In this episode, we talk with a Franchise Business Coach to hear more about the role and how FBCs support franchisees in their businesses.
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Episode Summary
This episode delves into the role of a franchise business consultant (FBC), featuring guest Maria Heatherington from MassageLuxe. The discussion highlights the FBC’s role as a strategic partner and coach for franchise owners, helping them operate smoothly and profitably while aligning with the brand. Maria shares insights into her journey from managing a tanning salon franchise to becoming a district manager and eventually an FBC. The conversation covers the importance of setting clear goals, maintaining a positive mindset, and the value of early and frequent communication with FBCs to prevent issues. Maria emphasizes the significance of culture and trust in fostering successful franchise operations and offers advice for prospective franchisees on choosing the right franchise and understanding the support they will receive.
*This is not a sponsored episode. We chose to speak to Maria Hetherington of MassageLuxe because so many of the franchisees in her system recognize her as being a top notch coach.
Resources:
- Vision Plan for Franchise Operations (Michelle mentions this)
- Listen: The Importance of Training and Support in a Franchise System
- The Value of a Strong Support System in PuroClean
- Read some franchisee profiles to see how training and support, specifically FBCs, lead to success.
- Listen: Discovery Days
Transcript
Michelle Rowan (00:52)
And welcome back to our podcast from A to Franchisee. Today, we are going deep into the role of a franchise business consultant. If you’ve ever wondered what really happens after you sign the franchise agreement, who supports you, who holds you accountable, and who helps you grow, today’s episode is just for you. One of the most important, yet least understood roles in franchising is the franchise business consultant.
also called a field coach, an FBC, we’ve got lots of names for the role, but they are the coach behind the scenes, the performance partner, the bridge between the brand strategy and your day-to-day reality of being a franchisee. And today we’re going right to somebody in this role. Our guest is Maria Heatherington from Massage Luxe. She is the Franchise Operations Rockstar Award winner.
from Franchise Business Review. She just received that honor this fall. And we give it to the very best leaders in franchise operations and support. She was nominated from her team and her franchisees, and she works directly with the franchise owners within Massage Luxe to drive performance, solve challenges, and help operators build strong, profitable businesses. In this episode, we’re gonna unpack what franchise business consultants actually do.
how they support franchisees, and what separates thriving franchisees from those that struggle, and what you as a prospective franchise buyer should be looking for when evaluating franchise or support. If you’re thinking about buying a franchise or simply want a realistic look at what support really looks like after the ink dries, this is a conversation you won’t wanna miss. So let’s get into it.
Maria, thank you so much for joining us. I was so excited to give you the award in Austin this fall. And I love how excited your team and your franchisees were for you. It was really, really fun.
Maria (02:52)
my
gosh, it was so exciting and just humbling in general.
Michelle Rowan (02:56)
That was great. So I want to start with like, let’s hear your elevator pitch or what you talk about at parties when somebody asks you what, what do you do? What does a franchise business consultant do?
Maria (03:08)
Okay, so a franchise business consultant basically just acts as a strategic partner and coach for franchise owners. So our job is to help each owner.
operate smoothly, ⁓ profitably, and really stay aligned with the brand. you can kind of, ⁓ we take them through here at Massage Luxe, we take them through their opening process all the way through the life of their spa. You can kind of think of an FBC as like a bridge between the franchisor and the franchisee, supporting, guiding, troubleshooting, and then just helping them be profitable.
Michelle Rowan (03:43)
Yeah, and so I will say from my 20 years in franchising, what I always say is this is literally the hardest role in franchising. You are in between the corporate team who has very set goals and requirements and things that they’re asking you to do and the franchisee who you’re helping and supporting them in their business. And those two things don’t always have the same goals. So you’re really like ⁓ a therapist. You are a what’s in it for me.
Maria (04:10)
Okay.
Michelle Rowan (04:13)
on both sides of your role with dealing with your corporate team and franchisees. So bless you for the work that you do. How did you get into this role and into franchising?
Maria (04:21)
Thank you.
Okay, so ⁓ through high school and college, I actually worked for a tanning salon franchise.
