Hosted by Jeff Walter, Founder and CEO of LatitudeLearning
In this live episode of the Training Impact Podcast, recorded at the IFA Convention in Las Vegas, Jeff Walter welcomes Marla Rosner, Senior Learning and Development Consultant at MSA Worldwide. The conversation centers on a challenge many franchisors underestimate: transforming operational knowledge into structured, compliant, and scalable franchise training.
Marla brings deep experience to the discussion. Before joining MSA Worldwide, she spent 16 years at Supercuts, ultimately serving as Vice President of Training. There, she helped oversee one of the more immersive franchise training environments in the industry, complete with regional training centers and hands-on learning models. That background gives her a unique lens into what it takes to support franchisees at scale.
At MSA Worldwide, the primary clients are franchisors. Many are emerging brands. Others are mature systems that have grown quickly and now need to reorganize and formalize what once lived only in the founder’s head. Across both groups, one truth stands out: franchise training begins with documentation.
One of the most powerful insights from this episode is the distinction between implicit and explicit knowledge. Founders and early team members carry years of operational instinct. They know how to deliver the product, manage the customer experience, and protect the brand. But unless that knowledge is captured in a structured way, it cannot be scaled.
They helps franchisors convert that implicit knowledge into what is now more commonly called a brand standards manual. Historically referred to as the operations manual, this document has evolved to reflect legal and strategic nuance. It is no longer simply a set of instructions. It is the articulation of brand requirements, expectations, and contractual obligations.
For emerging franchisors, this step is foundational. Without documented brand standards, there is no reliable training program. There is no alignment across locations. There is no defensible structure to support compliance or performance.
Marla emphasizes that manuals are not glamorous. They are often viewed as a basic starting point. But they are essential. Once knowledge becomes explicit, it can be repurposed into webinars, instructor led training, online modules, field coaching guides, and certification programs. Without that clarity, training becomes fragmented and inconsistent.
A common misconception addressed in the episode is the belief that corporate training materials can simply be rebranded for franchise use. On the surface, that assumption seems logical. If the corporate location has a manual, why not use it for franchisees?
Marla explains why that approach is risky. Corporate manuals are typically written for employees. Franchisees are not employees. They are independent business owners operating under a contractual relationship with the franchisor. That distinction has legal, operational, and compliance implications.
Franchise documentation must reflect the separation between franchisor and franchisee. It must articulate obligations clearly without overstepping into areas that create legal ambiguity. It must distinguish between brand standards and day to day operational control.
They play a critical role in navigating that nuance. The firm often cross checks legal agreements with the brand standards manual to ensure alignment. This prevents situations where franchisees are forced to hunt through legal documents to understand operational requirements. It also reduces the risk of outdated manuals that no longer reflect the franchise agreement.
For mature systems that have gone five or ten years without updating documentation, the challenge can be significant. Reorganization, content alignment, and compliance updates become major undertakings. The longer a franchisor waits, the more complex the catch up becomes.
Once documentation is established, the next phase is transforming that content into a structured franchise training program. This is where MSA Worldwide frequently partners with clients to roll up their sleeves and design an initial training experience.
Marla outlines a common model for franchise onboarding. It typically includes pre training components such as recorded webinars, online modules, and preparatory assignments. Franchisees may be asked to research local prospects, review financial templates, or complete foundational learning before attending live sessions.
This pre work ensures that in person or virtual instructor led training time is used effectively. Classroom sessions can focus on application, role play, scenario work, and peer discussion rather than basic knowledge transfer.
The onboarding program often includes immersion at corporate headquarters or designated training facilities. For systems like Supercuts, that immersion historically included hands on practice in physical training centers. For other industries, it may involve product simulations, operational walkthroughs, or customer interaction exercises.
The key principle is immersion. Franchisees must understand not only how the system works but why it works. They need clarity on brand standards, customer expectations, compliance requirements, and financial drivers.
Another important topic in the episode is the hesitancy some franchisors feel around training franchisee employees. Over the past decade, legal interpretations regarding joint employer issues have created uncertainty in parts of the industry.
