Top Franchise Brokers: Corey Elias, Franchise Captain

As the owner of his own franchise brokerage, Corey Elias knows he isn’t successful if his clients aren’t successful.

“This should be a referral business,” said the owner of Atlanta-based Franchise Captain. “Over half of my clients last year were referrals from previous clients. To me, that's winning. That means [my clients] were really happy in their system. They're yelling from the mountaintops: ‘You should get into this! Call Corey!’” he said.

But Elias said there’s not a magic formula and no shortcut to getting to that referral. It takes time, patience and passion. “I love my clients, and we spend hours getting to know each other,” he said. “We do a business assessment, we really dig in to learn what their lifestyle goals are, what their financial goals are and just what are they looking to do? What are they looking to get out of business ownership?”

It’s that up-front commitment and investment in listening to what his clients are really saying that Elias credits for a successful outcome. He suggests that franchisors who succeed are also good at listening to their franchisees.

“If you have created and focused on these happy franchisees, then growth will come and you'll create a better system,” he said. “Listen to those franchisees, and then do everything you can day and night to make them successful and happy.”