It's Easier to Ask Forgiveness than It is to Get Permission.

Posted by Joe Caruso  |  category Sales

Changing things for the better requires an element of risk.

After a large reorganization of a major QSR franchisor I worked for, I ended up with greater responsibility and not enough resources.

We had a  set way of doing things - lots of procedures & steps. And that was fine when we had more people.  But not now.

I also had a new boss.

He wasn't actually new to me. Reporting to him was new.

(My old boss took an "early retirement" as part of the reorganization.)

I had been with the QSR just over two years.

The new responsibilities were a bit of a shock.  However,  I did have some new ideas on how to make things work and sell some  more franchises. 

So I got to work.

One of my first ideas was to change how we processed incoming leads. Very basic but important stuff on how we answered the phone.  Yes, leads in the early 1990s came in mostly by telephone & we screened and qualified inquiries.

My small team of three developed a plan. I wrote the plan up and then scheduled time with my boss to see what he thought. It wasn't a major change and so he approved it.

The second thing I wanted to do was to change some of our lead generation plans. I wasn't changing the budget but I was rebalancing the allocations.  I went to my boss presented the plan and got it approved, too.

Now I had great boss. He was open to new ways of doing things and wanted the new franchise development to be successful. 

I had a big job to do and more improvements planned.

But, when I brought to my boss my third idea for his blessing he stopped me dead in my tracks and asked me a question?

"When are you going to take some risks and stop asking for permission on everything you think is best to do?"

He didn't need to spend more time listening to my explanations.

He told me he would know if it was a good idea down the road when the franchise results for the year were accounted for.

So I took some risks, without asking for permission first.  Made a lot of sales that way. Sales to some great franchise operators!

When you need for your franchise sales process, don't ask for permssion, just contact us & we'll get started right away.

Tags: How Can I Speed Up My Franchise Sales Process?, How Many Franchise Deals am I Going to Close?

March 30, 2014 02:06 PM