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To help break down the barriers to franchise ownership and create more transparency in the industry, FranConnect and 1851 Magazine have teamed up to present the 1851 Franchise Sales Trends Report.

Over the past few months, FranConnect aggregated all of its 2016 data from the largest franchise CRM system—which was culminated from nearly 500 franchise brands--in preparation for a comprehensive look at franchise sales. The 1851 Franchise Sales Trends Report, which is powered by FranConnect’s Franchise Sales Index, was born out of a conversation between Keith Gerson, the President and Chief Customer Advocate of FranConnect, and Sean Fitzgerald, the Chief Development Strategist at No Limit Agency*. Armed with decades of experience in franchise development, Fitzgerald expressed his interest in seeing aggregated data from FranConnect’s robust database. Doing so would give them an opportunity to look at statistics from hundreds of brands, yielding a true indicator of franchise metrics based on actual results versus self-reporting.

“After we discussed this idea further, I began to undertake the compilation of literally millions of data points based on areas initially identified by Sean of being of particular interest and importance. This information continued to evolve far beyond just the basic franchise development statistics—where it could be segmented out and extended into all aspects of franchise company performance,” Gerson. “While most reports utilize information compiled from surveys, the 1851 Franchise Sales Trends Report was put together from real data pulled from some of the biggest brands in the franchising. We’re excited about the specific insight the FranConnect Franchise Sales Index brings to light and our ability to help interpret its significance.”

A highlight of some of the initial data reveals that in 2016, franchisors utilizing the FranConnect system reported signing 5,892 new franchisees. They also generated 491,383 leads, resulting in 5,892 buyers—a 1.01 percent lead-to-close ratio. This means, that out of every 100 people inquiring into investing in a franchise, approximately one moves forward. The report also discovered the top sales deal sources. Franchise development websites resulted in 43 percent of sales; portals accounted for 26 percent; and referrals were 20 percent.