Multi-Unit Franchisee Magazine Issue III, 2015 | Page 63

SHAPING THE FUTURE

the roomful of franchisees. “People come
to this conference for the great content,”
Branca told the enthusiastic crowd before
introducing the first keynote speaker.
Peter Diamandis, a futurist and author
of Abundance: The Future Is Better than You
Think, wowed the crowd with stories of
how technology is changing the world—
and how it is going to affect their businesses in the coming years. Technologies
he discussed included infinite computing
(the cloud), robotics (autonomous cars),
the rapid adoption of sensors in everyday
life (from refrigerators to clothing), 3D
printing (toys to houses), and genomics
and healthcare.
While these topics may seem pie-inthe-sky, Diamandis is more than an armchair futurist: he is an entrepreneur who
has founded more than 15 companies. As
an advocate of “incentivized innovation,”
he founded and chairs the XPrize Foundation, which famously offered the $10
million Ansari XPrize to the first private
team to build and fly a reliable, reusable
vehicle 100 kilometers into space twice
within two weeks. He also co-founded
Singularity University in Silicon Valley

and is involved in several additional hightech ventures.
“In 10 years, 40 percent of all Fortune
500 companies will not exist,” he said. “The
only constant is change, and the rate of
change is increasing.” The key to being
one of the successful, sustainable companies of tomorrow, he said, is to embrace
change and adapt to it—or risk failure. “If
you don’t disrupt yourself, someone else
will—especially if you’re making great
money.” The keynote was sponsored by
Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen.
His talk was followed by a general session
called “Franchisees & Franchisors Working Together To Build Stronger Brands.”
Rocco Fiorentino, president and CEO of
Benetrends Financial, facilitated a panel
composed of a franchisor executive paired
with a multi-unit franchisee of that brand.
The panelists were Alan Balen, a Checkers and Rally’s franchisee and Rick Silva,
CEO of Checkers Drive-In Restaurants;
Debra Sawyer, a Sport Clips franchisee

The Oxi-Fresh Carpet Cleaning team
and Mark Kartarik, president of Sport
Clips; and Rob Branca, a Dunkin’ Donuts franchisee and Nigel Travis, CEO of
Dunkin’ Brands Group. The panelists did
a thorough job of expressing the critical
concerns from both sides of the franchise
fence. Fiorentino summed up the discussion by saying, “Franchisors and franchisees need to find ways to reach common
goals and prevent toxic culture.”
Two separate luncheons followed.
The first was a franchisor and supplier
lunch where Paul Pickett, vice president
of franchise development at Wild Birds
Unlimited, facilitated a discussion on
building and evaluating a franchise recruitment plan and budget. He led panelists
through a discussion of questions such as
how well they measured their franchise
sales and development success, and what
lead sources are driving their recruitment
programs. In a separate room, multi-unit
franchisees convened for their own luncheon to rekindle old relationships and
build new ones.
Breakout sessions
Next up came the first of the afternoon’s

Franchisees and franchisors
working together

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