Marla is clear in her position. Skimping on training does not protect the brand. It weakens it. Frontline employees represent the brand to customers every day. If they are poorly trained, the franchisee’s bottom line suffers. The system’s reputation suffers. Other franchisees suffer.
Effective franchise training does not blur legal boundaries. It clarifies brand standards and expectations while respecting the independence of franchise owners. Avoiding training due to fear creates inconsistency and performance gaps across the network.
Throughout the conversation, Jeff Walter connects Marla’s insights to the broader mission of the Training Impact Podcast: repositioning training as a strategic lever rather than a cost center.
They approach franchise training from a systems perspective. Documentation supports training. Training supports consistency. Consistency supports brand integrity and financial performance.
For emerging franchisors, the roadmap is clear. Start with documentation. Align brand standards with legal agreements. Build structured onboarding that blends pre work, live instruction, and field application. Then evolve the program over time.
For mature systems, the message is equally direct. If your manuals are outdated, your training is likely misaligned. If your franchisees are improvising, your brand is at risk. Reinvestment in documentation and training is not optional. It is strategic.
This episode with Marla Rosner of MSA Worldwide delivers a practical and strategic view of franchise training. At its core, franchise success depends on clarity. Clarity in documentation. Clarity in brand standards. Clarity in the relationship between franchisor and franchisee. And clarity in the training programs that bring those standards to life.
They help franchisors build that clarity. By transforming founder knowledge into structured brand standards and translating those standards into scalable training programs, they strengthen both compliance and performance.
For franchisors seeking to scale responsibly and protect brand integrity, the message is simple: documentation first, training second, alignment always.
Learn more about MSA Worldwide at https://www.msaworldwide.com/
For more from the Training Impact Podcast, follow us on Social Media
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Jeff Walter (00:00)
Hi, it’s Jeff Walter and welcome back to the Training Impact podcast. My guest today is Marla Rosener of MSA Worldwide. Marla is the senior learning and development consultant at MSA Worldwide. Marla, welcome to the program. you.
Marla Rosener of MSA Worldwide (00:13)
I should be.
Jeff Walter (00:15)
Thank you for taking time. As some of you may wonder, we’re in a different setting. We’re actually live person to person, not over Zoom or anything. This is really cool. This is the first time for me ⁓ on a podcast. It’s all been virtual. And we’re here at the 2026 IFA convention in Las Vegas at the Latitude Learning booth. This will be published way after the convention’s over, so don’t worry about it.
But we’re going have a great conversation because Marla is an expert on learning and especially in the franchise systems. so Marla, how did you end up at MSA?
Marla Rosener of MSA Worldwide (00:55)
Well, it started way before MSA. ⁓ I worked at Super Cuts, the corporate office, for 16 years. I was hired to train new franchisees. And ⁓ did that for numerous years, then started training location managers. Then we also trained field staff.
Jeff Walter (01:03)
Okay.
⁓
Aha.
Marla Rosener of MSA Worldwide (01:22)
and ultimately became Vice President of Training at Supercuts. And Supercuts had a vast system of live training programs for all the stylists across the country. There were training centers at physical training centers with stylists of recruiting models so that stylists could get practice.
Jeff Walter (01:40)
physical hard.
That’s funny.
Marla Rosener of MSA Worldwide (01:56)
supercuts hair cutting techniques and they practiced on life models in addition to mannequin heads.
Jeff Walter (02:09)
I was going say the only other industry I know that has physical like that type of regional training centers is you see that a lot in the automotives. ⁓ But that’s really cool. So okay, VP of training at Supercuts.
MSA Worldwide, exactly do they, like why do clients call them, what kind of clients call them? they the franchisors, the franchisees, or?
Marla Rosener of MSA Worldwide (02:47)
our franchisors
Jeff Walter (02:49)
Okay.
Now, when you look…
couple things that come to my mind. Like one is they don’t have them. But then even if they do have them, they, do they, do they relate to reality? You know what saying?
