How Right at Home Supports New Franchisees with Stacey Brown

Right at Home's Right Start Manager, Stacey Brown, spoke with Sr. VP of Franchise Development, Jen Chaney, about Franchisee Onboarding and Support. 

Stacey joined the Right at Home team in 2023 as the Onboarding Project Manager, bringing over a decade of experience in the hospital industry and five years of managing an in-home care franchise. Her passion lies in helping seniors age gracefully and maintaining their dignity by empowering them to age in their homes. Stacey’s commitment is to ensure that new franchisees have a seamless RightStart Onboarding experience, from the moment they sign their franchise agreement to obtaining their first client and caregiver. 

Listen to hear more about the resources that Right at Home provides to franchisees as they join the system and open the doors to their business.

Thank you for listening to Franchising with Right at Home. 

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Questions? Email franchising@rightathome.net

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:02

Hello everyone, and thank you for joining us for this Tuesday talk. I am interviewing my friend Stacy this afternoon, and I'll have Stacy introduce herself in just a moment here. But please introduce yourself to our listeners.

SPEAKER_00 0:17

Thanks, Jen. It's so exciting to be here. I am Stacy Brown. I am the Right Start Manager with Right at Home.

SPEAKER_01 0:23

Okay. So we're going to start with the basics. Can you please describe what is right start? I know it's a that is a very loaded question for you, but just kind of what are the basics of right start? What all is included, the topics, subjects, just very high level. Describe what right start means.

SPEAKER_00 0:46

Absolutely. So right start is once this franchisee signs their franchise agreement, they come over to our Write Start portfolio and we work with them to get them up and moving along in their business until they are open. So we are hand holding them through every process of the stage. So maybe when they first come over to us, we are talking through how to create an email address. What does that look like for so we can communicate with them? Next, we talk about late labor regs and we help them get set up with their payroll company. And then we send them off to Residence Week. And then next steps, we work with them to get them open.

SPEAKER_01 1:26

Okay, got it. All right. So we have um a lot of frequently asked questions to the franchise development team. So kind of the journey that somebody goes through, they start working with a development director on the franchise development team, um, eventually getting to uh what we call a discovery day. And that's kind of the final step in the process where um we decide, are you the right fit for right at home? And then of course, uh as a prospective owner, you're you're doing the same. You know, are we the right fit for you and what you're looking for in your business that you want to purchase? So then once approved, they start working with you and your team on various things. So what would you say is the number one thing that people uh see as a challenge? Um, and any advice that you can offer right now to somebody who's watching this, like, okay, I'm thinking about joining right at home and I'm really worried about X, Y, or Z. Um, and I just don't know much of any guidance on this specific topic. So you doing this day in, day out, is there a common challenge that you see with brand new owners that like every single time they make this assumption or uh they're not ready for this, you know, hurdle that they have to overcome? Is there anything that comes to mind?

SPEAKER_00 2:41

Usually the thing that um owners get most hung up on is everything they have to do. So there's usually a long list of items that need to be done to be able to open your business. And so us in the right start, we have a nice to-do list that we work through to make sure that the owner has everything set up in their business. So once they open, they can be successful. One of the things that that is usually what owners get hung up the most is that big laundry list of items. Yeah. What seems to come a little bit later is how much sales, right? What does sales look like? Um, and so we work very closely in providing support once they're close to opening on the marketing aspect of it.

SPEAKER_01 3:19

Okay. So it's not just you. And I you have a counterpart, Michelle, um, that um uh really cover uh the majority of the Right Start program, but it's not just the two of you kind of doing all of these things yourselves. You have a lot of subject matter experts that you incorporate as part of the process that help you with various um portions of the business, if you will. Is that correct?

SPEAKER_00 3:44

Yep. So Michelle and I are kind of the coach that is the connecting point to everybody in the Right at Home corporate office. We're very, very lucky at Right at Home that we have so many subject matter experts in each area to help support those franchisees as they get in, whether or not it's maybe choosing a payroll company, right? We have a team dedicated that really helps walk through what are things that you should consider when choosing a payroll company all the way on through to when we get to sales, we work with another team on how do you market? How do you get out there and what should you be tracking? So Michelle and I are just kind of that contact person to help keep things moving and organized. And then we really lean into a lot of people on our corporate team to help us.

