Plenty of expert franchise people will disagree with this article.

Between you and me - they will be spectacularly wrong too.

If you take exception you can dispute my thoughts on this in the comment section and we'll talk about it, but only if you want to.

Here are the Top 3 Lies -

Lie #1 - 57% of the franchise buyer's decision process is complete before their first engagement with a franchise salesperson.

You'll find a variety of versions of this factoid on franchising websites. And hear them regaled at franchise conference & expo roundtables & panel discussions.

Problem is this 57% statistic (stated as high as 75%) is unsubstantiated. It is a convenient meme dubious suppliers and vendors promote to franchisors.

Lie #2 - Franchise buyers are smarter, more sophisticated and technologically advanced than ever before.

Purportedly franchise buyers want all the information in advance from franchisors.

So if your franchise recruitment website and automated franchise discovery process doesn't answer every imaginable franchise question & potential objection you'll miss out on those franchise buyers.

Lie #3 - The way people buy franchises has changed dramatically.

And Franchise Buyers are building detailed composite profiles of franchises from online search & social media and are franchise savvy.

There's just no evidence to support that this is true.

Here's what I know -

• We have great technologies with more ways to send and receive information today. And the internet has an inexhaustible and overwhelming amount of info on franchises.
• If franchise buyers were really doing better pre-purchase research and due diligence they would be pursuing your FDD - Franchise Disclosure Document for the most accurate stuff at the outset.
• If we believe the meme that franchise buyers are 57% to 75% through their franchise discovery process before they talk with you then why haven't franchise sales cycles become significantly shorter? Wouldn't it be reasonable to expect a 57% to 70% sales cycle timeline improvement?
• What hasn't changed is the series of mental operations that franchise buyers must go through before they buy your franchise.

Here's what you can do -

Follow this 118 year old selling dictum originated by Elias St. Elmo Lewis of NCR fame and design your sales processes to -

"Attract attention, maintain interest & create desire." E.K. Strong, The Psychology of Selling & Advertising, 1925

P.S. If you want to market and sell your franchise on LinkedIn I can show you how Franchise-Info's paid social franchise marketing works.

It requires a 15 minute investment from you.

And I guarantee you won't look at LinkedIn franchise recruitment the same way again.

For more information, call Joe at 1-443-502-2636 or email Joe at [email protected]

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