In the past when a prospect was looking into joining a franchise group, they would have to call the franchise directly or give their details to gain an information pack. It was that you could only gather more information as a prospect if you contacted the franchise group directly.
This then meant that the franchise salesperson went to work. They needed to send or give the initial information and then follow that up and the process would take time and effort for everyone involved.
The world is changing and rapidly. With the internet, even though it has now been around for years, we are seeing a real change in how people gather information and how the sales process for every business, not just a franchisor selling franchises, has significantly changed.
In the past where prospects would contact you and then get the information they needed or wanted, they now want all the information BEFORE they contact you.
Prospects are so much more search savvy and they will be looking at everything about you and your business before they make contact. By the time they do actually make contact with you, they have probably learnt most of the things they want or need to know to get started. If they haven’t learnt these things, then they won’t contact you.
Franchisors in general have been slow to move on this new way of information gathering in relation to people looking to buy a franchise. Still wanting control on the sales process, they are still withholding the information that their prospective franchisees are looking for.
If this is the case for you, you are losing prospects.
There are many franchise groups out there and more coming to the market every day. Your competition isn’t just any group that is in the same line of business to you, it is all franchises that are remotely similar to you or even just simply in the same approximate upfront investment bracket.
If you have a franchise business that is geared towards people being potentially self-employed (doing the trade of their business, not just owning it) and it is a something that anyone could learn to do (no previous experience required), your competition is every other franchise in that same boat.
Sure, some of your prospective franchisees will say things like ‘I don’t want to work outdoors’ but others don’t mind either way. You have more competition as a franchisor than most franchisors are willing to admit or see.
What can you do about it?
You need to have more information out in the market place about what you do and why someone would want to join with you. This information needs to be readily available and the internet is the way to go.
Do you have different types of information formats – something to read, something to listen, something to watch? Do you cover all those questions a prospect might have about joining your business?
What information can you ‘put out’ for the prospective franchisee so they can make an informed decision to take it to that next step and call you? Remember also that you can use the same information but in several different formats.
Here’s some simple ideas:
- What is your business all about? (document, blog, video)
- The history of your franchise (document, blog, images, video)
- How much could I make as a franchisee (spreadsheet, general numbers, exercise for them to work it out for themselves, video, PowerPoint)
- Who has done this before? (success stories with other franchisees, testimonials, blogs, videos, audio, interviews, images)
- Frequently asked questions (FAQ page, document, video, audio, blogs)
Do you get the idea here?
Anything you used to tell a prospect, you now need in information they can gather, on their own, at any time of the day or night. Are you on Social Media? What does your website look like? Who are you?
A lot of the franchisors I work with, I’ve done a simple video interview with them and this has been proving to be a real conversion tool because through the power of an online video, the prospect is getting to know you, the franchisor. If you ask a lot of franchisees what was the final piece to the puzzle that made them decide to join a franchise, 9 times out of 10 they will tell you it was because they liked the franchisor when they met or spoke to them! You can have them meeting you before you even speak to them.
This can seem like a big task to take on board, but the first step is to simply create a list of all the things a prospect would like to see, hear, read prior to deciding to join you and then start to create them. It can take time, but it is better to get started now rather than later.
You need to allow a prospect to understand your business PRIOR to contacting you. In this day and age, prospects are savvy and they don’t even want to give you their email anymore. They just want the information so that they feel like they are in control of the process.
If you’d like some more help with this, I’m running a two day workshop on February 6 & 7. I’m going to be spending some time on the thought process of the prospective franchisee and what you need to do at each thought to help them make the buying decision to join you. This will be especially valuable for any franchisor that is not yet at critical mass in their franchise where you are making more from royalties than what it costs you to run your franchisor business.
I’d love for you to join us, so come get more details about the workshop here.