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David Wright, Founder/CEO of Insight Publishing features Jerry Wilkerson in his new book about the business of franchising--- What you must know for successful franchising!

 

David Wright (Wright)

Today we’re talking with Jerry Wilkerson, founder of Franchise Recruiters Ltd., an international franchise executive management search corporation. With thirty years at the International Franchise Association in Washington, D.C., and Franchise Recruiters, Jerry Wilkerson uses an exclusive “inside the franchise executive community network,” a professional firsthand relationship with prospective candidates. This provides clients with unmatched service. No other international franchise management search firm has this asset.

His firm offers franchise management search, concentrated inside the business of franchising and targeted to specific objectives of the client. They define management opportunities and work through their private database of franchise executives to locate solid, tested candidates. Following evaluation references, they present the finest pre-screened franchise experienced, successfully proven individuals.

Franchise Recruiters conducts only contracted retained search. This professional approach to executive recruiting provides for a full replacement guarantee.

Jerry, welcome to Success in Franchising!

Jerry Wilkerson (Wilkerson)

I’m grateful to be with you, David!

Wright

Why is franchising so successful today?

Wilkerson


Franchising actually commands a staggering 43 percent of our nation’s total retail sales and service dollars. It’s an employment engine that’s on fire and it produces wealth right through economic decline. You don’t need an MBA to succeed, and everyone is in it together to win. Franchising is the profitable wonder machine that plows through all challenges and persistently produces success. It’s constantly achieving record growth across the nation and around the world year after year.

Today, the modern method of franchising is also a powerhouse for investors. Venture capitalists and private equity houses can’t get sufficient positions in this imposing force. They clamor to buy more branded systems selling at ten, even twelve times their earnings. Franchising is truly a colossal international movement of broad-based business segments.

I define franchising as a privilege filled with responsibilities. It is a series of successful habits predicated upon a few great thoughts implemented by good employees.

Leo Bakeland said it best. He made this statement near the turn of the twentieth century: “Never be a pioneer; it doesn’t pay. Let the other man do the pioneering; and then after he has shown what can be done, do it bigger and more quickly. But let the other man take the time and risk to show you how to do it.”

Bakeland nearly captured the quintessence of franchising—to succeed through the work of others. According to his precepts, one should allow the franchisor to do all the testing, make the costly up-front mistakes, take the risks, and find the marketplace. Today, dynamic relations between the franchisor and franchisee must exist to promote the growth of the chain. This allows for concrete communications, superior customer experience, and street level driven marketplace knowledge to flow in two directions. Both parties also must share commitment to the company vision as they march in lockstep to establish lasting values, foster brand development, create corporate culture, set marketing directions, and cultivate bottom-line-enhancing worth.

Wright

What does a franchisor look for in a franchisee and what should a prospective franchisee be looking for in a franchisor before they buy into the business brand?

Wilkerson

Franchisors want a person who understands the value of a dollar and what it takes to make it—an individual with experience in the industry who has a strong work ethic and explosive record of success in business and the ability to be a world-class communicator. And they need a superstar, who can bring more to the franchisor than simple franchisees—one who can make an immediate positive impact on the brand and system.

The perfect franchisee would be a polished professional, who is well known, admired in the community, and has an extensive cash net worth and is unencumbered with the need for financing or even income for that matter. In addition, it would be wonderful if this mortal could walk on water, boast a professional closeness with the Almighty, and have a high traffic commercial site ready for immediate opening!

(By the way, this franchise candidate does not exist.)

All kidding aside, franchising virtually invites everyone to join. It crosses all lines of society and embraces almost anyone who’s ready, willing, and able to work. In franchising, the success of both the franchisee and the franchisor is truly dependent upon the success of each other. That symbiotic relationship thrives on the willingness to prepare for success. Through constant and consistent training of the franchisee, franchisors strive to improve and to increase the system’s value. But each entity must be willing to invest in the other.

Successful franchisees must be captivated by the business while investing in the future. They should be infatuated with the force that goes into the thriving development expansion and basic commerce of the brand. They will possess good work habits, business ethics, people skills, that burning in the belly, along with the willingness to give in order to receive.

Successful franchisors become so because they have come to wisdom through success and failure alike. Very little wisdom emanates just from success alone. I’ve found that franchisees buy into the system because they are betting on the quality of the franchisor’s failures as much as the quality of the success. Franchisors must eliminate the franchisee’s reason for failure. To remove risk, franchisors are obliged to constantly test, refine, and add to their products and services that augment the brand value for both parties.