Marla Rosener of MSA Worldwide (04:07)
Well, if
they do…
Jeff Walter (04:43)
So it’s interesting, I have a friend who’s a fractional CFO, she’s working with an emerging franchisor. it’s interesting because I think they’ve got their first couple of franchisees, but they’re so focused on their corporate unit economics. They’re trying to… So when you’re looking at the… It’s interesting you say that, but… when you’re looking at those… What’s the…
I’m naive. So what’s the difference? Like wouldn’t you just be able to take what you put together for corporate units and just say change the title on the title page and go here’s the here it is for the franchisee?
Marla Rosener of MSA Worldwide (05:27)
That’s a common assumption.
Jeff Walter (05:29)
Right.
Marla Rosener of MSA Worldwide (05:30)
It’s straightforward to transfer over. And there is a lot that you can capture, but it needs to be modified. So first of all, most of those manuals in a corporate owned location, they are for employees. Well, we may need to use those to position for the franchisees’ employees so that the franchisee can use them for training purposes. There are all kinds of disclaimers in the franchisee.
you know, as it relates to complain liability, the franchise, you know, when you’re in a franchise and you’re the franchise or you’re not, you’re not training directly the franchisees employees. Hence some disclaimers and clarity for franchisee employees about who their actual boss is, who they’re really working for. They’re not working for the franchise or however, additionally,
Critically, there are a host of things that a franchisee needs to know to manage the brand, their locations. There are a lot of…
Jeff Walter (06:42)
No.
Marla Rosener of MSA Worldwide (06:43)
requirements and restrictions, I’ll call them, and brand standards that need to be expressed in the franchise system manuals above and beyond what a company would communicate to their employees.
Jeff Walter (07:01)
Okay.
Marla Rosener of MSA Worldwide (07:01)
The franchisee is not an employee of the franchisor. There is a contractual relationship and there are certain obligations of the franchisee and obligations of the franchisor. So part of what gets communicated in the manuals is an ⁓ outgrowth of the respective obligations of the franchisee.
franchise who are.
Jeff Walter (07:33)
So that makes sense because there’s this whole layer missing. Yes. And I would imagine it’s kind of 50-50 on the manager side. Like you think of like the franchisee as owner. Yes. But then like you know a shift leader or you know store manager. Yes. That’s probably a little bit in the employee manual. Employee version. It depends.
Marla Rosener of MSA Worldwide (08:13)
week.
Jeff Walter (08:15)
Okay, so if I’m taking the operating manual, the SOPs, the standard operating procedures that I put together for the corporate stores, and now I’m bringing it over to the franchise stores, the thing that’s interesting, because we see this a lot in extended enterprise training, is, ⁓ and that’s one of the differences between franchise training or extended enterprise training more broadly.
is people underestimate how much they rely on the manager chain of command to keep things in order. so it’s like, well, I’ll just have to, like, when you’re talking about, like say the frontline employee, it’s like, well, if it doesn’t work out, I’ll just tell the manager, or the manager who I trust, because it worked for me to say, well, hey, employee, this is what you have to do. And you know, if you want to keep getting a paycheck. But when you’re
when you’re dealing with channel partners and franchisees and resellers and all that, you can’t do that because they don’t work for you. all of sudden it makes total sense in my mind why that whole layer is missing because they’ve relied on just their own corporate structure to go, well, the store manager is the person that works for me. And so I’ll document and I manage them.
Marla Rosener of MSA Worldwide (09:37)
manage them. ⁓
I haven’t documented it, they may have some forms that we require them to use to manage the store or the restaurant, but we don’t have manager training.
Jeff Walter (09:51)
So that’s a really important, that’s a check. But also the other thing I would imagine is missing is the whole brand identification. Because you can enforce the brand identification through your hiring choices at the corporate stores. we want a manager for the store that culturally is like this, exhibits these characteristics, runs their store like this. And we didn’t write it down anywhere, we just hire for it.