SPEAKER_01 4:26

Yes. Okay, so two questions have come in, but before I read these two questions, I I want to be clear on one point. This, uh, as I mentioned uh earlier, kind of this phase. So they've signed their franchise agreement, you know, they're approved, signed franchise agreement, they're officially part of the Red and Home system. Then it's a bunch of time business opens, and you and Michelle are the ones that they work with during that period of time. There's a lot of things to cover, but I want to be very clear that you guys have put together a really wonderful step-by-step process. It's one day at a time, it's one week at a time, it's one month at a time getting through this laundry list of of things uh to cover. So it's it's I don't want people to think it's it's overwhelming and gosh, it's so much and it's everything all at once. Uh, you guys are wonderful at taking it one step at a time, one day at a time. Okay. So this first question says if I am purchasing an existing right-at-home business, would I still work with your team?

SPEAKER_00 5:32

Yeah, that's a great question. Absolutely. So you are going to get the support whether or not you're buying a brand new franchisee or you're coming in to purchase an existing. Um, maybe communication might be a little bit different. How we're working with the subject matter might be a little bit different. The time frame, I think, sometimes moves a little bit quicker when we're working with a resale. But uh, Michelle and I kind of accommodate to the buyer's needs, whatever that looks like. Um we can fit in all those pieces, but they still get the same support whether or not they're buying a new franchisee or they're buying an existing.

SPEAKER_01 6:06

Okay, perfect. And then this this next question is uh I'm just gonna do rapid fire here, Stacy. So this next question, we get a lot. Uh and it says, and well, actually, I'm gonna add to it, the question says, How far in the process do I start hiring caregivers? I'll let you uh answer that question before I add on to it.

SPEAKER_00 6:25

Yeah, so caregivers is kind of that last piece, right? So what we consider year officially open is when you hire your first two caregivers. You orientate them. That usually happens, I would say, about a month after residence week. So it all depends on what that time frame looks like because in each state the license takes a little bit different. But I like to say once you get to residence week, you're usually hiring your first two caregivers about a month afterwards.

SPEAKER_01 6:53

Okay. So second part to that question, do you hire caregivers first and then you go seek clients? Or do you find that first client and then hire caregivers?

SPEAKER_00 7:05

So you are gonna hire your caregivers first, you know, as long as you know, I always say office staff first, then caregivers. Normally during that entire process, you're out marketing, right? Um, because it takes time to build that trust with the community. So they send clients to you. And so you're still marketing along the way, but we want you to have two caregivers, um, even sometimes closer to six or eight caregivers, right? Because it fluctuates on their availability once you get that client. And we want to make sure fast is the game, Jenny, Jen. So making sure that when that client calls, you can staff them immediately. And so making sure you have those caregivers on staff is key.

SPEAKER_01 7:43

Yes. And, you know, on the flip side, communicating with uh caregivers, it's okay to say, like, hey, I am the new owner of the local uh Ride and Home franchise here in the area. I'm seeking to hire my first caregivers to my roster. I don't have any clients yet, but I'm seeking to um um, you know, hire a few caregivers so that when I get a client, I have a caregiver to pair them with. Um, so the communication is easy on that front, and you're absolutely right. What you don't want to do is get a client and then be like, okay, great, I'll take your case, but I got to go find some caregivers first. You know, that's that's what you don't want. Um, so thank you for that. Uh okay, so this next question says, How long does an owner work with a right start manager?

SPEAKER_00 8:30

So we start obviously, like you said, right from Discovery Day. Once you get approved, you come over to Michelle or I's portfolio. We stick with you until either you open your brand new territory or you transfer and you buy an existing. Um, we then stay with you, I would say three to six-ish months post-opening or transfer to make sure that everything is set up correctly. There's no questions. Because by the time you're moving over to that business coach, even though we're similar in our coaching aspects, we're more coaching to a weekly aspect where the business coaches are more coaching to a monthly aspect. So I want to make sure that that buyer is completely comfortable with their business before we move them over to the business coach.

SPEAKER_01 9:13

Okay. And so if you can, without giving any specific, you know, financial information, um, what qualifies a franchise owner for that transition from you and your team to their full-time business performance coach.

SPEAKER_00 9:28

So I want, if it's a resale, I really want them meeting, you know, that number that maybe when they sign that LOI, right? So they're profiting. I think that's a nice indicator that they're not feeling comfortable, right? We we kind of dug ourselves out and we're making profit. With a brand new territory, it looks a little bit different. I want to make sure they're hitting their break-even. In break-even, we use that very loosely because everybody's break-even is a little bit different. So I want to make sure that they can keep their lights on and that they are getting new clients, their signing caregivers in their system is operating. We, that transition from right start to business coach is seamless because usually about a month before we make that transition, that business coach is joining our calls. So they're really getting to know that business so they know how to support that owner. So that way it's a seamless transition.