After thirty years in this business, I find that the world is composed of two groups: those who borrow and lend, and those who follow. What makes franchising so successful are the franchisors’ tested methods of business, and their unending search for franchisees to grow the system with new units. They’re looking for someone who wishes to borrow as much as the other is willing to lend, and at the same time remains focused on the common progress of that system. Franchising itself is bountiful enough for the non-pioneer and the pioneer to walk next to each other equally.

Wright

How do companies maintain a profitable workforce in this mercurial marketplace?

Wilkerson

Nobody ever said that franchising was easy or that it didn’t take hard work to be successful. The secret that makes the business of franchising thrive so soundly lies in the people who make it run. Essential knowledge for any employer is that there are three ways to get a job accomplished—you do it yourself, you employ someone, or you forbid your children to do it! For the purposes of our discussion, let’s look at the employee side of that equation.

Without a quality workforce and unwavering management team, I’ve found that the franchising system of business could not provide the excellent price points, branded quality, consistent training, and elevated efficiency of service for which it’s celebrated world-wide. Success in franchising implies optimism, mutual competence, and fair play. Franchisors have to hold a high opinion of the worth of their company, what they sell, and feel that the product or service that they provide is the best their employees can produce for their business. Franchising makes the world a much better place in which to live and to work, acknowledging everyone’s success throughout a branded system. Franchisors have faith in their organization and their staffs, and they have a profound desire to help others succeed. Clear, definite vision and consciousness allow them to generate the fusion of people working step-by-step, pulling together with franchisees.

Today, franchisees pay less attention to what franchisors say and more attention to what they do. This brings even more focus on the franchise system workforce. A dynamic franchisor hires quality people who he or she encourages and enables to become the finest employees they can be. Those destined for success never underestimate the ability of their workforce to exceed their expectations as they labor toward a better tomorrow.

Wright

Could you give our readers some tips for executives in our technology driven business environment?

Wilkerson

I call it the “franchising gospel:” 

  • You have to be a risk-taker to discover the new opportunities and lose sight of the shore to find the ocean.

  • Make the ordinary the extraordinary and look ever forward into a Technicolor marketplace.

  • Assemble a management team that shares your passion with an unyielding workforce. Time should not command boundaries.

  • Be obsessive about commitment to execution. Clearly focus on achieving one goal at a time and knowing that when you get there is good.

  • Possess an uncompromising, steadfast moral business compass. Work reflects your life along with who you are and what you are.

  • Match your business with other businesses that complement and embrace your zeal and value. One and one make three in the Technological marketplace.

  • Be confident enough to help and encourage others along the way. This responsibility may not be fulfilled, but will always be rewarded. Everyone and everything around you is a teacher.

  • Lastly, if you can’t explain it to your mother or your grandmother, you really shouldn’t do it.

You cannot demonstrate leadership by pointing in the direction you want to go and telling people to go there. Leaders go to that place. They show the way. People will follow their leader. We must instill passion in the workforce, and let people know it is a mistake to believe they are merely working for the company. Always strive for employees to work with you and not for you, just as franchisees work for themselves in their units, but not by themselves. For franchising, it’s seeing what other people don’t see and pursuing that vision first with the best people.

Wright

What are some of the critical mistakes that brands make in the business of franchising?

Wilkerson

I’ll relate a franchising fable for an answer to that question. A fellow builds brass cupcakes and he’s got the best brass cupcakes in that region. He goes on to franchise his brass cupcake business. The fellow knew the brass cupcakes were good, and his franchising experience was nil. Unfortunately, his learning curve for franchising was straight up with no valleys. He did not conceive the fact that there was more to it than just having cash, hiring attorneys to produce legal documents, and selling units by the dozens. After all, his customers persistently told him how delightful his brass cupcakes were.

During the business planning process, our fellow was finding that building a franchise system infrastructure was very, very expensive and extremely time consuming. He associated the experience of constructing a state-of-the-art fire station with twenty-four-hour-a-day shifts. Scores of highly paid employees were hired, and trained, but they were not even making brass cupcakes—just setting up the systems and procedures, training, and marketing for the franchising aspect of his brand. All of this was happening before the streets were even put in for the subdivision. Our fellow had realized that franchising encompassed far more than he had anticipated.

