The Personal Touch
by Eddy Goldberg
Excerpted from Multi-Unit Franchisee magazine article,"Putting Business Coaching To The Test, Issue IV 2008
After a successful career in franchise sales at Sylvan Learning Center, where she helped the system grow from 300 to more than 750 units, Flo Schell left her job as vice president of franchise sales to train as a personal and business coach. Today she's come full circle, working with franchisors and franchisees as a coach. In addition to coaching, Schell has written a book, Stop Selling...Start Clicking, to help business owners with selling and growth.
Growth "really is about relationships. In my days at Sylvan, I would talk more about communicating from the heart, talking to people as a human being, rather than just another prospect. When we do that, we're at our best," she says. "It's the same process I used that doubled our franchise system. There's certainly nothing soft about this."
One franchisor she worked with had eight area developers falling behind in their development schedule. "The issue for this company was that the ADs had purchased a larger region they promised to develop, and life was getting in the way. Every single day life will get in the way." She helps them discover ways to rise above the everyday and focus on developing their units and territories.
In addition to her 20-plus years in franchise operations and sales, Schell brings 6 years of training and certification as a coach. "Coaching is helpful because it goes deeper than the conversation you have with your franchisor, because you're protecting yourself there. With a coach, you're much more apt to dig deeper," she says. For her, coaching is a personal experience involving collaboration, interaction, co-creation, and trust. "The one-on-one aspect is ideal because you get to the heart of what's going on."
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