Hub Tap is an all-inclusive event bartending service. Designed as a completely streamlined mobile event franchise, Hub Tap rolls up to events in a retrofitted horse trailer ready to serve guests.
Hub Tap has low start-up costs, is backed by an incredible team, and is a great lifestyle brand for the right franchisee.
Franchisees Kicking Ass: The Franchisee Is King
Sajib Singha spent 10 years working his way up from low-level shift manager to operational manager at KFC while working a second job at JP Morgan Chase Bank. Fast forward to 2021, and the Texas-based operator now owns 13 franchise locations with four different quick-service restaurant brands and two more locations on the way.
Singha’s franchise journey started in 2012 when he used his savings to buy a Golden Chick franchise location for sale in his area. From there, he quickly expanded his portfolio to include Dairy Queen, Captain D’s, Papa John’s and Schlotzky’s.
When asked how he chooses brands before investing, Singha said, “We always like to see the average unit volume (AUV) of each chain to determine how they are doing. Since we wanted to diversify our portfolio, we definitely wanted to pick the best franchise in its own category. A lot of it also depends on the incentives the brand is offering at the time.”
Being a multi-unit franchise owner within the same brand is certainly challenging, but owning multiple units with multiple brands is challenging on a different level. Singha attributes his success to his staff and his willingness to take things back to basics.
“You need to understand the basics of each QSR to make sure you have a full grasp of the fundamental needs of each business,” Singha said. “That way, when you pass the baton onto the next person to run things, you know your business will be okay. You also need to invest in your staff. They need to be trained to take care of customers and take some ownership over the success of the business.“
“There were 15 of them filed the first part of 2019. They’re all gone,” Elgin said to Franchise Times. The lawsuits claimed FranChoice brokers misrepresented the facts when presenting the ILoveKickboxing.com franchise. A federal judge in Minnesota, Michael Davis, dismissed the first lawsuit in a 56-page decision in March, and plaintiffs’ lawyers subsequently withdrew the rest.
The Bottom Thoughts
Gimmie more. Who knew Brittney knew so many franchisors.
Gimme more. More now. More yesterday. I want more leads.
It’s a problem in franchising.
There’s no one secret to getting quality leads, of course. In today’s franchise sales landscape, winning has become both easier and harder than it has ever been before.
It’s easier because:
Digital tools provide great data about what works and what doesn’t. We can understand the journey of the buyer better than ever before, and we no longer have to guess where our likely buyers are.
Franchise brokers are creating a funnel of warm leads to your brand. They are capturing people all over the country who raised their hands with interest in franchising but are still searching for the right brand, and they are guiding them to the franchises that best suit their aspirations.
We’ve gotten smarter about what doesn’t work. Many forms of media that we counted on in the past, don’t work. They never did. Now that we know that, we’ve stopped wasting money on broken tools.
It’s harder because:
We are still conditioned to believe that leads are the sole pathway to deals. We still hold 100 leads as the magic number to get a deal. We still think we need 1,000 leads to get 10 deals. In reality, with the right process, we need only 10 leads to get 10 deals.
The buyers are slower than ever. They are doing exhaustive research. They are asking more questions. And they are challenging you more than ever. Naturally, they are afraid to make a mistake when investing their life’s savings, and they are OK with waiting.
The lead sources have simplified. Portals can produce leads, and sometimes even deals, but it’s a crap shoot. Same with shows. Same with print. There is still a lot of guesswork that goes into figuring out this crazy game of franchising.
So, how do we take advantage?
The broker network is a great option, but be ready to work it. It is not as simple as signing a check and watching the magic happen.
Make sure you have a high-functioning sales website. This is as important as ever. Buyer validation habits may well change in the future, but for now, it remains essential.
Encourage your existing franchisees to validate new buyers. Roughly a third of franchisees for any brand don’t do this. Nurture those who do, and incentivize others to join them.
Don’t create un-segmented lead categories. Segments should be built around timing and financial bandwidth. Some people are not ready to talk yet and simply want more information. Those aren’t cold leads, they simply are not ready to buy.
Ask your franchisees for help figuring out where to find more of them. Host a brainstorm. They bought into your brand, learn why and how. Learn how and where they found out about you, and make sure you are promoting content in those spaces.
Lead generation is not hard, it just takes the right energy, time and money. Remember to chase the deal value not the value of the fee.
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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.
