When you talk to the top-performing franchisee across many different brands, you will spot some key commonalities.
By Kim Kavin • Sep 25, 2025
This story appears in the September 2025 issue of Entrepreneur.
Erin Elgin, Colleen O’Ferrall-Jones, R.L. Hunnicutt II, and Claudia Martinez Azzara live in entirely different parts of the country. They own franchises in wholly different industries. They come from completely different backgrounds, and they spend their days doing totally different things.
Yet they are all among the top performers and sales earners in their franchise brands, in part because they all possess two core traits. First, they have a work ethic that compels them to do anything and everything that needs to be done — including the grunt work that others may avoid. Then, they combine that industriousness with a real belief in what they do. Some call it “leading with heart.” Others describe it as living a life of service rooted in faith. For all of them, their deep sense of purpose is based on building close relationships with their team and their clients.
This mix of work ethic and purpose has led these top performers to care about other human beings and to try to do not just the profitable thing, but also the best thing for everyone. Nobody, and no task, is beneath any of them.
Each of these people is in a different phase of their franchise experience, and they’re learning different lessons. But they all serve as role models for how living out certain fundamental values can help every franchisee rise to the top.
Related: 3 Traits You Need to Succeed as a Franchisor, According to Top Franchise Leaders
Want to become a leading franchisee yourself? We looked at four archetypes of top performers: The Listener, The Coach, The Person of Service, and The Happy Customer. Which are you?
Top Performer type #1: The Listener
Listen closely to your customer, and build what they want.
Erin Elgin never imagined, during her days as a CPA, that her path to prosperity would begin with a job as a janitor.
But that was the role her business partner, U.S. Army veteran Patrick Elgin, offered her when she decided it was time for a change. He had opened two Sola Salons in Minnesota’s Twin Cities, providing independent suites for beauty professionals. Erin didn’t know anything about the beauty industry, but she needed something other than 100-hour workweeks. And Patrick, looking at two additional locations, needed a new employee.
“I would go every day to vacuum and clean the bathrooms,” Erin says. “My whole family thought I was crazy.”
The funny little thing that Erin learned, though, is that beauty professionals will chitchat with the gal who is vacuuming — and once they started talking about their needs, plans, and dreams, Erin could figure out all kinds of ways to make them happy, keep them renting the spaces, and grow everybody’s businesses.
Today, they own 14 Sola Salons and are preparing to open the brand’s biggest-ever location later this year, with 101 studios compared to the average 45. The space will have a fitness center with showers, so clients don’t have to leave for a daily workout; a beauty supply store, so they don’t have to shop for products elsewhere; a podcast and content creation studio where they can promote their services; a yoga studio; an outdoor picnic area; an event space for classes; and a mini-mart with snacks — everything a beauty professional could possibly want.
For Erin and Patrick, getting to know the clients isn’t a gimmick; it’s heartfelt in a way that people can feel. “They’ve been really leaning in on taking a genuine interest in their salon pros and nurturing their needs and responding when there are maintenance issues at the site,” says John Pantera, vice president of franchise development at Radiance Holdings, the parent company of Sola Salons. “You can’t teach people to care. If you care and you take pride in your salon suites and get to know your salon pros, they will stay and continue to run great businesses.”
It’s important, though, to balance how much you care about the people around you with putting everyone in positions in which they — and the business — can actually succeed, explains Erin. “Our first mistake was hiring friends. Just don’t do it,” she says. “And then we would try to force people to fit in a role they weren’t a fit for, or we would change a role for a person because they weren’t the right fit. That was a mistake. When you’re creating roles for your organization, it’s serving the company’s needs and your needs as an owner. If a person isn’t the right fit, that’s OK. Wait for the person who is the right fit.”
Today, they have 660 professionals working out of their 14 sites, plus 11 employees on their support staff. “That’s a lot of people that are counting on them,” Pantera says, “but I think when you build it without having anything handed to you, and you’re not scared to get your hands dirty, the people around you see that you’re in the trenches with them.”
Related: 10 Traits of the Most Successful Franchise Owners
Top Performer Type #2: The Coach
Learn people’s goals, then help them achieve them.
Colleen O’Ferrall-Jones was working in real estate while raising three kids. As her 40th birthday approached, she decided it was time for something new. She pivoted to chase her dream of working in fitness — with her middle-aged body and all.
“At the time, I didn’t look like a personal trainer looks,” O’Ferrall-Jones says. “I even had a friend say, ‘Don’t you have to look like a personal trainer to be one?’ It stung, but she said it with love, and it became a fire lit under me.”
O’Ferrall-Jones started her own personal-training business, then took a class at Orangetheory Fitness, which was looking for coaches. Soon enough, she became a franchisee, eager to tap into Orangetheory’s existing branding and other franchise services. Nine years later, after becoming a coach, she owns two locations in California and Hawaii, and was just named an International Franchise Association “Franchisee of the Year.”
But even as she began leading franchises, O’Ferrall-Jones never stopped coaching, and she believes that’s what sets her apart. “I’m in that room every day working our brand and delivering the experience and the customer service that we set out to deliver,” she says. “That’s a choice for me. There’s a lot of franchisees that are just running their businesses — and they do great things. But I think that if you are not highly engaged in your business, there’s only so far you can go. You’ll be relying on the metrics to perform for you. I prefer to be in the business, seeing, feeling, and hearing in the day-to-day.”
All that effort helps keep the repeat business coming, says Lauren Cody, brand president of Orangetheory. “With Colleen herself still coaching, she’s able to engage the coaches in her organization in a unique and powerful way, and her members too,” Cody says. “Both of her studios are in the top 10% of member utilization, meaning how many times members come a week to work out with us. That is a very large determinant of how long a member will stay with us.”
O’Ferrall-Jones says she’s still learning how certain approaches work better in some markets than others. “I have one studio on the mainland [continental United States], and one in Hawaii, and they require different lenses for management and experience,” she says. “On the mainland, they want everything fast. In Hawaii, they want a more personal touch. My marketing has to be different.” Some things, though, work no matter where an Orangetheory studio is — like being a perfectionist about cleaning and greeting returning clients by name when they walk through the door.
Knowing exactly who is walking in the door can be crucial to how they feel walking out. “When a member comes to Orangetheory, they may have specific goals. Maybe they saw the doctor and they’re scared, or maybe they’re just trying to feel better. Or perhaps they’re preparing for an event, a wedding, whatever it could be,” Cody says. “Understanding their motivations is something that is part of the job for good coaches. And it comes naturally to Colleen. It’s a deeper empathy of understanding what they’re trying to achieve and helping them get there in a way that works for them.”