Stephen Schultz

Supporting Strategies opened its first bookkeeping firm in Boston in 2004. At that time, small businesses were experiencing a sea change in how they approached bookkeeping. For the first time, the internet allowed small businesses to completely outsource their bookkeeping rather than employ a staff to manage the duties full time. Supporting Strategies’ director of business development, Stephen Schultz, likened the change to the outsourcing of payroll clerks years earlier.

“Thirty years ago, every company in America had a payroll clerk, now almost none do,” he said. “Payroll is now managed by third-party vendors, and it’s a huge industry. The same thing happened with bookkeeping.”

Supporting Strategies grew rapidly in its first ten years and eventually turned to franchising to take the brand into new markets across the country. Schultz says the decision to franchise not only helped the brand grow, it fundamentally changed what kind of business Supporting Strategies is.

“We started as a bookkeeping company. We’re not that anymore,” he said. “Now we are a franchisor. It took us a while to learn that. Our job isn’t keeping books anymore, it’s supporting franchisees.”

The company decided to franchise after ten years in business. They had perfected their system and wanted to expand nationally. They considered hiring salespeople in major markets, but franchising made the most sense.

By franchising, they were able to penetrate markets locally and quickly grow the business. They completed their FDD in March 2013 and sold their first franchise location the following September.

• They now have close to 90 locations across the country.
• If they had grown internally without franchising, they might have only 10 or 20 locations.

Schultz loves his job, finding franchisees who are excited to start a new business. He enjoys hearing their stories and educating them on what Supporting Strategies has to offer.

• He tells potential franchisees that if they decide Supporting Strategies isn’t a good fit, he’s just as happy.
• He believes he’s done his job if he’s shown them exactly what the company is about.

Schultz wishes there were a central franchise board and a quicker amendment process for updating the FDD. He also thinks it would be easier to be registered to sell in all 50 states.

The biggest change he’s noticed in franchising is the technology used by franchise brokers. They can now filter through data to find the best candidates.

Great franchisees follow the book and know the value of the system they bought into. They follow it, and if they do, they will be successful.

Transparency is the number-one thing that sells franchises. It’s about being upfront with candidates and not hiding anything. You need to put people at ease on the first call by being totally transparent.