From Family Business to Franchise Success: Kris Stuart's Journey with Bloomin' Blinds

Speaker A: Franwise presents what's your Effing Business? A podcast about franchising. Here's your host, Marianne o'. Connell.

Speaker B: Hey everybody. Welcome back to yet another episode of what's yous Effing Business? A podcast about franchising. I'm Marianne o'. Connell. I'm your host and I'm the founder of franwise. We're a franchise consulting company that, that focuses on operations. And in this podcast that's what we like to talk about. How does operations drive franchisee satisfaction and success? So I love going to networking events because you get to meet new people, you get to reconnect with, um, old friends sometimes. And so here's kind of a hybrid. Chris and I, our guest met by phone a couple of years ago and then we've seen each other at a couple of events, mostly the Franchise Business Review Op Summit. And I was sitting at a table with him. My back was to him as I was looking at the stage. And he made a comment about operations that I won't repeat. But it made me laugh so hard that I had to turn around and talk to him. So with that kind of great attitude, he had to be a guest here. So I want to welcome, uh, Chris Stewart from Bloomin Blinds. Hi Chris.

Speaker C: Hello me.

Speaker B: Thank you, Chris. You have a unique story at Bloomin Blinds. So can you tell our listeners about it?

Speaker C: Sure, yeah. Bloomin Blinds started as a family business ran by, started by my mother. Um, I was her first employee and then my two brothers joined subsequent, ah, years and we ran that operation here in North Dallas area, um, for 14 years prior to franchising. It started on, uh, coincidentally 9, 1101 was our brandiversary. Um, one of the few pieces of work that got done in Austin before they got evacuated for the afternoon on the fateful day.

Speaker A: Um,

Speaker C: so from that started I think a desire culturally to get back to repairing or at least have an appreciation for repairing. And that's kind of our differentiators. We really promote and offer the repair services for existing products as well as new product sales. And so that's one of the points of differentiation in the marketing, um, that is very easy for customer acquisition to support those franchisees is through that repair angle. Um, and part of that history and evolution of our brand is being able to service so many different manufacturers products with kind of an agnostic viewpoint is if it doesn't matter if I sold it to you, if I have the capacity to repair it for you, and I should. And focusing on that in our early years really gave us an appreciation of, uh, maintaining continuity of the products within customer's home. If they've been there 10 years and one of them is broken, it won't look like the other four in the room. So being sensitive to those needs and really working for mom and knowing that my boss was my mother and that there was no, like we couldn't run from each other. So the critiques were, um, hyper honest and very efficient. Um, but it allowed for cross learning amongst all of our different perspectives. And we all work together. And my brother and my desks still touch at the corners. Work, um, in office. In the same office with all our friends. Yeah, we do window coverings.

Speaker B: Because my question, when you say your, your family, you started as a family business and when you're saying the honest feedback, what's the old line that must make for some uncomfortable Thanksgiving dinners?

Speaker C: Absolutely.

Speaker B: How hard was it to convert from that family atmosphere to franchisees who were not part of the family? You know, we use.

Speaker C: There's a lot of conversation right now in business about whether you should even use the term family in relation to a team or a group or what have you. And we do, um, but we also define what that means. And it's really, it's just a way of treating people. It's the priority you give somebody in thought, consideration, compassion. That we do for family. Right. Like that is different. We treat family different treatment than strangers argument whether we should or not. But that's how humans are. And so that's, that's what it means to us is it's still a family business. And for many of our franchisees, it's a family business for them. It allows them to, you know, retire the other spouse a lot of times. And they work together. Some of them have their children now working. We've got one owner who was actually my older brother's inside salesperson, now, uh, a franchisee. Her son is in training right now for tech training. So it's very much still a family business. And part of the selling point is the ability to be there for your family and do this business. Make the soccer games, go to the school programs like be in control of your schedule and monitor your throttle as necessary to stay engaged in the family. And so that's, we've tried to maintain that as much as possible while we professionalized instead of converting it out. And some of it had to go because some of it just simply doesn't scale. But the way you treat people absolutely can. And so that's where we decided to put emphasis on that, on that Idea of family business and it's still the brothers in the room. And um, I mean we have other siblings and family members in our office. So it's, it's not just us. Uh, we've got, see, we've got a mom and daughter in the call center. We've got um, childhood neighbors from our CEO to our product trainer. We've got an in law in office like um, three brothers. So I don't know that it's separable at its core, but I think we can be very deliberate and intentional about how far it goes and where the line is and kind of when their own uncomfortabilities start with individual personalities and being sensitive to that. But that's one of the fun part in here is there's so many different political views, religious views, but people care about each other. So none of that stuff ever bubbles up to a point of contention. They can have discussions, not debates. And it's, oh, uh, that's cool. Thanks for sharing that. Yeah, I hear that all the time. People that voted totally differently are like, cool.

Speaker B: That's rare in today's atmosphere. It is.

Speaker C: And I understand how volatile that potential that leads to, but I just simply. We haven't had to deal with it here. This team, these people, I think appreciate it and want to maintain it.