That was great because it taught me a lot about sales, customer service, and then eventually I was able to manage my own team, create my own culture. From there I moved into a manager at Massage Luxe. So I managed there for about two years and then I was promoted into a district manager role, Five Spas. I think that’s what really prepared me for this role because, you know, as a manager I knew the operations, I knew how to manage my team, I had created
in my culture, we were hitting goals, we were doing great, but the district manager role was more managing managers and teaching them how to teach their employees. So I think that it’s basically the same thing I’m doing now except I’m teaching owners instead of managers.
Michelle Rowan (05:20)
Yeah,
so I wanna say, so were the Massage Luxe locations you were operating corporate or were they franchised?
Maria (05:29)
⁓ At that time they were corporate and now we have no corporate locations. So when we got rid of those corporate locations was when I actually moved into this FBC role. So at the time they were corporate.
Michelle Rowan (05:34)
Okay.
Okay, excellent. So you got to see how the business was run. You were actually in it. That’s awesome.
Maria (05:44)
Yeah, it really taught me how to see the big picture.
Michelle Rowan (05:47)
So I want to ask you, walk us through what your support of each franchisee looks like. What does a week look like for you? What are you most commonly working on with franchisees?
Maria (06:00)
⁓ so there’s not really a…
Typical week in this role because we’re constantly shifting depending on you know, what’s going on out in the field? But most weeks you’ll find me on virtual calls with owners ⁓ New owners, especially because they obviously need a little bit more extra support hand-holding while they’re trying to navigate through the opening process and really understanding the business but I’m constantly checking for Checking performance especially for our business for membership
And you know, if you see something, a weird trend, then I’m…
trying to jump, hey, it’s me, your friendly neighborhood franchise business consultant. What’s going on in your spa? How can I help you? How can I support you? I send a ton of motivational emails just celebrating wins because a lot of times owners aren’t looking at everything in their spa. So the things that we can point out for them, point out opportunities for improvement and keeping everyone focused.
Some days I’m a coach, some days I’m a cheerleader, some days I’m both at one time. And then we also spend a lot of time when we are not out in the field and traveling to the spas, at the office with our team strategizing and just talking and how can we support these owners to grow.
Michelle Rowan (07:24)
Yeah, this is great. what’s awesome about this role is that you’re working, how many people do you support? What’s your ratio of franchisees to you as a coach?
Maria (07:34)
I have 26 spas right now, but that is between, I believe, 13 owners. So some of them have multiple locations.
Michelle Rowan (07:44)
Yeah.
So what I was going to say is this role looks different in every system. asking those questions about ratio can help you just understand how much attention you will can hope to receive from a coach. But what I love what you said is you can, you can see trends, things that might be a little bit off. because you work with multiple businesses within the same brand and the franchisee is really in their business, the power of franchising is that you can
Maria (07:48)
Yes.
Michelle Rowan (08:13)
maybe catch things as there’s a little slip and identify it because you’re seeing it in other franchise locations. So it doesn’t become this big issue that they’re trying to recover from, or you’re kind of giving them that warning, you know, that warning Will Robinson before it’s actually hitting them in the pocket or they’re losing people. So I really love that you said that. So the ratio thing I think is different per brand. So it’s just a good question to ask. It doesn’t mean that there’s anything wrong, but I think it helps.
a franchisee understand what can I expect from this person? The other thing I’m gonna ask you is, cause I know this is different, is sometimes this role is completely virtual and sometimes you go into the market to visit people in their business. How do you do it at Massage Luxe?
Maria (08:57)
It’s a mixture of both. So we are working virtually with people the majority of the time, whether it be virtual or just calls, you know, when they need you, they’re picking up the phone. we’re there, we’re present for their training, their first initial two weeks of training as an owner when they first buy in. ⁓ We are present for their opening and then we try to get to the spas, every spa, at least once or twice a year, sometimes more
Michelle Rowan (08:58)
Okay.
Maria (09:25)
depending on the support that that owner actually needs.
Michelle Rowan (09:28)
Perfect.
so I’m gonna ask you, what do you think is the biggest mistake a franchisee that is struggling makes before they ask you or someone from your team for help? How can we help these people thinking about franchising understand, raise your hand early and often, and not sit with it?