He thought and thought, and out popped an idea. Then, a moment of clarity hit. He started looking for someone who could help him. What he needed was a franchise person—someone to watch over the growth and development of the new company. But what does an experienced franchise individual look like? “How little can I pay to get one?” he would ask himself rhetorically. The search led to the hiring of a person who sadly didn’t work out because he hired the least expensive he could find. That forced him to go back into the marketplace behind schedule.

This time, armed with a higher salary offer and the expanded title of Chief Franchise Operating Officer, he set his course to hire. This king of brass cupcakes sought out the best business franchise executive his corporate economics could buy, and the best the franchise marketplace could yield.

He was also learning that some of his new franchisees were working on their own ideas out in the field and coming up with shortcuts in the manufacturing process that offered quick fixes to operations challenges. This was not the way he ran his system or what they agreed to in the franchise contract. The new franchise COO came in and with a little communications, cleared all that up. Armed with many years of franchising experience, good franchisee and franchisor relations experience, and the ability to understand franchise growth and development process, the COO succeeded in saving the brand. The franchisees actually invited the COO to their private organizational meetings. The founder had not known the meetings existed.

About that time, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum from the Land of Nod got into the brass cupcake business and put their nose to the grindstone. They watched how well and how fast the man’s products were selling through the franchising system of national distribution. Darned if Dee and Dum didn’t start competing with him. But, that’s another story.

How much did our brass cupcake maker have to pay for a top franchise executive? More than he had anticipated, but only as much as he could afford.

This is not a random mistake for franchisors. It seems to be a malady inherent in the business. This proves one cannot start a franchise on a shoestring, and that you cannot do it without the absolute best people in place and a rock solid fiscal foundation. Lack of proper funding kills start-up franchising business plans more than anything does.

Wright

Why do some executives succeed and others in franchising seem to just tread water?

Wilkerson

Exceptional franchise executives are really brands unto themselves. Management individuals in the business of franchising succeed because they have the innermost purpose and a defined goal at which to aim—an accurate proficiency at studying the future. It is a keen skill, painted with a brush of bruised experience and honed over time. Nobody suddenly becomes a successful franchise management executive without a bounty of failures along with triumphs. Practice, knowledge, and on-the-job experience create tangible results. The executives become a trade name, an identifiable mark, a brand unto themselves.

Franchising is rooted in this extraordinary individual environment, and roots are living things. One can observe these executives mature. I have watched them elevate to the exception. These branded human commodities are lights in the community. They illuminate vibrantly with beams of ideas. Others on the management team are mirrors—they reflect light and help nurture the system. This union of people in franchising enriches the character of the individual with intense focus as they build the entity of the brand and human trademark.

Successful franchise executives prove that what counts is not what you get for your life’s work, but rather what you become by doing it. The enrichment of other lives defines franchising accomplishment.

In my opinion, the good succeed not only for cash honors. Money has no soul. It is gutless and guiltless. It won’t tell you how to invest in yourself as a brand or create a brilliant business plan. The executive will not become a branded product for the sake of money. People see right through the fraudulence. You must relish the art of the deal and take pleasure in putting it all together as a group—a winning team to succeed through franchising the product or service.

The best franchise executives know their ideas can turn to dust or weave magic. It all depends on the talent that rubs against them, their team, and their franchisees. I have found that people will always support what they help to create.

Harry Truman, with his intrinsic branded Bulldog approach to relationships, once said, “There are always a lot of people so afraid of rocking the boat that they stop rowing. We never get ahead that way.” The thirty-third U.S. President was empirically sentient as to the construction of his brand, his “no bunkum” approach to management. He knew that to move forward, one must effect change and not simply for the sake of change.

The tides of business, the winds of commerce, and the consumer evolution within the world’s markets alter a managed course designed and observed by the franchise executive.

Wright

What does it take to get a franchise system up and running to become a national brand?

Wilkerson

It takes capital to run a successful franchise company—lots of it.

Leadership capital is a commodity in today’s franchising world—you’ve got to have money to invest just like gold, blue chip stocks, and triple A rated bonds. The risk is relatively low, and the investment returns consistently a solid yield. Earnings follow the investment in this case. Franchisors recognize that management leadership is capital formation upon which they can hedge their bets with the best possible candidate the market pool has to offer.

If a franchisor is not making this vital investment today, the company will fail to grow and prosper in our hyper-competitive mercurial marketplace. The captains of today’s franchising systems must also have wondrous vision, dauntless drive, searing intellect, a fearless spirit, and a profound character, along with a well-honed competitive instinct. It is a requisite that they surround themselves with managers who are resonating energy, passion, and a resolute will to win. This creates investing dynamics in a complex, extremely stretched, and combative human resource area.

