Franchise Development Leaders: Todd Bingham of FranXperts

Todd Bingham is the managing partner and COO of FranXperts, an organization is responsible for the growth of several brands––Restoration 1, Bluefrog Plumbing + Drain, The Driveway Company, Farrell’s Extreme Bodyshaping and Shine Window Cleaning and Holiday Lighting, in addition to a few more in development. In his role with FranXperts, Bingham also serves as the head of franchise development for all these brands, partnering with franchisors to help them grow their businesses and increase franchise sales. 

1851: How did you first get into franchising?

Bingham: About 12 years ago, I was the director of IT for FranNet. After that, I went to Restoration 1 and Bluefrog Plumbing + Drain, where I had a lot of success. I realized there was a need for a development company that takes a different approach to franchise growth; one of the key things we do is provide aspiring franchisees with support and operations insights. We want to make sure a company’s system is solid before giving anyone direction to join a franchise—it’s important for us to have good footing so we can support franchisees properly. Not only do we want the franchisor to grow, but the franchisees, as well. 

1851: What do you love about the industry? 

Bingham: The industry itself is so small, and after being in the industry for 12 years, I have made friendships that I will carry with me for the rest of my life. Even though it seems like such a large industry, it’s very tight-knit. Everyone becomes really strong friends. My partner, Gary Findley, is someone I met through franchising 10 years ago and he’s changed my life. 

1851: What do you wish that you could change about the industry?  

Bingham: There’s a lot of new franchise systems being born and it’s scary to see how many exist nowadays. I’d like to establish more strict criteria that companies must meet in order to become a franchise. In order for a franchisor to have a really high success rate, there needs to be stricter guidelines, because you don’t want franchisors making bad investments and setting franchisees up for failure. That’s what FranXperts does at its core––we create marketing plans and provide resources for franchisees so they end up being successful. I’m extremely impressed that some states have already begun creating a stricter outline, but I want to see this being taken care of on the federal level.

1851: What is the biggest challenge franchisors are currently facing in franchise development and what are you doing to overcome it? 

Bingham: For us, finding quality leads is a big deal and figuring out what sites to trust. What’s a good lead? What’s a bad lead? It’s definitely difficult—we’re trying to figure out how to filter through the leads and we rely heavily on consulting networks to get high-quality candidates. We’ve shifted our focus from portal leads to personal leads and have partnered with a high-quality marketing company to help with lead generation through our website. The people who come directly to our site are the leads we trust the most because they’re actually interested and applying on our site.

1851: What do you think will be the biggest trend in franchise development in 2020?

Bingham: I see a lot of franchisors adding a more personal touch when interacting with clients or potential franchisees. In today’s world of technology, I think it’s important to incorporate that face-to-face interaction. I always make sure to use Skype or FaceTime as much as I can rather than texting or emailing because it adds that humanistic quality that people still crave. It’s a good thing and I think franchisors are getting better about that. 

 1851: What makes a great franchisee?

Bingham: A great franchisee is someone who will follow and trust the system––it’s so important. If you follow the system, it doesn’t guarantee success, but it sets you up for success.

1851: What's the No. 1 thing that sells franchises?

Bingham: For us, it’s a personal touch. We don’t have a lot of automation in our systems, whether that’s emails or texts. Everything we do is pretty much one-on-one, and that gives franchisors the attention they want and makes the education process a better one so that we empower candidates to make the best decision. Whether good or bad, I’m very open and honest with prospects about the industry because I want them to know all of the details before jumping in.