Maria (09:47)
That’s the biggest mistake is waiting too long. a lot of times people are, I think that owners think that asking for help sometimes is a sign of defeat and it’s totally not. ⁓ You want to make sure that’s what we’re here for. Your franchise business consultant is not here to judge you. We’re here to strategize with you. So if you start to see something happening within your spa, whether that be,
⁓ numbers slipping or you’re losing employees, you’re having turnover, don’t wait too long to reach out to us because odds are somebody else has dealt with the same problem and we are going to talk it through with you. So we’re going to get on the phone or a call or come to your spa and we’re going to work on these things and a lot of times that just means coaching it
Recoaching and building your culture or what’s going on with your sales. Do we need some sales training and things like that? So do not wait till your spa is on fire to call, wait till the smoke alarm starts going.
Michelle Rowan (10:45)
Yeah, I love
it. Do you have a specific story of a turnaround where a franchisee was struggling and you were able to work together and kind of get it back on track? Anything that you can share that might relate to some of these business owners?
Maria (10:59)
There’s quite a few actually, but one that I would, that really stands out to me and really just because he’s so successful now, actually one of, think you guys named him as a franchisee rock star last year, maybe Ruben, but Ruben came in opening his first spa in 2022 and he, he had already owned a successful business. He, so he came in thinking, you know, I can do this. This is a spa. went through the training. He did a great job, but he started with some struggles,
because he was really depending on his manager to do a lot of that opening checklist that we go through. So I was getting on the phone with him and we’re checking things off the list. His manager’s handling hiring, he’s handling training. But then our team showed up opening week and the reality looked a lot different. So instead of the eight to 10 therapists that we thought we hired, he had about three. The spa wasn’t fully put together. Things just weren’t where they needed to be.
We didn’t panic, obviously, but it was a big teaching moment for us and ⁓ a big learning moment for Ruben because we coached him on the importance of inspecting what you expect. So even though you trust your team, you still have to stay involved at the top. And once he stepped into that role and got on…
with hiring and found a manager who shared his same vision and he communicated with well, well with everything shifted. And it took a little longer than he wanted to gain traction, but he put in the work, learned the spa, leaned on me and our ops team, our marketing team here. And he didn’t try and reinvent the wheel. And because of that, he figured it out fast. And today he owns five spas. So, and keep in mind, 2022 is when he opened his first one. So his revenue,
Michelle Rowan (12:39)
I love that. Yeah.
Maria (12:44)
is growing, his teams are amazing, his reviews are five-star all across the board, so it’s just a really great transformation.
Michelle Rowan (12:49)
That’s awesome. Yeah, yeah. And it reinforces
what we’ve heard through a lot of our podcast episodes talking to people is that you need to be involved, especially in the beginning, but this ⁓ absentee ownership, it works in some models, but certainly not in the beginning. And you have to have a handle on what’s happening when you’re not there. So that’s fantastic. Okay. So you’ve worked with a lot of franchisees, top performing, struggling. What do you think the top performing franchisees are doing differently or what’s
Maria (13:05)
Right.
Michelle Rowan (13:19)
what’s setting them apart from the average franchisee running their day-to-day.
Maria (13:24)
⁓ Honestly, I would have to say goals. High achievers always set clear goals for themselves, for their teams, and they stay on top of them every single day. So they know what they’re aiming for, they know where they stand, and they adjust quickly when they’re not hitting those goals.
On the flip side, when I ask an owner, what’s your goal? And they either don’t have one or they don’t, they can’t tell me how close they are to hitting it. I literally have to stop myself from screaming internally because if no one knows what they’re working towards, the results are always going to be average or worse and they’re going to struggle. So top performers treat goals like GPS, like they’re always checking them. They’re always following them and they use them to lead their team. So that clarity definitely sets them apart.
Michelle Rowan (14:07)
Yeah.
I love that. On our website, so we usually talk about resources we have for franchisees or candidates, but we have a vision planning workbook that we have out there. It’s for operations teams, but it would be great for candidates to check that out as well because what it does is it gets them to really identify their professional and their personal goals, short term and long term, but it’s something they can share with their coaches.
