28 Days
28 Days Later… As I have mentioned before, signing franchisees regularly generates much needed revenue for the franchisor at an initial level. I also talked about how greed, lack of structure to support new franchisees, and a poor franchise model do not lend themselves to the long-term sustainability of a brand. Selectivity is key here… Sorting the Wheat from the Chaff When a brand is ready to start recruiting franchisees, it is relatively easy to put together an attractive brochure, website and advertising campaign. The problems begin when the leads start coming in and how they are handled in the first instance. Get this right, and the whole process becomes much smoother for both brand and candidate with decisions reached quickly and without misunderstanding. Get this wrong and the adding of suitable franchisees to the network will prove difficult. Find the Decision Makers Someone who truly wants to buy into a franchise must be a decision maker, and everyone is to some extent. When handling our client’s enquiries, Franchise Recruitment Services (FRS) look for are people that have decided to make a change in their life; have either committed, or have a good strategy to make good their commitment; know where they can get at least 30% of the investment and are willing to set aside time to potentially reach one of the biggest decisions they may have to make. Before an Initial Meeting Finding out what someone is looking for is the beginning and the key to everything else in the recruitment process. If you know what they want, and the franchise offer fits closely with that, and can be demonstrated over the phone, there is a good chance the candidate will move on to the next step if serious. Having a candidate provide a CV, fill out a simple financial form online and understand the ongoing process before an initial meeting is a simple way to impact that this is very much a two way process, as well as ensuring that the desire and financial capability is there. Case Study Throughout 2007 FRS has continued to work with one of the UK’s largest management franchise brands - a home-based commercial cleaning outfit requiring a total investment of £165k. As at 30th September 2007, FRS has generated and handled 1,625 specific leads at an average of 180 per month. The net result has been 20 franchisees in 9 months – slightly better than the 2 a month target which had been set. The process involves 4 meetings over a 4-week period after which the candidate is required to make a decision. Any delay leads to their application being closed unless there is a good reason for that (e.g. holiday, bereavements, etc), as well as good communication throughout. The reason for this rigid and uncompromising stance results from previous analysis FRS carried out from a number of brands, showing that the majority of those franchisees that took a long time to make a decision and kept ‘buying time’, are poor performers once in the network, and in some cases even step outside the boundaries of the franchise agreement! Based on the 20 franchisees signed by this brand so far in 2007, FRS have carried out analysis to understand the time taken from first enquiry to signing a franchise agreement, and simplified results are below: Status Days taken from Initial Enquiry Verbal Contact 1st Meeting 2nd Meeting 3rd Meeting Sign 4 18 27 39 46 If you look at the average time taken from the 1st Meeting to signing a franchise agreement, you will see the difference is 28 days…. or 4 weeks exactly!

For further information on this subject, you can contact Dugan Aylen using the contact form below.

UK - 28 Days By Dugan Aylen, Director of Franchise Recruitment Services (FRS) Ltd Franchise Resources