Now before we begin, I am going to admit that I spend the majority of my time as a coach, supporting franchisees, working with franchisors to help them once they have a franchisee on board, but every now and then, for special clients, I cross over into the franchise recruitment area.
Really the two go hand in hand because if your support structures are not great, then why would a potential franchisee want to join your brand and system.
The biggest mistake I see Franchisors and their recruitment teams make is that they are trying to SELL a franchise. I think you need to work on how do we get a prospective franchisee to BUY a franchise.
Are you puzzled by that statement? Are you thinking, but isn’t that the same thing?
Well almost.
I have found, that no matter the transaction, people do not like to be sold to. They find it pushy and almost ‘conned’ into something. But so many people in the world love to buy and that’s why the world’s economy turns around as people buy.
It may seem like one and the same, but I guarantee you, it is a VERY DIFFERENT feeling for a franchisee who is allowed to discover the franchise, make up their own mind and then decide to buy into the franchise.
When was the last time you looked at your recruitment process? Does it need a little tweaking so that you are leading a prospective franchisee through a process that doesn’t feel like they are being sold to, but in actual fact allowing them to discover the opportunity in front of them and then decide if this is the opportunity that is right for them or for them to ‘buy’ in.
I can tell you from a support prospective, it is the franchisees that have bought that are easier to support and generally more often than not, take ownership of their business very early on and take the lead to grow their own business, not be ‘pushed’ by support team to do what they need to do to have even a basic business.
This would make a great discussion with your recruitment team…. In what ways are we giving prospective franchisees the feeling that they are buying the business, not being sold it?
Let me know how it goes……
Tracey
PS. If you haven’t already, why not check out my free quick guides and workbooks – you can find them on the home page of my website at www.traceyleak.com !