FranX | When Franchise Marketing and Franchise Sales Collide
When it comes to selling franchises, sometimes sales teams are forced to advocate for a candidate that's not a great fit. How can you change your selling culture?
Your franchise sales process is built around a brand narrative, the story of your brand and the franchisee transformation that you offer. No matter what, financial transformation is a key component to your brand story, and if your Item 19 isn’t in alignment, you’re missing a big opportunity.
No matter the franchise opportunity that you offer - whether positioned as a lifestyle opportunity, income replacement opportunity, legacy-building opportunity, or something else - use your Item 19 to tell your story.
How do you do this?
If possible, don’t settle for a gross sales only Item 19.
Include data that provides a deeper dive into understanding your franchise opportunity like year over year sales growth, part-time vs. full-time, multi-unit performance, ROI and cash flow.
Don’t overlook important metrics that will matter to franchisees like customer acquisition costs, lead conversion ratios, call center performance, repeat customer opportunities and so much more.
Your 2022 Item 19 needs to advance the story of your brand. Now is the perfect time to start planning what it will look like.
The Carpet Chemist - This killer brand possesses a killer advantage in the carpet cleaning industry. The advantage? Well, in addition to a great brand, unit level economics (Item 19) and corporate support, their services include carpet dying and carpet repair services that give them a leg up against their competition.
In addition to carpet and floor cleaning services, The Carpet Chemist franchisees become expert carpet craftsmen in providing carpet dying and repair services that few, if any, competitors offer. What comes after a carpet repair...carpet cleaning...floor cleaning, and a lifetime relationship? Low start-up costs and great multi-territory opportunity.
Franchisees Kicking Ass: The Franchisee Is King
The Great Franchisee: Keil Zepernick, Premium Service Brands, Florida
The former stuntman is diving into the home-service industry as a new franchisee with ProLift Garage Doors and Renew Crew.
For the past 12 years, Keil Zepernick has worked as a stunt double in mega-blockbuster action movies like The Avengers, Venom and John Wick. When the pandemic hit, Zepernick knew he needed to pivot and find a reliable way to provide for his family. That’s when a franchise coach introduced him to ProLift Garage* Doors and Renew Crew*, two outdoor home service franchises backed by multi-brand franchisor Premium Service Brands.
Katie Fagan-Small strives to help potential franchise owners find a brand that will fit their lifestyle and help them attain their personal goals.
After working in corporate America and later starting her own Mergers & Acquisitions (MNA) firm, Katie Fagan-Small decided to shift her career to franchise consulting. Her goal was simple: to help people find what they want in life because the corporate grind isn’t for everybody — she knows that firsthand. Now, she helps clients become successful business owners as a franchise consultant with FranNet.
Fagan-Small tries to give her clients unconventional ideas when it comes to choosing an industry. “The biggest thing I try to do is spend a lot of time with my clients understanding what they want out of their life as opposed to what they think they want out of a business,” she said. “A lot of clients who come to me are looking for things that aren’t going to fit their lifestyle. When they do that, they’re really blocking off things that could be an excellent fit that could get their family the life that they want. So I help them find an industry that will get them where they want to be in life.”
Her favorite part about her job is watching her clients progress, whether they want to expand their franchise portfolio or sell their franchise and move on to something new. “I love watching my clients go from the move of being a corporate executive into being a business owner and all the ups and downs that come with that,” she said. “Getting them to build an asset is really important.”
When Fagan-Small works with franchisors, she believes open communication is key. “We have to be on the same page with our clients and keep their best interests at heart,” she said. “And understand that this process is the key to helping people buy a franchise.”
When it comes to selling franchises, sometimes sales teams are forced to advocate for a candidate, even though they are not 100 percent confident that candidate will be a great franchise owner. Why? Forces from above. Duh. How can you change this? How can you change your selling culture?
Well, it starts with your why (yes, we know, you have heard that before) -- your sales why.
Does your company want to exit in 3 years? Perhaps selling more franchisees is key.
Does your company want sustainability? Perhaps selling more franchise locations to fewer franchisees is your answer.
Armed with a more defined target and an established guideline, now, the process can weed the wrong candidates out -- those who are not financially sound and those who could be potential down the road headaches.
The pressures to sell cause brands to pull in the wrong zees. What if those pressures were removed? What if the only objective was to bring in great & sustainable franchise owners?
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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.