Yes, exactly. But now when I franchise, I want to train them. And again, it’s a franchise, they don’t work for me, so I can’t force them to hire certain individuals. But I want to express the brand values and what a good fit is. Exactly. ⁓
Marla Rosener of MSA Worldwide (10:46)
franchisors that we work with.
They just know they’ve been running it for a long time. It’s kind of in their blood. They’ve been, you know, bringing people up through the system and now you’re handing it off to, I’ll call them strangers.
Jeff Walter (10:54)
All right.
Marla Rosener of MSA Worldwide (11:08)
and they need a lot of information about how to execute. and again, know, forms like job descriptions will create, but we’ll also take into account that it’s the franchisee’s employees. We may not brand the job description with the brand’s logo, and it’s gonna have the franchisee’s business name on it to keep things straight. So we do a lot of that, you
really ⁓ foundational system building for our emerging franchise or clients when we do these major
Jeff Walter (11:48)
And does that include, I mean, where my brain goes immediately on that is more the operation side of things. But I would also imagine there’s a whole local marketing, like the operations are, you gotta be able to deliver, but only if you can bring in the sales. Is that a gap also that you see, like the local marketing? ⁓
Marla Rosener of MSA Worldwide (12:14)
That’s interesting.
some cases established chains that aren’t franchises.
spots in franchising where there are very strict standards, aside from the operation, but is in marketing. are very strict standards to maintain the brand look, the feel, the logo, and a number of restrictions and requirements for approvals of new content, marketing content that a franchising would like to use. And although…
Most of that is articulated in the legal documents that a franchisee signs at the outset. A lot of it, the more specific stuff, needs to get articulated in a manual or a training program.
Jeff Walter (13:31)
Right.
And I was interviewing a couple of folks, franchisees, and one of the things that they said was really surprising was unit economics or educating franchisees on unit economics. Is that something also that gets baked into the manual?
Marla Rosener of MSA Worldwide (14:10)
to do is
how are they coded, what are the underlying ⁓
chart of how so that when a franchisee is, know, and then teach the franchisee to analyze those P &L. Here are the leading indicators, here are the lagging indicators and really address.
Jeff Walter (14:53)
Right, not only what the financial statements are, but then how do you interpret them? Yeah. Right, for a little, yes. But that was the thing that they found surprising was for a lot of franchisees, it’s the first time they’ve managed the P &L. Right. You know, and that’s a whole skill unto itself. Yes. Yeah. Okay, so now you’ve documented everything. Yeah.
Marla Rosener of MSA Worldwide (15:14)
for you.
Jeff Walter (15:21)
One of the NSA does is then morph that into a training program. Yes. I’m assuming, well, we’re training guys, so we love training. ⁓ But I guess that’s the take to bring the manual to life. so what are some of the challenges you find there, especially in the emerging side?
Marla Rosener of MSA Worldwide (15:52)
to roll up our shirt sleeves and help design an initial franchise training program for our clients.
of them feel that they can do it themselves, but they haven’t had experience. You know, we’ll do a webinar and what goes into, you know, how did, how, what is training in franchising, what needs to be an initial franchise training, what are some different training methods you can use. And, but we get back to, okay, the brand standards manual, which is what we call it these days as opposed to the operations manual, because
We’re not supposed to overly prescribe the operations.
Jeff Walter (16:37)
Alright, so even though ⁓ the cappuccino at your franchise coffee takes four tablespoons of… That’s the recipe.
Marla Rosener of MSA Worldwide (16:46)
No, the recipe. It’s tied
to the brand. If there’s a rationale to it, it’s inextricable from the brand.
Jeff Walter (16:55)
but saying this is how you mop the floor. You can’t do that.
Marla Rosener of MSA Worldwide (16:58)
Yeah, you don’t subscribe
to the cleaning products or…
Jeff Walter (17:05)
Yes.
Right, know, daily. Use one cup of this and a gallon of water.
Marla Rosener of MSA Worldwide (17:09)
necessarily have
days we might have done that. But we call them brand standards so that it’s very clear that the focus of that manual which used to be called the operations manual and may still be called that in the legal document. It’s migrated to be a brand standard.
