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Franchise Sales Success: The Two Questions that You Must Answer First

Are you a start-up or emerging franchisor and you feel an overall sense of confusion about franchise sales?

Do you feel like your franchise sales efforts may be "all over the place" and not focused?

When it comes to attracting potential prospects do you feel like there is so much potential but something is missing?

Do you sometimes question if success may be out of reach because "your business is different"?

If so, then what you are sensing, feeling and questioning is just like so many other franchisors that have launched their franchise system. Some of these franchisors who have asked the same questions that you may be asking have gone on to create successful systems that are scaling-up and others have suffered from stagnation. So what is the difference, and most important, what are the two questions that you need to answer before you can put your system on a franchise sales growth trajectory?

Drawing from my own experiences including some franchise sales mistakes that I made with my own brand (ecomaids) and from the advice and input that so many amazing franchise brands shared during our Franchise Growth Mastermind Event, the answer is that before you must answer these 2 questions:

  1. What is your franchise sales budget for the next 12 months?
  2. What is your franchise sales plan?

Sounds simple doesn't it? But it is not and one of the biggest mistakes that start-up and emerging brands make (I know this from experience) is that they approach the franchise sales world without a budget and without a plan. So what happens is that you spend some dollars here and there, you attend some shows, you get excited about some prospects but the franchise sales don’t materialize they way or in the amounts that you would have expected them to. The reason is that because the process is too random and far too often emerging brands don't have a clear 12-month sales budget, and they don’t have a plan as to how they will spend their limited and critical cash flow resources.

Consider that I am not saying that you need to know everything in advance, and certainly once you set your budget and plan you will still be certain to make mistakes. Adjustments will always be required but the act of putting pen to paper and writing down a 12-month franchise sales budget with months spend and a plan of action is a powerful action. No longer will you be randomly allocating dollars and in the long term you will have created a foundation from which to grow, really grow, your franchise system.

Ask yourself:

  • How much will your system devote to franchise sales over the next 12 months?
  • How much will you spend monthly toward franchise sales?
  • Do you have a plan in place to convert leads with a multi-tier drip campaign and validation process?
  • Do you have a plan to develop and tell your story through third party sources that will validate your brand?
  • Do you have a plan where you have targeted your perfect franchisee?
  • Does your marketing and brand story focus on your perfect franchisee and how your system is the tool to achieve their goals?

You budget and plan may be off base and wrong but that’s part of the learning process. Having a budget and plan are the first stepping stones for franchise success.

Would you like to learn more about franchise growth and franchise success, join FranX's Franchise Growth Mastermind. FranX and Franchise Growth Mind was created by Charles N. Internicola, Esq. of The Internicola Law Firm and Nick Powills of 1851 Franchise to create meaningful conversations and relationships among franchisors focused on best practices, sharing what works and creating growth. Learn more about FranX here.

Learn more about how we can help grow your franchise with our ongoing Franchise Counsel Program by calling (800) 976-4904.