Supporting Franchisee Success with Mallory Hoskinson

What does support really look like when you become a Right at Home Franchise Owner?

In this episode of Tuesday Talk, Jen Chaney sits down with Mallory Hoskinson, Senior Director of Growth and Engagement, to discuss how Right at Home helps new Franchise owners navigate the journey from Discovery Day to business ownership.

Mallory shares what the team looks for in prospective franchisees, how the RightStart onboarding program prepares owners for success, and why hands-on training, shadowing opportunities, and ongoing coaching are critical during the early stages of growth. She also provides insight into the tools, performance metrics, and support systems that help Franchise owners build sustainable businesses while making an impact in their communities.

Whether you're exploring Franchise ownership or preparing to open your first territory, this conversation offers a behind-the-scenes look at the resources, guidance, and Network available to Right at Home Franchise owners every step of the way.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• What happens after signing a Right at Home Franchise Agreement
• What the RightStart onboarding experience includes
• How Residence Week and Franchisee shadowing prepare new owners for success
• The role of business performance coaches and ongoing support teams
• How data and key performance indicator(s) help drive growth
• Common challenges new Franchise owners face and how to overcome them
• Advice for candidates evaluating Franchise ownership opportunities
• Why home care can be both challenging and deeply rewarding

If you've ever wondered what it takes to launch and grow a home care business with the support of a Franchise System, this episode is a great place to start.

Thank you for listening to Franchising with Right at Home. 

Ready to explore ownership? Start here.

Learn more about our available territories: https://rightathomefranchise.com/available-territories/

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Questions? Email franchising@rightathome.net

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:02

Hello everyone and welcome to this Tuesday talk. Uh I am interviewing my friend Mallory today for this Tuesday talk, and I will have Mallory introduce herself here in just one moment. But before we get started for our live listeners, we love audience participation. So if this is your first Tuesday talk you're attending live, thank you for joining us. But we love audience participation, and you can participate as an audience member by clicking the QA button that's most likely on the bottom of your Zoom screen, could be up at the top. But there's a little button that says QA. If you don't see it, there's a button that's a circle with three dots. And if you click on that, there the QA button is within dots of buttons, lots of buttons. But anyway, click on that QA button and you can type in a question. You can even click a little box that says anonymous, so I won't know what your name is. But anyway, as Mallory and I are visiting, if a question comes to mind, please don't be shy and type in a question. It just makes the conversation much more meaningful and relevant to the audience at hand here. So anyway, without further ado, uh Mallory, if you would please go ahead and introduce yourself to our listeners.

SPEAKER_00 1:24

Happy to. My name is Mallory Hoskinson and I am our Senior Director of Growth and Engagement. That's a super fancy title for I used to work in franchise operations and support all of our franchise owners with our business coaching team, our Wright Start onboarding team, and our sales and strategic alliances team.

SPEAKER_01 1:44

Okay, awesome. So I'm just gonna jump right into it. So knowing that the audience that we have joining us are people who are interested in potentially joining the Right at Home system and becoming a brand new Right at Home franchise owner, let's let's just focus on those new owners and that initial support, initial guidance. We're gonna talk a little bit about training and education before their business officially opens and then kind of what that support looks like uh thereafter. But I think for the sake of this particular webinar and knowing the audience are potentially brand new franchise owners, let's just focus on the beginning journey of a ride-at-home franchise owner. Does that sound like a plan?

SPEAKER_00 2:32

Got it.

SPEAKER_01 2:33

Okay. Okay, so let's start actually with Discovery Day. So everyone who joins a ride-at-home system, they join a virtual discovery day where we get to know them a little bit better. Um, and I I call it mutual discovery because, of course, you know, we're we're looking for the right fit for uh right-at-home franchise owner, but acknowledge that everybody who joins a Discovery Day, they have a choice as well. Um, on you know, lots of franchises to choose from and and senior care franchises to choose from. But specifically for us, I'd love to for you to talk a little bit about um you and your role and and the team that you support, which are a lot of our franchise coaches, which we're gonna talk about here in just a moment. What are you guys specifically looking for in an ideal candidate to join the right-at-home system? I know that's a very broad question. You could talk all day about it, but maybe just hit some of those high points for those that will be attending a future Discovery Day.

