3 Top Tips for Recruiting Franchisees

It takes a strong concept to start a franchise. But without franchisees to bring that concept to new communities across the country — or even globe — that concept will never catch on.

Franchisee recruitment and lead generation are two of the biggest opportunities that development and leadership teams face on a daily basis. However, there’s a lot that happens between finding a potential candidate and having them sign on the dotted line. To learn more about how franchisors can recruit the best franchisees for their brands, 1851 Franchise spoke with executives from three different brands to get their top tips.

David Davoudpour, Chairman and CEO of Shoney’s: “Like with any good relationship, you have to take time to understand your future partner. You’re not going to marry someone without getting to know them, right? Of course, you have to explain the financial qualifications, including what those qualifications mean, how they can be qualified and how they can move forward from there. They also have to understand that there’s a process involved in franchising that needs to be followed. Plus, for Shoney’s, we want to ensure that our candidates know what it will take to open a restaurant, from the construction time to the people part of the relationship — including relationships with team members, consumers vendors and local communities.”

Steve Halloran, RockBox Fitness: “It’s very, very important to make sure that it’s a good fit. We’ve said no to more [franchisee candidates] than we’ve said yes to. By continuing to do that, we’ll ensure brand quality and the franchise experience. Franchisees have to be the right people to create the right team. They have to have ample capital and be ready to work. This is a lifestyle, and we want people on our team who are in the RockBox Fitness family who are ready to work and change people’s lives through fitness and health.”

Lonnie Helgerson, President of Helgerson Franchise Group and Kix Mobile’s Chairman of the Board: “When it comes to recruiting franchisees, it all starts with taking a look at the concept first and what type of people you’re looking to bring on board. You have to understand whether you’re looking for existing candidates, multi-unit franchisees or single-unit owners, because those are all very different types of franchisees. Obviously, whoever you’re targeting will need money. But a lot of the time, you have to think about how you communicate to those franchisees. Different candidates are looking for different things — if you’re looking for multi-unit operators, for example, you can’t sell your business ownership opportunity by strictly talking about support and management. What will make them sign — and what will make them stay — is the ability to scale the business. If I had to distill all that it takes to recruit franchisees down to one statement, that would be it. Know who you’re targeting from the very beginning, and build from there.”