Top Franchisees Share Insights At Leadership Summit

COLUMBIA, MD (Monday, July 11, 2005) - Each year owners of Fiducial’s Top 100 franchises gather at a Leadership Summit to learn how to make their successful businesses even better. This year’s three-day meeting of the minds was recently held at the Hyatt Regency on the Riverwalk in San Antonio, TX, where franchisees renewed ties with their peers and benefited from information they could not get anywhere else.

“The most important part of the summit to us is the office analysis,” said Sam Smith, a Fiducial franchisee in Middletown, MD. “That gives us insight as to how the other businesses are doing and whether or not they are putting additional dollars on the bottom line.”

Smith says he looks at other franchises as a benchmark for his business which includes the sharing of key financial data.

“No other organization is going to have that kind of trust in its members to share financial data,” he said. “We know we can put out information out there and it’s going to be protected.”

The summit is also an opportunity, Smith says, to get together with fellow franchisees and talk about higher level issues without feeling that they’re imposing on businesses that aren’t at that stage.

Looking for trends

For many attendees the event serves as a validation of things they already know about their businesses, according to Van Ballantyne, a franchisee in Greenland, NH.

“It’s a good opportunity to sit together and discuss those issues we’re all facing such as the client that doesn’t send us information on a timely basis,” said Ballantyne.

Franchisee Rocky St. John of Colorado Springs, CO, always enjoys the excellent networking prospects at the summit. He noted that this year’s event featured a top quality review of ProfitCents accounting software which provided some new applications and reports that many didn’t know were available.

St. John plans to give these new reports to selected clients as a value-added feature. The reports actually do a checkmark on critical areas for companies that have been evaluated, even for those businesses that are very profitable. The reports help look for trends that could be harmful to a company’s profits.

“When there’s enough money in the bank they tend not to focus on things that could cause problems at a future date so they can plan rather than be surprised,” said St. John.

A great believer in discussing the dynamics of the market, St. John asserted that franchisees need to talk to others that can relate to their business because they may be dealing with some issues that somebody else has already addressed.

“That gives you advice and experience that you really couldn’t get from anyone else,” he said. “Nobody really knows your story like others who are in your same business.”

Highlight of the year

This marks the sixth summit that Ken Lockard of Spirit Lake, IA, has attended. He says it’s the highlight of the year and always feels that if he doesn’t get enough hard new ideas that will increase his net profits from each event (to pay his way and his wife’s way) then he has failed.

After hearing a discussion on audit protection at last year’s summit, Lockard came home and began expanding his business in that area.

“It’s basically about contacting the client and relaying information to them that the IRS has hired an additional 5,000 people and will be increasing the number of audits at the federal and state levels,” said Lockard. Clients can sign up for a fee that’s like a retainer for audit protection and this is an area that’s continuing to grow for his business in this resort area.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the summit for Lockard is all of the businesses are different but each of them has gone into an area and really specialized, carving out their own niche.

“Maybe it’s retirement programs, estate programs or business valuations but some of these guys specialize in a particular area and are literally experts in the field,” he said.

Well worth the trip

John Olinghouse of Sparks, NV, came away from the summit with a good sense of how his business stacks up with other franchisees. The major draw for him at these gatherings is the interaction and networking with his peers.

“I think they’re the real key,” said Olinghouse whose business has a strong emphasis on bookkeeping “I was able to talk to some of the other franchisees and get some insights on how they’re tying into the accounting and tax areas. There are a lot of little things that really can make big differences in your profit.”

What Olinghouse is concentrating on these days is retirement planning for middle aged baby boomers. Most of these people are business clients and a major part of their retirement is their business.

“Since I’ve been working in financials for 30 years I think I can do a better job for my clients than an outside broker,” he said. “Since Fiducial has embraced financial planning this is just a natural progression for what we need to be doing.”

This was the first leadership summit for Neal Machek of Huntsville, AL, who picked up valuable information in several areas including estate planning.

“You can’t learn enough about that,” said Machek. “You go through it and there are always nuggets you come back with on what people need to start doing because it’s never too early.”

In the past George Walsh of Virginia Beach, VA, usually had scheduling conflicts so he was unable to attend the summits but he finally made it this year. He found the audit risk sharing techniques interesting but is not sure whether he’ll incorporate that area into his business. But there’s no doubt that the occasion was well worth the trip.

“I feel like they’re one of the most important parts of the franchise experience—being able to unreservedly share knowledge with compatriots and learn how they do what they do,” he said.

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