SPEAKER_00 3:28

Yeah. Um, I would say that our team all looks for the same general type things, but as you said, it's pretty broad. We all notice different things in potential franchise owners. But one of the biggest things that we really like to make sure that we understand is that owner-operator model because it is so very important for the owner of the franchise to be involved in the day-to-day operations, especially from the very beginning, um, and really, you know, to be the face of that franchise. And so getting to know that local community, that is, I would say, the number one thing that we look for, and then we we branch from there to really get that understanding of you know the input that that franchise owner is going to put into their new territory.

SPEAKER_01 4:12

Okay. So when you when you meet, because I know that you meet with uh candidates on on Discovery Day, um, what are the some of those things that you are looking for specifically? So everything that you just described, um, what kind of questions do you ask or or things uh getting a general understanding from them on do they know what they're getting themselves into and the reality of running a home care business? Can you talk about that a little bit more?

SPEAKER_00 4:37

Yeah, absolutely. Um, one of my favorite questions that I always kick off with is how would you define success as a right at home franchise owner? And that really guides me in the direction of where that person's mind is at and maybe what I need to dive in a little bit deeper on. Um and so then we really start looking at the quality because it takes two things to make this business happen a client and a caregiver, but ensuring that we have the quality clients and the quality caregivers are very important. So ensuring that that franchise owner is ready for you know the 24 hours a day that this business can be, the seven days a week, um, the importance of getting to know not only those people that you're hiring to represent you on the front lines, but what clients are you know you're recruiting and where you're trying to get those clients from. And so really leaning into the personality of the franchise owner and then their why and their reasoning to want to join right at home, but then also you know, what do they believe is going to make them successful and driving in from there?

SPEAKER_01 5:37

Okay, so I'm making notes here. You're saying a lot of great things. Um, all right. Uh first question for you based off of something that you just said. So, how do you and your team, and and I suppose let's just start with talking about a business performance coach. Um, so you support a great team of coaches that support our franchise owners. Can you describe um the role of a business performance coach and what their role is in supporting our franchise owners and their journey of being a ride-and-home franchisee?

SPEAKER_00 6:10

To put it simply, it's to help our franchise owners build a profitable, sustainable business. But under that purview is a lot of other kind of other duties as assigned. Um our business coaches act as counselors and they act as therapists, but then most of the time we are really trying to look at the business from that 30,000-foot view while so that that franchise owner is able to key in on what we would call like the focus areas, or hey, this is this is going to be an issue, let's get ahead of it before it becomes an issue. So their purpose is to be that that guide for you to help you maximize those goals and to ensure that you're you're moving the business in the right direction and we aren't taking the foot off of the gas in one area while we're working on another area.

SPEAKER_01 6:56

Okay, thank you for that. And before I ask this this next question, because the question did come into the the question box here, um, before I ask this question, can you kind of um paint a very uh broad picture of uh let's just pretend that somebody just came to Discovery Day, they were approved, they signed their franchise agreement, they're officially part of our system. Can you just very high level describe what that support looks like from you and your team from the time they sign their franchise agreement to the time that their their business is is open and operating? And kind of some of the things that we we cover thinking and knowing that the majority of the people who are joining the Ride at Home system, most of them have never owned a business, they have never ran a franchise, and a lot of them are like, ah, what do I do? Where do I start? Kind of paint that picture of what um onboarding and training and support looks like in that that first six-month journey before their business is even open.

SPEAKER_00 7:55

Yeah. Jen, you kind of describe like a blank canvas, you know, somebody that hasn't done this before. And those are ideal candidates because our right start process is set up to walk someone through every step of the process in business ownership, specifically in home care. So as soon as you sign that franchise agreement, we are launching the onboarding process and you meet with your right start onboarding coach right away to walk through what this process will look like. Of course, timelines vary depending on state licensure, but we have some pretty solid milestones that we hit in order to get people to training and then get their doors open. You'll be meeting with the Right Start onboarding coach several times a week leading up to our in-person training called Residence Week. And then post that you continue to meet with your Right Start onboarding manager throughout the process. They're there as you're hiring your first caregivers and serving your first client, doing that first weeks of billing and payroll in every process in between. And so it's kind of like um kindergarten for franchise owners because we are it's a lot of handling to ensure that there's that comfort level. And then it just all starts to click and you graduate from that rate start process.

