Modern business leaders bear a weightier burden than simply maximizing profits. They must navigate an intricate world, prioritizing ethical behavior, social awareness, and long-term sustainability. Their duties encompass not only driving company success but also positively influencing their workforce, local communities, and the global society.
Charles Dobyns ( CEO, Strategic Franchise Development ) believes that the fundamental responsibility of a business leader lies in fostering the growth of their team. He emphasizes the importance of challenging the executive team, providing opportunities for professional development. Charles holds a strong conviction in hiring individuals who either surpass his own capabilities or possess the potential to do so.
Cultivating Growth and Community
Charles Dobyns’ commitment extends beyond the internal workings of the company. He actively engages in community outreach programs at the local level. This dedication is exemplified by the implementation of paid internships with five local colleges. These initiatives reflect Charles’s belief in building and empowering not only his employees and coworkers but also the broader community. He prioritizes the cultivation of talent and the creation of opportunities that benefit both the organization and the surrounding area. Charles’s leadership philosophy centers around the principle that a business leader’s impact should extend to both the personal development of their team and the positive influence they exert on the community they serve.
Enabling Brands to Achieve Their Expansion Goals
Strategic Franchise Development, founded in 2012, was established to address the critical franchising challenges related to growth and marketing that confront its clientele. The company specializes in serving emerging brands and mid-sized franchisors.
Strategic Franchise Development distinguishes itself through its unique approach, experienced team, and proven processes. These elements are not only differentiators but also key contributors to the company’s success. Strategic Franchise Development offers a comprehensive suite of services and solutions designed to assist organizations in navigating change, realizing their strategic vision, and optimizing performance and productivity.
The company’s efforts are geared toward facilitating rapid, yet responsible, franchise development growth. Strategic Franchise Development positions itself as a partner that enables franchisors to achieve their expansion goals through tailored strategies and expert execution.
Strategic Franchise Development offers a comprehensive suite of services to support franchise growth, including:
- Full Sales Outsourcing: Handles all aspects of franchise sales, acting as an extension of the client’s team.
- Lead Qualification: Filters and qualifies leads, delivering ready-to-convert prospects.
- International Sales: Manages global expansion, facilitating master and area development rights sales.
- Franchise Sales & Compliance Training: Provides specialized training for sales teams and compliance.
- Sales Audits: Tracks and measures key performance indicators using industry benchmarks.
- Franchise Resales: Assists existing franchisees in selling their businesses.
- Franchise Feasibility & Implementation: Evaluates business suitability for franchising and develops growth strategies.
- Franchising Your Business: Determines if a business is “franchisable” and creates a pathway to successful franchising.
Changing Lives Through Franchise Opportunities
Charles Dobyns has dedicated a significant portion of his career to the franchising industry. For 14 years, he has served as the CEO of his current company. Prior to this, he owned a similar company specializing in private equity-owned franchisors. His involvement in franchising since the 1980’s. Notably, he once held the position of the world’s largest Goodyear Tire franchisee.
When asked about his key achievements, Charles highlights his personal involvement in approximately 2,500 franchise transactions. He emphasizes the profound impact these transactions have on individuals’ lives, recognizing that they can lead to either positive or negative outcomes. Charles strives to improve people’s quality of life through franchise opportunities.
He acknowledges the emotional complexities inherent in these transactions, understanding that not all expectations can be met and that sometimes a franchise opportunity may not be a suitable fit. However, Charles finds particular satisfaction in the long-term relationships he maintains with many of the individuals he has assisted. He treasures the moments when former clients express their gratitude, acknowledging that he has positively transformed their lives. Charles’s overarching goal is to empower individuals through business ownership, ultimately enhancing their quality of life.
Approach to Retention
Charles Dobyns emphasizes the company’s appeal as an employer, evidenced by the long tenures of his staff. His junior employee has been with the company for six years, while his senior employee has remained for the entire 14 years of the company’s existence. This reflects Charles’s commitment to hiring individuals for long-term positions.
From its inception, the company has operated as a “work from home” entity, requiring employees to reside near major airports due to extensive travel demands. Employees frequently travel for business, with some spending over 200 days per year on the road.
Fostering a Culture of Gratitude
While the company’s business agreements stipulate coach travel and occasional stays in business-class hotels, Charles believes in rewarding exceptional performance. He often upgrades employees to first-class travel or arranges accommodations in superior hotels, personally covering the cost difference. Additionally, he occasionally sponsors vacations for employees and their families as a gesture of appreciation.
Charles Dobyns firmly believes in prioritizing the well-being of his team, recognizing that their dedication is crucial to the company’s success. He understands that if he fails to demonstrate appreciation, other employers will readily offer more attractive opportunities. This philosophy underscores Charles’s commitment to fostering a culture of gratitude and loyalty within his organization.
Fourteen Years of Evolution
Charles Dobyns reflects on the 14-year journey of his company, noting the mix of challenges and successes. Over time, the company has evolved to focus on emerging brands and mid-sized franchisors. A key differentiator is its unique hiring and training approach, where Charles hires individuals without prior franchising experience and places them in a two-year paid internship program. This enables the company to provide diverse personnel tailored to specific project needs, such as matching an employee with a passion for fish and chips to a food truck account, resulting in success. Additionally, Strategic Franchise Development has a geographically diverse presence, with offices in Springfield, Missouri, Olympia, Washington, and Escazú, Costa Rica.
Expanding through Global Vision
Charles emphasizes that while his company offers a range of services within the franchise industry, its core business remains franchise sales outsourcing. This has been the company’s foundational purpose, and Charles Dobyns intends for it to remain the primary focus. The company specializes in managing the entire franchise sales process from beginning to end.