Speaker B: You know, I'm one of those people that using the word family, it's like, makes me shudder. But if you're going to use it as a metaphor, like you are and you explained it as a metaphor, I think that's different. Um, and as long as everybody understands that. But when you are writing the official stuff, it's not family. You're not.

Speaker C: Right. You're absolutely right. And I, and that's the balance. Right? When you have to enforce a rule that you wouldn't on a family, a fine on a family, a fee, or whatever it may be. And that's. And ah, what we've found is the compassionate conversation and that knowledge of how we feel about each other up front while we're doing business together makes those converses, those hard conversations so much easier because there's just a different level of communication.

Speaker B: And communication is the key to all of this. Um, how many franchises do you have right now?

Speaker C: Um, 79 currently operational.

Speaker B: And how much of that and your culture of caring and family do you think has attracted those people?

Speaker C: I think the difference is the confirmation day. When they've heard it, they've seen it, they've heard us say it on zoom validation calls. And all the other staff Members and other franchisees that they talk to, they've heard it. But when they come in the room and they see the room actually embraces them just as much, it's like a gel that just surrounds them and it's like, okay, I get it. Like, this makes sense. And it. They just kind of look around like this doesn't. It shouldn't. Like offices like this don't exist anymore, companies like this don't. That are just straight up honest with you, that yes, we make mistakes. There's some stores that we made mistakes on, and unfortunately those people have. Are not a business anymore. But we've applied those lessons at each time along the way and we share those stories with new franchisees coming on board. And so we're an open book. And so all of our lessons and failures and everything else are shared freely because they're everybody's lessons. That's what they're buying is the knowledge base to get to that point. And so I think once they, they come in the room, they meet the team, they, they feel the space and then they see what we're willing to share. I think it makes for the term I like to use. Um, I pulled it from paramedicine, but it's a fully informed patient or an informed buyer in our case. And so that an informed patient simply understands, is alert oriented, and they understand the risks, benefits and um, side effects of whatever drug or intervention that you're going to administer. And it's allergic compound, whatever it is, you have to know and provide that information. I think the same obligation results here in franchising is. I'm obligated to tell you absolutely not the contract, FDD and disclosures, but the story, the whole story of how we got here, how we learned what we learned, um, and make those people available to them as well, whose life lessons we learned from as well. I think that's the differentiator is that level of communication and honesty is just. We don't know another way to do it because we are always a family business.

Speaker B: There's that family coming back as a great benefit. Um, there are two things in there I want to unpack. First of all, I think it's brilliant that what most people would call Discovery Day, you call confirmation day, that really is saying what's happening there that shouldn't be a discovery, um, by the time they get to that place. So that's. May I steal that and recommend it to other clients?

Speaker C: Absolutely.

Speaker B: Okay. Um, the other part for a second. Sure.

Speaker C: On the, just on the confirmation day part, One thing I think we do very differently as well is we. We already treat them as if they're in, like, here's. Here's some swag. And it's not, you know, take a home, give it to your kids. It's like, this is your new brand welcome. Like, hey, you decide on your own.

Speaker B: But we.

Speaker C: To us, we're glad you're here. Right? So you're already in. Like, by that time, we've already done our vetting and the eyeball test, really, in five seconds in the room, I know if you're going to be successful or not, because can you make eye contact? Do you say hi? Do you stand in the back? Like, we need someone who'll stand in the front and say hi in seconds. I know if you're gonna. If you're that outgoing enough person to engage a customer on a. Hey, how can I help? And so. But the rest of the time, it's arm around them, come on in, like, scares everybody. Everybody gets out of their chairs and floods them. It's rather overwhelming. Um, but it is literally one big warm hug when they walk in. And we're very intentional about welcoming them to the family and explaining why we call it that and what you should expect to see and feel. So by the time they're done, it matched everything they've ever heard. Every call, every zoom, everything else. And so

Speaker B: it makes so much sense. It's aligned with the way I've always thought about it. Um, my joke. I did do franchise sales. It was back in the Pleistocene era, I think, and I hated it. But I did say to me, what was using air quotes here. Discovery Day was really. Unless you walked in and you had three heads or you proved to us you were an axe murderer, you should already be to the point where we want you. That's why we've invited you here. We're not going to invite people we have no use for it to our home. We shouldn't do it into our Discovery Day and then try and force the sale if we already have decided that's not a good match.

Speaker C: So, um, we've had more than one confirmation day. Have a attendance number change midway through.

Speaker B: Really? On, uh, whose was who?

Speaker C: We just simply said, this isn't it.

Speaker B: Okay.

Speaker C: Thank you for coming, but I don't. You're welcome to go. You don't have to stay. And they're like, thanks. We're like, we know.

Speaker B: Okay. So it's nice that everybody gets to the same place.

