Matt Lucas of The Franchising Company: Five Things You Need to Know to Successfully Franchise Your Business

An Interview With Teri Gault

Create a Team! Don’t wait until you have 5–10 franchise locations before building the team you need to support this growth. You cannot do it alone! No one can. Each franchise owner may need help in different areas. Building a team that fully understands the business and has their own specialty to properly support the individual franchise owner as they launch and then as they continue to grow their business is paramount.

The world of franchising offers a unique blend of entrepreneurship and established business models. However, navigating the franchise landscape can be daunting, especially for those embarking on this journey for the first time. There are lessons to be learned, pitfalls to avoid, and success stories to be inspired by. As part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Matt Lucas from The Franchising Company.

Matt Lucas, and his wife Jennifer, are Co-Founders of The Franchising Company. Matt has been involved in franchising for over 20 years. He got his start as a franchisee, acquired multiple territories, started his own business, and franchised that to over 30 territories. He then sold his company and helped the buyer expand reaching nearly 100 locations nationwide. He then started The Franchising Company where he has been helping aspiring entrepreneurs find and buy the perfect franchise business for over a decade now. His services are completely free, and he helps entrepreneurs like you, not just find a franchise, but match your passion and goals to the perfect franchise business, giving you the best opportunity for success. He helps dozens of people a month navigate the entire franchise journey.

You can visit his website and explore hundreds of franchises on your own at www.thefranchisingcompany.com. You can also follow him on social media where he, Jennifer and The Franchising Company post insider interviews with franchisors and franchisees! They’re @TheFranchisingCompany on all the platforms.

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEQBzxC5cGlxw_SEZITtwgw

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thefranchisingcompany

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thefranchisingcompany

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series. Before we dive into our discussion about succession, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share with us the backstory about what brought you to your specific career path?

Currently I am a Franchise Consultant working with clients across the country who are interested in exploring franchise investment opportunities. This happened somewhat by accident, as I think happens for most of us in our careers!

When I was still in college, I knew I wanted to start my own business. I was green and had very little ‘real world’ experience. I knew that choosing a franchise would be the right opportunity for me to get my start. It was the best decision I ever made. Fast forward 7 years, I had grown that single franchise to multiple territories. Along the way I started an independent business with a partner in 2010. In 2013 we began franchising that business and by 2015 had grown to 36 sold territories before selling the business in the early part of 2015. I then helped the new owners further expand to nearly 100 franchise locations nationwide.

After that acquisition, I wasn’t sure what I was going to do next, so decided to provide some consulting/coaching services to others interested in franchising until I figured out my next venture. I fell in love with helping others realize the same dream that I was blessed to do and about 10 years later what was meant to be a temporary gig has turned into my passion.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career?

To me, the most interesting story is actually the stories of all the people I’ve met and had the honor to help along the way in my franchise journey. I’m so grateful to have helped so many people discover the right franchise investment for them. I’ve made so many friendships throughout the years from people across this country. I have been blessed to be just a small part of their journeys, and I amso happy that our clients become friends. Seeing their success is one of the things that motivates me each day as we talk to brand new clients just starting their journeys.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Do you have a story about how that was relevant in your life?

There are a lot of ‘cliches’ out there, and frankly, a lot of them are very accurate. The most important lesson I’ve learned and want to share with everyone I meet is “Start Today.” We all have a finite amount of time on planet Earth to reach our goals. To create a legacy. To make a difference. So, the earlier we start, the more time we have to build something great! The more opportunities we have to make a difference. The greater the likelihood of creating generational wealth for our families. There will always be reasons why today isn’t right, but if we constantly tell ourselves tomorrow, we’ll never reach our potential or our goals. So, Start Today! I’m eternally grateful to my college self for starting that first franchise.

What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?

I think the biggest thing that makes The Franchising Company stand out is our vast experience in the franchising industry. We have spent nearly 20 years as franchise owners, franchisors, and franchise consultants. We are able to provide guidance to our clients through a unique lens considering our diverse experience within the industry.

Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. What inspired you to consider franchising your business, and what unique value does your brand bring to potential franchisees?

Getting my start as a franchisee was extremely beneficial in launching our business as a successful franchise opportunity. That experience allowed me to see what was needed to jump from franchisee to franchise owner to help future individual franchisees experience their own victories. After growing our small business to multiple local and regional locations, we had several people reach out about opening a location in their communities. This interest led us to explore franchising our business and ultimately officially launching as a franchise in 2013. At the time, we were fulfilling an emerging need that was not readily available in many markets across the US.

Can you outline the most critical steps you took in preparing your business for franchising? How did you know that you were ready?

