definition to it. So going uprising up through the ranks, you
got to be pretty good atdeveloping business, you've got
to be pretty good at networkingand having conversations with
people. So when you can showthem the similarities between
what made them successful inlet's say, corporate America,
and help them understand thatthey're not starting from
(09:06):
scratch, but you're going totake all of that experience,
knowledge and wisdom they haveand transfer into tab. When
you're working with theseprivately held business owners,
which are just tremendouspeople, Melissa, they first off,
they may not have that type ofeducation, they certainly don't
have that type of training thatcorporate America paid for. And
they may not have thatexperience that you do. So
(09:27):
they're like sponges, if youwill, when you talk to these
business owners, but here's thekey. The key is you really have
to be a good listener. No onelikes someone that comes in and
just talks all the time. No onelikes anyone to come in and say
(09:48):
how smart they are. They want toknow and this is why I think the
transition for me was sosuccessful, that you've
experienced failure that you'vevariants struggle, and how you
manage that whether you'resuccessful or not. But it's sort
of like they want to know thatyou've kind of experienced or
walked in their shoes a littlebit, rather than reading in a
(10:11):
book somewhere. So those are thetypes of candidates that we
really value from to ESS tothose men and women that are
extraordinary listeners, thatcan empathize with someone in a
tough situation and then respondand kind as to you know, I, that
happened to me or somethingsimilar happened to me, and
(10:31):
here's how I resolved it.
Because that's the only way Ithink you're gonna get these
member clients to trust you,Melissa
100%, and again, so much goodinformation there. And I'll I do
want to talk about yourexperience with TDs and working
with the clients and thecoaches. But one thing I also do
want to kind of underline whatyou said was, these these
(10:54):
individuals who are looking atbusiness ownership, maybe for
the first time, a lot of t e sclients are looking at business
ownership. For the first time,you know, they're coming from
that corporate America job. AndI think a lot of times, people
in general think, okay, I don'thave experience in this specific
industry, I don't haveexperience doing exactly this,
(11:15):
whether it is tab, or whetherit's owning a restaurant, or
running a handyman, paintingcars and feel like they're like,
I don't know this, or I don'tnecessarily want to be doing
that. But to your point, it'slike no, it's the those skills,
the transferable skills thatyou've learned and have so much
experience in you know, a lot ofthese people are 1520 30 years
(11:39):
in a corporate job, they'vepicked up a great deal of skills
and abilities that then actuallytransfer beautifully over to
let's say, tab or somethingelse, even though they never
would have thought, wow, I couldapply this to a b2b coaching and
consulting company. I didn'tknow I could do that. And so
(12:00):
that's what I think that's why Ilove franchising. And that's
also why I love you know, kindof what we get to do. And what
our coaches do is actuallyintroduce people to the idea
that they can use all the skillsthat they've spent years honing,
and you know, building on, theycan take those and use them in
their next kind of, you can callit a career, their next kind of
(12:20):
take on life, we call like goingfrom the 1.0 to the 2.0. And so
that's exactly what you justdescribed. So, you know, again,
could talk about that for forhours, but I want to just kind
of jump over now to yourexperience with the entrepreneur
sores, and working with thecoaches working with clients.
(12:40):
What, um, what are just maybesome main kind of highlights for
you, or things that you havemaybe picked up over the years
that you enjoy working with,let's start with the coaches.
And on that side,on how to say that. When you're,
when you're speaking with acoach, you have to help them
understand the model, beforethey can help you identify a
(13:08):
candidate. So that type ofconversation is once again, a
lots of questions to the coachas to what what's the coach's
background, that they come fromcorporate America? How did they
find the transition? Have abuild that relationship with a
Melissa as to saying, Look, bothof us came from, let's say
(13:30):
corporate America, both of usbusiness owners. Tell me a
little bit about the challengesthat you've experienced in
making that decision? How didyou make that experience? What
were the process steps in yourprocess. And when you find out
from them, especially the newercoaches, as to their process,
you'll find out sometimes Igotta say it, that sometimes
(13:53):
people are running to something,or people are running from
something. Now it doesn't matterhow you get there, as long as
you get there. But you've got tofind out, help the coach and
then the coach can help thecandidate. Understand that
you're running to are runningfrom process may be similar, but
the conversations and thequestions will be different.
