chief development officer at Wild Birds Unlimited , the panel dug into recruiting fundamentals from A to Z : cold calling , how to conduct a call , qualifying candidates , FDD review , discovery day , and closing the deal . Panelists were Christina Chambers , vice president of development at Huddle House ; Mike Hawkins , vice president of franchise development for The Dwyer Group ; Mike Reynolds , chief development officer at Milano Restaurants ; and D ’ Wayne Tanner , vice president of franchise development at DMT Consulting .
The afternoon session of this track , “ Build High-Performance Sales Teams ,” honed in on how to find , hire , and retain key team members who fit the company ’ s culture and goals and can deliver the desired results . Facilitated by Eric Little , chief development officer for Right at Home , the panel consisted of Steve Corp , senior vice president of franchise sales for Focus Brands ; Tim Courtney , vice president of sales at CruiseOne Dream Vacations ; Gillian Harper , chief operations officer at ShelfGenie ; and Bill Schreiber , vice president of business development for Church ’ s Chicken .
At the same time as these two tracks were under way , three dozen franchise executives were participating in the allday CEO Summit . The high-level event was facilitated this year by Sport Clips President Mark Kartarik ( profiled on page 10 ). He opened the day talking about disruption . “ Change happens in months , not years now ,” he said , pointing to how the iPhone , Amazon , and Uber , for example , continue to change the way we all behave . Yet he also noted that despite all the talk about the role of digital technology and
Shelly Sun , Tom Wood , Christina Russell , Paul Damico
Loosening up before the STAR Awards dinner
Keynote speaker Seth Mattison the shift to mobile , 91 percent of sales still take place inside the store . And , when it comes to franchise brands and the potential effects of disruptive innovation , Kartarik said ,“ If you ’ re not staying up at night , you need to think harder .”
During the course of the day-long session , Kartarik introduced presentations from Christine Specht , CEO of Cousins Subs ; Jonathan Barnett , founder and CEO of Oxi Fresh ; and Shelly Sun , founder and CEO of BrightStar Care and chair of this year ’ s FLDC . Each delivered firsthand accounts of how their companies have adapted to the changes wrought by technology , market shifts , regulation , and more ; as well as how anticipating and managing disruption and innovation have played a role in the success of their brands . Each presentation was followed by roundtable exercises and discussions , allowing the executives to meet one another and share their own ideas and experiences throughout the day .
When it comes to managing change and disruption , Kartarik advised , “ Get ahead of today ’ s challenges or they will eat you . The innovators and real disruptors will survive .”
Heads filled with visions of sugar plums in the form of great ideas ready to translate into action , it was time for attendees to attend to the body and spirit in the Exhibit Hall , where food and drink were in plentiful supply as they rubbed elbows from 4:30 to 7:30 p . m ., meeting one other and exploring what the suppliers had to offer .
Re-Amped ! Thursday kicked off with a light breakfast before the morning ’ s general session convened . Conference Chair Shelly Sun addressed the crowd , emphasizing how people and relationships built at the conference can make a difference . She recalled her earliest days as a franchisor , noting that 10 years ago the FLDC was the first industry event she ever attended . “ The transparency and openness of attendees to share both the good and the bad was invaluable to me ,” she said .
As an example of the 10 years of education and relationships she ’ s built at the conference , she said , “ We made some
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