Maria (14:20)
I
Michelle Rowan (14:35)
Not only do you have your goals defined, but you’re showing your coach what those are. So you’re both aligned on why am I in this business and where do I want to take it at the end? So I love that you nailed the goals part is a great, ⁓ what sets people apart, a great operator versus a struggling one. So that was great. Okay. So I want you to think about now you’re going to be coaching candidates. So I know that that’s usually handled by your development team, but what do you think that prospective franchisee should know before they…
Maria (14:53)
Here we go.
Michelle Rowan (15:03)
decide to buy into a franchise brands. What should they be asking about this specific role during their exploring process?
Maria (15:14)
⁓ I think when you’re buying a franchisees ask about the real FBC support support you’re gonna get so how available is the team? ⁓ What’s their week to week or day to day support look like? How hands-on are they during opening how hands-on are they during growth and ask them? What’s expected of you as well because I know like in our discovery days We spend a lot of time talking about that and the support that they’re gonna get but
I always tell my franchisees, like, I’m here for you for as much as you need me.
And so use me, but I’m going to give you what you need from me. So if you’re not reaching out to me, you know, besides our scheduled calls, or if you’re not showing up for calls and things like that, that makes a big difference. So you want to make sure that you know what kind of support you’re going to get and you know, kind of what’s expected of you on that side as well. Look for, pay close attention to that ops team. Are they tenured? You know, is there a strong culture? You’re going to spend a lot of time talking to your FBC.
So if you’re not feeling the love and that connection from the beginning, it might be kind of hard. So you definitely want to look for somebody that you connect with. And you can usually find that, I feel like, from the first moment that you meet the different teams, you can see how their culture is.
Michelle Rowan (16:33)
Yeah,
I agree with that. Do you get to meet any candidates before they come on board or are you really meeting them after the deal is done?
Maria (16:41)
Our discovery days, the candidates are going to meet with every department. So they do get to meet our ops team and depending on where the area is, we usually will send that FBC into that discovery day so they can really. ⁓
talk and get to know that candidate and find out why they’re here. So I think it’s really important that the FBCs are involved in those conversations because the franchise sales team is amazing and they get you to where you are, but they’re not the people that you’re gonna continue to talk to on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis.
Michelle Rowan (16:57)
I love that.
love that.
Okay,
I like that. in one of your earlier comments, you mentioned you put more work into a new franchisee when they’re onboarding. What expectations should new franchisees have of what that support looks like in the first 90 to 180 days?
Maria (17:29)
You know, on our side, we take them through an opening checklist. So we have everything laid out exactly how, where they should be on certain weeks depending on their construction timeline. ⁓ So…
With our business, should, we usually do, once the construction process starts, we will usually take them through calls weekly or every other week until we start getting a little bit closer. Those owners come here for 10 days of training. So you want to make sure that the owners are receiving that training before they step into their spa to open. They need to know that business so that they can train their teams so that when you get to the opening, it’s not just a big cluster of
Michelle Rowan (18:14)
Yeah, yeah.
Maria (18:15)
people
like, what do I do, where do I go? That owner should know exactly what to expect on that opening. They should know exactly what to expect ⁓ for hiring. And so we like to walk them through all of that.
Michelle Rowan (18:28)
So in your experience, the work you’ve done with business owners, how much does mindset affect performance compared to the systems and tools you’re giving them to run their business?
Maria (18:40)
Obviously those go hand in hand, but you can follow the systems and the tools perfectly every single day. But if the franchisee doesn’t have the right mindset, if they’re not engaged and present and willing to lead, they’re never going to reach their full potential. So a great system can guide you, but your mindset is what brings them to life. So when they’re both aligned, that’s when the performance really takes off.
Michelle Rowan (19:03)
love that. Good answer. Yeah, because I think they’re like you said, the example you gave the owner that was struggling or disconnected from the business, there’s going to be hard days as a business owner. So the systems and tools and processes aren’t going to get you through that. You I mean, they will get you to fixing the underlying issues. But you have to work yourself through to that more positive experience either if it’s you know, dealing with employees or customers, that kind of thing. There’s hard moment so
Maria (19:21)
then.