Speaker C: The other thing, it's up to them

Speaker B: to perform yeah, but it's also, I think, an obligation of the franchisor to say this isn't right when it's not right. And to call that not to hit a number. Um, you know, so many people with their sales quotas, they want to hit a number. But the other thing you said in that description, which I think a lot of people franchisors don't truly understand, is that people don't buy franchises initially for the rules for the standards. They're buying it for all those best practices. And I run into it when we're writing manuals where franchisors say, no, we have to control everything. Well, first of all, you shouldn't because of restraints within the laws. But it's also, you got refugees from corporate America, they don't want you to tell them what to do. They come to respect them quickly, but that's not what they buy for. So you're upfront in showing them the tricks and the tips, right?

Speaker C: Yeah, we, you know, we bootstrapped this company and so we, our best practices were learned through attrition and money repetitively spent to absorb those lessons in a lot of cases, and you're exactly right, um, the standards simply don't exist for younger brands like they thought they did when they owned the retail shop that they franchised. And that learning curve was steep and it was a struggle and it wasn't easy and it was emotional and. But we're at a point now where we're really good at putting very tall, impregnable walls around the critical areas and doing our best to protect the things that are on the ancillary. So the brand image, the things like that, um, that everybody across the nation would suffer from if mishandled, those things are very well protected. Customer, um, satisfaction is chased vehemently. Um, those type of things are like, if somebody's not wearing khakis and they're wearing blue jeans for a day, I'm not going to call them and hammer them. Like, um, if you're wearing a camouflage T shirt that says army across it, thank you for your service, but go put on your pink T shirt like so, um, those type of things we handle. And that's that relationship built within two weeks of in person training. Because our trainers are our, uh, support team, our field support. We don't have field coaches, we have job support teams because, uh, we're bringing on coaches this year because we're scaled to that point now. But are everyone in this office is a window covering professional, not a franchising professional? And so they to us when we franchise this business, being so immature and young in franchising, we thought the only thing that we could do best and learn into was teach them how to do the job. That was our first promise, our first 20 franchisees. We promise you we will teach you how to do the job super, super well. Because we don't know how to build a brand yet, but we will learn. And that's why they've stayed and trusted us through the years, is because we've applied those lessons and learned and scaled and advanced the brand into a better place. But when we hired a staff, we still had that mindset of the job. Their money was spent to build a business doing this job. So we have to support them vehemently doing that job without question. And so everybody in here came from the window covering industry. And so that's their support, that's their trainers and their support. So when they're out in the field and they're like, oh crap, I'm stuck, they call the people they just spent two and a half weeks with in person, face to face training, joking, laughing, having lunches and dinners together. And so it's, hey, Rachel, what's, um, up? Hey, cool. No, I'm on a job, I need some help. Cool, what can I do? And it's, you don't have to schedule it, you don't have to send in a ticket. You pick up your cell phone and you call your friend who you know, knows more than you and has been doing it 15, seven years for one of the guys. And that is your help. These are resources, not just now. We're bringing on they. What's your marketing? KPI's transitive. All that stuff is coming on with field coaches or business coaches, uh, probably by Q2, so that's all advancing into it. Um, but what we told them is we'll help you do the job and sell product really, really good, and then we'll build a brand around it. Um, because we simply had no knowledge of how to build a brand. We didn't have a brand guide, a consolidated printed brand guide for eight years in operation. So we had OPS Manual, you know, you know that. But we had, um, we didn't have a consolidated brand posture voice nationwide. It was always kind of a storytelling legacy. Um, and it just took kind of like because it was us. And I think we realized very quickly that it's really more them than it is us. And so we got to looking at, okay, what do our franchisees, what did we ask them to be and what are they now as a group? And that's what we captured because that's what we're selling on is these 80 franchise owners, $35 million in revenue that they drive nationwide. That's the impact. It wasn't our small little footprint, our zip code here.

Speaker B: Right.

Speaker C: So there was a, uh, the evolution I think is, is plateauing and now it's really just acceleration. At least it feels that way. Uh, being able to bring on the AI, the transitive business coaches, um, out outsource, CEO, cfo, all those elements are in, um, are taking place now. And so it's a very exciting time from a scale perspective. Um, and we're still our own monster.

Speaker B: I'm going to come back to the outsourcing for a second.

Speaker C: But not outsourced, brought in from outside.

Speaker B: Okay. Okay, good. Because that was, I was like, how are you doing that? Um, well that conversation got over real quickly. Uh, I'm going back and I keep thinking about your training. First of all, as you describe what your current support system is, how it's going and because you do repairs on anybody's brands. How intensive is your training? How long does it last?