SPEAKER_01 9:12

Okay, awesome. I love that, I love that comparison.

SPEAKER_00 9:14

It's kind of like kindergarten for break it down very, very easy. You can go steps easier, and some steps it may take a little bit more.

SPEAKER_01 9:23

Okay, so thank you for that. You mentioned residence week. This question that came in from uh our audience says directly after residence week, I've heard that there is a shadowing session with a franchisee at their office. Is this true? If so, how long does that last?

SPEAKER_00 9:38

Yes, great question. It's one of our favorite things. Um, after residence week, we pair you up with someone local to you and go and shadow. These visits can last anywhere from one day to we've had people spend an entire week in the office. It depends on the level of comfort of that brand new franchisee and the time commitment that the tenured franchisee has available for that person. Um, but that way you can see the day-to-day of an active home care office and really, you know, get a good feel of that phone rings and what is going to be on the other end, you know, and how to triage those phone calls. So I would say that that's probably the most impactful part of the Right Start learning process. You've heard it in the classroom and then you see it for real before you actually open your doors.

SPEAKER_01 10:24

Okay, awesome. Thank you for that. And again, before I ask this next question, it's something that I I want to point out, because I see that we do have some people that have joined us live that are interested in joining Right at Home by purchasing a brand new territory. We do have some people in our audience that are interested in a resale opportunity. So the journey that you go through to purchase a new territory versus taking over an existing business, the journey is a little bit different. What Mallory just described as our right start onboarding program to get somebody to launch a business from scratch. We do have a resale onboarding program very similar to right start, but but also very different because our resale buyers are taking over an existing business that is currently open and operating and running. We compare it to you're taking over a flight that's mid-flight. We're not landing this plane in order for you know stopping and switching pilots and then take off again. It's you're taking over mid-flight. So that journey is a little bit, uh, will look a little bit different for those of you that are would be purchasing a resale opportunity. Um, so with that being said, this next question that came in, it's asking, at what point do you typically see franchisees begin to gain momentum in their business?

SPEAKER_00 11:38

Ooh, this is a very good question. So it depends, kind of going back to one of the first questions you asked me, what are we looking for in a franchisee? It really depends on the drive. So if we have a highly motivated franchisee that is just ready and eager to get started and get going, they're likely out in the community even before opening their doors, making sure that the community knows who they are, that they're coming, that they're we're expanding into this market. And I would say our highly motivated franchisees are servicing clients within two weeks of being open and are bringing on those clients and are really, really getting that momentum at anywhere between eight to twelve weeks. Sometimes it's a little bit slower depending on you know that launch out the gate, and just some sometimes there's just things that happen, but I would say even at the latest, we are gaining momentum at like 15 weeks after being opened. And that's when we've got consistent clients coming in and we're we're gaining more clients served and more caregivers working those shifts.

SPEAKER_01 12:46

Yes. And I would say, I would add be so bold to say it is an absolute right-at-home requirement that you are highly motivated and you are eager to get in and get your business up and running and launched and moving and going. You're gonna be uh have the support from your right start manager. Um, you've already mentioned several things that they're gonna be helping you with, but recruiting caregivers and getting clients, that is absolute paramount to get your business launched. And there's no other way to do that other than by you, the franchise owner, getting out there and hitting up those referral sources and focusing on outside sales and of course being trained on inside sales as well, and outside sales being you are out there and introducing yourself to the community saying, Hey, my name's Jen. I'm the new ride at home owner, and this is you know our business model, and this is the service that we provide. I would love a referral from you. Like you are motivated and you are the face of the business, and you are out there like networking and getting to know the people in your community. It is absolutely key. And I would say it's it's a requirement to being a ride at home franchise owner. Would you agree with that?