In full transparency, I was probably a little naive in thinking we were ready to start franchising at the time. We had built multiple successful locations corporately, but to support other individual franchise owners as they began operating locations across the country was a different level. Prior to franchising, we recorded everything we did daily at our locations. From marketing and sales to hiring/training employees, vendor relationships, etc., if it was done, it was recorded. We built a step-by-step guide for our future franchisees to follow to successfully launch their own locations. This included a full training program to teach our owners and their employees how to provide the services for their customers.

What were some unexpected challenges you faced during the franchising process, and how did you overcome them?

The biggest hurdle I faced as a new franchisor, and likely every new franchisor faces, was not having full control over each individual location. There were times I would have done things differently than the franchisee to grow that specific location or times I would have spent more time/effort in building relationships in the local community to build awareness and increase the commercial business running through the location. Knowing and understanding key points in the growth to hire additional team members to support the franchise growth before the current staff was being stretched too thin, was a big challenge as well.

How do you maintain consistency and quality across all franchise locations while allowing for local adaptations?

This is a hard concept to master. The key is to stay true to the brand you’ve created. There are different marketing strategies that will work in some markets but not others. Depending on the products or services being provided, you may sell more of one product or service in one market while a different product or service may be hot in a different area. So, it is important to give your franchisees some flexibility while making sure the core business holds strong. You want customers to receive the exact same experience no matter what location they visit. Culture from the franchisor can set the tone across the entire brand. There are obviously some franchise brands that do this better than others.

Ok super. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “Five Things You Need to Know to Successfully Franchise Your Business”? If you can, please share a story or an example for each.

1 . First, you need to launch multiple locations corporately to verify the model works across different markets. Prove that you can duplicate the same success you have in your original location before ever franchising the model.

2 . Study successful franchise organizations. Why are they successful? What type of support, resources, or training do they provide to their franchise owners? Talk to existing franchisees to hear directly from them about what their franchisor provides that is helpful and what may be lacking from a brand.

3 . Create a Team! Don’t wait until you have 5–10 franchise locations before building the team you need to support this growth. You cannot do it alone! No one can. Each franchise owner may need help in different areas. Building a team that fully understands the business and has their own specialty to properly support the individual franchise owner as they launch and then as they continue to grow their business is paramount.

4 . Define your marketing strategy. You need to have a core strategy that is going to work regardless of where a franchisee operates. Then you need to have additional marketing options depending on the area that can be added based upon needs and results. Franchisees are joining a brand for proven results. Don’t have them throwing money around on marketing efforts that aren’t going to produce results. It’s a very quick way for them to burn through their working capital.

5 . BE PRESENT — this might sound like a no-brainer, but being accessible to your owners is invaluable. This is new for them. Starting a new business has its challenges, especially in the early days. Again, it’s new! So, make yourself available. Create a monthly group call for franchisees to join and share best practices. Listen to your owners on where they need the most help or assistance. What can you do corporately to relieve some of that stress?

Off-topic, but I’m curious. As someone steering the ship, what thoughts or concerns often keep you awake at night? How do those thoughts influence your daily decision-making process?

I think for any franchisor that truly cares, the one thing that keeps you up at night is making sure you are giving everything you have to the brand and to your franchise owners. You want each and every one of them to find success. You need to work tirelessly to make sure you are building the culture and proper resources to make that a reality for each of your owners.

You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

This is a tough question to answer. But since we are discussing entrepreneurship in this interview, I would say a mentorship for high school and college students who have an interest in entrepreneurship could change so many lives. Let’s face it, most of what you need to know to be a successful entrepreneur is not taught in high school, and its quite fragmented in college. Even if you specifically study entrepreneurship, you aren’t likely going to get the ‘real world’ version of what makes someone successful. You aren’t going to get up close and personal with the grit and determination that is required.

Being able to provide future entrepreneurs with an up-close look at running, building, and growing a successful business would be incredibly impactful as they go forward in their own entrepreneurial aspirations.

Challenging them to come up with their own business idea and plan and then providing assistance to help them actually turn that into reality could be game changing. A true mentorship program from start to finish.

How can our readers further follow you online?

You can visit Matt’s website and explore hundreds of franchises on your own at www.thefranchisingcompany.com. You can also follow him on social media where he, his wife Jennifer and The Franchising Company post insider interviews with franchisors and franchisees! They’re @TheFranchisingCompany on all the platforms.

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEQBzxC5cGlxw_SEZITtwgw

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thefranchisingcompany

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thefranchisingcompany

Thank you for the time you spent sharing these fantastic insights. We wish you only continued success in your great work!

About the Interviewer: Cynthia Corsetti is an esteemed executive coach with over two decades in corporate leadership and 11 years in executive coaching. Author of the upcoming book, “Dark Drivers,” she guides high-performing professionals and Fortune 500 firms to recognize and manage underlying influences affecting their leadership. Beyond individual coaching, Cynthia offers a 6-month executive transition program and partners with organizations to nurture the next wave of leadership excellence.