One of the biggest mistakes emerging franchisors make has nothing to do with marketing tactics, advertising budgets or CRM systems. It's much simpler than that: they expect franchise leads to appear immediately.

A new franchise development website launches. Paid advertising begins. Content starts publishing. Then comes the inevitable question: "Where are my leads?"

According to a recent “How to Buy a Franchise” masterclass video with 1851 Franchise Publisher Nick Powills, that expectation is one of the biggest disconnects in franchise development. "The hardest part of franchise development is the wait for the leads," Powills said. "You've built your website, you've built your drumbeat. You're like, 'Where are my leads?'"

The reality is that franchise development is rarely an immediate-response business. Instead, it operates on a long buying cycle that requires patience, education and consistent marketing long before a candidate ever fills out a lead form.

The Real Franchise Buying Timeline

Many franchisors measure success by monthly lead volume. Powills argues they should instead be measuring candidate journeys. Back in 2021, 1851 began studying thousands of franchise buyers to understand one key metric: How long does it actually take someone to move from their first impression of a brand to submitting an inquiry?

"We've extracted this over thousands of franchisees," Powills said. "It's 6.4 months for investments south of half a million dollars, and closer to a year for investments north of a million dollars."

In other words, the majority of today's franchise buyers aren't converting because of the marketing campaign they saw yesterday. They're converting because of marketing they encountered six months ago.

Age, previous business ownership experience and investment size can shift the timeline somewhat, but the broader pattern remains unchanged. Franchise buying is a deliberate decision that unfolds over months, not days or weeks.

Most Candidates Don't Understand Franchising Yet

One reason the buying cycle remains so long is surprisingly simple. Many prospective franchisees aren't comparing brands immediately. They're still trying to understand franchising itself.

"I've said this on every podcast that I've done," Powills said. "If all of us go back to the day before we were in franchising and say, 'Explain it,' we can't."

Candidates often arrive at a franchise website with fundamental questions: 

• What exactly is a franchise? 
• How much control does the owner actually have? 
• What does daily life look like? 
• Why franchise instead of starting an independent business?

"The candidate lands on your website and they say, 'What is franchising?' They get confused, and they go back and start using ChatGPT or other AI tools or doing their general research."

For franchisors, this means education has become just as important as lead generation itself.

The Invisible Pipeline Most Brands Ignore

One of Powills' biggest observations is that many franchisors only focus on prospects after they submit a lead form.

In reality, a much larger audience exists long before that happens. "Level one is all these folks that have landed into your franchise website and have yet to fill out the form," he said.

These are what Powills calls "ghost candidates," or people actively researching the brand but not yet ready to identify themselves.

Many return multiple times, consume content, compare concepts and slowly become more comfortable with the opportunity.

Rather than treating these visitors as lost traffic, franchisors should ask themselves:

• Is the website providing enough educational content?
• Are visitors being retargeted after they leave?
• Is valuable information being hidden behind unnecessary lead forms?
• Are there enough reasons for prospects to come back?

"How are you engaging with them? What sort of content are you giving them? Is there anything that's changing on your website to encourage them to stay active in the funnel? Maybe give it away," Powills said, referring to downloadable franchise brochures. "Give them a little bit more information that they can use to leverage and make their decision to actually become a lead."

A Lead Form Isn't the Finish Line

Even after someone submits an inquiry, many franchisors make another common mistake: assuming they're ready to buy immediately. Too often, franchise development teams classify anyone who doesn't answer the first phone call as a bad lead.

Powills believes that's shortsighted. "Too many franchisors believe that the definition of a quality lead is, 'I got your form submission, I reached out, you responded right away.'"

Instead, many candidates simply continue researching. They're comparing brands. They're discussing the investment with family members. They're evaluating financing. They're deciding whether entrepreneurship is even right for them.

Rather than abandoning these prospects, franchisors should continue educating them through webinars, franchisee interviews, email nurture campaigns and ongoing educational content.

"Give them more content," Powills said. "Give them interviews with your franchisees. Give them some educational pieces through drip campaigns to make sure that you can keep them engaged."