SPEAKER_00 13:55

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 13:56

Okay. Perfect. All right. So a couple more questions for you. Um so I know we here here at Ride at Home Corporate, there aren't many decisions that we make that don't have um uh data to back it up. So we we make well-informed decisions based off of the data that we have in order to kind of be strategic about our plans and and what we do. And our franchise owners are no different. So, can you talk a little bit about how we use some of those key performance indicators in a franchise owner's business to really um help set the stage and establish goals to help them grow those sustainable, profitable businesses that uh you were talking about, Mallory? Just talk a little bit about data, how we use it, and how we really use it to support our franchise owners.

SPEAKER_00 14:48

So, our entire Bright Start process was built off base of franchisees that have come before and to ensure that we are hitting all of those milestones at the proper times, similar with the goals that we set. So we have franchise owners that have varying break-even. And so, what we will do is you will work directly with your Wright Start coach to determine what your breake-even amount is, and we'll break that down into service hours because that's a really easy thing to make a goal for, and then attainable goals every single week. So, a couple of the KPIs that we watch are obviously new clients and hours per client and hours, weekly billable hours, but then we're also watching your gross profit margin because without having a healthy gross profit margin, you're not able to sustain your business. And then additionally, we watch those client metrics, so clients, um inquiries, and assessments, and conversions, similar with caregivers, so interviews and hires, and then actual caregivers' actual working. So we have several different tools that franchise owners have available to them also to be measuring those, but we really start out the gate with a strategic business plan and help you set those goals so you have your eye on the target from the moment that you open your doors.

SPEAKER_01 16:01

Okay, so everything that you just talked about, it sounds like it's a lot. Like I have to go here to check this and this this platform to check this, and you know, like it seems like it's a lot to keep track of. Can you describe how we help our franchise owners easily kind of package that all into one space so it's easily accessible and visible with live information on their business?

SPEAKER_00 16:24

Absolutely. So we have developed two tools that you need to kind of measure your entire business. One of them is a scorecard that lives in our operations software called our Wealth Guide Scorecard. And the other one is a right focus dashboard and it pulls the five key areas of your business and is able to show you all of that on one screen because you said it sounds like a lot. And if you aren't able to easily access the data, then you're not you're gonna get frustrated and give up. And so that's why we put it right in front of you to be able to make those decisions. Those decisions.

SPEAKER_01 16:59

How often a frequently Mallory, a frequently asked question that we get from people um looking to join the Ride at Home system is how often am I connected with my coach or my support team? It's are there in-person visits, are there virtual visits, are there one-on-one, are they group? So can you kind of talk about like how consistent the coaching team is with um regular check-ins with franchise owners when they first join the Right at Home system and then ongoing as they kind of graduate from their right start manager?

SPEAKER_00 17:33

So, in the beginning, as I said, you are on the phone and on Zoom quite a bit with your right start onboarding coach. And then that kind of tapers off to about weekly, and then it's bi-weekly. And then by the time that you're ready to graduate, you're really only needing to talk to someone monthly, and that's kind of a check-in to make sure that we're we still got our eyes on the target and we're following to meet those KPIs. So by the time you graduate to your business performance coach, most people are meeting on a monthly basis. Again, looking at those four-week goals and ensuring that we're headed in the right direction, and that's kind of the cadence for the entire tenure. Um, in-person visits, you get a right start visit upon graduation or right before graduation, where your right start coach comes out and ensures that you're set up and you feel good and helping in any way that we can help to help grow you and your team. And then after that, our goal is to be in every single office every 18 months. And so that is, and it is purely for a site visit. We don't go in with a checklist and you know, like an audit, anything. It is purely there to, you know, say, hey, how can we help? What can we do? And also what can we learn from you and take back to the corporate office and say, here's what life in the field really is like. Um, and so, but we are meeting with our franchise owners uh typically on a monthly basis for coaching calls and then in-person visits, but then we have our weekly webinars and performance groups and region meetings. I mean, I could keep going on and on. We love engagement, so as often as we can be in front of franchise owners, we make it happen.

SPEAKER_01 19:09

Yes. Okay. Thank you for that. A question came in while you are you were answering that that question. It says, What trends are you seeing in the home care industry that create the biggest growth opportunities for franchise owners today?

