WICKAM: The Litmus Test Your Training Desperately Needs

✅You invested in training.

✅You rolled it out with polish.

✅You told franchisees it was essential.…

And then? Crickets.

They didn’t finish it.They didn’t use it.And worst of all - nothing changed in the business.

Before you write it off as “a franchisee engagement problem,” consider this:

• 40% of learners fail to transfer what they’ve learned into their daily work

• 70% stop applying training within 12 months

• Only 50% of investment in training leads to meaningful business improvement

That’s not just frustrating - it’s a costly failure.

If your training isn't driving real learning, action, and business impact, it’s time for a new standard, one that separates feel-good content from high-performance capability building.

It’s time to run your training through the WICKAM test:

Is it Worthwhile, Interactive, and Convenient?Does it transfer Knowledge? Do learners take Action? Can you Measure the results?

If the answer isn’t a clear yes…❗ Don’t be surprised when no one takes action.❗ Don’t be surprised when franchisees tune out.❗ And don’t be surprised when performance flatlines - again.

Let me show you why WICKAM is the litmus test your training desperately needs and how franchise brand Pack & Send use it to generate measurable, game-changing results.

The 6 Questions Every Franchisor Should Ask

Before you build (or rebuild) another franchisee training initiative, ask yourself these six WICKAM questions — because if you can't confidently tick every box, you're setting yourself up for wasted time, disengaged learners, and disappointing ROI.

W – Is it Worthwhile?

Are franchisees chomping at the bit to participate?

If you have to chase, remind, or nudge them repeatedly to engage, there’s a disconnect - not in their attitude, but in the perceived value of the training.

Worthwhile training solves real, felt problems. It helps franchisees:

• Win more business

• Boost team performance

• Save time or reduce stress

• Improve results they care about

When franchisees can immediately see the benefit - in their world, not yours - you don’t need to force participation. They’ll want in.

If the training feels like “just another thing from head office,” you’ve already lost them.

I – Is it Interactive?

People learn by doing not by watching PowerPoint slides or passively sitting through lectures.

If your training consists of talking heads and information dumps, don’t be surprised when learners forget 90% of it by the next morning. Interactivity boosts retention and application. That means:

• Live practice

• Scenario-based discussions

• Peer engagement

• Roleplay

• Group challenges

• Real-world examples

Engagement drives action and interaction is how you earn engagement.

C – Is it Convenient?

You’re not competing with Netflix - you’re competing with urgent issues, time-poor franchisees, and the daily grind of running a business.

If your training isn’t convenient, it won’t get done. Period.

Convenient training respects franchisees’ time and reality. That means:

• Bite-sized online modules that can be done during quiet moments

• Mobile-friendly access for learning on the go

• Easy-to-navigate platforms that reduce tech resistance

• In-person workshops scheduled to minimise operational disruption such as weekends, evenings, or slower trading days

Never waste in-person workshop or conference time delivering theory and models that could’ve been covered online.

The smartest training uses a blended approach:

✅ Pre-work delivered via eLearning to introduce models and frameworks

✅ Face-to-face time reserved for practice, coaching, and real-world application

Because no one needs to sit through a slide on “The Stages of Change” in a room full of people.They need to use those stages live, in context, with feedback and support.

When training is truly convenient, franchisees show up not just physically - but mentally.

K – Is Knowledge Actually Being Transferred?

Here’s where good intentions fall flat.

Even the most engaging session is useless if no one remembers it, understands it, or knows how to apply it. Knowledge transfer needs reinforcement. That includes:

• Recap activities

• Quizzes

• Knowledge checks

• Practical summaries

• Coaching follow-up

• On-the-job support

If franchisees can’t explain what they learned - or worse, can’t use it - then no transfer occurred.

A – Are Learners Taking Action?

This is the WICKAM deal-breaker.

Did behaviour change? Are people actually doing something different as a result of your training?

If franchisees return to old habits the moment the workshop ends, the learning failed, no matter how pretty the feedback scores looked.

Ask:

• Are they applying new skills in real-world situations?

• Are support visits reinforcing the change?

• Is there evidence that something improved because of the learning?

Without action, there’s no transformation.

 M – Is It Measured?

Most systems track completion. But how many track commercial impact?

Are you measuring whether the training actually improved franchisee capability, performance, or growth? Can you link learning to tangible results?

Without measurement, you’re flying blind and you can’t scale what you don’t measure.

Here’s the truth:If you can’t tick every box, you don’t have a training problem, you have a design problem.

WICKAM is your audit tool. It shows you where your training stalls and exactly what needs to change if you want learners to take action, not just attend.

