Monday, September 23, 2019

Tips for Building a Successful Franchise Sales Program

When investors are looking to buy a franchise, they are looking for a simple, easy to follow, proven system. Strong systems are at the core of franchising and most brands and most brands do a great job of creating an operating program that works - that's the good news!

 The reality is that most new Franchisors spend so much time building successful systems for their franchisees that they neglect to build internal systems and processes for themselves.

A stable and systematized Franchisor is a better investment because their stability and growth have direct impacts on the success of their franchisees in the long term. Weak systems are the number one reason why many franchise brands struggle to get off the ground - some brands never do!

I am often asked how I get such strong and consistent results for the brands I work with. For most emerging Franchisors this kind of system development seems to be a real mystery. This is especially true for those brands under 100 units.

These questions come in may forms, but most often they resemble the following:

What is the best way to show candidates that you have sound systematization?

How do we evaluate that our candidate can follow a system?


What can we do to give our development team the tools they need to grow our brand?


My answer is always....


Develop a well designed sales process!


I have developed functional sales programs for many brands and here you will find some of the tips and tricks I use along with the results so you can evaluate and program your own sales playbook for greater success!

Recently, I was brought in to work with a brand that was struggling to develop anything that remotely resembled a sales pipeline. They were experiencing a sales cycle of around 8 or 9 months and this made it extremely difficult to keep filling the front of their funnel - they spent all of their time keeping their leads warm instead of closing the deal!

They couldn't figure out what triggered a decision, what caused a candidate to fall out, or even what brought them to the table in the first place. 

In so many ways, this illustrates what happens when a franchise company doesn't have a defined sales process.

The first thing a strong franchise sales program does is give the brand an opportunity to track and understand conversion metrics. This is critical to tracking everything from closing metrics as well as conversion metrics at each stage of the sales process at large.

Once their program is in place, they can review this conversion data and produce rock solid key performance indicators which leads to highlighting the bottlenecks that might be slowing down their sales cycle.

I have seen sticking points caused by everything from cumbersome internal approval processes, overzealous protection of disclosure documents, and even lackluster follow up by poor performing sales teams.

Strong sales programs create a road map that allows the Franchisor to read the data patterns and improve the flow of their sales funnel by re-evaluating their SOP's, lead sources, and even the caliber of their sales team.

Most franchise companies have the same basic elements to their sales funnel (well designed or otherwise). The challenging part is making sure the right message is communicated at each step of the sales process.

All too often, I have seen Franchisors and their sales teams go in for the kill every time they interact with a candidate. Not only will this pressure and alienate each of your candidates; this will also make it difficult to identify the buyers in the candidacy program.

The goal of each phase of the sales program can be summed up in these 3 steps:

  1. Educate the candidate on the value proposition of your brand
  2. Paint a picture of the ideal candidate you are meeting with to connect to your opportunity
  3. Explain the next steps to your candidacy program and set expectations
The most important thing these systems should be designed to do is to create an ever clearing image in the candidates own mind of them operating your franchise in a successful, fun, and fulfilling way.

Ultimately, franchising is as much of an emotional and lifestyle decision as it is a facts and business decision. Their success boils down to the strength of the opportunity and their ability to connect with the candidate. 

The stronger sales program you have, the better you can measure and evaluate your brand and your team for further growth and success. 

My goal is to help other Franchisors develop stronger, more successful opportunities because I believe that the more rockstar franchise opportunities there are, the more investors will favor the industry....and with that, we ALL win!




Wednesday, September 11, 2019

7 Tips for Building a Winning Trade Show Strategy

With the Chicago Franchise Expo just days away and the start of the fall 2019 franchise trade-show season here at My Eyelab, I wanted to share some best practices I have learned over the years and hope to pass some useful ideas along that will help other Franchisors strengthen their recruitment process through expos and trade-shows.

7 tips for successful franchise trade shows - from franchise expert Joe Malmuth7 Tips for Building a Winning Trade Show Strategy

Trade shows are unique among the various ways Franchisors use to grow their brands and its imperative that we all develop sound strategies to ensure a successful show.

For years I have watched brands at all levels of our industry flounder with truly maximizing the ROI that is available at these events and this article will provide some of the ideas I have used that consistently deliver a high volume of qualified franchise candidates through to the closing table.

Trade shows are unique compared to other forms of franchise recruitment because they bring you face to face with interested and likely qualified candidates the moment they sense their own interest in your brand. Being prepared to engage those candidates in that moment makes all the difference.

Here are 7 tried and true tips I use to win big with franchise trade shows.


7 tips for successful franchise trade shows - from franchise expert Joe Malmuth
1. Pre-Marketing

Spend time with your marketing team to develop a strategy that allows for you to drive people to the show to meet with you specifically. I often utilize social media and pay-per-click marketing to target the right groups of investors that are seeking opportunities like my brand. This begins with having a solid understanding of who your main buyer profiles are and where to find them.

I will run campaigns that drip in front of these groups that invite them to register to attend the expo using a promo code (free admissions promo codes are often provided by the show vendor). I always make sure to include a subsequent form-fill with all their info - the value of this kind of candidate is easy to see!

These candidates have high curiosity coupled with high motivation - reach out to them asap and graciously thank them for registering for the show, offer to carve out a few minutes just for them and make sure you are driving them too your booth FIRST!