Michelle Rowan (19:32)
Mindset can get you through that, I think. ⁓ Okay, so a common thing that I hear from franchisees is, my coach comes in and it’s a compliance check. They’re walking around and it’s like, this is wrong, that’s wrong versus coaching. So going back to that idea of culture, how do great franchisors or great leaders at the corporate level, how do they empower you to actually create impact in the franchisees business?
Maria (19:34)
Absolutely. ⁓
⁓ I think that it really comes down to trust. Great franchisors trust their FBCs to build relationships in their own authentic ways, even though we’re all teaching the same core principles. They give us the freedom to coach in the style that works best for us and our franchisee, and they support us when we hit roadblocks or need guidance. when the franchisor trusts its consultants and gives them room to lead, then that’s where I think that we can create a real impact.
Michelle Rowan (20:27)
Do they spend any time with you as far as professional development? Are you doing things with your fellow FBCs to continue learning and growing?
Maria (20:37)
Yeah, we’re constantly doing, you know, well, just in our meetings and our things like that. Well, we have, I don’t know if you know it, Kristen, I know you know her, our CEO. She’s just amazing and always teaching. every conversation you have with her is authentic and you learn a lesson, but she has just so much experience that she’s passed on to all of us as operators. And really she just gives us the confidence that we need to know, like,
hey, trust your gut, do what you think, but if you aren’t sure, come to us. They send us to the set, like I got to go to that FBC Summit this year and it was so amazing just being in a room with all of those people that are dealing and doing the same things that we do every single day. So getting to go to conferences and things like that are really helpful in developing and just networking and talking to other people in general, I think make the biggest difference.
Michelle Rowan (21:22)
Yes.
Awesome. Okay, so a franchisee, somebody’s listening, they decide to become a franchisee. What behaviors when they’re dealing with their FBC make the relationship stronger, your job easier, or what can they do, what behaviors make it harder so that they can do a little self-reflection or show up and be the best franchisee they can be?
Maria (21:57)
Okay, that’s a good one. Franchisees come with all kinds of personalities. ⁓ But leaders, I think, that make the job easier are the ones that listen and ask questions and are open to trying things, even if it’s not what they initially thought. That openness creates a partnership and it’s where the best results happen.
⁓ on the flip side. What makes the job harder is those people that believe they always know what’s best and constantly try to reinvent the wheel. It’s like people buy into a franchise so they don’t have to figure out everything on their own. And don’t get me wrong, we love hearing new ideas and we’ll absolutely evolve when something makes sense, but it works best when owners are willing to try the proven methods first before trying to rewrite the playbook.
Michelle Rowan (22:40)
Absolutely. So I think it’s a common thing we hear is new franchisees come in and they’re like, I’m not going to follow this playbook. I’m going to do my own thing because my market’s different or my team is different. And my first thing I always say is you bought into a franchise. The definition of a franchise is this is a repeatable model no matter where you’re located. So why are you buying into this playbook and going rogue? So that was awesome. You brought that up. The other thing I’m going to say
Maria (22:51)
Yeah.
Michelle Rowan (23:09)
not you because you’ve been there a while, but the thing that I hear from other FBCs that make it tough is franchisees are sometimes hard on the person that’s in this role. You don’t know my business. You haven’t run my business. So there’s like this credibility or this, ⁓ don’t, you can’t possibly know, you haven’t been in my shoes so you can’t understand it. So I would also, ⁓
caution or encourage franchisees to have an open mind. This person has been trained, they have experience and pass rules that have been brought into this role. So I would just say don’t automatically be resistant to this person being in your books and looking at your business because they really are trying to help you grow. They’re not there to criticize you. So I think that’s kind of what I would offer to that as well. All right, are you ready to be our guinea pig? We have a new thing that we’re gonna try with you.
Maria (23:59)
Okay,
Michelle Rowan (24:00)
This hopefully
Maria (24:00)
let’s do it.