Jeff Walter (17:15)
Alright. Okay.
Right.
So
it’s interesting because one of the things earlier in the opening remarks, there’s some legislation that the IFA is trying to get through, but it’s in response to the whole idea of franchising is built on the fact that there’s a separation between the franchisee and their employees and the franchisor and their employees and the two are separate. And I think what I hear you saying is as a strategy, because I think one of the things you mentioned to me before we started,
was there’s a hesitancy to, ⁓ sometimes there’s a hesitancy to train.
Marla Rosener of MSA Worldwide (18:07)
because of the ambiguity now having to do with conflict.
Jeff Walter (18:12)
We’re like about 11 years into that ambiguity. It’s pretty black and white until like 2015. And then it got very murky. ⁓
Marla Rosener of MSA Worldwide (18:22)
But I do, know, one of the things we said then too is that a franchisor that is skimping on the training that they provide to franchisees is doing a disservice to the franchisee’s bottom line, to the brand, to other franchisees, you know, to the system as a whole, because it is the frontline employees.
who are representing the brand at the end of
Jeff Walter (18:53)
But the interesting thing you said that I hadn’t heard before, and not that I’m… No. My knowledge is this much. ⁓ So is… But as a strategy against that, it seems like you mentioned something in passing. It’s, you know, changing it to a brand standards manual. And if you’re training any anybody, if you’re writing the manual or training them on something that is tied back to the brand, like…
I’m a coffee franchise. My cappuccino is made this way. That’s what makes it a, you know, brand’s cappuccino. You know, put 2.7 ounces of milk in it. Not 2.6, not 2.8, 2.7. That’s how we make our cappuccinos. It’s tied to the brand, and that’s a good strategy for keeping that arm’s length distance.
Marla Rosener of MSA Worldwide (19:52)
Right. And at the same time, for example,
franchisor that isn’t going to require what the uniform if there’s a uniform for the employees that’s obviously tied to the brand. you’re you one of the things that I do when I’m working with a new brand in documenting their business is I’m asking these certain questions along the way. You know where’s what’s a requirement what and a standard and what’s the best practice. Let’s talk about
articulate these things differently in the manual.
Jeff Walter (20:31)
Okay,
so it’s kind of like brand compliance. We have to make the cappuccino this way. You have to wear this uniform. Your signage has to look like this. You can’t just take our logo and send it to chat GPT and make it something wacky. Absolutely And change the brand colors.
Marla Rosener of MSA Worldwide (20:51)
You’ve got the gist of it, yes.
Jeff Walter (20:53)
That’s like the brand standards, it’s almost like compliance. If you want to be part of this brand, this is what you do. But then say, well, best practice is we’re not telling you you have to do this, but these are good things.
Marla Rosener of MSA Worldwide (21:12)
reviewing a client’s
So when I go through it, I’ll be…
guideline or is this
for franchising, or is this really a standard? So I help the clients think that through and make recommendations.
Jeff Walter (21:40)
Right.
Yeah,
well, it’s, it’s a, I like that also because you’re setting expectations. Right? Because if you got like 10 guidelines, but as a franchisor, you’re like, well, no, these five, these five guidelines, you’re a fool if you don’t do them. These other ones, you’re just not that, yeah, I would really suggest doing these, but I’m going to be mad at you as a franchisee. Like, but it’s like,
Well then they’re not guidelines, they’re requirements.
Marla Rosener of MSA Worldwide (22:17)
They’re required.
Yeah. Yeah. And in.
franchisees, but I mean, a requirement is if you don’t do it after you’ve been coached to do it and you don’t do it again and again, you might get a call from our lawyer and we might be talking about separating.