Speaker C: It's two weeks in person. Um, well I take that back. It's six weeks, four weeks of uh, pre arrival onboard training. So that's terminology, basics like the 101 level stuff, bringing everybody's vocabulary and kind of knowledge base to a uh, collective baseline so we can teach everybody for the same point going forward instead of trying to catch everybody up for the first week and then the second week is almost a waste which was the older ways brought in better curriculum trainers and builders. And now look at what we have now look at that. Um, but it's two weeks of face to face training. It's almost two weeks of on your feet work. And that's the job. We have a just under 4,000 square foot warehouse flex space, uh, just down the road from corporate and that's where we started the franchise actually. I'm actually location too as a retail shop. But inside of it we built a house effectively. So it's climate controlled house with no roof and we've got 11 windows configured in some of the weird ways that you'd run into. So the first time they're in a, a home seen something unique isn't the first time they've been in a home, seen something unique. So it's two, there's of those 90 hours, I want to say there's 20 hours of role play in that where they get to hi I'm Chris from Bloomin Blind. How can I help? Over and over and over again. We've got a 14 by 12 cedar pergola that is built and bolted to the floor of the warehouse, um, with a fake fire pit and shades lounges set around it so it feels like a patio. And so they can measure and install large, ah, format exterior shades to 14ft and you know, know how it feels and know how it weighs. On the other side of the building, there's what we call the, the lab. And it's effectively 26 openings on a wall that have variances in the mounting options. So we can change depths or we can skew them inappropriately, intentionally, take them

Speaker B: out of plumb and things like that.

Speaker C: Yep, we sure can. We've got, um, plexiglass in the back of the opening, so you can kind of feel what it's like to push against the product and have it hit the glass and so kind of understand that feeling. In the shutter side, there's nine shutter openings with three French door sets so we can measure and install doors, uh, for shutters, which is very unique. Um, and then the cool thing that we just did last year, which I've been angling for, for probably five years and trying to get, figure out how to do it, we finally did. And it's a aluminum, ah, platform above one of the main passageways into the training center. And what we were able to do is create an OSHA certified platform so we don't have to do harnesses and rigs and extra insurance and all this other stuff. And it's just stood off the wall about 12 inches. And so since we're manufacturing motorized track now in another facility, we brought in one of those motorized tracks and now they can install, hang and handle drapery at elevation, at 22ft elevation on a fully stable OSHA certified platform. And so there's no worry about falling. There's no, I'm scared up here. I can't focus on the product. We took all that away. And it really came from fire training props in my previous career. They're, they're rudimentary, they're very functional, but they're not pretty, right? They're just, they're meant to be high use high wear and just keep running over and over and over again. I kind of applied that same methodology to our blind training center. It's not painted, it's raw wood. No one cares about a little nick or scratch here. We point it out, we fill it in with a Sharpie and like, look, imagine if this runs somebody's, you know, Sheetrock in their home, so it, it stands out really well. But we can use pencils and write on it and just erase it. But they focus solely on the product and the skill training and not distracted by the surrounding elements of the facility.

Speaker B: You're teaching so many good lessons just in how you're training and how you're approaching it. I mean, I like the idea that it's not pretty. I go into some training rooms that are temples of technology and such, but they're not putting that same effort into the content. And the other idea that it's two weeks on site and six weeks total. Because whenever my clients ask, how long should training be? The answer is training takes as long as training takes. So if you have so much that they have to learn, even though they have a helpline at their disposal, it takes more than, oh, I only want to do it in five days. Which to me is always driven by the franchise salespeople. It'll be harder for them to sell something if people are involved in training for too long.

Speaker C: We've lost some deals because they wanted to break training up. Oh, and we just simply said, no.

Speaker B: Good for standing your ground on that. Now that you're going to integrate franchise people into this. In, in terms of coaches, how is that going to be rolled out to and integrated by the franchisees?

Speaker C: Ah, freely offered. Is. Is the end of it. They all know what's coming. They all know our plans for 25. We shared it with them just a few weeks ago. Um, business coaches are part of it. The AI, um, running the ppc, which may or may not be live as of yesterday.

Speaker B: PPC being pay per click. Okay.

Speaker C: That the big bulk of a digital ad spend that you normally don't know performance until a month later that all changes. Um, but again, we're very honest with them. And so it's a matter of we've. We need to perfect our communication strategy because we get excited and say things too fast. Um, and so we end up biting ourselves, creating problems for ourselves because inevitable delays always happen. Um, so we've stopped promising timelines. And I think they accept that because they know the deliverables come and they know our history. Like there's not degree one, there's not a business school or formal education in college for myself or any of my brothers. So a lot of these lessons that are taught and a baseline in it in your early education or college education for business, uh, we rejected formal education foolishly and did it on the street side. Um, So a lot of that stuff. So I've got CFE now. We've got two other CFE candidates in the, in the office. We got two more lined up to join it, like. So. The integration of franchise professionals with product professionals, I think will be rather seamless because we brought our product team up to franchising standards and modalities and understanding what's important in the franchise business model and where the responsibilities and hierarchies really like the nuances of it. Right. The relationship side, I guess. Um, so we've brought them up on that and I don't know that what we do on the product side is going to be so difficult for a franchise professional or a business coach to mold into. So I don't know if that answered your question or not, but I.

Speaker B: It does.

Speaker C: I think it'll be fairly easy.