(14:14):
Because there'll be that thatkind of concern. So working with
coaches, especially the theexperienced coaches with what to
Yes, I mean, there's there'sthat click going on. So you do
the Vulcan mind melt with theexperience ones and you spend
time with the newer coachesbecause they will be the new
sheriffs in town. Just give thema little time. Give them a
(14:35):
little coaching. Give them alittle understanding that Yeah,
I know what it's like to be inprivately held business. I was
once franchisee challenges andissues because again, Melissa,
if we're going to be candid andhave a conversation and
conversation, it's not easy,what your consultants do.
There's a lot of rejection.
(14:56):
There's a lot of denial, there'sa lot of ghosting and that goes
along with what we do. know whatthe reward is when you find
those candidates that really,really want to help. I see your
coaches light up. I mean, theyare just beaming, that they were
able to help someone make thattransition. So from my
experience with Te s, it's yourexperience coaches, read what
(15:20):
they send you. Here's, here's anidea of people, the RFP that
they spent time on,it's like an open book test.
It's just read it. And all of asudden, you know, when you talk
to the candidates, it's like,Man, this conversation
is going really well. Or don'tread it, and waste all of that
valuable information and blowthe shot. You know, with the the
(15:43):
newer consultants, help themunderstand what you look for, in
the RFP, what's helpful to you,in conversations with their
candidates to help them be moresuccessful. So to me, it's not
very challenging. When you buildthe relationship with the T S
coach, the experience ones, youbetter read their information,
because they take no prisoners,and the ones that are just
(16:05):
learning, help them understandthe information that's helpful
in these RFPs. Follow up withboth of them experienced new,
follow up quickly with them,give them the feedback as to
exactly what happened in theconversation where you have may
have concerns. Because if youdon't have that type of
relationship, it's really goingto be a struggle. Now one other
(16:28):
thing, I know that their missionis basically to present other
brands. Sometimes franchisorshave a hard time with this, I
look at it as there's only twoways to have the tallest
building in town, build yourown, or tear somebody else's
down. I would never receiveanother referral from Te s if I
(16:51):
tore somebody else's down. Usewhat you got, present what you
got, if you've done a good job,and there's a fit, sweet spot
for both you and the candidate,most likely, you'll have a new
franchisees, if not make surethat if they get back to the T S
coach that they say to them, youknow, tat really wasn't for me,
(17:12):
but I'm so grateful that youintroduced that brand to me,
rather than do falling into yourhead, why did you send me to
that guy? So those are a coupleof things, Melissa, that really
top of mind for me,thank you, thank you for sharing
those things. And, again, I goback to and I talk about all the
time, you're probably tired ofhearing me say it, but it's it's
(17:32):
collaboration, but I love thatyou put kind of painted a
picture of what collaborationcan look like and should look
like, on a very simple level.
But really, it's that back andforth. And again, not just you
as the franchisor. You know,doing all the follow up and
(17:52):
getting back to them and allthis stuff. It's also on the
other side, you know, where thecoaches also have this great
rapport, they've gathered a lotof great information that also
as a franchisor, you canleverage and should leverage,
you know, so again, to yourpoint, taking time to read the
information and and understandthe the details that maybe some
(18:19):
of the more tenured coaches aregoing to send and with the newer
coaches, yes, getting in withthem and talking about, you
know, these are the people thatdo well, these are our
franchisees and starting tobuild the relationship, because
I think sometimes people willsay, on both sides, Coach
franchisor, they'll say, Listen,I don't have time, I'm too busy
working with too many candidatesor I'm, I'm working with so many
(18:41):
clients, I just don't have timefor the relationship between
franchisor and coach. And it'slike, that's actually
overlooking a big piece of it.