Jeff Walter (22:38)
because this goes right
because it back to the brands I like the that I like that the operating manual is being renamed brand standards because it really that’s what especially as a franchise or that’s you really care about and then the training that’s associated with it is all around the brand standards and it’s you know and you’re not really coaching or training on what’s a good vacation policy how much did you pay them what’s a video
Like, you know, ⁓ where we said earlier, like cleaning the tables. What brand of cleaner should you use? Like you’re saying, these are what’s really important to the brand. This is what’s going to propel us forward. This is what’s going to get us those 80 % return customers. This is what’s going to get the upside. know, all the other things. This is what this is the business system. I’m selling you. So.
Marla Rosener of MSA Worldwide (23:31)
Right.
Jeff Walter (23:33)
So what do you find from a best practices standpoint? The challenges, you said something earlier, sometimes the emerging franchisors like, we’ll do it on our own. Sometimes they hire you guys to do it. But what do you see as the best practices there? Let’s just take an emerging one. Maybe they’ve got five company stores. Maybe they’ve got five or six.
franchisees that are usually the true believers and now they’re starting to get the Not the true bully. I don’t want to say true believers. They’re not the disciples They’re the folks that are interested in the system of business. Does that make sense? Yeah, and they’re starting to grow. Yes What would your advice be in terms of What what would that training program look like you know I’m saying like like as a best practices like obviously we would love to have
400 hours of training available on every aspect of the business, right? So that everybody can know everything and we’d love to do it all in person. Yeah, right, right because that’s where you get the best. Yeah, but you know, you’re like a 10 or 20 unit Franchise or yeah There’s that has a very high cost so you imagine they’re bouncing that cost value. Yeah, so what’s a good?
We’re best practices from what you’ve seen.
Marla Rosener of MSA Worldwide (25:04)
Now even with a brand new out of the box ⁓ first time franchisor and now I have my first franchisee, there are ⁓ ways to be efficient with the training time. So let’s say you establish we’re going to deliver 40 hours of training, we think that’s what it’s going to take. ⁓ It could be that there will be
Jeff Walter (25:15)
All right.
Alright.
Marla Rosener of MSA Worldwide (25:36)
hours at the corporate office, live, face-to-face, different department heads, different exercises, case studies, maybe some role plays. But before the franchisee comes to that class, they’ll participate in what might be called pre-training. There’ll be pre-training webinars. They could be live or they could be recorded and loaded online.
Jeff Walter (26:00)
Okay.
Marla Rosener of MSA Worldwide (26:07)
for franchisees to access ahead of class. So pre-training assignments to come prepared to class, complete those modules, ⁓ maybe it’s ⁓ find out who in your area is a prospective ⁓ client if it’s a B2B, for example, and come with a list of those and we’ll do sales role plays in the live training program.
Jeff Walter (26:36)
Right, okay.
Marla Rosener of MSA Worldwide (26:36)
And then also, you know, there’s…
Jeff Walter (26:41)
So this is the franchisee track. Yes. Right, like you’re onboarding the franchisee. Yes. We’ve got a bunch of homework or self-study modules we want you to do.
Marla Rosener of MSA Worldwide (26:54)
that Branstad.
Jeff Walter (26:55)
Good by standards.
And then, you know, so and then some, let’s do some instructor led, virtual instructor led. Yeah. And then let’s really take advantage of the on location instructor led. Right. So that’s a good standard for the franchisee training. Again, thinking that immersion guys, what about down at the manager and employee level?
Marla Rosener of MSA Worldwide (27:23)
Well, and ideally, not.
I don’t know how else that a new emerging franchisor can start out except with manuals. So because it’s from manuals that the other training grows and it’s in those manuals that the franchisor…
puts what’s been in their head for years on paper. And multiple partners or stakeholders in that business can look at it go, well, that’s not how we do it. You know, on Fifth Avenue, they don’t make the chicken that way. Or that’s not the spiel we want the franchisee or someone in there, their manager to give. getting the documentation done,
Jeff Walter (28:06)
Alright.
Marla Rosener of MSA Worldwide (28:19)
is a critical step in aligning and articulating what is the system. Then we can get fancier with training. nonetheless, the starting point for new franchisors to give their franchisees may be employee training manuals. Or recipe manuals or other.