Speaker B: It does. I think where my brain was coming from was the idea that, um, some adults look at coaches who are looking at their financial performance as an intrusion, but you opened your answer by saying it's available to them. So this isn't something you're thrusting on them, it's a tool you're offering to them.

Speaker C: Yeah. Everyone will have the business intelligence component. So everybody will be on. Will have the full transitive dashboard. Um, which is. So for us, we're building what we call Bloom Scale, which is a single, single point of, um, operation for the entire brand, from Zor down to Z to customer and everything in between. Um, and what that's going to do for them is that continuity of data and everything is going to be there. The entire package is going to be available to everybody. There's no different tiers to purchase. And so really the question is, we didn't want to. To force it on some. To force it because a lot of people already have those skill sets like they were really. They either they did that in a past life or they have the training and education to take that information. That's already been churned. KPIs have already been measured and benchmarked and authored and it does it nightly. So that if they don't need a business coach or want one for whatever reason and they're successful and they're managing their numbers and they're moving it forward and I suppose why would I make them? But if somebody's underperforming under serving their community, representing the brand poorly because they're not capturing jobs as, as soon as we would like them to, or they're rejecting other jobs, um, we have full visibility into that again, nightly. On a nightly poll and then we can proactively take steps to strongly encourage them to embrace the coaching, um, availability.

Speaker B: I think that's a very healthy way to look at it. Um, a few years ago at an IFA event I was disturbed to hear a franchise executive say oh it's in our agreement, if they don't increase their sales by X percent a uh year they are required to sell their franchise. And I leaned back to an attorney who was sitting behind me and said is that legal? And the attorney's answer was look, you can put anything in a franchise agreement as to whether you can enforce it. Well I would find it quite intrusive if somebody is not respecting me as an independent business owner and looking at me as their de facto salespeople that have quotas and things. If I wanted that I'd have stayed in corporate America. So I like the idea that if they're underperforming then yes, this is the medicine they take. But it's offered as something that's going to help them, not something that is intruding on them. I was trying to find the right word there.

Speaker C: Um, we don't have a lot of that intrusion mindset um, in the brand I think where they tend to protect that is unfortunately in their Google my business listing where they don't want to list their home address and the impacts that that can have to location mapping and things like that. But again here's what, what happens when you do it. Here's what happens when you don't.

Speaker B: So are most of your franchisees then operating out of a home based office?

Speaker C: Yes, that's the, the model is a home based business um, and you can to scale into a flex commercial space. Um, but a showroom is not part of it. So that retail square footage, um, you got to get to the home anyways to do the measurements. Why not start there?

Speaker B: I think that that makes a lot of sense. It makes it affordable. Um, and if so many of the rest of us are working from home, why not? But I also can understand the um, reticence of putting their home address, their

Speaker C: Google listing, why we allow it because I understand it.

Speaker B: So you alluded to it will have

Speaker C: effect on your revenue and our royalty.

Speaker B: Um, you alluded to something about Google there and earlier in your conversation you made a quick allusion to customer satisfaction. I would imagine this is very important to you. So how are you tracking it and how are you using it?

Speaker C: We're tracking it not as well as we should be. Now, um, part of the benefit of this integrated system is to bring everything to basically one top layer and you'll simply ask your phone for information. Um, so we have the agent I operating within our system and so like the traditional net promoter scores, things like that, uh, we don't utilize that honestly. I nod when everyone says it, but I really don't know what that is. Maybe you can cut that out too.

Speaker B: Oh, no, no, that stated,

Speaker C: but the Google review is, is where we live and die. And I think we, we train our franchisees to be very overt in the ask for a review and we also train them a process to make it so easy for the franchisees to or the customers to provide that review for the franchisees. And so we'll get stores. We've had some stores that have launched in their first month have 20 to 30 earned reviews on Google listing, you know, names or tagging or whatever else that the customer is doing because they were, they just really want to root for them. And that's the, that's the messaging is we tell them on day one when you go in the home, hi, I'm Chris. How can I help? It's my first day. Like I just got out of training on Friday and this is my business. I'm excited. I don't really have a clue. You're my first customer, but I've watched this. Hey, I need some help. Hey, how can we help? And so that's like we train, we teach them that vulnerability and try and train it to them because it'll naturally. The crawl, walk, run process. If you hit the ground running, everyone know you're faking it because you end up on your face and they won't trust you. There'll be no transparency inferred or anything. So if you walk in there and you're like, look, I just, I don't know anything yet, but I got a hell of a support team and I live down the street. You want to help a local guy and I, I think appealing to people's greater good, not to fears and things and not playing on those, but like, look, I know people are inherently good. I know people want to root for other people. If you trust me and you believe in what I'm. It's a faith question really. Do you have faith in what I'm telling you is true? And we interpret that body language and all the other things that humans interact with that aren't words. And so when you walk in there with that posture over like it's totally unexpected and it's disarming and I think, uh, the results are speak for themselves.