Franchisors need access to skilled management talent. The high performance leaders understand how the system’s management framework must mature. Essential capital investment in people constructs the corporate future from within. This singular endeavor shapes the success of the franchisor and the chain more than any other item in the budget.

Wright

So you’re saying that the people who run it are the most important, even more than the product or the service.

Wilkerson

I think that the people who run franchising companies today are much different from even a decade ago. Big salaries, bonuses, and appealing stock options are not what acquire and maintain powerful management forces. What keeps prized employees loyal today and attracts others tomorrow is the ability to work with a winning team and see the potential for growth and development over the years ahead. People want to be a part of something that is transforming their industry, the very realm of their business cosmos. They want to change the world, make a difference.

In franchising, our actions create a heritage that inspires others to action and personal investment. All employees must have the ability to reach for the top. Yet, one must remember along the course of opportunity that the highest individual achievements are never solo events. In life, we reach our best mark with the help of others through their belief in us.

You cannot demonstrate leadership in the workforce by pointing in the direction you want to go and telling people to follow. Leaders go to the place and show the way. For the business of franchising, it’s seeing what other people don’t see and pursuing that vision through growth and system development to success.

Wright

So how do franchisors market their franchises today?

Wilkerson

The business environment changes as fast as the tides of the ocean these days.

Therefore, franchisors look for a very specific individual. They’re selling to a particular model for their system of franchising. With an entity working by itself, it’s difficult to calculate with any resolve where business is going today. So a person who is not a franchisor will not have the appropriate reports or market referencing data from which to plan business. The sole proprietor in a consumer-driven business world cannot gather, promote, or advance without steady and constant information input from within the industry. He or she also cannot afford the advertising and marketing costs.

With a franchise contract, you never really sell anything, you don’t close the deal with a check,—you simply start the relationship process with that confirmation. Every month franchisors must earn another check—the royalty. It’s the franchisor’s responsibility to keep the business profitable and persistently build the bottom line return with new products and services. This is what franchisees are buying into, and what validates the franchise system year after year.

During my thirty years in franchising, I have found that first-rate franchisors will try to surround themselves with strong, driven, ever inquiring franchisees. The second-rate franchisors will surround themselves with third-rate franchisees that will question the system and bend the rules to their needs. The third-rate franchisors will surround themselves with anyone who can pay the franchise fee and who really doesn’t care to remember the rules. These franchisees are the ones who will say that they agree to the contract in principle when they truly mean they haven’t the slightest intention of carrying it out in practice.

Abraham Lincoln once declared, “When I am getting ready to reason with a man, I spend one-third of my time thinking about myself and what I am going to say, and two-thirds thinking about him and what he is going to say.”

We all need to listen better and, on occasion, put ourselves in the other person’s billet. Do we really understand what someone wants? Have we tried to accommodate his or her requests? Is it possible to do more than expected, yet keep the deal in place while providing for a fair, just, and equitable relationship? I believe the answer is yes.

A franchisee with average ability, good discipline, a definite goal, a clear conception of how to achieve that goal, and the power of application and labor will succeed. This individual is highly sought after by franchisors the world over.

Wright

Can franchisees negotiate with franchisors?

Wilkerson

I’ve had that question posed to me many times, and the answer is “Yes, maybe.” It’s what I call the art of franchise negotiations. If you don’t ever ask, you’re never going to know if you can get! If you want to persuade people, show them the immediate relevance and value of what you’re saying in the terms of their needs and their desires. Successful, collaborative negotiations lie in finding out what the other side really wants. Then show them the way to get it while you also get what you want.

I learned this maxim from some of the best hagglers in the world on Capitol Hill. We have all met rascals who, in a fifty-fifty proposition, insist on getting the hyphen too. In franchising, we are supposed to play by the rules. From the original contracts to renewals, the rules are specific within the agreement between the franchisor and the franchisee; however, how we arrive at those rules could be negotiable.

Good franchisors are interested in franchisees’ ideas, and franchisees are interested in the range of experience franchisors bring to them. Neither side needs to cheat or bend their principles or the rules to succeed in business through franchising. As with playing of a game, it’s no fun to win by breaking the rules.

Nothing is more difficult and therefore more precious than the ability to make one’s own decision. Franchisees always hold that card. They can choose not to buy into a system, but rather to take their money, their will to work and succeed, and go elsewhere.

