A little over a year ago, we all became well versed in Zoom and all things virtual. It was the beginning of a new era. Covid19 forced our collective hands to give up the comfort of the in-person Discovery Day. We had to educate candidates on all aspects of the franchise business and support system while learning enough about each candidate to award them a franchise – all from the comfort of home.
The struggle was real. So many things had to change to effectively execute a virtual Discovery Day. First, the content had to be strong enough to hold candidates’ attention. No longer trapped in a conference room, candidates could choose to tune out your operations guy on a whim. In addition, candidates had to be pulled into the conversation and engaged to reveal their strength and weaknesses. Neither presenter nor participants could be passive on a relatively passive platform. As a result, we had to retool our entire Discovery Day approach.
As we return to in-person Discovery Days we have stopped to ask the question, did the virtual format reveal anything we don’t get in person? For the BrandONE team the answer… yes. Virtual connections allowed us to see the behaviors of candidates when they thought no-one was looking. For example, is their office space/background a mess with amazon boxes stacked to the ceiling? If yes, this is an indicator to how they will treat business assets. Without the forced social decorum of an office visit, how did the candidate dress for the virtual discovery day? Pajamas or business casual?
Recently we had a high-net-worth individual join one of our CEO sessions from the comfort of his bed. Yes, his bed. On paper this prospect had business acumen, strong financial statements, and was an ideal candidate; however, his behavior revealed something different. Without the socially acceptable parameters of an in-person meeting, the virtual format revealed true character profiles.
At BrandONE we are constantly asking the question, “but what is their behavior saying?” Candidates rarely tell you who they are, they SHOW you who they are. With decades of experience, the BrandONE team can read candidate behavior and apply a predicative indicator to their level of engagement as a franchisee. Not easily learned, but rather earned through tens-of-thousands of candidate conversations.
Our takeaway from this unique time in development, the Zoom and virtual platform is just another tool our team uses to recruit franchise talent. At BrandONE our customized franchise award process allows us to build an intelligent Discovery Day, because if you’re calling in with bed head – we want to know.
