Growing a Franchise
In this month’s Coffee & Analytics Live Webinar, 1851 Franchise publisher Nick Powills shares the top factors that moved dozens of franchisees from consideration to inquiry. Register today!
Franchise brands spend heavily to generate awareness, attract website visitors, and produce leads. But one of the most important parts of the franchise development funnel happens before a prospect ever fills out a form.
A prospective franchisee sees a brand, begins researching the opportunity and eventually decides whether it is worth taking the next step. Understanding what moves someone from impression to inquiry could help franchisors improve conversion without simply spending more money on lead generation.
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To get to the seven questions, I reviewed franchisee responses to a single question:
“What were your top three deciding factors?”
The answers point to a relatively consistent set of considerations.
Franchisees cited brand reputation, investment level, market opportunity, territory availability, scalability, franchisor support, culture, personal fit, and the strength of the business model. While individual answers varied, the responses suggest prospective franchisees are trying to answer seven fundamental questions before they inquire (NOTE, this could be the framework for how you set-up your next franchise website – and if you want to learn more about how to build that site in a week or less check out 1851’s franchise website builder tool)
The first question is whether the underlying business is attractive.
Franchisees cited brand recognition, differentiation, market demand, category strength, and the ability to compete effectively. One respondent focused on the ability of the brand to differentiate itself from competitors. Another highlighted an underserved market. Another was looking specifically for a business in the trades that could be more resistant to economic downturns.
Those responses suggest that broad statements about being part of a “growing industry” may not be enough to motivate serious candidates.
Prospects need to understand why the business is positioned to succeed. Many franchisors don’t answer this clearly.
Franchisors should be able to explain what problem the business solves, what is changing in the market, how the concept differs from competitors and why customers choose the brand.
The objective is not simply to introduce the franchise. It is to establish a reason to believe in the business.
Prospective franchisees are also evaluating themselves. And looking at look-alike franchisees for inspiration to answer that question.
One respondent said a major factor was finding something that fit their existing skill set. Another said the franchise was something they felt capable of operating.
Another candidate evaluated local opportunities but ruled out businesses whose customers did not align with their own experience and interests.
That distinction matters.
A candidate is not only asking whether the franchise works. The candidate is asking whether the franchise works for someone like them.
Franchise development content can help answer that question by showing how different professional backgrounds translate into ownership.
A former corporate executive may want to understand how leadership and management experience apply to the business. A salesperson may want to see how relationship-building skills create an advantage. An operations executive may want to know what systems and teams they would oversee. The faster candidates can recognize themselves in the model, the easier it becomes for them to imagine ownership.
Territory was another recurring consideration. Respondents referenced local demographics, population growth, aging populations, competitive density, available markets and access to neighboring territories.These are practical questions, but they are also personal ones.
A prospective franchisee may appreciate knowing that a brand has 100 locations. The more immediate concern, however, is whether the concept can succeed in their own community.
That suggests franchise development websites should bring market-level information closer to the beginning of the candidate journey.
Rather than relying entirely on a national territory map, brands can help prospects understand the characteristics of a strong market, including target customers, demographics, competition and expansion potential. A call to action such as "Explore Your Market" may also feel more natural to an early-stage prospect than “Request Franchise Information.”
The former continues the research process. The latter can feel like the beginning of a sales process.
Several franchisees cited scalability as a deciding factor. They considered the ability to acquire additional territories, operate multiple locations and build beyond a single unit.This indicates that many franchise buyers are not evaluating only the economics of their first location. They are considering what the business could eventually become.
For growth-oriented candidates, franchisors should make that path visible. Franchisee profiles, for example, can go beyond the traditional biography. Instead of simply introducing a franchisee and their local business, a brand can explain how that owner moved from one territory to multiple territories, built a management team, or expanded across a market.
That story helps a candidate visualize the opportunity as a business-building platform rather than a single-unit purchase.
Support and culture appeared repeatedly in the responses.
Franchisees cited the quality of the franchisor's people, the culture of the organization, the experience of the corporate team and endorsements from existing franchisees.
