2026: The Year AI Rewrites the Franchise Playbook
Date: October 30th, 2025
Time: 2:00–3:00 PM ET
A Live Forecast with Subject Matter Expert, Rick Batchelor and Kevin Batchelor, Co-Founders of Franchise Ninja
Hosted & Moderated by Keith Gerson, CFE — Co-Founder & Managing Partner, The Franchise Consortium
The next 12 months will reframe how franchises go to market.
AI won’t just change lead gen—it will reshape how brands recruit future franchise owners, support current owners, and compete in the market. Join SMEs Rick and Kevin Batchelor with host/moderator Keith Gerson for a fast, no-fluff briefing on what’s coming—and how to be ready.

Keith Gerson
Host & Moderator, The Franchise Consortium

Rick Batchelor
Co-Founder of Franchise Ninja

Kevin Batchelor
Co-Founder of Franchise Ninja
Duration: 60 minutes
Format: Live online webinar with Q&A
Cost: Complimentary

“The CRM is the work horse of franchise development and, over the years, we’ve highly modifed FranConnect to meet the needs our our brand and the newest technology integrations.”

“Integrating AI powered SMS solutions to our CRM has greatly increased our booking rate, speed to lead, and our ability to use AI to rebook no-shows. It’s a perfectly integrated lead qualifier that works 24/7 booking and re-engaging cold leads.”

“We recently launched Frannie AI, which seamlessly integrates with our CRM to help franchise sales teams work smarter. Think of it as an AI-powered sales assistant that helps reps focus on the right leads and close more deals faster.”

“We’ve spent over 18 years working with & customizing CRM solutions. The Insights Engine has native CRM integrations so we can extend the data analysis and create best in class mid funnel visualizations which greatly help brands grow with less waste.”