In addition to full-service outsourcing, Strategic Franchise Development provides lead qualification services, primarily for larger franchisors. These companies often prefer to handle the final sales process themselves, but rely on Charles’s team to identify and qualify serious prospects, delivering completed applications. This allows high-level executives to concentrate on closing deals rather than chasing leads.
Charles Dobyns’ extensive experience in international sales has led to the company’s involvement in global expansion. He facilitates both bringing international franchisors to the US and selling franchise rights in various regions. His international travel is frequent, reflecting his commitment to global business development.
Beyond core outsourcing, Strategic Franchise Development offers ancillary services such as franchise sales training, compliance training, sales audits, and resales assistance for existing franchisees. They also provide franchise feasibility reports, evaluating a business’s suitability for franchising, and offer comprehensive support for those looking to franchise, including connecting them with strategic partners. Strategic Franchise Development helps emerging brands align their marketing and sales plans, ensuring a cohesive strategy for growth.
Journey to Franchise Recognition
Charles aimed to establish brand recognition and drive franchise sales in a relatively nascent outsourcing market. At the company’s inception, brand awareness was minimal.
Leveraging his established reputation within the franchising industry, Charles Dobyns successfully translated his personal credibility into initial business traction.
The most significant challenge, however, proved to be the formation of strategic partnerships. Charles undertook a rigorous selection process, evaluating numerous marketing and public relations firms. This involved engaging with both existing and new professional contacts. After a two-year period of careful deliberation, Charles finalized the company’s network of strategic partners.
With the necessary infrastructure in place, Charles Dobyns launched a nationwide program, culminating in the company’s global expansion at the beginning of 2023. This strategic approach to partnership and brand building allowed his company to rapidly gain recognition and expand its reach.
Divestment and Adapting to a Changing Landscape
Charles identifies several pivotal moments in the company’s trajectory. A particularly significant decision was his choice to divest himself of his other business ventures and concentrate solely on the current company. This strategic move yielded positive outcomes, enhancing both the company’s financial performance and the well-being of its employees.
The COVID-19 pandemic also served as a major turning point. While many companies grappled with the challenges of transitioning to remote operations, including virtual discovery days and online client meetings, Charles Dobyns’ company was uniquely prepared. Having operated as a virtual business for a decade, they possessed a significant advantage.
Charles’s company had already conducted virtual discovery days for clients long before the pandemic. Consequently, COVID-19 did not disrupt their operations; rather, it presented an opportunity to share their established virtual business practices with the franchisors they served. This pre-existing expertise allowed them to navigate the pandemic seamlessly and provide valuable insights to their clients.
Strategic Growth and Resilience
Charles established his company 14 years ago, driven by a desire to transition away from working exclusively with private equity firms. Initially, he approached the venture cautiously, allocating sufficient resources to assess its viability. The decision to fully divest from his other companies significantly boosted the new enterprise.
Charles emphasizes the company’s commitment to effective client communication. After three years, he decided to dedicate himself full-time to the business. This involved enhancing the company’s public relations, marketing, and SEO strategies. A testament to this effort is the company’s prominent presence on Google search results for franchise sales outsourcing companies, where they maintain both paid and organic listings on the first page.
His full-time involvement led to a doubling of sales. Subsequently, the COVID-19 pandemic temporarily plateaued growth, particularly due to the impact on the restaurant industry. However, Charles Dobyns’ company was well-positioned to navigate the pandemic due to its established remote work model.
In the two years following the pandemic, the company experienced substantial growth. This surge can be attributed to several factors: the increasing prevalence of outsourcing, the company’s strong industry reputation, and its ability to provide services that others are still developing, thanks to their decade of prior experience.
From its inception, the company has witnessed a 3000% increase in sales. The only period of stagnation occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, which primarily affected the restaurant sector.
Distinctive Hiring Practices
Charles expresses satisfaction with the company’s overall success. The company has cultivated a strong reputation within its industry.
Despite receiving numerous interview requests daily, Charles Dobynsmaintains a strict hiring policy. He specifically avoids candidates with prior experience in franchising, a practice that aligns with his unique employee development strategy.
Charles attributes the company’s rapid growth to a combination of factors, including its solid reputation and its distinctive approach to building its team. He believes that these elements have been crucial in driving the company’s significant expansion.
The Power of Unified Approach
Charles emphasizes that the company’s success is fundamentally rooted in its people. He subscribes to the belief that an organization is the collective embodiment of its employees.
Charles prioritizes treating his team with respect and fairness, mirroring how he himself wishes to be treated. He invests heavily in employee training, and due to his unique hiring policy, where individuals lack prior franchising experience, the company avoids many common industry-related conflicts.
Since employees are not burdened by preconceived notions from previous franchising roles, they are solely exposed to the company’s established methodologies. This ensures a unified approach, where everyone operates consistently, adhering to the same principles and objectives.
Upon joining the company, employees are fully integrated into a culture of standardized practices. Their training focuses on acquiring knowledge specific to the franchisor they will be working with, rather than retraining them on fundamental processes, which are already consistently applied.
Simple Yet Profound Advice
Charles finds the most crucial advice for young franchisors to be remarkably simple, yet often overlooked. He likens it to “not being able to see the forest for all the trees,” suggesting that the solution is clear but obscured by complexity.
Charles strongly advises young franchisors to consistently conduct business ethically. He has witnessed numerous instances where shortcuts taken early in a business’s life have led to legal battles and personal hardship.
He emphasizes the importance of making decisions that benefit all stakeholders, not just the company itself, its sales team, or its marketing partners. Charles Dobyns advocates for establishing clear ethical boundaries and adhering to them rigorously.
While hesitant to delve into political or religious discourse, Charles expresses a firm belief in the principle of reciprocity. He maintains that treating people with kindness and integrity will, in most cases, lead to positive outcomes. He believes that good character and ethical conduct are ultimately rewarded.
