Franchise selling is competitive.
And it's getting more competitive as more franchisors come online offering franchises for their concepts. It doesn't matter whether these nascent franchise offerings are investment worthy or not.
What's important they are selling franchises to candidates that you could have recruited for your brand.
So here's what you can do, right now to increase your sales.
You won't need to hire a consultant, buy a new CRM or re-invent your franchise landing pages, etc... although those longer term fixes may be smart to implement as well, but not today.
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Franchise sales supervisors are the key to your new franchise recruitment success.
In my experience you should give your attention and support to improving sales supervision. Focus your attention on your VPs and Directors of Franchising.
Improved results are more dependent on franchise sales supervisors than on franchise salespeople.
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Stop your franchise salespeople's habit of simply spewing information at your leads and candidates.
Instead train front-line franchise salespeople to ask the right questions of candidates so they can help qualified franchise-buyers see how your franchise concept fits into their lives or for professional multi-brand & multi-unit franchisees how your brand fits in their brand portfolio.
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Stop paying lip service to coaching.
Franchise salespeople despite what they may say, want you to help them and manage them. Make coaching part of your franchise sales team's daily routine and give your salespeople the opportunity to bring their candidate sales problems to you for help.
A great sales supervisor who coaches daily can guide salespeople through difficult sales negotiations.
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Fewer leads mean more sales.
This at first seems counterintuitive but we all know franchise salespeople keep leads and candidates far past their expiration dates.
These expired leads are like soured milk and you need to eliminate them. If you do your salespeople can focus on the candidates that are "raising their hands" and moving forward.
Warning - salespeople won't like this since everyone loves a big pipeline, but they'll thank you later when their commissions are paid.
Now get up from behind your desk right now and start making these fixes happen with your franchise sales team. You'll love the results you'll get. Thanks for listening.
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This is a great article and a must read for anybody responsible for sales. Sales is at the heart of any organization.
You are either green and growing or ripe and rotting.
As stated Joe, I believe supervision and coaching is critical for multiple reasons. You want to be able to allow them to lean into you.
Sales can be very lonely at times and filled with rejection. Most people get more of the "no" then "yes" every day.
Secondly, strategy is paramount and as a coach you can sometimes see it more clear than the person closest to the customer.
By putting your heads together, you can determine the fit, needs, challenges and how to articulate your value proposition. Lastly, work markets not clients.
I believe salespeople do want big pipelines.They want to run back to old pipeline when their pipeline shrinks or are looking for a quick sale.
I do think you should check back in because something happens every six months in a person's life that could mean that the time is right now.
However, this does not replace building a new vibrant pipeline. Great stuff Joe and thanks for sharing Michael!