How do you find the right prospects for your franchise opportunity? Without broker fees? And in this tough economic climate?
Our own John Nelson, Marketing Strategist, just published this article in Sales Force Branding. Read on:
You want someone with a suitable profile and adequate liquid assets. Here are four steps to successfully find good prospects for your franchise opportunities. These tips also work for other lead-generation situations.
- Understand your prospect – This is a critical first step, despite the costs of research and fact-finding. And it’s too often overlooked. Many owners and executives believe they already “know” their ideal candidate, but data tells the truth and fills in the details. Look at demographic, psychographic, lifestyle, and online and offline behavior to create an accurate, comprehensive view of your prospect. The more you know about your prospect upfront, the more likely you are to make a sale – and save time, money and resources along the way.
- Create a nonlinear strategy – Gone are the days of the classic sales funnel. Now you use multiple channels and data points to track your prospect. To be competitive in today’s franchise market, leverage insight by listening, data collecting and monitoring your prospect’s behavior. Pay attention to your prospect and build data driven strategy across appropriate marketing channels. Build a strong relationship from initial contact to engagement to conversion.
- Connect and stay connected –Use your research to determine the marketing channels where your prospects hang out, and then be there. I recommend strategies that involve web, email, direct mail, mobile, social media and calls centers because these are tactics that can be easily monitored for ROI. In addition to the channels you need to create a dynamic conversation that anticipates their needs and engages them through their decision making process. This will make your prospect gain confidence in you and your company and allow you to be prepared for any questions that may arise. Ultimately, these actions drive connectivity to you and dramatically impact your prospect’s buying decisions.
- Leverage your information – Continually monitor, track and respond to the data collected through your marketing efforts. Develop a program that tags, tracks and reports on the effectiveness of each campaign across all channels. Monitoring your campaigns gives you real-time insights on how to adjust strategies to optimize your marketing dollars and drive a higher ROI.
What’s worked for you? Do you have a successful franchise-locating story? Any tips to share on finding viable franchisees for your operation? We’d love the hear about it.
About John: He’s a Marketing Strategist for the Flint Group, which has helped franchises in many sectors grow and profit for 35+ years. Prior to his current role, he was Director of Marketing for The Alternative Board®, a Denver based business coaching franchise. Flint Group is also a proud member of the International Franchise Association. Follow John on Twitter or Join John on LinkedIn.
Why is this important? Well, if you read the news at all, you are well aware the 
state is facing challenging times and balancing the budget means many cuts and compromises between legislators. As citizens, showing up to the Capitol to discuss projects that are important to invigorating Duluth’s economy brings a breath of fresh air to legislators who are used to seeing professional lobbyists on a regular basis. It also shows them that we care; we care about their decisions, we care about our state, and we care about our community.
I’m excited to come to the office every day and face whatever challenges are in front of me. I love to work. I’m excited about the company I work for. I appreciate the nuances of each client and each day. I wish everyone could feel like that, but I understand that some don’t.
