Challenge the Pros: Ryan Stansbury on Using Technology to Improve The Quality of Franchisee Leads

How do you use technology to improve the quality of franchisee leads?

Ryan Stansbury
Executive VP of Franchise Development
PJ’s Coffee

At PJ’s Coffee, technology plays a supporting role in our larger, strategy-driven approach to attracting qualified franchise prospects. While we use a variety of digital tools to attract and qualify leads, the key to improving lead quality lies in how we track, measure, and refine every step of the awarding process.

A candidate’s development journey begins with targeted digital advertising across platforms like Facebook, Google, and LinkedIn. These campaigns are designed to engage our ideal audience, and we use Google Analytics and website data to continually evaluate what messaging, creative, and platforms are converting high-quality leads. Lookalike audiences based on our top-performing franchisees also help further sharpen our strategies.

Once a prospect expresses interest, their information flows into our CRM system, where we can track them through every stage of the discovery process, from target to prospect to qualified candidate to franchisee. Our confidential questionnaire is fully integrated in the CRM, making it quick and easy for candidates to complete and allowing us to assess fit early on. We also use an automated text messaging platform to ensure an immediate connection between our prospects and our franchise development coordinator.

Email drip campaigns help us stay in front of leads with valuable, timely content, whether it’s highlighting recent openings and brand milestones or sharing franchisee testimonials. These automated campaigns are part of a nurturing process that builds trust and educates prospects about PJ’s unique value.

At the core of our approach is a disciplined focus on tracking, measuring, and adapting. Every inquiry is monitored from its source through to qualification and conversion. We review performance data weekly and evaluate broader trends monthly to identify what’s driving results. If a campaign or platform isn’t yielding qualified leads, we reallocate the budget and adjust the strategy. If something is working, we scale it.

This commitment to continuous improvement, backed by actionable data, allows us to stay agile and make smart, ROI-driven decisions.