These concierge-like behaviors can cement the relationships you are trying to build. They also allow for more discourse and engagement through the sales funnel and provide a kind of focus on your brand as they walk through a sea of other opportunities on the trade show floor.

7 tips for successful franchise trade shows - from franchise expert Joe Malmuth


2. Develop a System for Booth Engagement

Every year, every trade show, every industry has examples of poor booth engagement. Some brands are notorious for sitting in their booths, behind tables and screens, chatting among themselves, eating and drinking and even abandoning their booths for extended periods of time.

These behaviors create a barrier for the candidate to move forward and engage in a conversation with your brand. Some people are naturally shy and won't take action and ask to engage with your brand - they have to be invited to hear your brands story!

Most people attending the show don't know what they are looking for and will often dismiss great opportunities just simply based on the look of the booth or the lack of a smile from the brand representatives.

Inviting people in, snapping them out of their dazed meandering and into a real discussion is not difficult to do, but for some reason, most brands don't practice the level of enthusiasm needed to maximize booth engagement.

A little education goes a long way - dialing in a 20 second conversation about the highlights of the brand and opportunity as an "aisle" presentation to draw people in is important as well.

Remember - facts tell, stories sell!

7 tips for successful franchise trade shows - from franchise expert Joe Malmuth3. Booth Design - stand out but keep it simple

Trade shows are about meaningful engagement and overcrowding your booth with gimmicks, technology, free samples, or even too many team members can really inhibit your chance to connect with the motivated investors as they walk the room.

One year our booth was placed next to another brand that ran the "Harlem Shake" on a continuous loop on a 65" TV screen  FOR 3 DAYS!! (if you don't know the Harlem Shake, click here - my personal favorite is the Miami Heat version)

Its important to facilitate meaningful conversations, provide relevant information through presentations to intimate groups, and to be able to peel off the diamonds among the rough for a more engaged discussion.

This can create memorable interactions that will facilitate a more engaged follow up after the show!

7 tips for successful franchise trade shows - from franchise expert Joe Malmuth
5. Work the Phones

The goal of the show should be to connect with as many potential candidates as you can, capture their contact information, and push them into your sales funnel as quickly as possible.

This is ultimately the goal of every brand at the show which is why it is extremely important to engage with the candidates as quickly as possible - employ a "first to market" strategy.

Redbull was the first energy drink to really hit the market in a way that cut through the noise and that strategy has made the Redbull brand synonymous with energy drinks and supplementation, extreme sports, music festivals, and tired parents of toddlers (I know because I am one)  across the globe!

Still to this day, Redbull commands a market share so large that the next 3 biggest competitors combined barely scrape out an equal market share to what Redbull commands on their own.

The same thought applies here - be the first to reach out to the candidates among your fellow exhibitors and gain the greater share of engagement.

My team begins our phone campaigns in the evening of the first day of the trade show - each scan is getting a call.

Day 2 launches our SMS campaign during the day and the continuation of the phone campaign in the evening, and from their, email is also employed.

These efforts are designed to put gas in the engine of my next tip...

7 tips for successful franchise trade shows - from franchise expert Joe Malmuth

6. Stay in Town!

 Typically, brands leave post trade show.

Their staff goes home, to the next show, to visit a franchise location, to Disneyland....

They don't stay in town for further engagement.

This has never made sense to me...

Franchisors spend so much money on exhibiting but they don't seem to consider the power of face-to-face meetings after the show in a less chaotic setting.

My team's goal is to book as many 1-on-1 style meetings with our booth contacts for the next week after the show.

During those meetings, I will review the presentation in more detail, have the candidate complete the franchise application, provide and discuss the FDD, visit an established location (if one exists in a reasonable proximity) and connect them to our existing network of franchisees for further Q&A, and book the discovery day.

 This cuts 1/3 of the front of  the average sales cycle I typically target AND ensures that the window that competing brands are trying to fly through is closed VERY fast!


7 tips for successful franchise trade shows - from franchise expert Joe Malmuth

7. Follow-up and Re-targeting

With the newest marketing technology at our disposal, follow-up has become increasingly more automated.

Aside from calls, emails, and texts, we can throw ads in front of the attendees we met through social media with relative ease in order to try and continue further engagement with new interested investors for a further 2 weeks after the show has ended.

But what about the hundreds of attendees we didn't speak with?

There can be hundreds of qualified, motivated investors that never walked down your aisle, that never gave you a chance to engage, and who could be an ideal fit for your franchise opportunity...

This is where geo-targeting comes in to the equation.

Wikipedia defines Geo-targeting as "...the method of determining the geo-location of a website visitor and delivering different content to that visitor based on their location. This includes country, region/state, city, metro code/zip code, organization, IP address, ISP or other criteria."

It is possible to draw a "geo-fence" around the 4 walls of the trade show floor and trigger the delivery of your brand message to everyone who entered the show!

Its a given that all attendees are interested enough in franchising to attend the show and geo-targeting ia a relatively inexpensive layer of advertising to employ considering the potential returns if a single candidate engages with your brand.

Ultimately, the quality of the offerings of your brand, the success of your franchisees, and the future of your industry is what is going to ultimately ignite the growth of your brand, but employing these simple strategies has worked for me and I believe it WILL increase your opportunity to share those messages to a larger, more qualified trade show audience.