SPEAKER_00 19:23

Ooh, that's a really good question. Um, we have been seeing quite a bit of success with people pursuing like long-term care insurance and really marketing to those long-term care insurance um brokers and individuals, but then also your elder law attorneys and those estate planners, we are finding that those are solid, solid referral sources. And so we're gaining quite a bit of traction there.

SPEAKER_01 19:50

Yes, and I I agree with you completely. But first thing that came to my mind, and I know I asked you that question, but I'm also gonna answer it. Um, the first thing that came to my mind was um all the advancements with artificial intelligence and technology and innovation um provide an opportunity for us to work with our franchise owners on how to um uh help our franchise owners and caregivers provide care to clients in a much more efficient way that's that's um assisted by some type of technology or artificial intelligence. To be clear, a caregiver is still going to be providing the care to the clients that are receiving that best in class right-at-home care that we provide. Um, but we have found so many ways to really kind of innovate our business model and and provide um technology advancements to our our uh business model that that help with that uh that personal care um component. Do you have anything to add to that, Mallory?

SPEAKER_00 20:53

I'm gonna say with efficiencies within the office so that more time can be spent with the care. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 20:59

And you're absolutely right. And it that does, it's not just limited to like the direct care that that our franchise owners are providing, you know, caregivers are providing to clients. Um there's a lot of like um office operations and supporting um office staff members, schedulers, um, caregivers themselves, uh, a lot of ways to to make the actual operation of the office more efficient based off of innovation and technology. So, and that's not just for right at home, I would say across you know, every every industry. Um it's there's so many advancements even over the course of the last year that have really kind of uh changed our business model around to make things more efficient. Okay. Um let's see, this next question it says, and I'll read it to you directly. When a new franchisee takes on a new territory, how would they know if any of their clients are already being seen by a neighboring franchisee? Um and do they naturally come across from what was once an open territory? So I think to kind of recap, this person is asking. So when I purchase a new territory, like how do I know if any right at home clients are being provided right at home services right now? And kind of what does that transition look like?

SPEAKER_00 22:14

Yeah, that's a great question. So when a territory is purchased, notification is sent out to surrounding neighbors, right-at-home neighbors, and throughout the right start process, we introduce the new franchise owner to the neighbors to say, you know, hey, they're in, here's where they're going to be servicing, here's how you all could best work together. But then there's a step further, and we do an audit to see who's servicing and if there are clients in that new territory. And then notification is made on both sides, and that client is considered a legacy client of the current franchise owner until there is a break in service of 30 days or more. And that at that point in time, then when that client, if they were to come back on in services, they would then go to the new franchise owner in their respective territory. However, Jen, I have seen it where sometimes people are like, Thank goodness you bought this territory, you will have caregivers here. As soon as you have caregivers, let me know because I'm having a hard time staffing this client. So it's a case-by-case scenario, but there's absolutely um notification made, and and we're tracking that to make sure that that new territory is set up for success from the very beginning.

SPEAKER_01 23:22

Yes. Okay, perfect. All right. Um let's talk. I'm gonna shift gears just a little bit and talk about um challenges. So I think with any with any entrepreneur, any business owner, it's not gonna be all rainbows and butterflies all the time. There will be challenges in business ownership. So I just want to talk about when a franchise owner is having a challenging day or a challenging moment, something has happened, they call the coach and they say, Hey, this is what happened. How can you help me troubleshoot through this? So, can you talk about kind of and not just limited to the coach, uh, maybe just talk a little bit about all of the different uh individuals as an existing franchise owner, the support system that franchise owners have when challenges arise, and just kind of talk through that a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 24:15

So the coach, I would like to say, is like the key conduit to um everybody at the corporate office and a lot of people in the franchise system. The best benefit of being in a franchise system is you're not alone. And although it may be a brand new scenario, there's been something similar. Um, if you know they're having that heyday of a moment. And so that business performance coach is able to be on the phone and helping diagnose and fix or do whatever is needed to be done, provide that guidance. If we need to, we'll connect to you with a subject matter expert team here within the office if it's specifically related. Or likely they're messaging the rest of the business coaches going, hey, who do you know that has dealt with XYZ and would be willing to talk to this person? Because franchise owners love hearing from a fellow franchise owners who have been in similar critic events. And so that's one of the best things we can do is connect people and say, you know, I worked with this person, and here they would love to get on the phone with you and provide that introduction.

