2026 Top Franchise Sales Leaders: Mike Oberholtzer, Vice President of Franchise Development for HomeVestors

Franchise Sales Leader: Mike Oberholtzer
Brand: HomeVestors

For more than two decades, Mike Oberholtzer has had a front-row seat to the evolution of franchise development. Since entering the industry in 2005, he has worked across automotive, real estate, tax and accounting, health and wellness, and home services.

Today, as vice president of franchise development for HomeVestors, Oberholtzer is adapting that experience to a franchise buyer who arrives more informed, younger and more technologically savvy than ever before. Rather than relying on the traditional franchise sales playbook, he believes development teams need to meet candidates where they are, address difficult questions early and recognize that the first conversation is no longer simply an introduction. In many cases, candidates have already done enough research that the first call functions more like validation.

That philosophy has shaped several changes to HomeVestors' development process in 2026, including proactively addressing common candidate objections and finding new ways to re-engage prospects who previously fell out of the pipeline. Underlying it all is Oberholtzer's belief that sustainable franchise growth requires more than selling units. It requires finding franchisees who strengthen the system for years to come.

1851 Franchise spoke with Oberholtzer to learn more about how today's franchise buyer is changing, why radical transparency matters in franchise sales and why emerging brands should resist the temptation to grow too quickly.

1851 Franchise: Can you tell us about your background and how you entered into the franchise world?

Mike Oberholtzer: September 2026 will mark my 21st year in franchising. In 2005, I landed a finance job with Cottman Transmission, a small regional auto repair franchise. My role was helping new franchisees secure lending for their new venture. About 18 months in, Cottman and AAMCO came together under shared ownership, and I moved into franchise development for AAMCO.

Since then, I've worked in several verticals within franchising, including automotive, real estate, tax and accounting, health and wellness, and home services.

1851: The franchise buyer has changed dramatically over the past few years. What are the biggest shifts you're seeing in today's candidates, and how has your sales approach evolved to meet them?

Oberholtzer: The biggest change I've seen is the average age of our candidates. I don't have hard data on this, but anecdotally, the people we're talking to are noticeably younger than candidates were even five years ago. We regularly speak with candidates in their late 20s to early 40s in a given week. In the past, most candidates were in their late 40s to late 50s.

With youth comes technology and a need for speed. Candidates are using AI and other rapid-response tools to research our franchise before they ever inquire. The biggest change we made in response was a shift in mindset. The old process — intro call to webinar to validation to FDD review to discovery day — is outdated and less effective today.

Today's candidates show up already informed. What used to be an "intro call" is now the candidate's first validation call, and salespeople need to be ready to manage that from minute one.

We tackle this head-on with an FAQ email sent very early in the process that dispels the preconceived notions, or "head trash," about the opportunity. That alone improved our appointment rate significantly. Just like in traditional validation, if a candidate hasn't heard the good, the bad and the ugly from the franchisor before they hear it from franchisees, you've already lost credibility.

1851: What do you believe separates the highest-performing franchise sales organizations from those that struggle to consistently attract qualified franchisees?

Oberholtzer: In my experience, and this may be an unpopular opinion, franchisors that rely solely on franchise brokers or consultants to grow will struggle to recruit and retain candidates who take the business to the next level. The retention piece is where I see the biggest issue.

Selling the dream of owning a senior care franchise to an electrical engineer is wonderful, and there is nothing wrong with that, but having too many or all franchisees in a system with zero industry experience slows the evolution of the brand. A franchise system needs diversity, but it also needs subject matter expertise beyond that of the corporate team. This is where new ideas are born, past experience is leveraged and growth is sustained.

The ultimate goal of any franchise development team should be to generate as many franchisee referral leads as possible. The fastest way to that coveted lead source is to bring in franchisees from the industry in which the franchise operates because they become brand champions the fastest, assuming they're successful.

Beyond all of this, when franchise operations, franchisee success and franchise sales are fully aligned, that is the recipe for a sustainable franchise system.

1851: Trust has become one of the biggest factors in franchise recruitment. How does your team build credibility with candidates throughout the discovery process, and what mistakes do you see brands making?

Oberholtzer: This goes back to the first call being a validation call as opposed to an intro call. Personally, I have been practicing responsible franchising long before it became a sound bite.

The key to building credibility is radical transparency and, as Chris Voss teaches, tactical empathy. It's the deliberate, conscious understanding of the other person's perspective and feelings to build trust and influence their behavior without needing to agree with them. We drive the process while meeting the candidate where they are.

There are still many brands skirting direct questions, steering the validation process or presenting the Item 19 without clarity. I could go on and on. With the level of information available to franchise candidates today, providing anything less than direct answers or a path to those answers risks losing credibility.

1851: Looking back on 2026, what was the most impactful change your franchise development team made, whether through technology, process improvements, marketing or candidate experience, and what results did it deliver?

Oberholtzer: We made several changes in 2026, some with better results than others. One of the most impactful was the FAQ email addressing the most common objections we hear from candidates. As mentioned earlier, this increased appointments while building trust early in the process.

We also began mining our existing database by inviting all closed leads to a monthly virtual meet-the-team event. Previously, candidates had to be at a certain stage in our active pipeline to get an invite. We were averaging around eight attendees a month from 15 or so registrants. Now, we average nearly 20 attendees from 50 registrants.

That change alone let us cast a much wider net, and it's reshaped how we think about "dead" leads. Fewer of them are actually dead; they were just never re-engaged.

1851: If you could give one piece of advice to an emerging franchise brand looking to accelerate development without sacrificing franchisee quality, what would it be and why?

Oberholtzer: Don't rush to grow. It sounds simple, but it runs against the incentive structure most franchise development teams operate under since everyone is measured on units sold, not units that last.

The brands that get this right resist the pressure to hit a number using the fastest available channel and instead stay disciplined about who they bring in, even when that means fewer signings in a given quarter.

A candidate who is a poor fit costs a brand far more over five years than a slow quarter costs it today — in franchisee turnover, in reputation with other candidates and in the referral engine never getting off the ground.

Growth that isn't sustainable is just churn with better marketing.

Want to learn more about how 1851 helps franchisees find the right franchise opportunity? Visit www.1851growthclub.com and start your journey.