Bill Luce on His 30-Year Journey in Franchising and Leading Transworld Business Advisors to New Heights

Bill Luce, president of Transworld Business Advisors, accidentally entered the franchising world after moving to Florida and stopping by the Signarama headquarters. Here, he struck up a conversation with Ray Titus — who was president of Signarama and CEO of United Franchise Group at the time — and that chance encounter led to a 30-year career in franchising. 

In an episode of the “Meet the Zor” podcast, Luce told Nick Powills, founder and publisher of 1851 Franchise, about his long tenure with the company, explaining that his loyalty comes from the growth opportunities, the fast-paced company culture and the support he received from within.

Luce describes his transition to Transworld Business Advisors, where he played a key role in expanding the business brokerage side of the company. He highlights how Transworld attracts experienced, high-level professionals and emphasizes the importance of building relationships in the industry. He also touches on Transworld’s focus on continuous growth, adapting to market changes and supporting franchisees through a collaborative approach that values input from those on the ground.

A summarized transcript of Luce’s interview with Powills has been included below. It has been edited for clarity, brevity, and style.

Nick Powills: Alright Bill, first you, then we’ll get into Transworld. So as such a basic question as this is, it’s always a great one, how did you accidentally fall into franchising?

Bill Luce: It's funny because it was totally accidental. I'm originally from New York, and like most people in New York, I always wanted to move to Florida. So right after I got married, I moved to Florida, and I had actually seen the Signarama headquarters. I passed by it, and I knew Signarama was originally a Long Island company. So I stopped in and started speaking to a young guy there. He's like, “Oh, where are you from?” I said, “Long Island.” We kind of hit it off. Turns out I was speaking to Ray Titus, who’s the CEO. I didn’t know that at the time. He asked me what I was doing, I told him, and he said, “You know what, give me a couple of days and come back — there might be something here for you.” Long story short, I came back and he offered me a position in sales. That was 30 years ago, and the rest is history, as they say.

Powills: All right, so part of your story is going to be foreign to any young person listening, that you actually went and knocked on a door and opened the door and had a conversation. That doesn’t happen today. I mean, that takes guts.

Luce: It doesn’t happen. It was totally by chance. But it’s funny — my life has been a series of events like that. I’ve been married 32 years. I’ve been with my wife for 36 years. We met at a traffic light. We just looked at each other and saw each other. So again, another chance meeting. That’s how my life has gone. So, lucky for me.

Powills: Well, it sounds like you’re fairly loyal too, because both your wife and your business have been with you for 30 years. Talk about that. If we look at most younger folks coming out of college or even in their first or second jobs, it’s a constant hamster wheel, just switching jobs to move up. You’ve stayed in a company this long. What has kept you? Because I think that’s part of the magic for franchisees too.

Luce: I think I was very fortunate, and I fell in with a company that matched my personality. I would say, you know, originally, Signarama at that time was from New York. So it kind of had a Northeast mentality — fast-paced. I loved the corporate culture. It really gelled with me. And the other thing, frankly, is the amount of opportunity that came to me from the company. I was able to move up through the ranks, and they promote from within. So it was a great match for my personality. But I know what you mean. Like when I meet young people today and I’m interviewing them, it’s rare to see somebody staying in a job for, you know, 10 years, 12 years, 13 years, or even more.

Powills: Well, and it seems like obviously you’re a Transworld man now, but have you worked your way through variations of what’s been a part of the holding company?

Luce: Yeah, I mean, I started in franchise development and I was promoted to regional vice president. So I was always kind of on the sales track. But business brokerage, I was always interested in. It was always something that I found very interesting. So back about 15 years ago, we were looking to get into that industry as a company. We saw the opportunity, and I basically threw my hat in the ring and I said to Ray, “Hey, if there’s an opportunity here, it’s something that has always interested me. I think I can make an impact.” And luckily, he had trust in me. And again, it’s been a perfect match for me. I love the industry. I love the people I work with. It’s been really, really great.

Powills: So you guys were somewhat on the front end of acquisitions, selling and exiting businesses. Obviously, in the world today — especially as it relates to franchising — everybody and their mother and brother are trying to get into the space. How has this business transformed, and what’s the vision for the company as it stands today?

