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Why You're Having a Hard Time Selling Franchises

Learn how to avoid common franchise sales mistakes when scaling your brand.

Selling franchises is never easy, but closing deals with franchisees can be especially challenging for new and emerging franchisors.

When you’re just getting started, it’s often hard to know where to start – or what you’re getting wrong – in the franchise sales process. Even as a seasoned business owner with a track record of success, understanding why some brands succeed at selling franchises while others stagnate can be difficult.

In this article, we’ll explore strategies for positioning your franchise brand to win at franchise sales – and avoiding common mistakes that can lead to missed opportunities.

Prepare for Franchise Success

As a new franchisor, proper preparation is the key to success – including taking a hands-on approach to learning about the franchise industry.

“If you're a new franchisor and you're entering the franchise space, here's a big warning: You need to rely on valuable advisors for sure – franchise law firms, advisors, industry experts. But don't over-rely on them,” says Charles Internicola, a franchise attorney with over 25 years of experience and the founder of The Internicola Law Firm.

Instead, Internicola advises getting involved in the industry, doing your homework and developing a five-year success plan that addresses the various stages of franchise growth, with the first two years focused specifically on organically growing and seasoning your brand.

Learn How to Differentiate Your Franchise Offering

For new franchisors, how you differentiate your franchise offering from competitors can make or break your franchise sales.

“When I ask (new franchisors) what makes their brand unique, or why someone should buy your franchise as opposed to a competitor or a competing franchise system, a lot of times they get stuck and the answers I receive are really about generic industry information,” Internicola says.

Instead, try identifying your franchise offering’s “three uniques”:

  1. Your brand story
    Seek genuine connections with franchisee candidates by telling a compelling franchise brand story that communicates your offering’s history, mission and vision.

  2. Your unit economics
    Beyond sharing your Item 19 financial performance representations, tell prospective buyers how you’ll help them achieve financial success.

  3. Your transformation potential
    How can your franchise offering transform franchisees’ lives? How will you help franchisees succeed in achieving their goals?

By avoiding boilerplate language and focusing on the specifics that set your offering apart from other franchise opportunities, you can improve your chances of recruiting qualified franchisee candidates – and closing deals.

Prioritize Franchisee Success

Although pledging to help prospective franchise buyers achieve their business and lifestyle goals can be helpful during the franchise sales process, it’s important to back those promises up after closing the deal. This includes taking accountability as a franchisor and creating a plan of action to support franchisee success.

“You need to do the hard work. You need to demonstrate to (franchisees) that you're going to help them succeed – that you have a game plan, and this is what it looks like, steps one through 10 after they sign the franchise agreement. It's that lack of detail that's creating uncertainty and probably costing deals,” Internicola says.

If you’re ready to season and scale your new franchise system, we can help. Contact us today.

Learn more about how to grow and scale your franchise system by calling our team at (800) 976-4904 or by clicking the button below.

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