The Cost of Getting It Wrong

Let’s not sugar-coat this - the price of poorly designed training is steep.Not just in dollars, but in lost momentum, missed opportunities, and damaged credibility.

Here’s what it really costs when training misses the WICKAM mark:

Wasted Investment

Training is one of the biggest line items in a franchisor’s budget but without behaviour change, it becomes a cost centre instead of a growth driver.

That stat again:Only 50% of investment in training results in business improvement.Half your budget might be evaporating, and you may not even know it.

Disengaged Franchisees

When training feels irrelevant, overwhelming, or impossible to act on, franchisees stop listening.They tune out.They roll their eyes.They view it as “head office noise.”

The result?You’ve lost trust and influence - two things far harder to rebuild than a training module.

Compliance Without Commitment

You might get completion. You might even get smiles and decent feedback.But if you’re not seeing action in the field, your network is checking boxes not changing behaviours.

Learning without application is the illusion of progress.

Initiatives That Die on the Launchpad

You roll out a new campaign. You launch a new program. You invest months building resources.

But it stalls because the learning engine that was supposed to fuel uptake and execution was flawed.

This is Silent Killer #12 in action:

“Great initiatives poorly implemented.”

It’s not the idea that failed it’s the execution system.

Stalled Growth and Plateaued Performance

Training that doesn’t move the needle traps your network in maintenance mode.The same top franchisees stay on top. The rest keep treading water.

Without capability uplift, there’s no new growth, just more pressure on the same few performers.

Bottom line?Poor training isn’t neutral.It chips away at culture, performance, and the belief that “this system helps me succeed.”

If your training isn’t Worthwhile, Interactive, Convenient, Knowledge-transferring, Action-driving, and Measured - don’t just tweak the content.Rebuild the foundation.

WICKAM in Action - The Pack & Send Case Study

Pack & Send, a subsidiary of MBE Global, operates a network of over 170 franchise outlets across Australia, New Zealand, and the UK.

Back in 2022, they faced a critical challenge:Their B2B sales performance was inconsistent and heavily skewed toward a small handful of top performers.

Despite having strong service capabilities, many franchisees were reactive - happy to serve customers who contacted them, but reluctant and under-equipped to go out and proactively win new business.

Here’s what the data showed:

·       Franchisees were reactive, not proactive

·       Leads were going cold due to lack of follow-up

·       Lead conversion rates sat at just 11%

·       Many franchisees lacked confidence and avoided external selling

·       There were major gaps in selling skills and structure

·       80% of sales were coming from just 20% of franchisees

They knew something had to change and fast.

They’d heard about the Five Magic F’s Success Formula and how it had helped other networks lift capability, close performance gaps, and replicate success across the network. That’s when they reached out and asked me to “work my magic” and develop a system to transform their sales approach.

What followed was the design and implementation of a full WICKAM-based B2B Sales Capability Program tailored to the specific challenges and commercial realities of their franchisees.

👉 And the results speak for themselves…

W – Worthwhile

The program launched with me delivering a keynote at conference, featuring success stories from other franchise brands and how the involvement of their top franchisee performers helped develop a sales system to replicate top performer sales success. This made the value proposition crystal clear from the start.

Franchisees didn’t just attend — they wanted in.The message was loud and clear:This isn’t just training - it’s your roadmap to bigger accounts, higher conversions, and long-term sales confidence.

I – Interactive

The program incorporated blended learning by design. Before the workshops, franchisees completed a series of six eLearning sessions that covered the core models, frameworks, and sales fundamentals.

But this wasn’t just passive content.Franchisees were asked to prepare a list of real target prospects so when they arrived at the workshop, they were ready to work on actual opportunities, not hypothetical scenarios.

The workshops themselves were fully hands-on:✔️ Roleplays✔️ Peer feedback✔️ Real-world sales planning✔️ Application of techniques to their own business context

By the end of the sessions, they had already developed outreach strategies, objection-handling scripts, and first-contact messaging they could take back and implement immediately.

💡 This wasn’t just learning for learning’s sake - it was structured for action on day one back in the business.

C – Convenient

The program was deliberately structured to be flexible, accessible, and respectful of franchisee time.

Franchisees completed the eLearning modules at their own pace, before attending the in-person workshops. This flipped-classroom approach meant they arrived already familiar with the theory, ready to dive straight into real-world application.

💡 We didn’t waste precious in-person time on teaching models that could be covered in pre-work. Workshops were reserved for hands-on practice, peer learning, roleplay, and working live on their own sales challenges.

To further accommodate busy schedules:

·       Virtual workshops were made available for those unable to attend in person

·       Weekend and after-hours options were offered to minimise disruption to trading hours

This combination of asynchronous pre-work and high-impact, face-to-face training created a blended learning experience that was both effective and franchisee-friendly.