SPEAKER_01 25:15

Perfect. Thank you for that. Because quite often people who join the right-at-home system, they just think about like everyone here at corporate headquarters that, which, which, yes, there's over 100 last I checked 115 people that work here at corporate headquarters, and our our jobs are to help and support you as a franchise owner. Um, that is quite literally all of our jobs. However, don't forget about all of the other hundreds of right-at-home franchise owners that exist in this system right now. They're going to be equally as helpful to you as a new franchise owner. And we have some of the best franchise owners in the system where they are more than willing to spend their time helping and supporting you as a brand new owner in the system. They were there once as well. They they had their challenges when they first opened and you know, things that constantly came up, and they are more than willing to help, which I'm sure you will validate with our franchise owners when you go through the franchisee validation part of the education and approval process. So I have a couple more questions for you because we're getting close on time. Um for the people that are interested in joining the Right at Home system, that are going through this process right now, that are watching this webinar, can you give a piece of advice for those individuals who are thinking about joining right at home, whether they're scheduled to attend our next discovery day, so something that they, a question they need to be asking, or something that they need to be focusing now on now, or due diligence that they need to be doing right now in order for them to make an informed decision on if this is something that they want to do or not.

SPEAKER_00 26:55

Yeah. Uh Jenna, it's hard to narrow it down to one. So can I give you two? You sure can. So I would say understand and know the territory that you're interested in that you want to purchase so that you have a great idea of the landscape as you go into it, meaning, you know, what's there just the research of the physical territory itself. Sure. And then secondly, is to ask when in the validation, you know, what are things that you wish you would have known? And then flip it and ask yourself like, am I ready to have, as a brand new business owner, have expenses going out before revenue comes back in? Because we are a model that you have to have expenses going out before you start recovering those. And okay, to know that you have to have that investment in order for the revenues to come.

SPEAKER_01 27:49

Great, great piece of advice. Okay, so second, let's just pretend. I'm a new franchise owner, I just opened my business yesterday. What should be my main focus as I want to ramp up my business? I want to crush it. What is the one or two, if you'd like, pieces of advice that you would give me as a brand new franchise owner? My business just opened yesterday.

SPEAKER_00 28:12

Yeah. Since you just opened yesterday, you already have your second full-time person. So that person is focused solely on recruiting those caregivers while you are out getting those clients. It's always be recruiting those clients and always be getting those caregivers in and repeating. And so that's our biggest piece of advice.

SPEAKER_01 28:30

Perfect. And as related to what you just said, we had a question that uh just came in. Uh, it says, Can you tell us about the challenges of hiring caregivers and the turnover?

SPEAKER_00 28:41

Yeah, so caregivers come in, caregivers go, and we want to be the employer of choice while you have the caregiver. And so it's always recruiting and having a solid bench of caregivers, especially because when you first hire them on, you likely aren't going to have hours for them right away, but staying in communication and knowing um what those caregivers, what their availability is, and always be asking if they would like to change their availability or update their availability. Um, but you can never have too many caregivers. Just when you think you have just enough, it's time to hire at least one more. Sure. They're mandatory to get the job done.

SPEAKER_01 29:18

Yes. Okay. Thank you for that. All right, so we're we're up on time. Is there anything, Mallory, that we did not talk about today that you would like to add before we part ways?

SPEAKER_00 29:28

Gosh, we talked about quite a bit. Um, I would just say that this business is challenging, but it is so, so, so rewarding. It is, if you've got the mindset that you want to put in the work for it, it is absolutely rewarding. And one of the questions that I ask almost every franchise owner that I'm when I first meet them is would you do it again? And the answer is nine times, nine point nine nine times out of nine. Oh, that's great. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 29:59

Okay. Thank you for that, Mallory, and thank you for taking the time to do this. I appreciate you. I know you're a very busy lady, so uh thank you for taking the time uh to meet with me today. I appreciate you, and I know our listeners do as well. Always a pleasure, Jen. Thank you. All right, until next time. Goodbye.