Because without thatcollaboration, it doesn't matter
how many clients you're workingwith, it doesn't matter how many
candidates you're working with,it's going to be really hard to
bring everything togetherwithout the collaboration. So
again, I would agree,and you know, you bring up the
(19:03):
topic. It's not how I want tocommunicate, it's how the
consultant or the coach wants tocommunicate. I have a DISC
profile and I'm what is known asa very high D. So I sometimes
can communicate rapidfire shortsentences so when I'm talking to
(19:26):
a coach or consultant was afellow ID we do the Vulcan mind
meld when someone happens to bemore of the SRC more compliant,
more steady, calmer. Theconversation has to be you have
to communicate in theirlanguage, not your preferred
language. So depending on thecoach will also determine the
(19:48):
length of conversation, theamount of information, the
conversation because some ofyour coaches consultants are
probably going to be like me,you don't have to say a lot like
What's the highlight what'swhat's the bullet point leave
with the headline. And then wedon't have to talk about the
rest. But some coaches are alittle bit more detailed, just
like our franchisees, andthey're probably going to
(20:09):
attract those types offranchisees or those types of
candidates. So when someone, oneof one of your coaches sends us
a candidate, and I understandthat coach is more steady,
consistent, you know, lesstalkative, pretty sure that's
going to be a candidate, that'sprobably they're going to refer.
(20:29):
So if I don't understand how tospeak their language, I'm not
going to have success with them.
And there is no correlation withregard to desk, who is
successful and who's not. Soalioli, I only use that in order
to be able to effectivelycommunicate with them. So I
think you brought up a greatpoint, because it's not how I
(20:50):
want to communicate, it's howthe, the consultant or coach
wants to communicate, it's myjob to make them comfortable in
presenting candidates to us,it's my job to communicate with
them. And if by chance, again,this is a very real and genuine
conversation, if the consultantis busy, so busy, they got a lot
(21:13):
of candidates in the pipeline,and they're not sending you
feedback. Please understand,when I say this, too bad,
continue to send them thefeedback, continue to keep them
in the loop, and understand thatthey may have a lot of
candidates right now thatthey're looking to help your job
is to provide them with thatinformation, that feedback. So
(21:36):
when they do talk to thatcandidate, you've got them up to
speed. I think too many timespeople are worried about Well,
they didn't reply to my email,too bad, you know, continue to
send them the information, Itell you that they always read
it, they'll always payattention. But you know, try not
to make it all about you tryingto make it about the candidate
(21:58):
and the coach and theconsultant. That's, that's my
thinking.
I like that. And just ingeneral, too, I feel like that's
great advice in terms of whetheryou're working with a coach or a
coach working with a client or afranchisor working with the
client or me working with thepeople that I work with, it's
you want to meet people wherethey're at, and just in general,
(22:18):
you know, being able to whetherthat's meet them where they're
at in communication style. Soyou mentioned desk, you know,
that's a communicationassessment tool. Or maybe
someone's just having a bad day,or there's some kind of stressor
happening, I hear lots ofstories to where the coach is
like, Melissa, you'll neverbelieve it. But I had my client,
(22:39):
he was really excited about acertain brand, he was getting
ready to go for it. And then andthen all of a sudden, his wife
served some divorce papers. Andnow he's just literally just out
in, he has no idea what just hithim or that's like a very
aggressive example. But that hashappened or all of a sudden,
there's a family emergency orthings come up, like, we're like
(23:00):
you're talking with people, youknow, you're not just talking
with a checklist, or you're notjust talking with a person that
you can just move x, y, zthrough the process, linear,
nothing's going to change, youtreat everyone the same. You
know, and it doesn't work likethat in life in general, but
especially when it comes to, youknow, working with coaches or
(23:20):
working with clients, that's abig part to understand meet
people where they're at in thatmoment on that day, so
I couldn't agree more. So if yougot an opportunity, if my camera
would do that, I would show youthat there's always a mirror,
right over my computer. Why oldschool, but it's like if you're
not, if you're not looking goodsmile and positive. Do not pick
(23:46):
up the phone, reschedule thecall, do whatever you got to do,
but sometimes they have toborrow your passion and your
energy. And when you talk aboutyou know, a bad day or you know,
folks, you know, not respondingthe way you want. There again,
it gets into the coaching as toyou know, it just sounds like or
(24:07):
it feels like that today notmight not be the best day to
have this conversation. AnythingI can help with eight times out
of 10 Well, here's whathappened. My mother just got
rushed to the hospital. My sonis not feeling whatever it
happens to be. So you're rightyou have to really watch for the
(24:29):
indicators and not well the shotnot assume he is someone who
didn't make the call didn't wantto have the call. Life happens a
lot of people have a lot of lifegoing on you're so right unless
the so then you communicate backto the coach not typing it in as
to that didn't show up and theyblew me off. I'm concerned. You
(24:51):
know, Frederick wasn't on thecall. Do you know anything about
Frederick? Is he okay? Becauseusually some Nothing happened.
