FranX | Great Franchise Sales Folks Are Sometimes Dismissed

News You Can (Actually) Use

• How much weight should you put into due diligence?
• Multi-unit leaders fail, a lot

Franchisees Kicking Ass: The Franchisee is King

The Great Franchisee: Julie Harvester, ProLift Garage Doors, Arkansas 

Along with her husband John, a franchise consultant with FranChoice, Julie introduced the garage-servicing brand’s first location to Arkansas.

As a franchise consultant with FranChoice, John Harvester has helped dozens of aspiring franchisees find brands that align with their goals and values. Now, the franchise matchmaker and his wife Julie, a 20-year veteran of the home insurance industry, have found their own match with ProLift Garage Doors*, the 20-plus-unit garage-door servicing and replacement franchise.

The Harvesters opened Arkansas’s first ProLift Garage Doors* location in Bentonville in the fall of 2021.

How did you decide you wanted to be a franchisee?

Harvester: I was looking for a business that I could start and maintain with my family and ultimately leave as a legacy to our son-in-law. A franchise provides a lot of support and since they have already proven through trial and error what works and what doesn't, the model eliminates loss of funds. They also eliminate much of the initial startup research that would need to be done for a traditional business model.

Yo, Broker Sell My Franchise

Why Paris Baguette* Is One of 2022 Most Exciting Franchise Opportunities 

The bakery café brand signed 121 franchise agreements in 2021 and saw a 44% increase in year-over-year sales. CDO Mark Mele says that’s just the beginning of the brand’s growth strategy.

The bakery café concept Paris Baguette*, which boasts a staggering 4,000 locations worldwide, is officially heating up in the U.S. market after signing 121 new franchise agreements among new and existing franchisees in 2021. Now, as the brand looks to carry that momentum into 2022 and beyond with plans to open 1,000 U.S. units over the next 10 years, it is quickly emerging as one of the most exciting franchise opportunities in the country.

Mark Mele, chief development officer at Paris Baguette, is a key player behind the brand’s impressive U.S. growth. “Our goal is to bring back the neighborhood bakery café in every town and city, and our growth in the United States shows that we are making great headway in reaching that goal,” he said.

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The Bottom Thoughts

In franchising, far too often, the sales team is discarded as useless by leadership teams for lack of “selling” enough franchises. Yet, per our previous Bottom Thoughts, often times, the right data isn’t used to justify that opinion.

Do you, as a franchisor, understand the value of the deal? Do you assume it’s just the $30,000 franchise fee? Or, do you look at the depth of royalty payments to your brand’s bottom line over a period of time?

Do you evaluate the cost per deal (vastly more valuable than the cost per lead)? Do you use this data to set realistic goals for your development team?

When goals are pulled from the sky without rhyme or reason, it is unrealistic to hold the sales team to those mystical themes. In fact, it is irresponsible leadership.

It is not the job of the sales team to put lipstick on franpigs (is that trademarked yet?). It is their job to coach the candidates through the sales process, helping them land on the theme of comfort that the decision to invest their life’s savings into a brand they have little to no control over is the right thing to do for their families. Do you comprehend the complexity of that ask?

Thus, far too often, the good ones in franchising are disregarded as not good, when, in fact, it was your approach and your brand’s challenges that caused the perception of lack of success. Then, when you washed the salesperson out with the bathwater and regret it, it’s too late – they have moved onto a brand where they can win.

Evaluate all of the data before making a brash decision.