26: Scaling Quickly with Smart Franchise Management with Bill Noble

<p>Franchise management needs to be on point when you’re scaling a business quickly. No one understands that more than Bill Noble—who owns 60 Pearle Vision units. You can listen to our previous episode <a href= "https://www.franchisesecrets.com/podcast/raising-capital-to-buy-60-pearle-vision-locations-bill-nobles-story/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">featuring Bill</a> and learn how he financed his empire. In this episode of Franchise Secrets we’ll talk all about how he manages his locations and doing so in seasons of rapid growth. </p> <p>Bill graduated from West Point with a degree in Engineering Management and went on to get his MBA in Management from Harvard. He took his extensive background in leadership and business and pitched to a group of investors. A few short years later, he now owns 60 Pearle Vision Franchise locations around the country.</p> <h2>Outline of This Episode</h2> <ul> <li>[0:30] How Bill Noble Manages his Franchise locations</li> <li>[2:20] Harvard Business School and networking</li> <li>[7:10] The process of building 60 locations</li> <li>[10:20] Strategic hiring: recruiting the right people</li> <li>[16:00] What is a phantom equity plan?</li> <li>[21:00] Building systems and processes</li> <li>[24:00] What to do when you’re ahead of the franchise</li> <li>[26:40] Why tracking KPI’s is important</li> <li>[32:10] What do you do with the dogs?</li> <li>[38:15] Managing 60 Pearle Visions</li> <li>[44:30] Learn from other high-performing franchisees</li> <li>[48:35] Pearles of wisdom</li> </ul> <h2>Strategically hiring the right people is key</h2> <p>When Bill acquired his first 10 Pearle Vision locations he handpicked <em>every single store manager.</em> He wanted to build a management team of driven entrepreneurs who were competent and trustworthy. In the beginning, accounting and HR were outsourced. It was just Bill and his 10 managers. </p> <p>But he knew this wasn’t a long-term solution—especially when he acquired 18 locations in Michigan and 4 in Indiana. </p> <p>He hired a regional di