K – Knowledge Transfer

Training that isn't retained is just noise - and Pack & Send knew this.

We built knowledge transfer into every stage of the program to ensure franchisees didn’t just hear something once and forget it. They engaged with concepts multiple times and in multiple ways to strengthen retention and build confidence.

Here’s how we made knowledge transfer stick:

·       Quizzes at the end of each eLearning module helped cement key principles

·       Live Kahoots brought competitive energy to learning recall

·       Workshop recaps ensured core concepts were revisited and applied to franchisees’ real targets

·       Franchisees worked through real customer scenarios using the models and techniques introduced earlier

By the time they completed the program, franchisees weren’t just familiar with the material, they had used it, discussed it, applied it, and received feedback on it.

Learning had moved from theory to practice and it was sticking.

A – Action-Oriented

The hallmark of any effective training is what happens after the session ends and this program was designed with action in mind from the outset.

Franchisees didn’t leave with a vague to-do list. They left with:

·       A clear action plan

·       A live prospect list

·       Tools they had already practiced using

·       Immediate opportunities to follow up

And support didn’t stop there.

The program included a 3-month intensive implementation phase with:

• Group sales meetings to keep momentum high

• Ongoing coaching from the franchisee support team to troubleshoot real-world challenges

• Accountability built into the support rhythm

• Peer interaction to sustain engagement

No one left the workshop thinking, “That was interesting maybe I’ll try it someday.”They left with the confidence and clarity to take action the very next day.

This was professional development with a pulse - designed to create motion, not just motivation.

M – Measured

Many training programs end with good intentions but no way to track whether anything actually worked.

Not this one.

Pack & Send backed their program with a Results Tracking Dashboard so they could monitor:

• Franchisee participation

• Lead follow-up activity

• Conversion rates

• Sales performance over time

This gave both the franchisor and the franchisee network clear visibility into what was improving and where further support was needed.

Leaders could pinpoint early wins, showcase success stories, and identify who needed additional coaching - all in real time.

The message was clear:This program isn’t about attendance - it’s about impact.

The Results

This is what Raj Chandiock, VP Network Sales & Operations had to say almost three years after program implementation.

“The program has seen excellent uptake, with over 80 franchise partners already part of this journey. The results speak for themselves, franchisees are growing their businesses, retaining key accounts, and confidently navigating the B2B sales landscape.”

One of the attendees, Nitan Khadalia from Pack & Send Cheltenham left this testimonial:

“I’ve attended many first-class sales training programs in my previous life with Hyundai and BMW, but this program more than surpasses the highest standard of training.I’m confident this B2B Sales system will take my business to the next level.”

And it did – look what he achieved:

🏅 2023 – Honoured with the Michael Paul Brand Ambassador Award🏅 2024 – Achieved 3rd place in both Live Sales and Multi-Center performance

The lesson?

When training meets WICKAM standards, it doesn’t just inform - it transforms.

WICKAM in Action, Results in Real Life

When franchisee training fails, it’s easy to blame motivation.But more often than not, it’s not the people, it’s the program.

The Pack & Send case study proves what’s possible when you design training that’s:

✅ Worthwhile

✅ Interactive

✅ Convenient

✅ Transfers Knowledge

✅ Action-oriented

✅ Measured

The result?

✔️ 80+ engaged franchisees

✔️ Rising conversion rates

✔️ B2B sales confidence network-wide

✔️ Award-winning franchisees achieving record growth

This is what happens when you stop wasting time on training that looks good on paper but changes nothing.

This is the power of WICKAM and it’s at the heart of the FAST Track Accelerated Learning section of the FIVE Magic Fs Learning and Coaching program:

Achieve Real Learning, Action, Lasting Behaviour Change & Results.Stop Wasting Time & Resources on Training That Fails!

 Are You Ready to Build Franchisee Learning That Actually Works?

If you want to implement training that drives real capability, engagement, and results the Franchise Growth Bundle is a great place to start.

The bundle includes:

·       A hardcopy of The Ultimate Franchising Success Formula book

·       Full access to the audiobook so you can reflect and revisit on the go

·       Two months of membership to the Get Smart Learning Academy - where you’ll find tools to design WICKAM-aligned programs

·       Two live 1:1 coaching sessions to help you apply what you learn

·       PLUS the Five Magic F’s Success Diagnostic to provide you with a powerful roadmap to address your own unique priorities and an action plan for implementation.

This is a great bundle of value for only $97!

👉 Download your Franchise Growth Bundle and Success Diagnostic here