Now if someone is not reallyready, and it does happen, work
with them as much as you can.
And understand that the coach,their mission is to send as many
(25:14):
people your way as possible. Soif you need to have a
conversation with the coach,because they're sending someone
over, that's perhaps not quitequalified, don't get upset,
don't be disappointed, don't getangry, coach them, help them
understand why it might not be afit. And if you have one of
(25:37):
those conversations that are notgoing well with the candidate,
once again, talk to the coach,tell them I spoke to them and
quite candidly, their theirspouse, their significant others
not on board. So bad newsdoesn't get better with time. So
it usually doesn't end up well.
(25:59):
When it's like that. However,the coach not might not be aware
of it. So surely information,then both of you are talking to
the candidate. And that's thecase, then the coach may
understand. And you mayunderstand that maybe timing is
not right, or it's just notgoing to happen, because they're
just digging in. But you didn'truin the relationship, because
(26:20):
you failed to ask the questionor you fail to be understanding,
you fail to be empathetic as toyou've got a lot of life going
on. And you will rob yourself afuture opportunities. That's,
that's what I think,great, great insights on that as
well. And again, just great, youknow, kind of real life examples
as to what it could look likeand how to handle certain
(26:40):
things. So thank you. And so wehave a little bit of time left.
So I want to move on, we talkeda lot about great discussion
around the coach piece of it,what that looks like, I'd like
to ask you, if you have any,like specific story of a client
that kind of sticks out to you aTTS client and, and kind of
talking through what it waslike, working with the TTS
(27:04):
client? And what drew them totab, like what was exciting for
them about tab? And if you sawany kind of like mindset shift,
similar to your own experienceof corporate America to business
owner, and then looking at tabin the way that you did? Have
you seen that with client, aspecific client that a story
(27:27):
that you'd want to share?
The most, the most recent one,Melissa was candidate that sent
our way that he you know, whenwhen someone feels as though
they're makes you feel as thoughthey're extremely suspicious? By
(27:52):
how they ask questions. It's notnecessarily the question, but it
might be the tone of thequestion. It might be multiple
questions, like, you know, Igotcha. Or there's something
behind this, you know, you'resomething perhaps you're not
telling me. So, when we hadconversations with this
(28:13):
particular candidate at first,and I'm sure that coach probably
experienced the same thing. Butthey were very skeptical,
skeptical, and sometimes alittle cynical, and downright
paranoid, because they reallywanted to make the move. But
they were, I'll say fearful thatthey didn't know what they
(28:34):
didn't know. And they wanted tocome across as you know, I don't
know, analytical, whatever itwas, but it was just like,
firing questions, firingquestions, firing questions. And
the response, and the least interms of how we've been trained,
and the coaches been trained is,answer those questions the best
(28:55):
you can, but try not to answerit in the same tone. Because you
don't, it just escalates. And loand behold, I'm not quite sure
what happened. But after awhile, and of course, after
communicating with the coach asto look, we're not the enemy
here. The choice is always goingto be the candidates, they can
(29:17):
do it or not do it. You know,our job is to provide them
information. Your job is alsoprovide them information, help
them through the process. We'dwelcome them into the community.