Speaker B: I think what I like hearing here is how consistent you are with what your company culture is. And I know that's an overused word, but you know from the very first sentence you uttered in this interview, you're talking about transparency, how you use the word family right down to the franchisee being honest with a customer that I don't know everything. I know for a fact there are so many brands that want to protect the brand to the point where they teach their people, go out and sound like the expert. And as you say, if there is an issue, I had this with a home, um, improvement brand, franchise brand that I used that made a representation and didn't really show me what the final product was going to be until it was installed in my house. And I hate it. But I don't have the money to take it out right now. I mean, it's huge. Where if somebody had just said, I'm new at this, I might have been able to stop and say, well, this sample that you're showing me, is this actually what the product will look like when it's fully installed? So I think more of us can go back using your word, which was a great one, to being humble and expressing that humility. And I think a lot of us don't want to deal with a know it all. Um, so just be yourself and then in time you don't have to say those things. You never use them as a fake out. You're just saying it initially because it's true.

Speaker C: I mean, there's simply no, not, no value. But the value of being an expert is kind of diminishing with the domestication of all the world's captured knowledge at your fingertips. Um, but I think the humility is a rare commodity to, and you may be an expert, but if you're the humble expert, you're the number one expert. Um, so thank you. Yes, we try and be consistent and intentional with that feeling because at the end of the day, for two weeks approximately, all we're selling, all we've sold is an emotion, right? It's either elation or skepticism or that was so much money because they're custom products, right? So we're taking, taking a check or a credit card and leaving nothing behind except a feeling until we return with said product. And that's a second opportunity to reinforce a great feeling. Take away a great feeling and install a bad one or perpetuate a negative feeling, which will go to thousands of future customers.

Speaker B: Okay, the reason I'm covering my mouth And I was laughing is you're describing my business.

Speaker C: Well, yeah, like someone will give you money and then weeks later you'll bring back an ops manual.

Speaker B: Right.

Speaker C: And it's the same thing. Um, and for the bluntly, I couldn't afford you. That's why we went elsewhere.

Speaker B: That's okay. M. How is all of this? I mean this sounds pretty labor intensive to have somebody on the other end of the phone when you need them. How does this scale? Or are you still going to proceed with like a slower, more measured growth?

Speaker C: Again, back to the ability to access all the world's collected knowledge. Um, we're taking all of our technical knowledge and capability, mostly derived from my younger brother Kevin, who's been in the warehouse repairing blinds for 20 plus years. And we're downloading all that into an AI which will have product sets, right. It was min max in our world. It's very well defined, very tall bookended data. And so really we're not. We're using little to no gen AI. It's all machine learning and predictive analytics. So it's just really fast math. So it's very easy to apply to our. Our logic sets in our um, in our space. So the emergence, um, I, I need a human right now. Cell phones. Continue to use cell phones. But if you're like I got a, you know, tech question or can I do it this big or most. Which is what most of our calls are. Are they. They're trying to look in the data, um, to find that parameter that they're looking. They can't find it so they call in like, hey, can you help me find this? Sure, no problem. Hey, I was kids. And then it gives them a chance to reconnect and stuff. That type of stuff we can do mostly with AI. Uh, the team will be still available for emergent calls and things like that. And one of the. One of the. Back to confirmation day. One of the fun things that always happens on confirmation day, because of how we administer the support. We'll be in the middle of the corporate presentation and any. And the whole team is there. And so it's the training team. I mean there's not that many of us. There's 10 on the op side altogether. But it's all the training team, the gm, CEO, the three brothers, everybody is in the room. But inevitably someone gets a support call. Right. Right in the middle of the confirmation day, right. And it's like this is what we're talking about. I'll be right back. And whoever needs to just simply steps out of the call and because like, look, this is the promise we're making you is you've already bought. I have to answer your call. The person in the room is considering buying. Honestly, this is a perfect example of what you're going to buy in the middle of a sale. I'm going to service you.

Speaker B: Wow.

Speaker C: How can I help? And so it's, it's fun because they all, every franchisee is likely experienced that in their confirmation day. And so when they get calls and they're like, the guys say that delanch the call anytime. Like, dude, they took a call on my confirmation day. And some of them multiple times, some of them, I was out for an entire confirmation day because the guy had a motor crisis. So that's just the way it goes. And. But I think it's a great demonstration of what would otherwise be kind of lip service and waiting for validation. And when they see it happen in front of them, it's instantly factual.

Speaker B: You're living what is it. You're, um, walking the talk. And that's rare. Um, too many times people put values and mission statements on a wall and forget them. Um, but it can't all be, um, roses and uh, unicorns. So what do you see as the challenges? Not specific. Well, however you want to answer it either specific to your industry or in franchising that you're already looking ahead to address communications.