Jeff Walter (28:41)
Okay, so…
Well, consumable things that you read. That’s right. Right? And so, well, because as you were saying that, I was like, okay, well then, it’s so funny. So many things are like, you have this aha moment and then you’re like, well, duh. Well, because as you were saying that, was like, well, yeah, because, especially on the emerging. Yes. You’ve got that founder that has a lot in their head.
and they have a staff that have a lot in their head. And it’s taking that implicit, the thing that’s nice about the manuals, the brand standards, is it’s taking that out of their head and it’s taking implicit knowledge and making it explicit. Then once you have explicit knowledge, you can now put it in different forms. Just getting it down like that. Now it’s explicit.
reading it is one form of consumption. And you know, that has its, you know, positives and negatives. But then you can take that explicit knowledge and you can morph it into different forms that are maybe more easily consumed. And you can pick and choose. Because you can have the whole manual. Right? You can have the whole brand standards and go, but you know what’s really, really important is for this brand,
we want our servers to do this, which is like this section of the manual. we’re just going to take, we’re going to ask all of our, we’re going to suggest to our franchisees that they have their employees read the manual, but we’re going to put a video together on this section. We’re going to do an online module on that section. We can kind of pick and choose the things that are most important for brand to take that explicit knowledge.
and turn it into, and get it out of the written form into something that’s more easily consumed by a lot of the employees. And that’s… Absolutely. That’s very cool. Yeah, it’s cool because, see I love doing these because I always learn something. And I had, in my head, I was like, well yeah, have to have the standard operating procedures and brand standards and all that because that’s your system.
But I never thought of it terms of, well, of course, what you’re really doing is you’re implicit knowledge and you’re making explicit. I Yeah. then once it’s explicit, then you can work with it. And you’ve got something that’s consumable. I’ve got a brand standards manual that’s consumable. Now I can pick and choose the explicit knowledge that I want to make.
easier to consume by people. Absolutely. You got it. I love that. That’s really cool. That’s a cool way of thinking about
Marla Rosener of MSA Worldwide (31:38)
explicit versus implicit buzzer. That’s great. I’ll use that. So that’s great.
Jeff Walter (31:44)
Yeah, well, it’s not on the franchise side, but we have a client and they have resellers. It’s an original equipment manufacturer and they have a of resellers. And we’ve been coaching them down this path, but they’ve got a bunch of training folks. That’s a fairly technical piece of equipment. So it’s not intuitive.
But they have a small company and they’ve got like a couple of trainers that are going all around the world constantly. Yeah, to go like, okay, well, this is how you, you know, this is how you use this piece of equipment. You know, it’s big industrial equipment. This is how you use it. And like, and I never thought about it in that term to like, oh, what they’re doing is it’s all implicit. They haven’t made it explicit. Yeah, yeah. Thank you.
Marla Rosener of MSA Worldwide (32:21)
demonstrating live.
Thanks for the tour.
There’s a relationship between the legal
extension other training materials.
The manual is an extension of the legal documents. So the legal documents might say, ⁓ you know, the royalty fee is X percent of your gross. The manual will say, ⁓ we will, ⁓ you know, obtain your royalty fee weekly on Mondays for the prior week.
Jeff Walter (33:10)
Right.
Right, right.
Marla Rosener of MSA Worldwide (33:23)
⁓ But also then the founders, like a side in Kay Ainsley, are also expert witnesses in legal cases and it’s very important to have documented what standards are required of franchisees. If they’re not documented, then they can’t be held.
comply with standards you haven’t conveyed. updating those manuals is essential and unfortunately the longer you go without updating the more painful updating those manuals is.
Jeff Walter (34:13)
You
know, it’s really funny you say that. So, ⁓ I’ve been in the industry for about 20 years now. being in Michigan, we came out of through the automotive industry. And those were some of your earliest franchises, franchisors. I mean, most people don’t think of it that way, but a dealership is just a franchise.