Luce: Well, I think we were fortunate in that we found a great partner in Andy Cagnetta, who was running Transworld Business Advisors at that time. Back 15 years ago, Transworld was just in the state of Florida — they had been looking to franchise their company and we had been looking to get into business brokerage, so it was almost a perfect match because we had the franchise knowledge, they had the brokerage knowledge, and we couldn’t have found a better partner than Andy and his team. So it kind of grew from there. But when we got into the business 15 years ago, it was kind of a strange industry. It was kind of stale, not very inventive. It was stuck in its ways. It was kind of like a malaise happening. And when we got in, it was 2009. If you remember 2009, most people would say that wasn’t the best time to be starting new ventures. But, you know, we saw the opportunity. We saw who was out there. We knew we could make an impact. It was one of those things. We knew it was going to be great when we got into it. And it’s been 10 times better than we even thought it would be.

Powills: Is it more like when you’re judging success as the brand leader? Is it more on franchisee acquisition or is it more on acquiring people that are looking to get into franchising or buy business?

Luce: I’ll tell you, something very interesting happened with Transworld. And I’d love to sit here and tell you we planned it this way, but we really didn’t. But the people that are attracted to Transworld as a business model — as a franchise opportunity — tend to be very high-level people, people with a lot of business experience, people that have owned their own business, people that have worked in corporate and professionals. So, as you know, a franchise is only as good as the people you put in business. We’ve put very good people in business that attract other good people. And before you know it, you have a network of really, really solid business people. And that’s helped us tremendously from that end.

Powills: So the folks that have entered as a franchise partner, how does the percentage break down of helping people in their community buy a franchise and helping people buy a business? What is that breakdown today?

Luce: I would say it’s much heavier on the business brokerage part, which is helping folks buy and sell existing businesses. We do represent over 500 different franchise opportunities. So we do work with clients to refer them. But I would say the business brokerage part of what we do, if I had to put a percentage on it, is probably 80% of what we do.

Powills: Well, the one insight — and we gained this a few years ago, and it’s not novel by any means — but we were working with a higher-cost franchisor, a swim school. And when we started talking with the people that bought in, the franchisees, and said, “Talk about your journey,” it was like a fraction, a sliver of a percentage point actually went direct to the franchisor for what they were looking for. They would end up in like a BizBuySell, looking at businesses for sale. And it’s a completely different mindset because you’re looking at high-net-worth individuals who are like, “If I acquire this and skip the line and can find the gap in what I’m purchasing, I can create more wealth.” And obviously, it’s shifted into a lot of family offices now looking at this space too. But it seems like you’re solving that problem. So you’re actually capturing those people. And rather than them buying a franchise, they’re like, “No, I want to buy cash flow, or I want to buy an asset that I can make better.”

Luce: That’s exactly right. And it’s funny because a lot of people find us one of two ways. Either they were looking to buy a business and they dealt with some other business brokers and, frankly, were kind of unimpressed with them — the follow-up wasn’t good, the process wasn’t good — so they thought to themselves, “Geez, if this is my competition, I might want to take a look at this industry.” The other way they find us is they’ve sold a business and used a broker, and they saw the size of the check that they cut at the closing. And they thought, “Hmm, this might be a pretty good business to look at.” So a lot of people find us one of those two different ways.

Powills: Do you feel like the competition — and it’s a different type of competition? You have banks and trusts that are playing in that space, or CPAs that are playing in that space. So you have all these — because they understand the exchange of money — you have all these business verticals playing in the space. Do you feel like that has created more competition for you over the years?

Luce: No, we really don’t have any problem with competition. I mean, there are other people out there kind of doing what we do. But when you look at the amount of opportunity versus the number of people that are doing it, it’s blue ocean. We don’t have any problem with competition. If you ask me who the real competition is, it’s not other brokers. It’s people trying to sell the business themselves because they don’t even know there’s somebody there that could help them do it. It’s more about educating people that way. And there’s so much opportunity out there. I mean, there’s enough business for everybody out there. We’re not fighting over the scraps.