As with all binding accords of legal consequences, it is important to remember that the big print giveth and the small print taketh away. Franchisees should read the contract in full—every word—and understand it. Knowledge is what one gets from reading the small print in the contract and experience is what one gets from not reading it.

Wright

How is franchising doing within the giant marketplace of China as well as internationally?

Wilkerson

China and to a major extent India are changing the way the world does business. A colossal amount of franchise growth and development is now centered in these two countries. Filled with many challenges and rewards is this massive expansion. I don’t see international franchising slowing anytime soon. In China and India, franchisors are actually building roads to purvey their franchised units, while keeping up with the consumer demand. Some of the recent record earnings for large, publicly traded brands are the result of sales within China and India these days. These two countries are matriculating bottom line profits quarter after quarter.

With a population of one point three billion people, China is the mother of all markets. Everything is gobbled up and consumed in huge quantities twenty-four hours a day. World markets wobble under the upward spiral of material costs and the price squeeze bulldozed by the Chinese economic powerhouse.

I’ve spent time in mainland China, and it’s an amazing economic force. Today, complex issues intertwine and to some extent deter development of the business world in China. Politics, economics, solid mistrust, and ideology stand in the way of progress. This barrier, coupled with bureaucratic interference, distrust of foreigners, and lack of legal protection, shows that the march to capitalism is meeting with some challenge. These obstacles create great tribulations for the international enterprises operating in China.

Franchising has been investing in China for years, yet only a relatively small number of the global franchising brands are flourishing there. These systems are relentlessly learning to absorb the elements of the Chinese culture and to use them to their advantage.

Frankly, the Great Wall of China is not just a ubiquitous ribbon stretching for thousands of miles—the Chinese bureaucracy restricting free trade creates a modern economic Great Wall in my estimation.

Franchisors have great faith in the legitimacy of the printed word to guide them through the long-term legal relationship with franchisees. A severe disparity exists within the Chinese business culture on this essential aspect of franchising. With the Chinese legal culture, the written word is not the final authority of meaning. In China, words and contracts are merely the beginnings of understanding, not sacrosanct agreements. For most global entrepreneurs, this attitude represents a harsh culture shock. A Chinese business negotiation strategy is intentional lack of disclosure transparency and precipitous perseverance to hold final negotiation on Chinese turf.

The governments in China, as well as India, along with their attended business communities, now see franchising as an implement of change and commanding economics. Franchising affords enormous upside to training people in vast numbers to do things accurately.

In my three decades within the business of franchising, I have never witnessed possibilities of this magnitude for the community of franchising. I have a conviction of confidence that China and India will be magnificent places for franchising to flourish for years to come. The mysteries of the Orient have summoned mankind for centuries, and franchising has a destiny to achieve.

Wright

The colossal change of business as usual is a certain element of the business of franchising. What do you see happening in this area?

Wilkerson

Franchise executives are what I would consider an optimistic lot, and they are projecting that franchising will cultivate sturdy development in the next five years with new unit development. This is the lifeblood of the business. At the same time, new branded systems will enter the franchise marketplace exercising competition for investor dollars and franchisees, as well as from the consumer.

Revamping, rehabilitating, and reengineering old branded systems will engender customer loyalty. The doom loops cycles have shocked a number of national and international franchisors into reality. Once a company is in the loop, turnaround becomes harder to achieve. We’ve seen goliath brands around the planet go back to their core business, address poor marketing plans, reevaluate their products and services, and address overall rehab of the unit.

Veteran operators have learned to be circumspect with their customers’ on and off again behavior and infatuation with new things. There are two American public mindsets: one that drives short-term fads and the other that shapes long-term behavioral trends. The test for franchising is to spot and separate the non-market drivers from those of real change.

Wright

Would you look into your crystal ball and tell our readers where you see the business of franchise going in the next five years?

Wilkerson

The high level of interest in franchising is from uniquely qualified prospects today, looking for investment in their life journey. They are better capitalized and they have better management experience, work ethics, and discipline than in the past. These potential franchisees are higher educated and are increasingly diverse in their investing tactics. Franchised concepts must evolve to meet changing demographics, age, convenience, and the omnipresent blooming of the Boomers.

For example, many savvy franchisors have focused interest to satisfy the impatient Boomers. This directed energy and planning generates more cost effectiveness and efficient solutions in adult day care centers, healthcare, home care, beauty, skin, and aging treatment spas, lifestyle, and entertainment. Improving healthcare delivery is going to generate immense commerce for franchising.

