Top Tips for Sustainable Franchise Growth

In the franchise space, unit volume, sales, quality of your product and its resonance with consumers are a few of the key factors that drive success – the first of which is dependent on the strength of a franchise development team. With the high number of competitors on the market today, having an experienced group of individuals that can help a brand stand out to potential franchise candidates is a necessity.

But it’s not just about identifying interested individuals in available markets to spark rapid growth that helps a franchise development team win, it’s about intelligent growth and getting the right candidates in place that are passionate about your brand and eager to watch it succeed. So what are the silver bullets to reach peak performance as a development team? 1851 connected with four franchise industry veterans who have mastered what drives successful franchise growth to offer the top five tips on how to do so sustainably.

1) Know what you’re looking for in a potential candidate and never settle for less.

We make sure during our vetting process that we’re very transparent about the mental and physical health requirements needed to run a business. At the end of the day, in order to build a strong infrastructure, you have to surround yourself with good people. I ask myself whether or not I would have the prospect over to my house for dinner because I truly believe there is nothing better than meeting face-to-face, breaking bread and talking about the fact that we are the future of fitness. If the answer is yes, we then continue the process of vetting that prospect to make sure they are the right fit for GYMGUYZ.

-GYMGUYZ Founder & CEO Josh York

2) Ensure franchise materials are efficient, informative and user-friendly.

We utilize a number of tools make the evaluation process efficient, informative and user-friendly. One is a series of recorded webinars. Today, it can be difficult to schedule a person on a specific day and at a specific time – people have busy lives. By using recorded webinars, a candidate can access them at a time that is most convenient for them. It also gives them the opportunity to hear the information directly from our leadership team and not just the franchise development representative.  This series of steps is also a good indicator to us on their willingness to follow a process.

Secondly, we educate our candidates through both our customer and franchise development websites. They demonstrate our commitment to ensuring that the “outside is fun again” through colorful graphics, engaging franchisee video testimonials, spirited video commercial spots, and information about our corporate team and franchise opportunities.

Another important tool that we use to help educate the candidate comes from the Franchise Disclosure Document, the Item 19. This gives us the ability to show candidates data and metrics that they can use to discern the financial opportunity that we offer.  We have a very strong Item 19 and it has been an extremely useful reference.

Lastly, we have a wonderful cadre of franchisees who avail themselves to candidates through validation calls.  When a candidate makes it to a decision day, they often share that one of the biggest contributors to their confidence in our system has been the impactful discussions with current MoJo franchisees.  Oftentimes, candidates speak to four or five validators who all provide the same positive message that imbues confidence in our Mosquito Joe* system.

-Mosquito Joe COO Lou Schager

3) Understand your brand’s opportunities.

At Miracle Method, we have a franchise business opportunity to offer that has a relatively low cost of entry compared to many similar types of franchise models, and yet we have owners who have built businesses every bit as large and successful as franchise opportunities that cost a lot more. This lower investment level opens up a large prospect pool. Once I get to educate candidates on the potential and introduce them to existing owners, we have a great opportunity.

There are many current business owners in the re-surfacing, construction, automotive and other related industries who are independent operators and would greatly benefit from joining a franchise like Miracle Method. No one really wants to “go it alone” and many small business owners find themselves having to do just that. For these folks, their business revolves around them, and they can never take a day off without their business coming to a grinding halt. This is a huge opportunity and we just need to get Miracle Method in front of these people.

-Miracle Method Vice President of Development Gwyn O’Kane

4) But, also know that those opportunities come with challenges.

For me, it is that same challenge I have been dealing with for years. When I first started in development, I spent time searching for the “magic bullet,” one place that I could advertise and the right candidates would come to us. I quickly came to realize that this does not exist. My focus now is to make sure that we can be diversified in the mediums and geographically focused with our franchise marketing budget. Most candidates come to us after having seen us in multiple places. They may read an article like this, then see us on a franchise portal and then find they are being re-marketed to as the result of a Google search. However, what is not a challenge is being confident I have a great franchise to offer in Miracle Method!

-Miracle Method Vice President of Development Gwyn O’Kane

5) Hone in on the factors that have made your business successful and strive for more.

Good old-fashioned hard work has been our greatest asset and is what continues to help us thrive. We’ve spent more 15 hour days than I can count working on the computer, routing and calling customers to increase our business. But aside from that, we’re always focused on customer service and make rational decisions when it comes to growth and expansion costs. Understanding what has made us succeed so far and continuing to build on those achievements is what will help us with sustainability in the long-term.

-Multi-Unit Mosquito Joe Franchisee Kurt Godwin