Powills: For what it’s worth, I really enjoy these conversations because I’m always listening for key insights. If I were you, I’d focus on what you just said a moment ago. Your main competition isn’t other brokers — it’s people who try to sell their businesses on their own. They might think, “I can just sell my business myself, like putting a ‘For Sale’ sign in front of my house.” Sure, they can try, but they’ll face many challenges. If I were looking at your website, I’d want to see that message clearly communicated: “Here are the risks of selling your business on your own.” You mentioned that you've helped over 10,000 business owners. It’s not just about the number of people you’ve helped — emphasize the potential pitfalls of going it alone. This could be the key message that convinces someone considering selling their business to reach out to you for help.

Luce: Well, look, it’s very difficult for someone to sell their own business. I mean, people do it, but the vast majority of the time, when someone sells their own business, they’re selling it to someone they already had a relationship with — an employee, a family member, a competitor, someone they knew. Because if you try to sell your business to a stranger, someone you don’t know, you’re going to blow confidentiality immediately. Somebody could just Google your name and figure out what business is for sale. It’s tough to do. And when we talk about confidentiality, what do employees do when they find out the business they’re working for is for sale? Every time, that’s the seller’s biggest concern. That’s why it’s very hard for someone to sell their own business without a broker. And frankly, it’s tough to buy a business without a broker. It’s not like real estate, where you can drive through a neighborhood and say, “OK, that house is for sale.” Drive down the road and tell me what businesses are for sale — nobody even knows. That’s the kind of service we provide.

Powills: Does that make it hard for you as a leader to define what winning is like? You can goal set all you want, but the reality is you have to like pick through and build these really strong relationships to get the insight that business X is going to be for sale or person X is going to buy.

Luce: Well, you just mentioned something and you’re right on target. This business is all about people and relationships and connecting people and developing those relationships. The folks that enter this industry and they just concentrate on commissions — they’ll make some money, but they’re not going to build that true business. That’s somebody who is a member of the business community, is a trusted advisor, is looking to help people on a business level or any way they can. That’s how you build a solid business. And it’s still, you know, it’s much like real estate. Business brokerage is still very, very localized. You need that personal touch. People aren’t buying businesses just online. You need to mesh with people to buy a business. 

Powills: So how many franchisees do you guys have?

Luce: We have about 220 franchisees that own about 450 territories, because it’s not uncommon in our business that a franchisee might own multiple territories.

Powills: How much of the inventory does that feed up? Is franchise sales important to you anymore?

Luce: Franchise sales are always important because you always want to grow the brand. I mean, we’re a mature brand now. We’re in 48 out of 50 states and we’re in almost 20 countries. But there are still many secondary markets we’re not in that would be great opportunities. They’re very underserved markets. We do great in large markets, and we do great in more secondary markets. Again, it’s about servicing clients. And in a lot of these markets, like L.A., Dallas or New York, there aren’t people servicing their clients at all.

Powills: I would imagine there’s not a lot of gray area between good and bad when it comes to a franchisee. I’d bet you have franchisees you want to shake and say, “Just get out there and build those relationships.” It’s not hard to understand the gap — it’s about whether or not you want to do sales.

Luce: Yes. I mean, look, I’ve been doing this a long time, and I’ve never walked away from someone who wasn’t doing as well as we thought they should and wondered why. They’re working hard, following the program, marketing the business. Typically, if someone isn’t doing well, it’s glaringly obvious why — they’re sitting there waiting for the phone to ring. And if you wait for the phone to ring, I don’t care what business you’re in, you’re not going to do well. You’ve got to go out there, connect with the community and grow the business.

Powills: Is that one of your brand superpowers? You take Franchisee X who isn’t following the model, not hustling, and even though they might not “have it,” they’ve still built up an asset that’s sellable, whether to another franchisee or new blood coming in. Is that one of your superpowers — the ability to resell these fairly easily with a simple process?

Luce: I’d say it is. We typically have more people interested in franchises and existing areas than we have available, so we don’t have a tough time selling them. But I’ll be the first to say — and I’m talking about our business specifically — it’s not for everybody. You need certain characteristics and skill sets in our business. If you asked me what type of people tend to do well, I’d say the first thing is professionalism. You need to present yourself as a professional business person because we deal with high-level clients — business owners, lawyers, accountants, finance people. We’re not dealing with the retail public; we’re dealing with high-level people, so you need to be at that level. Good communication skills are important because there’s a lot of interaction with clients. If you don’t communicate effectively, you’ll probably struggle. And organizational skills are crucial.