However, before they come in,they really have to have a mind
shift as to imagine them doingthat to a potential client,
(29:37):
where it was like, you know,it's not a conversation, it was
an interrogation. So I don'tknow if it was the coach and US
combination. But then all of asudden it was like a switch
thrown. And then we had aconversation with this
candidate, and they were veryrelaxed. Very are very much
(30:01):
contributing to conversation. Weweren't getting that, that quick
fire question. And I think itmay have a lot to do with when
we allowed them when they wereready for validation calls that
seemed to have like calm thesituation down where they were
talking to people that they knewtheir only vested interest,
Melissa's, they needed someoneelse who was just a talented to
(30:23):
help us build the brand. Thatwas the only thing that they
were interested in. Quitecandidly, they weren't looking
at Well, geez, I hope I can helpJeffrey sell a franchise was
nothing like that they want toknow was this person qualified?
Would they represent the brandwith they continue to add value
to the business that theyinvested in. So in that must
also be in the turning point.
But that was a perfect exampleof how we took someone along
(30:44):
with the coach from cynicalskeptical, maybe even downright
paranoid, worked with themthrough the process didn't get
defensive, stuck with him,because we knew there was
something there. And then all ofa sudden, they had such a
paradigm shift in their in theirthinking, they're one of our
best new franchisees. Go figure,Wow, I love this story. Because
(31:10):
it first of all, just kudos toyou and your team, kudos to the
coach on sticking with it.
Because I think a lot of times,you can disqualify someone out
early on because of maybe theirpersonality. I know, sometimes
(31:30):
it's financials, and it's justdifferent things. Or you're just
thinking, you know, why am Iwasting my time with this
person, they don't even, they'renot even showing like the
interest. They're not excitedabout this. They're asking so
many questions. But that youguys really, you know, what, we
see something here, which, youknow, kudos to you guys, again,
for looking beyond just the, youknow, here. And now that day,
(31:53):
that time, how he was how thosepeople were presenting, and
going through that, you kind oflike wore them down so that
they, they really saw the value,and they were like, hang on, and
they there was something thatthey saw about you guys, too, it
must have been because I tellyou this, that
this was one of your experiencecoaches. So they they knew what
(32:16):
they were doing. And their RFPwas one of the keys that kept us
focused in terms of sayingthere's something there. And if
we can allow this person to be alittle bit more open just a
little bit more and help themunderstand that doesn't
relinquish control. They'restill in control of making the
decision, whether it be yes, ourfavorite answer, or no, our
(32:39):
second favorite answer, youknow, everything's gonna be
okay. But in order for them tobe successful here, they, they
cannot have that approach. Whenthey're looking for member
clients, it just, it justdoesn't work. No one, no one
wants to be interrogated. So Ithink the combination of the
RFP, the experience of thecoach, our ability to have those
(33:01):
types of conversations withoutbeing defensive, allow them to
get into validation, where theyknew the franchisees had no
hidden agenda. We ended uptaking them in and again, for a
new franchisee they, they're onan accelerated path of being
very well. So it's one of thoseexamples, I guess, of just have
(33:24):
a little patience sometimes withpeople.
Absolutely, I think that's goodagain, in someone else was in
kind of your role, your positionof bringing in new franchisees
and for coaches who are workingwith clients, there's so many
different personalities, andthen just in general, you know,
if you are in a role or positionwhere you have to work with
(33:44):
other people, just to rememberthat and give people the benefit
of the doubt, we and we say toyou know, 95% of our clients who
end up going into a business,they end up going into one that
they never would have looked at,or they would have prematurely
dismissed without the help of acoach. And you can also say
without the help of that thefranchise brand as well. Because
(34:07):
you know, what, you're justyou're giving education, you're
letting someone make their owninformed their informed choice.
And we also say you have to bedetached from the outcome, which
a lot of times, you know, let'ssay you're attached to, you
know, the outcome that I want isfor that person to, you know,
move forward with the franchise.
