ROS® is a process-driven system that has helped multiple brands find a way to create step-change increases for franchise development and recruitment in a way that is predictable, sustainable, and measurable. Christian Brothers Automotive, based in Houston, TX is a 200+ unit automotive service franchise. After 20+ years of franchising, they implemented ROS® powered by CGI Franchise in 2018.
“In 2023, our company has the goal of reaching 300 units. What CGI Franchise has provided for us is a road map to be able to achieve that goal and test our improvement along the way,” shared Fink after fully implementing ROS®. “ROS® allowed us to qualify leads more effectively, bring more quality people into discovery days, and improve our rate of franchise signings by nearly 100% in the first year.”
| Pre-ROS® Leads (2018) | After ROS® Leads (2019) |
|---|---|
1742 |
1223 |
| Pre-ROS® Signings (2018) | After ROS® Signings (2019) |
22 |
29 |
| Pre-ROS® Leads to Signings Ratio(2018) | After ROS® Leads to Signings Ratio(2019) |
79:1 |
42:1 |
| Pre-ROS® Leads (2018) |
|---|
1742 |
| Pre-ROS® Signings (2018) |
22 |
| Pre-ROS® Leads to Signings Ratio(2018) |
79:1 |
| After ROS® Leads (2019) |
1223 |
| After ROS® Signings (2019) |
29 |
| After ROS® Leads to Signings Ratio(2019) |
42:1 |
Since 1982, every Christian Brothers Automotive franchise has been in continuous operation. Not a single franchise unit has closed. In 2018 Christian Brothers Automotive signed 22 new franchisees. This is a brand used to winning. Despite building a successful business model, the management team believed it was possible to increase new franchisee signings and move to the next level but had yet to achieve it over the recent years. The challenge faced by Christian Brothers Automotive was not in finding more candidates or even more leads. They had tried this in the past.
The challenge was in the recruitment and discovery process. The recruiters needed to be more effective with candidates to increase signings from the 20 per year range (where they were stuck) to the 40-50 per year range to meet desired growth. While the leadership team was committed and the brand was built on a reliable business model, they needed an advanced recruitment system and process to grow in a predictable and sustainable manner.
Conversations with CGI Franchise started in 2017 with then Chief Development Officer Josh Wall. In 2018 the decision was made to implement CGI Franchise’s Recruitment Operating System®.
The Christian Brothers Automotive team, led by Brad Fink, VP of Leadership & Franchise Development, spent time in Temple, TX to meet with the CGIF team to carry out a brand assessment and development of a five-year business case. They realized the need to go “all in” with CGIF’s Recruitment Operating System® (ROS®) to sustain their success and move recruitment to the next level.
“We knew to be successful with CGI Franchise, we had to be willing to fully implement and apply ROS® and be fanatically committed to achieving our targets and goals using ROS®,” Fink noted.
Going “all-in” included:
In 2019, the first year with ROS®, Christian Brothers Automotive signed 29 new franchisees vs. 22 in 2018–a 32% increase in the first 12 months!
Total signings for 2019 was a record 34 signings–their biggest year in 21 years. And their leads-to-new-franchisee signing ratio improved 88% over 2018. They progressed from 13 signings per 1000 leads to 24 signings per 1000 leads. To sum it up, that meant 32% more new signings on 30% fewer leads.
With these dramatically improved recruitment numbers, their total investment per signing in 2019 was less than that of 2018 and that included covering the cost of implementing ROS®, as well as training and coaching from CGI Franchise. To put it plainly, they are now getting significantly more signings on a similar annual recruitment budget and effort. The best part is the signings are with higher-quality candidates. ROS® forecasting has Christian Brothers Automotive on track for 40+ signings in 2020.
“In 2023, our company has the goal of reaching 300 units. What CGI Franchise has provided for us is a road map to be able to achieve that goal and test our improvement along the way,” shared Fink after fully implementing ROS®. “ROS® allowed us to qualify leads more effectively, bring more quality people into discovery days, and improve our rate of franchise signings by nearly 100% in the first year.”
Josh Barker, Director of Franchise Development notes, “After coming on board with CGI Franchise, one of the biggest benefits we noticed is that rather than looking back to uncover why we hit or didn’t hit certain goals, ROS® allows us to diagnose and look ahead based on how we’re doing right now. We can confidently forecast that we’re going to meet our goals which has dramatically changed the way we coach and train our team.”
For Christian Brothers Automotive, ROS® has changed how they approach recruitment. Using the system, recruiters can now make objective decisions about candidates, leading to higher quality franchise signings and better onboarding that will improve unit economics.
Christian Brothers Automotive achieved these phenomenal results because they are “all in” with ROS®. From the beginning, they have been engaged and 100% committed to accomplishing their goals using ROS® with the guidance of the CGIF Coaches and staff. The brand was recognized with the 2019 ROS® Operational Excellence Award based on their high levels of metrics and ratios using ROS®.
We Get Franchise Recruitment.