Transcript

Roberts Yo. What's shaking a sea? It's so funny that when when you think about it that that is the the line that you have to start with like it. You know, it just it can't go away. It has to just be the way that you start these rants. OK Ohh. I mean, I I got no problem with that. I mean I don't have to start with it. I I like to start with it. I mean it works. It's just gets. Everybody OK, what's happening here right now? And then I noticed when you are at conferences and things, people walk around Yo Bruski, What? Shaken. It's become a brand, right? It's become a first impression, Right. Right. Well, exactly. Or they come up to me and they say, yo, what's Shakin AC? Which tells me that they're listening to Irans. But yeah, so what's what's on your mind today? Well, it's kind of serendipitous that you brought that up because my mind has been around first impressions lately, you know, and how important they are. And somebody was talking to me about, like, putting stuff out on TikTok, Right. Tik Toks extended the amount of time. You can post. It used to be like 30 seconds and they extended to 60, then it was like a minute, then 10 minutes, now it's 15. I think they've allowed 1/2 hour because I didn't like that but like much music that it was this big Canadian MTV used to have a TV show. Now it's solely on TikTok so they can release full episodes on TikTok. Anyways, point was that people doom scroll so much that you have two seconds to grab their attention. And I was like, alright, I get it. And then I started thinking about other ads and how much time you have to grab the attention and then I started thinking about. People And what? What happens when you first meet somebody, whether it's over the phone or in person, you know, you have X amount of time, maybe 30 seconds to make that first impression, right? And that that, I mean, caters a lot to franchising, especially when you're vetting people. You know, ultimately we're all being judgmental. You're vetting somebody on their first impression, you're judging them, right? So I think it's really important to, you know. Take care of and I'll put this in air quotes yourself. Because not only physically yourself, it's also how you present yourself verbally. The things that you say, all that sort of stuff. Because people are judging you. And for anyone out there who thinks people aren't judging you or people who are judging you aren't your type of people, you're wrong. I'm sorry. Hate me for it? You're wrong. OK. OK. Just like put like line in the sand foot down. OK. So yeah, this relates I guess I'd say this relates of course like you said to well I think you said this to perspective franchisee as a as a franchise or and and also when they meet other franchisees they're going to, people are going to be thinking like is this person going to be a good representative of the brand. And then actually you just made me think we should talk a little bit too about how that applies to people that support franchisees field. Books and people in the field. But starting with the the, the prospect, the potential potential franchisees that that you know that you meet, what are some of the things that you're looking for or what have you seen? Well, listen, I mean, everyone has questions that they ask, you know, what would you do in this scenario, all that sort of stuff. But everyone loves to also meet their prospects. And I had a prospect to come in that, you know, had pretty decent answers to questions, but when he came in first 30 seconds was immediately turned off. All right. This this guy came in wearing track pants AT shirt that was, like stained and dirty. He had a gigantic pot belly that was hanging out from below the T-shirt. He had some raggedy jacket. His hair was so greased like it looked like he hadn't showered in a day. We had like 5:00. It was like an 8:00 shadow, you know? The hair was a mess. And I was like, man, you look like trash. If this is how you take care of yourself, how are you going to take care of your investment? Are you gonna take care of our investment in you and our coaches, desire to work with you, all that sort of stuff, Immediately. Right away? No thanks. No thanks. Franchising is about building a brand, and a franchisee is a steward of a brand. You know, I need to have confidence in this. I am judging you as soon as you walk through the door. You failed. Sorry, my friend, you know? OK I was just gonna say, OK, just the views expressed by the of other participants at the Edge of France roundtable are solely expressed by the person that's saying out of words that are just clarify because that's a little bit intense and I'm just, I'm not going to, I'm not going to. Exactly. Agree with or support that level of the way you describe that. Well, I mean you got to understand that your other franchisees are also looking towards you to protect the brand, right, When somebody's doing something that's like against the brand franchise or you know, one of the things you always say is like how would you feel if somebody else was doing this and damaging the brand on your behalf and damaging your investment, right. So the the franchise or plays a big role in that and that kind of goes right into field coaching, right, when you're hiring a field. What, you're expecting them to be professional, to have, you know, valuable input, the frank that they're expecting the franchisee to show up on time and being engaged, You know, because people will make predisposed notions about who you are and if they make the wrong one. And now you have an uphill battle to try to change that. Well, I guess what also in your case or or. I mean not just your case. In your example there it also just it. Depends on the the brand, the situation the culture the the brand standards and and what I'm hearing is that those things weren't fit for for your brand standards and then you would worry that that person would represent the brand that way when when they would be a franchisee. So and yeah so great point about the field coaches as well. I think it's a you know field coaches struggle a lot as it is with credibility with franchisees especially when. Or or mostly when they have not owned a business or that business in particular. I should say the franchisees very commonly will say things like well how do you really know? You, you know you're not doing this right now. You've never run. You may have worked in the flagship location or the one of the company owned locations, but you really do you really know. So I yeah I think it's a it's a reminder that you know people are are and I don't you're again you're you're a little more intense with how you're putting this I wouldn't necessarily go so far as to go people are judging you I don't know if I fully. We we can agree to disagree. That's what it's a rant right. I would say that that people are also just subconsciously assessing. Whether you know they align with you or not and and if somebody that's the same thing they're judging you it's just different wording a little bit less intense and so somebody that maybe doesn't align with like or just Speaking of franchisees and and and field coaches you know I think it's well try building trust part of building trust is is is the empathy is the showing. I I you know I I understand you or I can relate to you and when you're so different. Then that can also be a problem. It's making me think a little bit about when I was supporting franchisees and. You know, my being young, especially if like I could have been like, you know, skirt. I'm gonna dress young and I'm gonna act young and I'm just gonna prove to them that I still can do this job. Or I could kind of try to meet them where they're at and say to the front, like not say to the franchisee, but show up thinking, OK, like I need to be professional here because I I want them to to trust me and I want to show them, you know, that I'm more like them than they think, right. So that first impression. And you're right that, you know, I I would, I would argue that first impression. I know there's all kinds of studies about this, so I'm not arguing any of that, any of the research or anything, but I'm pretty sure that you can overcome a first impression. It's just not easy. So if I write, if I meet somebody and I have a bad first impression, they could win me over. Or vice versa, I could might be able to win them over if I do the right things, but it just takes so much more effort. Yeah, more, more time too. You know, if, if you can nail it right off the bat, then you can get down to business, right? Yeah. And I think when it comes to business and especially in a franchise. First impressions and and the way things are when people walk in the door it I mean it's just such a risk that if you're not on brand and you're not. You know, having a good first impression that the the customer walking in the door is going to think it will. Good examples at restaurants when you see a a dirty bathroom or restroom and you're like, oh, is this like indicative of what the kitchen looks like? Right, right. Yeah, that could be a phrase we can use. Check out the wash from to see what the kitchens like in franchising. There you go. And for the Americans. Check out the restroom. Right. Because they're like, what's a washroom? I'm just kidding. No, they know. I'm totally having fun. OK, well, you wrap it up. I'm ready. Hopefully that was clear enough to everybody. We had a little bit of a different way of saying it, but we meant the same thing, kind of. Right. OK, 321 go. Awesome.