SPEAKER_01 10:20

Okay, perfect. Thank you for that. Uh okay, so this next question says, um, and I'll I'll take a stab uh at the at answering this question first, and then you can certainly um uh uh chime in uh uh here. But it says, I am currently considering a territory and discovered that a previous franchisee closed operations in in that same territory. In such situations, is there typically any additional support or different strategic approach provided? Um I was also informed that this territory had higher concentration of Medicaid clients. Um, so um my answer to that would be in any case, if if you're purchasing a territory that's brand new, never been owned before, or it's a territory uh that you have discovered has been previously owned before. Um, my answer to that is we really focus on the franchisee who is owning and operating the business and what your clear direction is as the franchise owner. Uh, not necessarily like, okay, this was because each franchisee has their own story. You know, uh reasons being why the previous owner closed operations, there's there's a million reasons why that could be. Um, but our focus is to make sure that you as the new franchise owner are meeting all of the standards, uh, that you're following, you know, our standard procedures, getting out there, um, hitting up all the referral sources, uh, sales, you know, proper office stuff. We want to make sure that we are setting you up per our current standards and clear direction on KPIs. And um, so I wouldn't say there is any uh different approach if you're purchasing a territory that has been previously owned. Um, our approach is to make sure that you are fully supported and we're gonna hold you accountable uh to doing all of those things that you need to do to grow your business as the current owner. Um that would be my answer uh to that question. Um, as far as like higher concentration of Medicaid uh clients, you can certainly um comment on that, Stacey. But anything you have to add uh in addition to that first part would be appreciated.

SPEAKER_00 12:30

I would say, I mean, we're still gonna support you the exact same way, whether or not that territory was owned previously. Um you're a different person. So I want to make sure I'm meeting the needs of you as a buyer rather than the needs of the person that had sold their clothes, that business. As for Medicaid concentration, I think you're always gonna see a higher Medicaid concentration in a lot of locations. Um, the key is to market to the correct areas, and that is what's awesome about right at home. We have a real we have a very focus on sales. And so making sure you're marketing to the correct sales area to pull out those private pay clients, right? We still go back to you want the lump sum of your business to be private pay. You're still probably gonna mix in a little bit of Medicaid and a little bit of VA, but they're out there. Um, you just maybe have to market to a little bit different area.

SPEAKER_01 13:17

Okay, perfect. And I I uh thank you for that. That was that was a perfect answer. Um, more a couple questions just came to mind that we get asked quite frequently. Um obviously in the franchise agreement, it states, you know, from the time that you sign your franchise agreement to the time that your office is open for business, that needs to be within six months. So we're gonna do everything we can to help you and support you to meet um uh that standard. Um of course, if there's any delays when it comes to licensure, if you are in a licensure state, that's something that's that's out of our hands and out of our control, um, that there are exceptions to that uh when it comes to licensure. But specifically, and I just lost my train of thought. Um, oh, okay, so um in addition to that, obviously we want the office to be open within that six-month timeframe. But once an office opens, can you share some insight into some of those KPIs uh that you and your team established with the new franchise owner? Okay, your business is open. Let's set some goals. We want you to be at this by this time, you know, um, whether it's specific revenue or clients or any metrics. Is it standard from um franchisee to franchisee, or is it kind of customized based off of their market or their experience? Obviously, it's a little bit different from a resale to a new territory, but just kind of talk about goal setting and um execution of a plan and what that looks like.

SPEAKER_00 14:48

So I'm gonna just talk to new territories right off the bat, right? So if we're looking at growing new territories, you open, right? One of the numbers that we really focus on is growing clients. So the number of clients billed and the number of caregivers paid, okay? Because if those two items are growing, your hours are gonna grow and so is your revenue. So we really try to focus on making sure perfect world is is you're netting almost one client a week, okay? And you're netting almost two caregivers a week. So then that way you have a team of caregivers that's constantly supporting those new um clients coming in. So that's we leave that there, okay. Then we also really want to get them hitting their break-even number. Um, and so we work that's more individualized for each franchisee because everybody's break-even obviously is a little bit different. One of the numbers we really try hard to get to um with new territories is billing 25,000 a month, is kind of where it's perfect, right? And that's kind of where we're seeing that you're feeling pretty good on a consistent basis. And that looks different from someone in California to maybe someone in Alabama, but we meet the needs of each one. We just notice that that once you hit that, the traction keeps growing and growing, and it's a nice fit. As for new, as for resales, we still focus on those same numbers. We want you growing clients, we want your growing caregivers, because naturally your hours are gonna go up and your revenue is gonna go up.

