Franchise Update Magazine Issue IV, 2012 | Page 54
Grow Market Lead
Sales
smarts
By Marc Kiekenapp
Everyone, Meet Norm!
Get to know today’s franchise candidate
I
t’s old news to all of us that franchising has evolved since 2007 with the
changes in the lending environment,
home equity, high unemployment
rates, and lack of consumer confidence.
What’s amazing to me is that franchising
has been talking about the “New Norm”
for five years. Let’s face it: This is not a
new environment for business ownership
any longer. It is just the Norm!
I would like to introduce you to “Norm”
in this article, and how we might consider
working with him. Norm is a franchise
seeker with the same needs he has always
extensive information to the candidate to
make the research process easier. Others
created websites that provided less information and created questions that directed
the candidate to sales consultants to start
building the relationship face to face.
Franchise professionals have always
been a creative group overcoming each
barrier placed in front of the franchise
sales process. When SBA loans slowed,
home equity picked up. When home
equity disappeared, the 401(k) rollover
plans took over and hedge funds
were organized for SBA funding.
“At the end of the day, the information
Norm needs to make a decision is the
same as it was 20 years ago.”
had. Norm wants to find an opportunity
that feels comfortable for him to operate,
that can give him a reasonable return on his
investment, and that will provide security
and a future for his family. Norm has not
really changed over the years. However,
he has become more difficult to find than
Waldo! At the end of the day, the information Norm needs to make a decision
is the same as it was 20 years ago. We just
deliver it differently. Norm still wants to
develop a relationship with someone who
has taken an approach of mutual exploration with Norm’s best interest in mind.
As we’ve all struggled to find Norm
over the past several years, many of us
attempted different approaches to bring
him out of the woods. Many of us invested
in powerful CRM systems that could walk
Norm through the process and assess his
interest by h ow much homework he did,
or how long he viewed the pages and reviewed the materials.
Others built websites with dedicated
URLs for franchise development messaging. Some websites were built to provide
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Franchiseupdate Iss u e IV, 2 0 1 2
Lead generation is
much the same. Proactive franchisors over the
past several years have
expanded their lead
generation programs
to more of a shotgun
approach. Franchisors
with larger development
budgets started using multiple approaches, while others
made choices through good
reporting from the CRM systems and focused their budgets
accordingly. Remember, each
brand has different success rates
with lead generation vehicles.
Portals are the number-one lead
generator for certain concepts,
while others find success in
SEO and company websites.
Others with a more targeted
approach use lists and webinars. Franchisors can choose
from many options to attract
quality franchisees.
Some things just don’t change
Norm is still the same guy he was 10
years ago. He’s a candidate who wants
to research franchise opportunities with
a helpful partner assisting him through
a well-defined process. Today Norm is
getting older, he has a larger net worth,
his children have grown, and he is now
looking for a lifestyle that allows him to
enjoy his family and leverage his skills
from his previous career. Norm has become more sophisticated with his research,
and the changes we’ve made over the past
few years with our systems, websites, and
CRM systems will serve us well—as long
as we use them correctly.
“Correctly” is getting Norm the information he needs to make a decision.
There’s only one Norm, but thousands
of other candidates are similar to him.
Remember, everyone is not like
Norm. It is critical for you to customize your presentations and
information flow differently for
each candidate you work with. I
encourage all of you to ask your
candidates what they want,
what they are looking
for, and how they want
that information delivered. “One size does not
fit all.” Be flexible, be
helpful, and make your
process one of “mutual
exploration” and fun. If
you always have your
candidate’s best interest in mind, the process
will work and your brand
will grow.
I believe we will all look
back on this period as a monumental change in franchising.
We’ve all focused on buttoning
up our processes, systems, and
materials and have focused on
unit economics in the field. We
have all become better franchise companies, managers,
and strengthened our systems
for franchisee success.
New Norm, Old Norm,
or Just Norm… you decide!
Happy Selling,
Marc