Marla Rosener of MSA Worldwide (34:36)
I would
like to make this
Jeff Walter (34:40)
Well, and it is legislation in different states about the… I mean, yes. But the interesting thing to what you just said is there were franchises way in the way back. having spent a lot of time at headquarters of a number of the Big Three, to your point on the brand standards…
those documents did not reflect that level of depth. And so it’s they’re using all different types of, you know, positive and negative reinforcement to get the behaviors they want for the brand standards that they want. Because the original documents, they didn’t like explicit. was like, it’s like, well, you just sell the car, right?
Marla Rosener of MSA Worldwide (35:28)
or explicit.
Jeff Walter (35:36)
And then you just fix the car and now it’s like well, how do you sell it? How do you you know? It’s interesting because going back to what you’re saying is like as the expert witness and you’re right there is a legal debt difference
Marla Rosener of MSA Worldwide (35:48)
And then more mature franchisors, know, some of them may have gone five years, seven years, ten years without updating their manuals and now they’re tearing their hair out because there’s so much, so much catch up to do, reorganization, getting it all in one voice and concurrently they’re not able to address compliance issues fully.
Jeff Walter (36:17)
Right.
Marla Rosener of MSA Worldwide (36:17)
because they haven’t done the documentation.
Jeff Walter (36:21)
Yeah, I go back to the implicit, explicit. I never thought of it that way. It’s so cool. So going, okay, so we talked lot about that. So let’s look into the future. Okay. How do you, yeah, for MSA and just your clients going forward, what do you see as the biggest challenges coming down the pipe?
Marla Rosener of MSA Worldwide (36:57)
an instinct.
franchise or you know you’re doing the legal work you know you need to see an attorney but is you know I think I’ll just drop stuff into chat cheaply TV and make my make my manual but you know knowing
to provide understanding the, you know, knowing the nuance about articulating requirements, standards, and best practices. You need more than AI.
That’s a concern. one of the things we also do is we cross-check the legal documents and make sure the right things are articulated at the right level of detail in the manuals we create for new franchisors. So franchisees don’t have to go thumbing through a legal document to find or just forgetting something that was in there that really needs to be.
top of my franchisee and I don’t know I don’t know how effective I could I could
to just drop what they think ought to go in there into, you
Jeff Walter (38:41)
Well, you know, it’s interesting. I think what Damon said in the opening remarks, it’s a tool.
Marla Rosener of MSA Worldwide (38:47)
It is a troll.
Jeff Walter (38:50)
But I had a mentor many, many years ago say to me once, a fool with a tool is still a fool. ⁓ so, but to your point that it’s like, it’s a tool. I think it’s one of those, know, just like the internet, just like computers, just like electricity, just like steam power. It’s going to be a transformative tool.
Marla Rosener of MSA Worldwide (39:01)
That’s a good one.
Jeff Walter (39:19)
But you can’t just say let it do it. In the hands of skilled practitioner, it could be a very great tool.
Marla Rosener of MSA Worldwide (39:29)
just
going to say I think I will be making more use of it. ⁓ So that will create efficiencies and we’ll be able to pass those along to our clients.
Jeff Walter (39:44)
So and just look at was a wrap up here. You’re being so generous with your time. We’re here at the conference. We’re having fun. And we got into a lot of good conversation. Before we go, if somebody wants to get a hold of you or MSA worldwide, how would how would they get a hold of you or MSA?
Yeah, go ahead. Fire away.
And we will make sure that the website’s URL is in the show notes. And so they’ll be able to get a hold of you. Sure. And that and ⁓ well, it’s been a pleasure. Thank you so much. I learned a lot. And so thank you. And ⁓ you’re welcome. Yeah. And to everybody out there. Thank you so much for listening. And we’ll catch you later.
Marla Rosener of MSA Worldwide (40:49)
That’ll need some editing. mean, you know, just for the…
Jeff Walter (40:52)
That’s why we have Vanessa.
Marla Rosener of MSA Worldwide (40:57)
We’ll wait patiently to see it. I know these things take time.