What happens to franchisee experience when forty different coaches are all using forty different approaches? Many multi-brand franchise organizations face the same challenge as they scale: a growing team of field support people who are talented individually, but inconsistent as a group. In this episode of the Field Coach Experts Podcast, Angela Coté talks with Lizzy Mae Kerr, Vice President of Field Operations at Xponential Fitness, about how her team of nearly 40 Regional Directors of Operations moved from a patchwork of coaching styles to a single, shared framework, and what changed for franchisees once they did. Lizzy Mae Kerr is Vice President of Field Operations at Xponential Fitness, where she leads a team of Regional Directors of Operations, often called RDOs, supporting roughly 2,700 studios across five brands, including Club Pilates, Pure Barre, YogaSix, StretchLab, and BFT. Those studios operate across the United States, Canada, and 22 other countries. Lizzy Mae was brought on to Xponential to build this field support function from the ground up. You will learn: Why might having many talented coaches still create an inconsistent franchisee experience? What led Xponential to bring an entire team through a shared coaching certification together? What is the real difference between a franchise coach acting as a consultant versus a coach? Why does a first engagement conversation about a franchisee's vision matter more than jumping straight into a business plan? How is Xponential measuring the early impact of coaching on franchisee engagement? What does real accountability look like when it does not come from a parent-child dynamic? How has going through the certification herself changed the way Lizzy Mae evaluates and develops her own coaches? Lizzy Mae describes how her team built a simple follow-up survey after every franchisee interaction, asking about punctuality, responsiveness, and, most importantly, whether the franchisee believes their RDO can make an impact on their business. She explains that a low score on that last question is not a reflection of the franchisee. It is a signal that the team needs to change how they are showing up, since a franchisee who believes their coach can make an impact is far more likely to stay engaged. Lizzy Mae's Go Be Awesome challenge for franchise coaches and field team members is simple: do not answer the question. Before jumping in with a solution, pause and ask instead, "What have you tried so far, and what do you think the best path forward is?" She points out that this small shift lets the franchisee arrive at their own answer, builds their confidence in the solution, and creates a ripple effect through their entire team and customer base. For franchisors, COOs, and franchise coaches leading multi-brand or fast-scaling systems, this episode is proof that standardizing a coaching framework across a large, diverse field team is not only possible, it can become one of the biggest drivers of franchisee engagement and trust. Learn more about AC Inc.'s coaching certification and franchisee support services at fieldcoachexperts.com.
