FranX | Will this be your best year ever?

The Next McDonald's (Big Idea)

Building Franchise Development Momentum

Franchise development is a multi-year process. Your franchise development strategies and growth must be deployed and measured over a multi-year period and not be limited to a finite twelve month calendar year. Your 2022 Q1 and Q2 franchise sales will have much more to do with your investments and actions in 2021 than what you're doing right now.

So how do you build franchise sales MOMENTUM that amplifies your franchise development dollars? You focus on building durable franchise development assets that will exist and benefit your system for many years to come. You build durable brand assets focused on:

• Owning digital developed around a compelling and genuine brand story
• Bolstering and supporting franchisee unit level economics
• Building an ever evolving website that features team, culture, mission, unit level economics, franchisee validation, and acts as a research hub for brokers and franchisee candidates
• Owning and tracking your data, web visitors, and franchisee journey.

It’s all about deploying time, assets, and dollars that will advance your brand and help attract and convert leads in 2022 and for many years to come. It’s also about examining your current data and systems and plugging holes in buckets that you may not realize are leaking closed deals.

News You Can (Actually) Use

• What Vax Mandates May Mean For Your Brand
• What is a Franchise No Pach Agreement

Killer Brands

Mighty Quinn’s Barbeque - What better way to end a pandemic (hopefully) than eating BBQ. Mighty Quinn’s Barbecue is the leader in fast casual authentic urban barbecue. In the restaurant space Mighty Quinn’s offers efficient build-out, take-out, and streamlined operations focused on multi-unit operators. The Mighty Quinn’s team maintains a strong management team and franchisee training and support.

Franchisees Kicking Ass: The Franchisee Is King

The Great Franchisee: Chris Holmes, USA Insulation, Michigan

After doubling his revenue three years in a row, the former financial advisor is expanding into new markets with the fast-growing insulation brand.

Former financial advisor Chris Holmes has been a franchisee with home-insulation franchise USA Insulation for more than a decade, and in that time, his business has grown consistently and substantially. In fact, Holmes says he has doubled his revenue year over year for the past three consecutive years. Now, hot on the heels of that revenue growth, Holmes is preparing to open additional territories in markets across Michigan.

Yo Broker, Sell My Franchise

Who Should You Have On Your Franchise’s Leadership Team?

Building a leadership team is essential to ensuring the success of a franchise. There are a variety of qualities to look for to help build your brand.

There are multiple qualities to look for when it comes to selecting members of a leadership team. You want a person or people to be able to motivate and encourage others, someone who is responsible and dependable and can take your business to the next level.

The decision to open a franchise is a big one, and now you need to establish a presence and find success as an entrepreneur so that you can turn a profit and give yourself a pathway to financial freedom.

Lauren Coulter, director of franchise sales & development at Biscuit Belly, knows all about building a successful leadership time for a franchise. Her business, which she runs alongside her husband, offers franchise opportunities, and her role is to help those who are interested in franchising a Biscuit Belly go through the onboarding process.

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The Bottom Thoughts

Some believe in New Year’s resolutions. Some don’t. Some believe that the turn of the year is an opportunity to refuel and adjust businesses. Some don’t. Some use this turn of the calendar to put a stake in the dirt as to what they will accomplish over the next 12 months. Some don’t.

Regardless of your positioning on resolutions, January is a great time to reevaluate your goals and plans – to look at your data, your funnel and your pipeline and to adjust. Here are some thoughts about franchising in 2022 or whatever year it may turn:

1. The funnel is taking a long time to mature. With access to information, many franchise prospects are surpassing 12 months from first point of reference to franchising and point of inquiry. What this means is that much of the data you pull is from some trailing point. The hardest part of this is that your spend will never align with your results (at least not completely).
2. There is a saying that people don’t buy in November/December. Cool, but based on the funnel taking a longer time, they do think about it? Why? They are at home, with the people they love, away from working – which is exactly the time change starts. It may not appear until February - July, but they think about it. So, as you look backwards, did you put your stories out there? If not, don’t completely deplete your 2022 budget in the first 9 months, save some for the end.
3. Build your budget to balance your funnel. Traffic and leads are going down, spend more; going up; spend down. If you go counter to your bell curve, you may find balance throughout 12 months.
4. Don’t overlook signings and openings as gasoline opportunities. When you get those wins, increase spend in those markets. This is called optimizing around motivating moments (proof that your brand is growing).
5. It’s all about deals – nothing else. Too many brands chance dumb leads. That is not what will win you 2022.

Don’t just use January as a point of reflection and resolution. Use Feb 1, March 1, April 1 – etc. This way you are constantly looking at indicators (traffic, leads, applications), and victories (signings, openings) to impact both the current and enterprise value of your business.