2024 AFDR Data - Frequency and Format of Meet the Team Dates

Franchise Update Media has been researching franchise lead generation and franchisee recruitment processes for more than a decade. An annual in-depth online survey queries franchise development professionals about a number of issues related to their lead generation and recruitment strategies.

All the responses are collected, aggregated, and analyzed to produce a detailed look into the recruitment and development practices, budgets, spending allocations, and strategies of a wide cross-section of franchisors. The results are presented each year in the Annual Franchise Development Report (AFDR), which can be ordered online at afdr.franchiseupdate.com.

The 2024 AFDR report is a valuable resource that can provide crucial insights on franchise development lead generation and recruitment best practices. It’s the kind of information that can helps brands assess what they are doing right, and what needs improvement.

This is part of a series of articles that will draw out a few important insights from this year’s AFDR in upcoming issues of the Franchise Leadership & Development Report. It’s hopefully the kind of information that can give you an edge in your lead generation and recruitment efforts.

For perspective, this year’s study surveyed a 120 brands. The franchisors had 2,533 company-owned units and 24,101 franchise units. The brands represented a variety of segments, including food, retail food, nonfood retail, brick-and-mortar service, and service based on population and territory.

Candidate or Meet the Team Dates

A major part of the franchise sales and development process is getting to meet the franchise candidates directly. That gives the franchisor the opportunity to introduce the prospective franchisee to the brand and the corporate staff and determine if they will be successful in the system. It also gives the candidate a chance to take a deeper dive into the franchise operations and ask any questions they may have. Not surprisingly, 90 percent of the franchisors responded that they conduct Candidate or Meet the Team Dates.

Whether it is referred to as a discovery day or by another name, nearly half of the respondents (47 percent) said they scheduled those dates on a monthly basis. Thirty-two percent of the respondents indicated they planned the dates "as needed", while 15 percent did it on a bi-monthly basis and six percent held them quarterly.

What was once customary practice to host prospective franchisees at the corporate offices changed four years ago. When the Covid pandemic prevented travel and in-person meetings, many franchisors then held these events virtually. Some brands embraced the change, as it reduced time and costs and offered greater schedule flexibility.

The latest survey results reflected that trend. Fifty-six percent of franchisors responded that they conduct Candidate or Meet the Team Days in-person. However, 24 percent said they host the dates virtually and 20 percent said they do both.