EXPERT ADVICE: Evan Hackel | Founder and CEO of Ingage Consulting, and CEO of Tortal Training
Look for Your Cobwebs Evan Hackel, a 35-year franchising veteran is a nationally recognized expert and speaker on franchising. Evan is founder and CEO of Ingage Consulting, and CEO of Tortal Training, a leading training development company. Evan is an active advisor in the C-Suite Network. He is also author of Ingaging Leadership, and host of “Training Unleashed,” a podcast covering training for business. Contact him here, follow him at @ehackel, or call 781-820-7609.
I went to visit a franchisee one day and when I got there, everyone was happy to see me. The store was Immaculate, and I mean immaculate. I could have eaten off the floors. I mean it was extraordinary. They knew that I, the CEO, was coming and they had obviously gone miles out of their way to prepare. It was perfect, except for one thing. There were spider webs on the awning over the front door. And I’m not talking about one or two. I’m talking about an accumulation of cobwebs that must have built up over years and years. It was unbelievable. How could everyone – the franchisee, the employees – have simply missed them? Again, the awning was over the entrance door of the business – the only way employees could come and go. How could everyone have missed the cobwebs? The answer to that question is that there are things we don’t see, maybe 18 Franchising MAGAZINE USA
because we just don’t expect to see them or because they have fallen off our radar. Maybe the problem is something we miss because it started small. Three years ago there was a little one-inch cobweb that we didn’t notice but then the next day there was a three-inch cobweb and then it grew into a six-inch cobweb. And although it became a very big cobweb, we just don’t see it now because it has become something are accustomed to overlook. This tendency to miss things that are right before our eyes is not limited to our businesses. Just the other day I was on a road that I have driven probably a million times and I suddenly noticed a business that I must have passed nearly every day, yet I never noticed it. It had become a cobweb, and I just never saw it.
Another Story . . . the Tree that Disappeared On a different occasion, I visited another franchise location. The owner had a beautiful store in a strong, well-trafficked location. But the business was down – I
mean way down - and the owner didn’t know why. He told me, “I just don’t know what is going on. I have a great reputation and up until recently business was good. But I have noticed that year after year, new customers are no longer coming in. All my business seems to be repeat and referral customers.” I remembered that when I drove there, I had a hard time finding his business. In fact, I had driven back and forth and back and forth looking for it, even though it was located on a highway that should have afforded great visibility. But after we talked, I went outside to take a fresh look and I saw right away that a big tree was blocking his sign. It must have started out as a pretty little tree but over years, it grew up and was now blocking his sign completely. And like those cobwebs, he just didn’t see it anymore, and neither did his employees. So he cut down the tree and new customers were able to see his sign and business climbed steadily upward again.
