A key skill you should have as a franchisor is the ability to understand human behaviors and personalities as you choose franchisees to represent your brand. Knowing how to predict actions and behavior helps leaders learn how to better lead and coach each unique member of their team, rather than having a blanket approach for all team members.

In this Keynote Presentation, you will learn how to create and lead your team in the new Hybrid World, how to hire to inspire by connecting your results to your strategy through your people, and how to connect the “what” to the “who” by educating others through understanding who your people are and how they work.

As a franchisor, it’s vital that you’re equipped with the skills and knowledge to be a good leader within your franchise system. Good leaders are not born overnight, and this takes experience and ongoing efforts to inspire success and perseverance within your franchisees. During this session, you can expect to learn coaching tips for great leaders, traits and characteristics that you should have to become a leader, how you can successfully lead a team of franchise owners, and more practical tips to develop and maintain your skills as a strong leader of your organization.

As a franchise leader, it’s vital that you know how to set the tone in your organization to set an example for the small business owners you support daily. Join speakers John Evans, EverLine Coatings and Services, and John DeHart, Hartify Franchise Consulting, for this concurrent session about how to lead by example to inspire success and growth within your organization.

Key takeaways will include:

• How to foster a culture within the franchise system.
• How to set up your organization in the best way possible to grow and succeed.
• Why a healthy culture surrounding employee engagement and retention are so important to an organization.
• Why it’s important for leaders to set the tone and be a positive example for their team members.

Most franchise systems across the country and the world have had to go from simply surviving the pandemic to now thriving as we emerge on the other side. In this concurrent session led by Presidents & CEOs: Jackson Loychuk, 30 Minutes Hit; Todd Wylie, Master Mechanic and Aaron Abrams, Molly Maid, you’ll discover how you can successfully grow your business in the post-COVID-19 era. This is your opportunity as a franchisor to adopt the growth mindset and educate your franchise partners to allow them to grow and thrive with their small businesses as we all recover, together.

Canada is currently facing a record high job vacancy rate, as many employees are reluctant to resume working in an office, retail, food, healthcare, or other work environments as businesses reopen. That leaves many business owners facing a labour shortage as they fight for talented staff members for their franchise system. Join us for this concurrent session that addresses the resignation boom as we recover from the pandemic.

At one point in the lifespan of a franchise system, a franchisor will have to implement changes and advancements to keep up with emerging issues and pivots within the industry. This session will educate franchisors on what they need to know about how to successfully implement change within an organization and the impact it may have on the system’s employees, franchisees, customers, and other affected individuals. Franchisors will learn how to prepare for system change and what types of support to provide to their franchise owners during these transitions, as well as how other franchisors come up with innovative ideas to keep their organization and franchisees successful, and what changes franchisors are keeping or removing for the future of digital in business.

It’s no secret that businesses with a diverse and inclusive working environment experience a plethora of benefits, from increased innovation and profitability to happier and more engaged employees, and they also attract better talent. During this concurrent session, you’ll discover:

• What the diversity and inclusion imperative is and why it matters for your franchise system.
• Best practices on driving diversity and inclusion.
• How diversity and inclusion positively impact your bottom line.

You will also hear from the panelists about their own personal journeys with diversity and inclusion and lessons learned that you should avoid in the future.

An open forum discussion on financing, specific to the hospitality industry.  Whether you are seeking to start a new franchise concept; or to grow your existing model having a finance program in place is critical to your success.  Financing is important at all stages of a Franchise, finding and funding new franchisees, building new sites, renovating existing sites, replacing old equipment, and rolling out new equipment / programs all require finance support

In the last 18 months, tomorrow became today. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the biggest challenges we will face in the next decade will be attracting, engaging, and keeping talented employees and franchisees. The closing keynote will cover both the timeless fundamentals AND the adaptations that are required to work with the next generation, with a specific focus on the highest-performing segment of the generational cohort. Tony Valle, who has worked at ground level with each next generation that has emerged in the last 3 decades, will share both repeated patterns and new trends, and their impacts on the current talent marketplace. 

Every year the Canadian Franchise Association recognizes excellence in franchising through its Recognition Awards., including the Hall of Fame award which recognizes solid business performance and outstanding performance over a significant length of time. This Keynote session features previous winners of the CFA’s Hall of Fame awards including Choice Hotels, and Recipe Unlimited. Attendees can look forward to examining the practices and lessons that franchisors have received during their years of experience within the franchise industry including what it takes to what it takes to grow and maintain a franchise system at a high level of excellence; what challenges franchisors faced when growing their brand and how they overcame them; and franchisors’ tips, advice, and words of wisdom they have for other franchisors who are looking to grow their systems right now. 