Speaker C: Certainly professionalizing our communication strategy and maintaining the feel of the messaging, but tightening the strategy and application execution of the communications so we don't make promises in advance of deliverables and um, things like that. I think that's one of our reining in the family business into a professional organization is that kind of free speak. We're trying to bring in a, um, and at this point we don't want to spend all the cash on eos. So we're using a similar as so many of them out there are. But again, bringing in that organizational, um, attention to detail and trying to make it a bit more rigid, but keeping the freedom of the environment and the fluidity of conversation that happens that we're all still working together from our desk to the one central goal, um, which I, I think this environment leads to really well. Basically, um, it's modeled off a fire department day room where all the guys hang out in the recliner and talk about the job until they're needed to do the job. And then everybody drops what they're doing and goes to help and then comes back and talks about doing the job better next time.

Speaker B: So who does the cooking.

Speaker C: It used to be Lazy Dog.

Speaker B: I love Lazy Dog. Um, then it sounds, and please tell me if I'm wrong, that your org chart is relatively flat, that everybody's just in there to make this work.

Speaker C: It was. And that's part of the. What's the Right. The pain of it. That's the uncomfortability for us as owners, founders, um, relinquishing that authority and position. Um, we're no longer at the top of the food chart. Um, Jeff is our CEO and he runs the shop. I'm the CEO, but I'm actively looking for a replacement because I'm at my capacity. Right. Without that degree, without that knowledge and education, I owe it to the franchisees to get the heck out of their way and bring in somebody who can do that better. I've got another project with the AI and automating the workflows and eliminating human error to go folk that I need to deploy pretty quick for our franchisees because that 15% or so of profit that sits in the garage as tuition costs should be in their pocket. And if I can create a tool that helps them accelerate learning and minimum. And effectively eliminate human error in the ordering process, then I owe that to them. And that's what I'm working on. So I want a COO to come take my job. Who knows better. I want to go experiment and play with the tool which I thought up, and it will be monumental. We've got a new CEO with years of national sales management, team leadership who's, um, now a franchisee as well. Um, and his family's fully invested. His wife left her job of teaching for 30 years and is now helping his daughter run their operation. So, um, we've got a CFO who, you know, comes from a significant venture background and large corporate Apple, Starbucks, like. So we're professionalizing the company. But amidst that is the inherent discomfort that we have to suffer. It's just our burden to bear and to not let spill out onto the ops floor and interfere with the progress that it has to be, which is, you know, we joke about it and it's. It's fun in the office because we're all sitting in the same room. There are no walls in our office.

Speaker B: Wow.

Speaker C: Well, if I could.

Speaker B: Oh, you're right. Um, for the listeners, Chris, uh, has just turned his camera around and it is one giant room.

Speaker C: Big room, one big bullpen, or day room, as I call it.

Speaker B: There. There's so much that I want to get into. You got another, um, you are at A critical point. First of all, I want to commend your mom because not only did she build a great business, she obviously raised some great kids who are very, have a very strong sense of self realization and you know, you are at the point where you need different professions to come in and help really raise this. So kudos to her, kudos to you for knowing that. But having been through this with a couple of brands, this is a really critical point because the idea that I can just pick up my cell phone and I'm talking to the COO of the company is going to change as it gets bigger. There's just no way everybody can take all those calls. So how are you preparing your franchisees for this? Is just easing into it slowly or are they dialed into what the changes are going to be?

Speaker C: We're not going to remove it from them. Part of our core service is to have a human available on the end of the, someone with knowledge and experience and capability at the end of a phone. Um, so that's a, the plan going forward is not to take that away. Um, we're going to need to scale training team. We're going to be providing industry training on behalf of manufacturers. Right? Not delivering our content but delivering theirs to the broader window covering industry, reinforcing our authority in the space and kind of generous nature of the brand. If, if everybody in our industry improves their game, we can maintain the price points and, and the quality expectations that customers demand. The truck in a truck and the weekend warrior guy kind of gets pushed out and they don't get to, to affect the brand or the industry perception by bad performers.

Speaker B: Okay.

Speaker C: So, um, but there's, so we'll bring on more training team. We have, you know, we're leveraging factory resources as well for our manufacturers to pull from their skill sets and support staff as well as needed. We dispatch them when necessary. Um, kind of using that corporate stick to say hey, can we really need a guy out here to go help this franchisee out? And they're like, well like we really need so we can leverage that where needed. But at the end of the day the goal is to maintain that expertise level support as, as needed. And honestly it's always in a phase, um, kind of rolling load because as the franchisees scale and they learn, they call us. So it's only the first three to six months is really the, the volume and that's onboarding two to four a month. That's, I mean it's very honestly it's not that impactful. Full build out nationwide is probably 850 territories. So maybe 10, 15% of uh, build out. And we're at 10 people right now with half the desks empty, waiting for staff to onboard. So we're, we're primed for the growth, um, and the staff to onboard and we have the locations, the computers, everything. We just got to find the right person, um, and hit start on the Plan, which comes Q1 and off we go, boom.

Speaker B: Weeks, weeks away. Um, I hope a lot of people listen to this and realize that it is a plan and you have to be prepared for it and you really have to understand who you are. Um, ego is one of the worst things that get in the way in franchising sometimes where people just don't know when the most mature thing to do is to have somebody else take the title. But you still do the work you're best at. So, um, that's a great thing for you. In closing, any last comments that you think franchisors should know? And one of the things we did talk about when we were in Denver was your true support of IFA's Initiative for Responsible franchising and bringing the whole franchise community together that's around, um, your office. So whether it's that or just something internally, what do you think the key pieces of advice are that franchisors need to know?