Michelle Rowan (24:00)
won’t be hard, it’s called a rapid fire insight round. So we’re gonna ask you questions. I hope these aren’t hard, ⁓ yeah, yeah, unfortunately no money involved today. Okay. What’s one habit every successful franchisee develops early or should develop early?
Maria (24:08)
It’s like the fast money round. Yeah, okay.
⁓ Back to goals. Always make sure that you give your team a goal and make sure you constantly follow up.
Michelle Rowan (24:22)
habit. Okay.
Okay, one metric every franchise owner should track weekly.
Maria (24:34)
⁓ For us it’s membership growth, but if I were talking about all businesses, would say track revenue trends. Are you up or down from where you were last month, last year, last week, and figure out how to move forward.
Michelle Rowan (24:46)
Awesome. Well, and on the membership side, so that would essentially be new customers. whatever business they’re in. Okay. Most common performance issue you see in businesses right now.
Maria (24:58)
⁓ inconsistent execution. So people know the systems but they’re not applied the same way every day and that’s where the performance starts to slip.
Michelle Rowan (25:07)
Okay, most underrated lever KPI thing that people are thinking about for franchisee success.
Maria (25:16)
Culture. ⁓ When a team feels valued and motivated, everything improves. So focus on that culture. Make people want to work for you. Make sure they know your vision, and you’ll be OK.
Michelle Rowan (25:17)
I love that. Great answer.
Awesome, I give you 10 out of 10 on our first rapid fire round. You did great. Okay, ⁓ so we’re gonna get to closing. I wanna have you think about what’s one piece of advice that you would give prospective franchisees to think about before they invest.
Maria (25:48)
Choose a franchise where you genuinely connect with the culture and make sure that that franchisor is just as invested in your success as you are. And then be ready to work hard, especially in the beginning. Work hard on building that team, building that culture, and setting clear goals so everyone in your business knows exactly what they’re working for all the time. It makes everything easier in the long run.
Michelle Rowan (26:18)
Awesome. So that’s a translation of not just having your goals, but sharing them with your team, I think is great. Awesome. I just want to share some of our data. we ask on our survey that go out to existing franchisees, we ask them to rate their field support. And it is consistently a very high rated section of the questions that we ask. So this role is so important and valued by franchisees. What I wanted to share is the highest
Maria (26:22)
Right. Yep.
Michelle Rowan (26:46)
rated question in that section is 81 % of franchisees strongly agree or agree that their FBC is accessible and responsive, which this is, mean, you are their, usually their first call for things when things are going wrong. So that’s amazing. ⁓ Other data in that section is 77 % agree or strongly agree that the FBC cares about their success. So that goes back to what you said, joining a brand that is really committed to your success as much as you are. 75 %?
strongly agree or agree that their FBC is helpful and knowledgeable, and 72 % strongly agree or agree that their FBC understands their business and personal goals. So we’ve really talked about that a lot today, and that is the lowest scored area in this section, still high, but I think it’s the biggest opportunity for franchisees and FBCs to collaborate. So Maria, I don’t know if you have any final thoughts. I’m so glad you came on to talk to us about this role because it is very, very important to the success of franchisees.
Maria (27:46)
⁓
I want just thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to come and talk about what we do because it’s I I absolutely love it. It’s amazing to get to build relationships with these people that are in franchisees. They’re doing these for a lot of different reasons, but most of the time it’s to, you know, better their lives and their families. So when you’re able to help somebody do that, it’s like they know they’re they feel completely supported. They not only notice they are willing to shout it to the roof.
and thank you and that just feels amazing. You feel valued in this position when your people really work together with you and it makes an impact and that franchise operations rockstar award just says a lot about that and so I really appreciate the opportunity.
Michelle Rowan (28:37)
Yeah,
it’s amazing how many people you’ve helped and you don’t even know the ripple effect of that. You’re helping these business owners be successful, make money, take care of their families, allow them to go on vacation, allow their children to do different things. So it’s, I always think about how special franchising is and how lucky we are to be in it, but you’re really impacting even more people than you know you’re impacting. So thank you for doing all the hard work in keeping these businesses.
growing and keeping your brand growing too. So it’s been awesome. Thanks for joining us today.
Maria (29:08)
Thank you so much, it’s been great.
