Cloning your best to build a strong management team: the best candidates can be your own franchisees to strengthen your franchise system.

Like many franchise executives, over the years I have developed an aversion to the overuse of cliches in business dialect. However, when asked to describe our unique hiring philosophy at the corporate level of The Little Gym franchise organization, there's no way around it: "Often what you are searching for is right under your nose."

Frequently, I see my industry colleagues struggle to recruit competent candidates to fill key management positions at the home office of their franchise organizations. They invest significant time and money into job advertisements, headhunter firms and other costly efforts, many times to no avail. All the while, they're inadvertently overlooking the most obvious and best-suited candidates for the job--their own franchisees.

When I joined The Little Gym as president and CEO in 1994, one of the many things that initially impressed me was the significant number of talented and successful franchisees who were dedicated and passionate about the concept.. Early on, I realized that rather than grow our system by hiring franchising executives from other companies to join our management staff, I wanted to utilize the extraordinary backgrounds and experience of our existing franchise owners themselves. My vision was to bring these people, bound by their common passion for concept, together as a team and have them help guide the company's future.

A Simple Idea

The idea was relatively simple: invite our best owners to come on board at the corporate level to "clone" themselves, if you will, within our franchise system. The credibility factor is unparalleled--our new franchisees have a tremendous amount of respect for our management team because they know they have been there as franchisees themselves. And really, who better to teach new franchisees how to operate a successful business than somebody who has experienced the same business, to the tee, themselves?

Along the same lines, if you think back to the best teachers you had throughout your education, it's likely you will choose those with real-life experience that closely matched your own professional goals.

Initially, I asked my our most competent, profitable franchisees to give 10 hours of their time each week to help and advise new owners. The program boosted the success rate of new franchisees astronomically. Building on that experience, in 1997, I began to gradually replace the entire franchise support staff with existing franchise owners. The goal was to literally "capture" the expertise of the experienced owners on the management team.

Today, almost all of the management team are current or previous The Little Gym franchise owners, including Senior Vice President Pres. of Franchise Service and Support Bob Hicks, who owns a location in Massachusetts; Vice President Pres. of the Eastern Region Gerald Moore, who owns three franchise locations in North Carolina and Tennessee; and Vice President Pres. of the Western Region Rick Basch, who is a former owner of an Arizona location. Additional examples include Vice President Pres. of Major Project Management Greg Brungardt, who is the former owner of an Oklahoma location; Director of Curriculum Randy McCoy, who previously owned one franchise in Washington; and Senior Vice President Pres. of Franchise Development Ruk Adams, who operated a successful franchise in Salt Lake City.

Focus on Rapid Growth

We rely on their collective wisdom to fine tune and update our business practices, down to every function in the operation of one of our franchises. Further applying the philosophy, once a candidate becomes a franchise owner, he or she is assigned a "New Business Specialist," all of whom have been successful working in a The Little Gym franchise. Their complete focus is on the rapid growth of the new franchise owner's business.

Because actual existing and former franchisees are so familiar with every aspect of the business, the management team is truly capable of teaching every franchise owner every detail, from the skills of how to properly work with children of all ages to recruiting and training staff. Because of their own real-life franchisee experiences, they can provide real, consistent, ongoing support to nurture the rapid growth of our franchisees' business. Their passion for this business makes them want to have an even greater impact by teaching others how to do what they do so well.

We firmly believe that our own success is driven directly and entirely by the success of our franchisees. That's wily we focus virtually all of our energy on helping franchise owners achieve their dreams. In order to accomplish that, you need dedicated, passionate people on your management team who have a vested interest in providing heartfelt support to your new franchise owners. The next time a position opens on your management team, remember that you don't have to look far to find the ideal candidate to fill the slot. Rather than placing an ad, save the money and pull out your latest listing of existing franchisees.

Robert Bingham is president and CEO of The Little Gym International, Inc., headquartered in Scottsdale, Ariz., with 175 franchises in 16 countries. He can he reached at 888-228-2878, or [e-mail].