Ep 56. Why Knowing the Business Isn’t Enough to Be a Great Franchise Coach | Mary Kennedy Thompson

Why do so many franchise coaches know the system inside and out, yet struggle to get franchisees to take action? In this episode of the Field Coach Experts Podcast, Angela Coté sits down with Mary Kennedy Thompson, CEO of BNI, to unpack why the people who support franchisees are so often chosen for their brand knowledge but never taught how to coach, and how that gap affects a franchise system. Mary explains why she believes coaching is the most important skill in franchisee support, why a coaching relationship should not always feel comfortable, and how she has used franchisee feedback to measure whether franchise business coaches are actually helping franchisees grow. Angela also shares the AC Inc. three-legged stool for hiring franchise coaches: knowing and loving the brand, business acumen, and coaching skills, the leg that determines whether all that knowledge actually translates into franchisee action. Mary has spent more than 30 years in franchising and has seen the business from nearly every seat. She started as a multi-unit franchisee before moving to the franchisor side, eventually serving as COO of Neighborly, the world's largest home services company, and today leads BNI as CEO. Mary is also the immediate past Chair of the International Franchise Association (IFA) and served eight years as an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps. You will learn: Why are so many franchise coaches never taught how to coach? What is the difference between a coaching relationship and a nursing relationship with franchisees? How do you connect a franchisee's personal goals to the actions that will grow their business? How can you tell a franchisee a hard truth in a way they can actually hear it? What is the difference between good counsel and an opinion, and why does it matter for franchise coaches? How can a Net Promoter Score question help you measure and improve franchise business coach performance? How do you coach a successful franchisee who has become comfortable or disengaged? What franchisee-to-coach ratio does your system need, and where should you start? One of the most memorable moments comes when Mary describes her early days building a field support program. She knew the business and the numbers, so she would give franchisees a list of "27 and a half things" to do. She was right about every one of them, and they would do nothing because she had overwhelmed them. It took Mary three years to learn to focus on the two most important things that would move the business forward and to start by understanding why each franchisee was in business in the first place. One franchisee wanted to earn enough to build churches in Mexico. Another wanted to put their kids through college. When Mary could connect the work back to those goals, the coaching became far more effective. The Go Be Awesome challenge: Find out what your franchisees really think about the support you provide. Mary recommends using franchisee feedback to understand where your field support stands today. From there, you can determine whether your next step is adding franchise business coaches, developing stronger coaching skills, or changing how franchisee support is delivered. If you're a franchisor or franchise leader who has invested heavily in teaching your field team the brand, operations, and numbers, this episode challenges you to look at the other side of the equation: Have you taught them how to coach? As Mary explains, when a franchise owner invests in your system, you've agreed to help them grow. That doesn't mean doing everything for them. It means coaching them and showing them the way. Learn more at Field Coach Experts. Connect with Mary Kennedy Thompson on LinkedIn. Connect with Angela Coté on LinkedIn.