Franchise Development Has Three Different Pipelines

Instead of viewing every prospect the same way, Powills encourages franchisors to think in three distinct stages.

The first consists of anonymous website visitors who haven't yet converted. The second includes people who have submitted a lead form but are still educating themselves and determining whether franchising is the right fit. The third is made up of qualified applicants: individuals who have spoken with the franchise development team, completed an application and are actively evaluating the opportunity.

"When we've qualified that candidate, we move them into the application stage," Powills said. "These are the quality leads."

Understanding these different buckets allows franchisors to align expectations with where candidates actually are in their decision-making process instead of expecting every inquiry to turn into an immediate sale.

Think in 18 Months, Not 12

Perhaps Powills' biggest mindset shift is changing how franchisors evaluate marketing success.

"I know this is a hard statement," he said, "but the reality is you're always going to be playing six months to a year out."

That means the marketing investments being made today are often generating signings well into next year. Rather than evaluating marketing on an annual budget cycle, Powills recommends extending the horizon.

"I would try to live in an 18-month cycle versus a year cycle," he said. "It will help you understand the value of what you spent this year into the next year. Openings and signings are your best asset. Don't oversell territories, because if a unit opens in that market, there's going to be more people that want to get engaged."

Successful brands amplify those milestones by creating local excitement, leveraging franchisee stories and investing additional marketing dollars into newly awarded territories. "We can hammer that down to try to create some supply and demand issues," Powills said. "Now we can actually win and bring new blood into the system."

Patience Is a Competitive Advantage

Ultimately, franchise lead generation isn't just a marketing challenge. It's an expectations challenge. Buying a franchise often represents one of the largest financial and career decisions someone will ever make. That decision naturally requires education, reassurance and time.

"Buying a franchise is scary," Powills said. "It's a big decision. It's a lot of money, for some risk and some unknowns. Patience is going to be critical here. Then cash, then education, and then putting gasoline on the fire."

You can watch the full video above or on YouTube. A transcript of Powills’ presentation has been provided below:

One of the hardest parts of franchise development is the wait for the leads. You want them immediately. You've built your website. You've built your drumbeat. You're like, "Where are my leads?" There are a few things to note that are essential to making sure you have the right expectations when it comes to leads.

So this masterclass is called "Why You Need to Wait for Leads: What Being Realistic on Franchise Lead Generation Actually Looks Like."

Back in 2021, we took all the franchisees that we work with and started asking them questions about the candidate journey. How much time did it take them to go from impression to inquiry? This is an important metric because it hasn't shifted at all in the last five years of us extracting this over thousands of franchisees. It's 6.4 months for investments south of half a million dollars, and closer to a year for investments north of a million dollars.

There are a few variables that shift how much time it takes for a candidate to get comfortable with the idea of buying a franchise. That's age and previous business experience. Both of those can impact it in either direction, but we use this number as a baseline so that when you're trying to set realistic expectations on what should be happening with leads and why you need to wait for them to come in, you have a good entry point.

I've said this on every podcast that I've done: if all of us go back to the day before we were in franchising and someone says, "Explain franchising," we can't. Yet every franchisor doesn't take a moment to explain how franchising works, specifically with their brand. So the candidate lands on your website and says, "What is franchising?" They get confused, and they go back. They start using ChatGPT or other AI tools, or they do general research to understand what a franchise is and why they should buy one. They're also asking more questions than ever before.

An easy way to understand the questions they're asking is, one, ask ChatGPT. Two, Google your franchise name plus the word "franchise." Google will actually show you what people are also searching for, and that can give you insight into how the candidate is behaving.

So now comes the lead. What's happening in lead generation as it relates to your brand? The first level is all the people who have landed on your franchise website but have not yet filled out the form. How are you engaging with them? What sort of content are you giving them? Is there anything that's changing on your website to encourage them to stay active in the funnel? Do you have retargeting running so that when they browse around the web, something reminds them that, yes, they were thinking about buying a franchise, yes, they should come back to your website, and yes, they should fill out the form?