To me, there are really two aspects of what we do. There’s definitely a sales component — you’re setting appointments, meeting with clients, following up. But there’s a whole other part, which is probably bigger, that’s a lot like project management. When you’re selling a business, you’re really managing a project. A lot of times, there are many people involved — a buyer, a seller, a buyer’s attorney, a seller’s attorney, a buyer’s accountant, a seller’s accountant, a landlord — there’s a lot of people. Without us coordinating what’s going on, everyone kind of bangs into each other. Nobody really takes the lead in getting it done. So a lot of what we do is, “Okay, Bob, you said you were going to get Mary that information by 4 o’clock yesterday. Did you do that? Not yet? Okay, she’s waiting for that,” — moving things along. That’s why with our franchise, the tools, the systems, the processes, the marketing and the technology all play a huge role. Because without those things in place, frankly, I don’t know how someone could even do this business.

Powills: When I’m hearing you speak, it sounds like you have all the skill sets. What stopped you from saying, “I’m ready to go be my own business owner”?

Luce: Thank you, I appreciate that. I love what I do. I love my job. I wouldn’t rule it out in the future. I love the business and being around it. At this stage of my life, I’ve found a good niche for myself. But in the future, I wouldn’t rule out doing it because I love it. I’d love to do it.

Powills: Yeah, but now the issue is you just said, “I won’t rule it out,” and now you’re going to have a million franchise brands calling you, saying, “Wait, wait, he said he’s not ruling it out. Let’s go get him.”

Luce: I’m not going anywhere. No, this is good. 

Powills: Bill, anything else you want the candidate to know? It’s going to take a sophisticated human being to really understand what they’re getting into here. You said professionalism above everything else, but is there anything else you want the candidate to know if they’ve watched up to this point?

Luce: No, I would say, with any franchise, follow the program, work hard. We’re not looking for robots, and we’re certainly not looking for someone to buy a job. But we’ve been doing this a long time, and we know what works and what doesn’t. We don’t want you to spend time and energy on things that don’t work. That’s why the systems are so important. That’s why we’ve honed our business over the years. And I don’t mind telling you, the best ideas we get are from the franchisees. We solicit a lot from them because they’re out in the field, meeting with people, and have great ideas. Any good franchise company does that. You look for feedback from the people doing the business. It’s not an “us against them” mentality. We have the same goal as they do. We want them happy and making money. Because when you’re happy and making money, there are no problems. Problems arise when you’re not happy and not making money.

Powills: I love that you said that. I think that’s a big miss with a lot of franchise brands. They set it up as “us and them.” But the reality is, whether it’s one franchisee or a thousand, you’re talking about people who had to accomplish something, even just crossing the minimum threshold of paying a franchise fee. They had to build up some cash and make a tough decision to buy into a business they have little control over. That’s a complex thing. Most franchisors, even with small committees, don’t think, “Maybe our next great idea is within our internal team.” They go external. Let me share a quick story I love.

Tabasco, years ago, ran a marketing contest asking their customer base, “What’s the next big idea for Tabasco?” Nobody really had anything. So they turned it in-house. A guy who loaded boxes onto a truck said, “Double the size of the hole.” They did, and sales skyrocketed. That came from asking the team, “Does anybody have an idea?” I think it’s a big deal to rely on feedback and idea generation from our franchisees because that’s going to help us get where we’re trying to go.

Luce: That’s exactly right. And a lot of times, the best answer could be the most obvious one that people look right past and don’t see. I take it as a huge compliment when someone invests in us as a franchise. Not only from a financial standpoint, but there’s a trust factor — that this is something they want to start a new venture and business with. We take that very seriously. We want to give them the best training, support and chance of success in the business. We can’t run the business for them, but we want to give them the tools and support to do it.

Powills: Well, Bill, great conversation. Kudos to you. You’ve lasted three franchise agreements deep in this business and in your marriage, so both of those are big wins. Way to go. Thanks for sharing your story.

To watch the full interview on YouTube, click here.