1)      Franchise Benchmark Report – Put out by Emaximation.  Emaximation offers CRM software that manages leads for franchisors.  They see a great number of leads from all the franchise portals, and publish a newsletter ranking the top sites based on both quantity and quality.  From someone who has their finger on the pulse of the industry, I can tell you that you should feel confident in their rankings.  (August 2009 issue link)

2)      Compete.com – shows the number of unique visitors to a site.  There are a lot of franchise portals out there.  Make sure you are working with ones that see a good number of traffic.  30,000 – 50,000 unique visitors at a bare minimum is what I would recommend.  Another similar tool is www.trafficestimate.com.

3)      Google – do a couple of searches and see who pops up.  Use some of the more generic yet popular terms (i.e. “franchise”, “franchises”, “business opportunity”) as well as some terms specific to your industry.

At Upside Group when we are speaking to franchisors or performing training or coaching sessions for clients we often find controversy surrounding the proper methods of franchise prospect follow up.  While in this entry we won’t be able to comprehensively explain or design a custom sales process for each reader we are able to provide some insights in to the do’s and don’ts of Call 1 which just may be the most important call you ever have with your future franchisee.

So what is Call 1, is it when a prospect calls the franchisor’s office to get more information?  Is it when the “screener” calls the prospect to verify interest, timing and finances?  For our purposes today we will define Call 1 as the first substantive conversation you have with a franchise prospect during the franchise development process.

Here are a few quick tips for Call 1:

• Call 1 should be performed at a set appointment time – get in the habit of scheduling appointments with franchise prospects so you are clear minded and prepared to speak with them, it is beneficial to both.  Avoid the temptation of picking up a first-time in bound call and spending hours telling them all the great things about your system
• Expectations of what is going to be covered should be explained when setting up the appointment – let the prospects know the purpose of the call and the expected length so the focus can be on the content of the conversation
• Limit the call to 45 – most calls running over 45 minutes begin to lose value, most people will not remember much after 40 minutes or so especially with the amount of new data you will be covering about your franchise system
• The call should be after you have received a complete prospect application – assuming the prospect has been “screened” for time frame, interest, territory and finances, the next natural step is for franchise prospects to complete an application leading to Call 1 which will allow them the opportunity to get their questions answered and allow you to answer their questions more fully because you have information on their desires from the franchise application
• Franchise Applicants should have a list of questions prepared – it is ok to first allow franchise prospects to ask their list of questions from the materials they have received or viewed online, but make sure to have a set list of criteria you want to establish on hand also.  If the prospects questions don’t lead to your complete list you will need to also speak about your items prior to ending the call.  This leads to consistency in your on-boarding process, saves time and allows the franchise prospects to feel they were able to receive information on their top concerns.

The reason Call 1 is so important is that it sets the tone of the franchise relationship which may end up being 10-20 years in some cases.  So besides answering the franchise prospects questions you also need to explain your culture, set expectations for the remainder of the discovery process, detail to the prospect what you are looking for in a new franchisee and begin to create a rapport that will need to last long in to your relationship.

If you feel you are already doing a good job with Call 1 as described above there are more intricate levels that can be approached to improve them even further but we can blog about that later…Good luck on Call 1!

Thanks for the feedback, Bill.  Keep up the great work.

So please check back often, and don’t be afraid to add a comment or ask a question.  Happy Selling!