One respondent specifically recalled the attentiveness of the franchisor during the sales process, including members of the corporate team traveling to meet the prospective franchisee. That type of experience can be more memorable than a description of a support system.
Franchisors often market their training programs, technology and operating systems. Those elements remain important, but candidates also want to know who will be standing behind those systems. Development marketing should introduce prospects to the people responsible for training, operations, marketing and franchisee support. It should also provide candid examples of how the franchisor works with franchisees when challenges arise.
Trust can shorten a buying cycle because it reduces one of the largest perceived risks in franchising: uncertainty about the partner on the other side of the agreement.
Investment was also a recurring consideration.
Respondents mentioned startup costs, proven business models, success rates and unit economics.That does not necessarily mean the lowest-cost franchise wins. Instead, prospective franchisees appear to be evaluating whether the potential opportunity justifies the required investment.
Franchise brands can help candidates understand that equation by providing greater financial education throughout the development journey. That can include the initial investment, working capital requirements, major operating expenses, revenue drivers and the economics of multi-unit growth, subject to the financial performance representation included in the franchise disclosure document and applicable franchise sales regulations.
The objective should be clarity.
Candidates are ultimately trying to determine whether the potential return is worth the capital, time and risk required to build the business.
The final question is urgency.
A candidate may believe the business is strong, see a fit with their skills, trust the franchisor and understand the economics, and still take no action. There needs to be a reason the opportunity matters now. That reason could be territory availability, changing consumer behavior, demographic shifts, expansion momentum or changes within an industry. It could also be personal. Many franchise candidates begin researching ownership because they have reached a transition point in their careers.
Franchisors should help candidates understand both the long-term attractiveness of the opportunity and what makes the current moment relevant.
Without a compelling answer to “Why now?” interest can remain interest indefinitely.
The traditional franchise development funnel is often measured as a progression from impressions to website visits, leads, qualified candidates and signed agreements.
The candidate's decision-making process is more complicated.
Before inquiring, a prospect may need to reach several conclusions:
That suggests franchisors should think about impression-to-inquiry conversion as a process of building confidence rather than simply driving traffic toward a lead form. It also creates an opportunity to measure more meaningful actions before an inquiry occurs.
Brands can track whether visitors explore territory information, complete a franchise fit assessment, review investment information, read franchisee stories, watch validation videos or return to the website multiple times.
Those behaviors offer clues about where confidence is being established and where the candidate journey may be breaking down.
Traditional franchise marketing tends to emphasize the first sale. Improving impression-to-inquiry conversion may depend on doing a better job with all three. The most effective franchise development marketing may not be the marketing that generates the largest number of impressions. It may be the marketing that helps the right candidate reach conviction faster.
A franchise prospect does not need to know everything about a franchise before making an inquiry. They need enough information to begin picturing themselves succeeding with it.
The brands that answer those questions clearly — why this business, why me, why here, how big, why these people, whether the economics work and why now — can make it easier for prospects to take the next step.
Want to dig deeper into how franchise brands can shorten the distance between awareness and inquiry? Join Coffee & Analytics for a discussion on The Seven Questions Every Franchise Buyer Needs Answered Before They Inquire - [REGISTER HERE]
We will break down what franchisee decision-making data tells us about conversion, how franchisors can structure their websites and content around the questions candidates are actually asking, and how brands can measure the signals that happen before a lead is generated.
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About the Author
Nick Powills, CFE, founded No Limit Agency in 2008 and serves as Chief Brand Strategist for the Chicago-based firm. No Limit is a full-service communications agency that establishes and elevates brands by bridging Public Relations, Social Media, Marketing, Advertising, Digital, and a lot of creativity, to best strategize well-rounded and successful campaigns for 50+ global franchise brands. By presenting visionary ideas and building real relationships, No Limit is able to create effective media branding strategies to help companies grow. Nick currently leads a staff of writers, media strategists, designers, social media experts and digital producers in an office think-tank where brands are humanized for strong, compelling media stories. Prior to starting No Limit at the age of 27, Nick spent four years working at a franchise PR agency where he mastered the art of building rapport with media outlets and creating newsworthy pitches for earned media placements. He holds a Bachelor of Journalism from Drake University in Iowa.