Equity and investment firms today boost heightened levels of interest in franchising as the perfect model for investors because of solid management teams that are already in place. High positive cash flow and clean straightforward balance sheets compound the advantages. Private equity firms have also found franchising to be their new golden goose. This is a discovery that fosters high impact interest, and the hunt is on for the buried treasure within the business of franchising.

On the horizon are many new applications for franchising. Growth venues are in adult and student education, state testing, logistics, pet care, healthcare, sports training, moving, residential, and personal service, as well as entertainment and transportation.

Wright

This has been a great conversation and I appreciate the time you’ve to answer what I consider very important questions about a very important part of business. I now understand how important franchising is to employment throughout this country.

Wilkerson

Franchising is a tremendous locomotive for employment and a huge slice of the American pie. The business of franchising is literally the yellow brick road—a global main street of business.

Over the years, I have observed a common thread within the tapestry that weaves itself through the constant ebb and flow of franchise enterprise. Predicated on men and women who trusted themselves, successful franchising executives dare to format and take control of their own business futures. These are individuals with conviction and courage to blaze new trails, and confidence to assume the necessary risks up front. They have faith in themselves, their methods of doing business, and an uncanny willingness to share their flourishing concept with others.

The secret of franchising success is in the consistency of franchisors to pursue new and improved products and services from which their franchisees attain steady and stable bottom-line enhancements. In other words, my success is your success from which many will benefit the world around.

In franchising, our actions create a legacy that inspires others to dream, to learn more, do more, and be more. One must remember along the course of opportunity that the highest individual achievements are never solo events. We reach our best mark in life with the help of others and their belief in us.

About the Author

Mr. Jerry Wilkerson, founder of Franchise Recruiters Ltd.®, an international management search corporation, President and Management Strategist, shares his far-reaching business expertise for more than thirty years nationally and internationally. (Thirty years in the business of international and national franchising.) Serving in executive positions, Mr. Wilkerson has successfully applied his comprehensive management background in a broad array of environments. As a respected businessman, Mr. Wilkerson is distinguished for his astute commerce insight helping to grow prominent franchise management teams including McDonald’s, Hilton, and Coca-Cola. Wilkerson is recognized for his ability to contribute critical planning and guidance within the global franchise arena. Wilkerson is the founder of Franchise Recruiters Ltd.® with offices in the United States and Canada. He honed his communication skills through government and public relations organizations, radio broadcasting, and tactical political and business analysis on Capitol Hill.

Developing strategic initiatives focused on improving profitability has earned him a reputation as a resourceful entrepreneur. Mr. Wilkerson applied his cumulative experience in helping various enterprises and companies improve upon their business methodologies. Additionally, he has extensive experience within the political and government arena as a U.S. Congressional Press Secretary for two members of Congress. His Capitol Hill experience includes occupation as a registered foreign agent and lobbyist. He has held elected and appointed governmental offices including Police Commissioner. As Vice President for internationally acclaimed Daniel J. Edelman public relations firm, he was responsible for foreign as well as domestic clients.

His far-reaching business contributions earned him an appointment as Chief Lobbyist, Director of Public Affairs for the International Franchise Association in Washington, D.C., where he also later served as acting President. As editor and publisher of an international 16,000-member circulation newsletter, he is frequently quoted in the Wall Street Journal, Entrepreneur, Money magazine, and many other industry specific publications. Mr. Wilkerson created and produced the exclusive Annual Franchise Business Development Survey and Trends Report for industry and media distribution. Wilkerson, known for his empowering speaking skill, is featured at national conventions and business forums.

He produced and hosted a daily radio talk show, interviewing governors, senators, congressional representatives, authors, and recognized business leaders. Additionally, he was a reporter for All-News Radio, WBBM CBS Chicago. Mr. Wilkerson offers exceptional insight that has proven to strengthen and illuminate professional, governmental, political, public, and international business environment.

A proactive manager with strong analytical and research capabilities, Mr. Wilkerson maintains a reputation for having prudence and skill to successfully guide start-up as well as established companies through their various development stages. Using a wealth of advanced methods, he has been recognized as an exceptionally knowledgeable business professional who can transform any problem related situation into a high performing, productive atmosphere. A graduate of Columbia College and Indiana University, he holds a BA degree with Honors in Journalism and Broadcasting. He is a U.S. Navy veteran. 

Jerry Wilkerson

Franchise Recruiters Ltd.®
3500 Innsbruck @ Lincolnshire Country Club
Village of Crete, IL 60417
Phone: 708.757.5595
E-mail: franchise@att.net

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