Are you gating your content? Do you have a downloadable brochure or information packet that requires them to fill out a form first? Maybe not. Maybe give it away so you're giving them a little more information they can use to make the decision to actually become a lead. So you have all these people—I call them ghost prospects or ghost candidates—who are on your website right now. They just haven't filled out the form yet.

To get a sense of how many people are in that pipeline, go into Google Analytics and look at your total users. The metric I like to use is the percentage of repeat visitors. That narrows the list down and gives you a sense of how many people have come back multiple times but still haven't converted. Those are your ghost candidates.

Then you have people who actually filled out the lead form. Maybe it was a knee-jerk reaction. You reached out, they didn't respond to your phone call asking, "Are you ready to talk?" So they went back into the funnel, and they're trying to figure out, again, what franchising is. You have a few options here. One is webinars. Give them more content. Give them interviews with your franchisees. Two, give them educational pieces through drip campaigns to make sure you keep them engaged.

On both of these, watch whether they're opening your emails. If they're not opening them, that probably means they're falling off your funnel. If they are at least opening them, they're still engaged to some capacity.

Too many franchisors believe the definition of a quality lead is, "I got your form submission. I reached out. You responded right away." I still equate it to buying a car. I'd rather have general information about what it costs and what I should expect before buying the car. It's the same thing with buying a house. Franchising is not vastly different. It takes time for people to get comfortable with it.

Now, when we've qualified that candidate, we move them into the application stage. These are the quality leads that you don't have to wait too long on, because they've indicated, "I've become a lead. I've talked with you. I've filled out an application. Now I'm ready to really engage and see if this is the right franchise for me."

When you start thinking about these three different buckets, you can begin setting realistic expectations around why you actually need to wait for leads. I know this is a hard statement, but the reality is you're always going to be playing six months to a year out. So all the efforts you're putting in right now, you need to zoom forward and think about what's happening in your candidate's life six months from now. When I'm filming this video in June, six months from now it's the holidays. The messaging is going to shift toward generational wealth. How do you create more time? How do you improve your lifestyle? How do you spend more time with your family?

Throughout this journey, you want to ask yourself, "How do we actually give candidates the materials they need to make them feel comfortable enough to buy?" Patience is the hardest part in franchising. The next hardest part is the cash that goes into investing in franchise marketing, because every franchisor wants the same candidate: someone who is qualified and ready to buy.

If you're looking at franchise lead generation realistically, I have a few closing recommendations. First, I would try to live in an 18-month cycle rather than a one-year cycle. It will help you better understand the value of what you spent this year and how that investment carries into next year.

Second, openings and signings are your best asset. Don't oversell territories, because if a unit opens in that market, more people are going to become interested in your brand. Be aware of that. Be conscious of how you structure your deals and how you can leverage a signing or an opening to get momentum going. Create noise. Create FOMO. Move candidates through the funnel.

Third, remember that buying a franchise is scary. It's a big decision. It's a lot of money for some risk and some unknowns. Give candidates as much material as you can to make them feel comfortable. If you're an established franchisor, that often comes from the voice of your existing franchisees.

Lastly, my recommendation for all franchise brands is to get out of the mindset of having a singular budget. Create a rolling budget. That way, every time you sign a deal, you can take a portion of those franchise fees and reinvest them back into that specific state to create more noise.

Nick bought a franchise in Illinois. Now we can hammer that market to create supply and demand dynamics so that we can actually win and bring new blood into the system. I've said it a million times, and frankly, I've had this conversation with franchisors. I tell them, "Let me explain how your candidate is working. Currently, it's taking them six months." They say, "Great. Where are my leads?"

Patience is going to be critical here. Then cash. Then education. Then putting gasoline on the fire. I doubt I've changed your mindset tremendously, but if you start looking at franchise lead generation through an 18-month cycle, you'll be much more satisfied with how your leads come in, how those leads turn into applications, how those applications turn into deals, and ultimately, how your franchise system grows.

Want to learn more about how 1851 helps franchisors grow their franchises with confidence? Visit www.1851growthclub.com and see what we can do for you.