I just got back from Las Vegas, where I spent three days at the IFA Annual Convention surrounded by franchisors and everyone who supports them. I go every year, but this one felt different.
CareerPlug was there as an exhibitor, and one of the highlights was sharing printed copies of my new book, The Franchise People Playbook.
The feedback we got on the floor was genuinely encouraging. It felt like the ideas in the book landed at exactly the right moment for a lot of people. (If you weren’t able to attend, you can download a copy free here.)
The energy around AI and technology was everywhere. And yet, almost every meaningful conversation I had kept coming back to the same thing: people.
I’ve been saying this for years, and I believe it more now than ever. The brands that are winning in franchising are the ones where the right people are in the right roles, supported by the right systems. Everything else (the brand, the model, the marketing) is table stakes. People are the differentiator.
Here’s my three big takeaways from IFA.
Franchising runs on relationships and AI won’t change that
The AI and robotics sessions at IFA were genuinely fascinating. There is a lot of change coming, and it will create both big opportunities and real risks for franchise operators. I don’t think anyone should look away from that.
What I kept thinking as I sat in those sessions was that franchising is a relationship business.
There are three relationships that make or break a franchise system.
First, the relationship between the franchisor and franchisee, which is built on an enormous amount of trust that goes in both directions.
Second, the relationship between the franchisee and their employees. People come to work for other people, their leaders, their teammates, the people they serve. And when they leave, it’s usually for the same reasons they came.
Third, for service-based franchises especially, the relationship between employees and customers. These are people in someone’s home, caring for a loved one, making physical contact with a customer. That relationship is the brand.
AI should make all of these relationships stronger. It should help franchisors support franchisees more effectively, help franchisees hire and retain better employees, and help those employees deliver on the brand promise more consistently. The right use of these tools amplifies what’s already working.
What AI cannot do — and should not try to do — is replace the human judgment, care, and connection that these relationships require.
The people-support gap needs to close now
I had a version of the same conversation at least a dozen times at IFA. That gap between what franchisees need with hiring and retention, and the support they actually get, came up in conversation after conversation.
Franchisors who used to be very hands-on with their franchisees on the people side — sharing who to look for, how to evaluate candidates, what good looks like in their system — and then pulled back when joint employer concerns took hold. Most said some version of the same thing: “Lawyers told us to stay out of it.”
I get it. Nobody wants to get on the wrong side of the lawyers. But while franchisors have a meticulously defined playbook for everything else, operators feel left in the cold on people issues. Honestly, I think for some franchisees it feels like a cop-out.
The 2020 NLRB ruling is still the current standard, and it already gives franchisors meaningful room to act. Job posting templates, interview guides, onboarding checklists, training materials, staffing guidance are all permissible today. The legal line is “substantial direct and immediate countrol” over individual employment decisions. Sharing best practices across your system is nowhere near that line.
The rules have changed four times (really!) in the past decade as administrations have shifted, which is exactly why franchisors have been reluctant to invest in people support infrastructure.
What I heard over and over at IFA is that people know there is a real cost to inaction. Many franchisors are ready to stop letting a fear of the legal worst-case scenario keep them from acting and to instead start investing in the people support their franchisees need to thrive.
The American Franchise Act cannot pass soon enough. And with bipartisan support behind it, I think it will.
More is expected of Franchise Business Coaches
The FBC role has always been largely oriented around compliance and relationship maintenance. It’s about making sure franchisees are following the model, keeping things on track.
What I heard at IFA is that there’s growing recognition that this role needs to shift toward growth and performance. And you cannot have a real conversation about growth and performance without talking about the people on the ground at every location.
That shift is harder to make when the FBC feels like they can’t touch the people side of the business. But as I mentioned above, the current rules actually allow for more support than many franchisors realize.
FBCs at high-performing organizations are making people issues a core part of every coaching relationship. And that investment compounds. Better hiring leads to stronger teams, stronger teams drive better unit performance, and better unit performance gives the whole system more momentum. That’s the flywheel effect and every turn makes the next one easier.
The brands that equip their FBCs to coach on people and performance — not just compliance — are going to have a significant advantage as the industry evolves. The ones who never made people issues a priority will need to catch up fast.
More soon,
Clint