SPEAKER_01 16:17

Okay, thank you for that. I'm just kind of jumping all over the place as questions come to mind. So you talked about this earlier, um, kind of that uh journey from a franchise agreement signing to um open business. You mentioned um kind of that first phase of um onboarding, uh virtual um Zoom meetings, uh regular uh cadence of meetings via Zoom between you and the franchise owner leading up to residence week. So residence week is uh a week of in-person training here at our corporate headquarters here in Omaha, Nebraska. And then shortly after you complete residence week, um, making the assumption you've got your license, your office is open, and shortly thereafter you can officially launch and open your business. But can you describe what is the difference between everything a franchise owner learns in that first phase leading up to residence week and what is essentially saved for residence week? Why is it in person here in Omaha? Who all attends that? What is the need for that in-person training versus everything that that you and Michelle cover leading up to that point?

SPEAKER_00 17:30

So most of the stuff we cover leading up, okay, and here's the thing, Jen, we never graph something the first time, right? It's it we need to hear it multiple times. And so that's really what we've learned in the adult learning model is that we're gonna present it, we're gonna introduce you to some of those subject matter experts that are gonna talk through, you know, um, caregiver orientation. What does that look like? Client consults, how do we do those? What is really cool is we present that, talk about it um earlier on. They come to Residence Week. Now they really get to experience it. Now we get face-to-face interaction, we get that training that you cannot do over Zoom. The best part about Residence Week is the other owners and other staff members that come there and you get to learn from each other and you get to practice and you really build strong bonds that can't take place over Zoom.

SPEAKER_01 18:21

Okay, perfect. And then another question that we frequently get, um, and is especially this this is stemmed from um everybody who goes through this process, they go through franchisee validation. Some of our listeners, right now, I'm sure, are currently in that process where they they they pick up the phone and they talk to some of our existing right-at-home franchise owners. So, regarding caregiver recruitment and retention. So a lot of people who who who join the right-at home system, they've never owned a business before. Um, they really um have you know just basic knowledge on senior care uh in general and and franchise ownership, if you will. Specifically when it comes to recruiting caregivers, which I say caregivers really are the heartbeat of your business. You really don't have much of a business if you don't have caregivers. So regarding caregiver recruitment, how do you help a franchise owner with that starting point of where do I even begin to recruit caregivers? How do I recruit caregivers? Are there multiple ways? Is there a specific platform? Like, do I have to create a job template from scratch? Like, can you just give some insight into caregiver recruitment first and foremost? Then we'll get to retention.

SPEAKER_00 19:34

So we have an awesome team, People Strategy, that we work really closely with, that they really help our owners recruit. Okay. Um, we also have a platform that we call an ATS applicant tracking system that really helps with the recruiting aspect of it and posting jobs to different areas. We also have a lot of different um templates out there on our library that owners can pull from to use during that recruitment. We do have some pretty solid relationships with Indeed, and we have some reps there that we work very closely with, and they seem to help our owners with recruiting, and it's made a huge difference um in that aspect.

SPEAKER_01 20:17

Okay. So then after, thank you for that. Um, so after a franchise owner uh has opened their business and um you establish those goals and um you know you were tracking against those goals. At what point do you make adjustments to those goals? Or at what point do you say, okay, maybe we need to try something different? So um just kind of describe to me what that working relationship looks like with our franchise owners after they have opened and after you're kind of tracking against um, you know, the goals and and progress uh on the plan. Um, what adjustments are made um if you identify, hey, you know, I think there's an issue here, we need to make some changes. Kind of describe what that looks like, changes to a plan.

SPEAKER_00 21:06

So we're usually meeting with our owners multiple times a week. And so we are constantly working, going, they may say, no, we're struggling on recruitment. Great, let's get people strategy into a call, let's get someone from Indeed in. Maybe we need to tweak something. What does that look like? So there's no real set time frame of hey, we're gonna wait 30 days, we're gonna wait 60 days. We uh really lean hard on our SMEs, our subject matter experts, to say, hey, no, I think you can make this and I think you're gonna see huge results on that. But that kind of walks hand in hand with we work so closely with our owners on not only a weekly basis, but multiple times a week, making sure that they feel supported during this process.

SPEAKER_01 21:47

Okay. So uh but kind of a follow up to that question. So something you said if a franchise owner is like, hey, I'm really struggling with recruitment, what if what about a franchise owner that may not be able to identify that? What do you? And Stacey, you and Michelle do to really kind of flip the script on them to say, hey, I'm looking at your business as a whole. And it appears to me that you're having some challenges with this, something that a franchise owner may not identify as a problem, but you and your area of expertise and doing this for quite some time and seeing, you know, multiple franchise owners, you know what to look for that a franchise owner may not. So what does that look like when you've identified, hey, I've identified something that could use a little bit of change, uh, and here's what I'm proposing. Uh, what do those conversations look like?

