Neither of these individuals had any experience in franchising, nor did they seem interested in learning the industry.  After convincing them that it would be worth the time and money for me to attend a franchise sales conference in October, I became far more cognizant of some of the issues with how we were running our own department…and came back with many suggestions – most of which were shot down because it would cost us money.

What continuously came up were two things that didn’t directly cost us money – 1) Transparency is key to attracting the RIGHT new buyers and 2) Having a healthy franchise system is the only real way to sell franchises.  Number 2 we definitely did not have and we knew that we would need to build the trust of a prospective franchisee to sell them on the long-term prospects of our franchise.  In my mind, that’s where number 1 came in – transparency is a fantastic way to build trust.  Sure, you’re going to lose some prospects along the way, but those that make it through the process are going to be strong businesspeople with the same strong feelings toward the future of our company that we have.

So, I went on a transparency crusade, trying to build numbers that could be shared with prospects that, while not great, at least showed that things were trending in the right direction.  One of those figures was net income.   When I took a large subset of franchises from a specific state and averaged out their net income over the last few years, the result was – appalling.  For the first time it really hit me – without some serious business model changes, we couldn’t responsibly sell a franchise.

When I went to my boss with the information (which a prospect had specifically requested) I was told that LEGALLY we couldn’t provide that data.  Funny, since just a few days ago I remember him telling a prospect that average net income per franchise in 2007 (our best year on record) was in excess of $800K.  So why the change of heart?  I’m sure in 2008, when we were selling franchises left and right, the VP of Development was spouting off that net income figure and just waiting for the checks to roll in.  Now, when the results are less than stellar, we hide from it like the plague.  As you can imagine, my skepticism was not taken well (in fact, in less than a month I would find myself looking for another job).

The real answer was not that we refused to share because of some legal issue, but rather that our results are so bad that if we want to sell a franchise we can’t have that level of transparency.  When I suggested that we take our focus off franchise sales and put it in to fixing our business so that we have healthy franchises, I was met with similar disgust, and likely put the first nail in the coffin of my franchise sales job.

So what do you think, was I wrong to question the lack of disclosure?  We weren’t obligated to provide the information.  According to the FTC franchise rule, we are allowed to, but not required to share financial data from our franchises.  If we choose not to, current franchisees are the only real source for that data.  What is a franchise seller supposed to do in that situation?  There is obviously some hope that the business will turn around or it would have closed up shop during the recession like so many others.  Someone has to fight to keep the company in business – I guess my idea of “fight” was to be open about the results with prospects and let the chips fall as they may while we focus our resources internally on creating a model that works.  Others thought the way to go was to sell our way out by replacing the poor performing franchisees with new blood in the hopes that someone with a fresh eye on the business could turn it around.

It’s a tough call and I’d love to hear some feedback on how others have dealt with similar situations or how I might have handled it differently and still kept my integrity.

After having debris from a recent fireworks show at the Nationals game fall on him, Rubin ordered the fireworks displays shut down, becoming somewhat belligerent at the game and asking an official “Do you know who I am?”.  Well, now the whole world nows who you are, and I’m guessing you weren’t looking for that kind of publicity.  

Rubin claims that his move was made for the safety of the crowd, but why would the fire department never inform the Nationals of these concerns in the numerous inspections they have done over the many years that the stadium has been in existence?  Definitely a slap-worthy move.  Hopefully Mr. Rubin’s future efforts to control wind speed and direction will make future fireworks shows that much safer.

I accidentally watched about an hour of one of the first episodes of “I’m a Celebrity” and given the characters involved, Spencer and Heidi hit a new low for attention whoring.  Not only are they now claiming that NBC tortured them, but before their triumphant return to the jungle, Heidi claimed “the devil made me leave.“

I have to think the devil has better things to do than convince Hollywood’s most self-indulgent twosome to leave a ridiculous “reality” show.  Maybe he is available for an assist with this slap.

Failing to heed a portion of his instructions, an employee of Laradon Hall opened the envelope to find the check and will, but decided to put the contents in a safe until after the 1st of August.  A couple calls were made to Mr. Beech, but no calls for a welfare check on Mr. Beech or calls to the police to check things out. On July 29th, Mr. Beech went through with his plans to commit suicide and his body was found by the police on August 1st.

Judging from the comments on the Westword website, I am not the only one that is horrified that no one from Laradon Hall attempted to contact the police.  Not only did they not contact the police, but it seems they still do not admit that their actions, given the circumstances, were questionable at best.

I do not pretend to know what mental anguish the employees of Laradon Hall are going through at this time, but I would imagine that it is considerable.  Perhaps it is from my own personal experience with a suicide attempt, but I cannot understand their actions in the least.  Several years ago I inadvertently came across a good friend of mine that had apparently had a gun in his mouth not long before I showed up.  Upon my unexpected arrival, he was in an extremely volatile mental state, and I did not know where to turn.  After staying with him for what seemed like hours, I had to leave him alone.  But after taking that step, I made a trip to the local police station and asked them to check on my friend.  I’m not sure that that extra stop had any impact on his ultimate survival (though he is still alive to this day), but I couldn’t have lived with myself had I not sent the police to check on him.

Obviously my experience is quite a bit different.  This was a good friend of mine, where Laradon Hall had no previous interaction with Mr. Beech.   And there was certainly not $100,000 on the line in my case.  However, I can’t imagine ignoring that kind of cry for help.  Mr. Beech might have said that everything was okay, but it obviously was not.  I sincerely hope that the actions of not only a single employee, but also of the board of directors of Laradon Hall are not what we would expect to see from a majority of people.

Today, rather than talking about the life of Mr. Beech and his generous gesture of good will to an organization with which he had no known prior relationship, we are discussing the actions of that organization and the pain Mr. Beech’s family must be experiencing.  Today, the family is battling Laradon Hall in court over their rights to the money and the remainder of the will considering the circumstances, rather than remembering their loved one for his last act of kindness.  Today, I am sad that I have to pull my glove out of my pocket to slap Laradon Hall.

Why “Glove Slap” you ask?  And what about “AnnoyedGrunt”?  At first I was leaning toward “Dueling Blogs” or something like that, but it didn’t give an accurate picture of me or my intent with this blog.  As an avid Simpsons fan, I’ve always been a big fan of the episode “E-I-E-I-(Annoyed Grunt)”.  In the episode, which many of you may remember as the “Tomacco” episode, Homer watches a Zorro movie at the beginning and becomes enamored with challenging people to a duel, leading to a parody version of “Love Shack” called “Glove Slap”.

I’m not sure of the exact origin of the Glove Slap in dueling terms, but essentially slapping an individual in the face with a glove signifies your desire to duel them.  My plan for this blog (which may morph over time…perhaps when my glove slapping attracts the wrong person, kind of like the Simpsons episode) is to “Glove Slap” people from across the web, world news, my real life, etc. (I’ll try to keep sports-related blogs to a minimum, but no guarantees) over specific incidents which cause me to reach to my back pocket for my virtual dueling glove.

Hopefully we will have some laughs, some heated debates, and all learn a valuable lesson like the one Homer learns in E-I-E-I-(Annoyed Grunt)…that the tobacco companies will always win in the end.  Sorry I couldn’t find a good video to post of the Glove Slap song…maybe my first glove slap should be Fox.  I’m sure I could find plenty to duel them over.

Happy blogging.  I’ll be researching my first real post and hope to have one up later today.