How To Keep Franchise Candidates Engaged

Keeping franchise prospects and candidates engaged from first contact through each of the subsequent steps in the sales process is one of the thorniest challenges for franchise development teams. We all get rusty, set in our ways, and are creatures of habit. That’s why this 8-page “worksheet” from FranConnect can serve as a good review and checklist of the fundamentals for any franchise sales person seeking to improve their performance. The worksheet begins with a brief explanation of its purpose:

“To identify and convert the right candidates to unit owners, an important first step is to outline the candidate experience, from discovering your brand through commitment. Your entire franchise development team needs access to a sales workflow to be able to identify:

1. Where a candidate is in the process.
2. What the candidate should be experiencing.
3. What the candidate should be receiving.

Creating a workflow builds discipline and predictability into the process. At each stage, develop a description of the candidate experience by filling out the questions in this worksheet.”

None of this is new, but it is important – and can serve as a good mirror to hold up every now and then to review the basics of a successful end-to-end engagement with potential franchisees. The exercise takes you through the 7 basic stages of the sales process:

• Stage 1: Discovering your brand
• Stage 2: Initial inquiry
• Stage 3: Qualified or unqualified?
• Stage 4: Application
• Stage 5: Discovery day
• Stage 6: Agreement and FDD
• Stage 7: Commitment

At each stage, the worksheet asks the same four questions:

1. Who is responsible for communication?
2. What information needs to be provided to the candidate?
3. How is that information delivered?
4. What is the tone of voice?

The PDF worksheet is downloadable here.