SPEAKER_00 22:37

So again, because we've built such a solid relationship with these owners, is during these calls we talk about where I'm constantly showing them in their operating system what to look for, how to see things, and teaching them what I know is the goal, is I want them to see what I see. And so, really sharing my screen and moving along that route. Um, we do have hard conversations. I wish everything was perfect and we're always growing our hours, but that's not always the case. So we have to have some hard to hear. And usually owners, they're willing, they're just excited to hear maybe there's a different idea that they're missing. And sometimes maybe if that can't get across, we have so many franchisees in our system that are willing to support new owners. So a lot of times, if I know someone's really struggling, maybe I'm gonna connect with someone that has a similar like or a similar situation that they grew past that. So we really try to play that connector of connecting them with someone else that maybe can help them see something that I can't.

SPEAKER_01 23:38

Okay. Um sorry, we've only got a few minutes left, and I have like three more questions I want to squeeze in uh and ask you before we hang up here. So um, how do how do franchise owners know or how do you help them with you know what to pay their caregivers? Um, what to to bill a client? So what what kind of uh insight do franchise owners give when it comes to that starting point of what's the starting rate for a caregiver uh in my area? And you know, what should I bill these? My I've got two new clients, and what should I be, you know, uh billing as um, you know, my bill rate. So what kind of guidance and um do you provide in in in that regard?

SPEAKER_00 24:23

We have a couple different things. We have some platforms that we use that we pull data from. We also can pull data from maybe your state on what other owners are doing, but nothing truly beats you picking up the phone and calling your competitors, right, to find out what does that look like, right? Also searching on indeed, trying to decide what that pay rate looks like. We can give you some guiding principles, but also just doing some research on your own to understand what that truly looks like.

SPEAKER_01 24:51

Great. Okay, thank you for that. And then also, um, and of course, what I'm about to say, uh, in the franchise disclosure document, we've we've got a full list of um startup costs when you're starting a new business from scratch and what to expect those first few months. Um so certainly uh check out your FDD for more details in that regard. But once we have a franchise owner who opens, how do you kind of um help them manage those costs and identify like, okay, so um, you know, perhaps you're spending a little bit too much here and you should be spending more here? Um, so is there an aspect of making sure that they're staying within um, you know, regular startup range of costs? You know, they shouldn't be paying, you know, uh a million dollars to um, you know, uh, you know, take a billboard on the interstate. You know, that's probably not a smart business decision when you first start your business. Um, but how do you help uh franchise owners with those just day-to-day costs and making sure that they're within uh the normal range of a startup uh franchise?

SPEAKER_00 25:59

So we have um a strategic business plan that we really lean in hard to to help these franchisees understand the business model and what they should be paying for and how they build that out. We also kind of have a model internally that we like to see our franchisees nearing. Um, and that's realistically where we depend on that business coach. That business coach joins those calls to kind of talk through hey, this is you should have your office payroll should be around 15%. You should be gross profit around this. And so we work very closely to really help break that down. Not only do we have um different um documents that they can use, we also have some pieces inside our operating system that they can really um take advantage of to understand where is all the money going.

SPEAKER_01 26:46

Okay, perfect. All right, so we just have a few minutes left. Stacy, time flies when you're having fun. Um, is there anything uh that we didn't talk about that you feel like, Jen, you didn't ask me this question. I think it's relevant to say. Um, so any uh final thoughts for our audience, and knowing that the people that are listening to this are are potentially um you know interested in joining the ride at home system. Any final thoughts that you can provide that we haven't covered so far?

SPEAKER_00 27:14

No, I think you hit on everything. I think we have just an intense training. We get to know our owners, Michelle and I, very closely. And so don't be nervous. We have a great list of things to help you get your business up and running, and then we'll support you along the way. So I think you hit on everything.

SPEAKER_01 27:30

Okay, perfect. And uh, you know what, a question just did come in and I want to address it, really not necessarily for you to answer, but it says, is this webinar being recorded and will I be able to watch it at a at a later date? And the answer is yes. So uh this will be provided uh in our resource center on our uh YouTube page. Of course, if you're working with your development director, they can share the link with you uh once the uh recording uh is finalized and and downloaded um into our resource center. So yes, you will be able to watch it at a future date. Okay. Thank you so much, Stacey. I really appreciate you taking the time to do this. I know you are a super busy lady. Uh I appreciate you taking the time to do this, and I know that our listeners do as well. So thanks again.

SPEAKER_00 28:11

Awesome. Thanks, Jen.

SPEAKER_01 28:12

Okay, have a great day.