That's not the outcome. It's,it's really, can we give this
(34:28):
person education? Can we letthem explore what this
opportunity is, and then theoutcome is really that they make
an informed choice one way oranother. That's what we're
looking for. And more often thannot, it actually does end up
that they move forward with awith a franchise and to your
point become a like, fabulous.
(34:49):
I think I'm gonna make my nextcandidate call because when you
said that from the outcome. I'mlike, I should have said that.
That was great. because that'sthe case in terms of, you know,
rather than selling, our job isto solve and serve. Rather than
closing, our job is to coach. Soeven though we want, let's say,
(35:13):
our favorite answer our secondfavorite answers, okay, too,
because we're detached from theoutcome. It's not like we're
going to do everything we canto, quote, close this person.
You know, like, we've been doingthis for several decades, and I
think we've been having arelationship with T Yes, for
several decades, thatrelationship would have never
flourished. If we were that way.
That it just wouldn't, youwouldn't send us candidates. So
(35:34):
when they talk with us, I hopethat they always feel there's no
pressure. But there'sinformation, this collaboration,
this cooperation, regardless ofwhether it's our favorite
answer, or second favoriteanswer, so you're so right, we
try to emulate the coach, as toit's the candidates decision.
(35:55):
And if the candidate makes thedecision, it's got to be the
right decision for them.
100%. And I think that's why wehave had such a long successful
relationship Jeffrey with theTTS and the alternative board,
because that that does go a longway. And it's funny, because I
(36:16):
think a lot of times people lookat certain outcomes and think
that's the most important thing.
But when you take the approachthat you've described during
this, these past, you know, ourjust our past conversation are,
that is the most importantthing, and the rest will follow
in everything kind of falls intoplace, you know, but it does
(36:38):
take, it does take some time andeffort and commitment on all
party sides. But I think wheneveryone has, especially the
client's best interest at heart,then again, no, it's
easy to it's easy to say, sohard to do, when you're in the
middle of it, when you're in thethick of it just you've invested
hours, yeah calls. So it's, it'sdifficult for the coaches, it's
(37:03):
difficult for us. But you'reright, if we always keep in mind
that it's for the benefit of theclient, the benefit for the
candidate. And for us, Melissa,if they choose another system,
they may become a membersomeday, because they're a
privately held business ownernow. And if I said this at one
(37:25):
of the sessions, one of thebreakout groups, if by chance,
they should decide that te s isthe best fit for you stings a
little bit, but then this thingis taken out, because now they
know all about the alternativeboard. They really, really liked
us, we may have come in second.
But we may be first now with thecandidates that they have in
terms of presenting brands. Sowe're trying to look at it as
(37:48):
from either way, it's a it's awin for us win for the
candidate, and hopefully, a winfor the coach as well.
Absolutely. That's how we liketo do things. So thank you so
much, Jeffrey, for taking sometime with me, I thoroughly
enjoyed this conversation, as Iknew I would. But you brought up
a lot of really great, a lot ofreally great points on a lot of
(38:10):
different topics that I thinkactually can be broadly applied
to a lot of different things andjust relationships in general
relationships with clients,customers, candidates, and co
workers, teammates, partners,all the above. So thank you so
much forThank you. Last thing I have to
say is, every single time I seewhat conference and I'm looking
(38:34):
forward to seeing you this yearand GA, you've always always
demonstrated patience. I knowthat you know the buildings on
fire, you get 1000s of things todo. And yet when I come up and
ask this kind of silly question,you never make me feel silly.
You always stop you always focusand say, well, here's what I
(38:56):
would do. Here's the situation.
And then as soon as that's done,I see you go right back in
action again. So you absolutelypractice the culture and the
values of T S especially whenyou're working with with Azores.
So I just want to say thank youvery much for that because I
never felt like I wasinterrupting or disturbing you.
(39:17):
You were always very focused onwhat I had to say and the
challenges that I had at thattime. So thank you very much for
that.
Well, thank you Jeffrey. It's mypleasure. I love working with
you guys. I love working withyou. So looking forward to
absolutely you years. Thank you
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