Speaker C: Um, I'll give you two. The key piece of advice for zors I want to focus, I would like to say is it is a life saving effort. And I come to that realization from my history as a firefighter, paramedic. And the correlations are to me are such if that customer, uh, and the fireside, we call them customers, if that customer is having the worst day of their life, they don't really give a shit what's happening to you. They just need the promised help at the time they need it. And it may be an absolute life safety issue for them. And they don't like, they want 10 neurosurgeon decathletes jumping off that rig, not 10, sloppy smelling like cigarettes, guys that are like, man, you know, and so they want, they're asking, we promise to be the best of the best. And they called. Franchising is to me is really no different because some family, somebody dropped their life savings, probably on whatever level that is into this thing. And when they need help or they're asking for your support, you damn well better be a decathlete neurosurgeon getting off there or at least performing, trying to be, um, because their life is depending on it, their life savings, their life stability, marriage, kids, you know, whatever it is, that's their life and their entire life is hanging on this going well. So to me that's the obligation side. Like as a Zor, if you're going to sell this promise to another person, that's the level of expectation that I think should be uh, of responsibility that she, the franchisees should expect. So on the first part as from zor's doing it, I think that's how you should look at it. The other piece bug in the IFA and the community together if you happen to get this out tonight. We are having 130 people in our office for FBN franchise business network holiday party tonight.

Speaker B: Shoot. This is the one after the holidays.

Speaker C: But I don't know, 90% of them, I've never seen their names, don't recognize their brands and I couldn't be more happy about it. Um, the Franchise Business Network events are phenomenal events that are vastly underutilized. Um, and I think it's the responsibility the Xor to make sure that their Z's and all the others in the community around them know about the network and the broader community and river that is, I call it a river that is franchising and the amount of resources that are available. I've started scrolling through LinkedIn on my chest this morning. Sugaring LA just opened up a new uh, their first franchise here a block away from my office. I bet you that owner's in her office tonight and as soon as I get off this call I'm going to go drive over there and invite her to the networking party tonight because I guarantee you she doesn't know anybody in franchising other than her dev team person. And a block away I've got 130 new friends just waiting to meet you. And it's kind of cool. You look at the map I've got from east coast and west coast and you know, South Texas, I'll come all coming up to the North Texas Chapters Franchise Business Network event because I wanted to put a stamp on the map that said this is what networking events can be and this is what community can be. I don't want 30 people in a suit on the 37th floor of a high rise. That's great, but you're not going to get a draw. I'm on the first floor and I just threw a party. There's no CFE credit, there's no speaker, it's open bar and some appetizers, a jazz musician and a big open floor Plan and lots of friends.

Speaker B: What time is this party? Because I might be able to get a flight.

Speaker C: 5, uh, 30.

Speaker B: I could not agree with what you've said more. Honestly, I just could not agree more. And you used a word that I think is perfect. It's community. And we are a community. I know that there's a, um, trend on LinkedIn with, I would say, our up and coming generation of franchisors to refer to it as franchise family. I prefer community. And, um, it's been great for me for 40 years, years to be in this world of franchising. So thank you for taking the banner up in Texas and holding it and for giving your time. There is so much to unpack in a world where I sometimes think franchising is getting too driven by numbers. And, um, I mean, I understand businesses have to make money. You can, without taking the humanity out of it. And it sounds like you're still doing that. And I think a lot of franchisors need to take some lessons from that. So thank you.

Speaker C: Thank you. Appreciate it.

Speaker B: So if people want to know more about you or the brand or reach out to you to get more information about what you're talking about, what's the best way to reach you?

Speaker C: Um, probably LinkedIn. I'm most active on LinkedIn. I've got an Instagram profile, Christoph with an F2319. Not, um, very active on there, though. That's all the personal side. Um, and then also through bloominblinds.com you're always, uh, we can find. You can find development information there. Um, local store information on bloominblinds.com anything you need.

Speaker B: Great. Thank you, Chris, for that. And to our listeners, I say this every episode. If your brand is a story that we all need to learn from and to hear about, or if you know of a brand that really should wave its flag a little higher than, then why don't you reach out to us@inforanwise.net and we'll talk about getting you on one of our episodes. So thank you again, Chris. It's been great. I am so glad you made me laugh in Denver. So we ended up having this conversation and I look forward to all of you, uh, dialing in for our next episode of what's yous Effin Business. Thank you.

Speaker A: What's yous Effing Business is created by O' Connell Company, Inc. And Franwise, it is written and directed by Marianne o', Connell, technical mastering by Ryan Cleary. Our theme music was written and performed by Sean J. O' Connell and, um, Leviathan Brothers and is available on Spotify. All right, to this podcast and music are reserved.