While the nation continues to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s important to remember that the damage to our economy over the past year and a half won’t be solved overnight. That’s why it’s vital that you know franchising strategies to help your franchise system and your franchisees achieve continued growth as the nation and its economy rebounds. This session will share insights into what changes from the pandemic will fade and which will remain the same as consumers reinvent their spending habits and bounce back to old or new spending habits, as well as how to adapt and innovate your organization to meet changing consumer habits.

One of the most important things you need to do as a franchisor is properly train and support your new franchisees to represent your brand and help them find business success. New owner training is a fundamental component of most franchise systems, but ongoing support is often key to the satisfaction and success of franchise partners. This concurrent session will provide you with key takeaways including: what changes implemented due to COVID-19 should stay and how or when you should return to standard training policies, how to maintain operational compliance and safety for your franchisees, and how to maintain a positive outlook towards your franchise system in post-COVID-19 times.

It’s important to create a culture that supports effective digital transformation as the world around us continues to adapt and innovate with ongoing trends. This can be done by aligning the interests of both the franchisor and their franchises with the objectives of an organizations’ digital transformation projects.

During this session, franchisors will walk away understanding the importance of digital transformation for growing franchise brands, how to create a culture that support effective paths to growth, approaches to digital strategies to create an aligned execution playbook, and how to measure and report on the effectiveness of a franchisor’s project(s) to advance an organization and adapt to changing times. 

Nothing has been normal about the way businesses have had to run during the pandemic. But in many ways, companies became more aware than ever of the lack of efficiencies in their back-office. Pain points in how to source, finance, onboard, and pay suppliers and franchisees came into sharp focus. Decreasing the amount of manual bookkeeping and improving your fraud prevention are the key to future success. Thankfully, there are many digital solutions that have helped to overcome dependencies that slowed down business. 

Learn more about how you can utilize digital payment tools and financing to keep your franchisees doing business while remaining flexible and accommodating of public health measures as we strive for a post-pandemic Canada. 
 

As the real estate landscape continuously adapts and changes, it’s important that franchise systems are educated about what current practices are here to stay and what will continue to evolve. Brick-and-mortar businesses should consider whether they should make long term changes for the current climate including enhanced e-commerce procedures, curbside pick-up, and delivery models for the convenience and safety of customers.

Questions that will be addressed in this session include: How has the real estate market changed? Are we seeing a decreased demand in availability of sites? What do occupancy rates look like, and what will the trend be? How have bank/lender relationships changed? Are we seeing increased rigor in borrowing requirements? What are realistic unit growth expectations moving into 2022?

This session will also address whether franchising is moving back to an in-person environment as we recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, or if the need for social distancing, touchless technology, and other protocols to protect customers and staff will be here to stay.

Digital transformation is about more than just putting new technology in place. It is about developing and deploying the right technology, in the right way, with a view to future growth and innovation. It also transforms what business leaders can do – giving them a clear, holistic vision, allowing them to make data-driven decisions and reducing tedious manual work to ensure staff are available for higher-value tasks. 
 
For franchisors, implementing a centralized system across their franchised locations creates a single source of truth to help them advance the business both at a top-level and at the individual location level. Track KPIs, manage royalties, financials and inventory, forecast for the future and prime you and your franchisees for rapid growth.
 
Join The Answer Company’s Founder and President, Shawn Ostheimer and George Lawton, CFO as they discuss the potential in digital transformation for franchisors, how finance and operations teams can draw on the knowledge of tech systems and real-life examples of successful franchisors who have deployed tools to thrive now and in the future.

Discover how you can raise capital to fuel your business development through partnering with private equity! Geared for franchisors and multi-unit franchisees, gain an overview of why and how franchises can utilize private equity and other sources of capital. This panel will no doubt intrigue you to know more and serves as an introduction to CFA’s Growth & Exit Strategies virtual conference on October 28, 2021.  

• Learn how partnering with private equity works; 
• Understand the benefits of accessing debt vs. equity, including private equity and other sources; 
• Hear from franchisors and funders as they share their personal experiences and advice for others looking to access capital from private equity and investors.