In an age where we are constantly bombarded by adverts asking us to buy, buy, buy, there is a fine balance between overloading your franchise prospects with too much information during the recruitment process and not providing enough. If you bombard them every day with sales messages from the day they enquire with you, you’re likely to put them off pretty quickly or end up in the junk folder!
The recruitment process is based around building trust between you and your prospects until they are ready to make a decision and pick up the phone to you. Your communication with prospects should reflect this. Let prospects know what the benefits of your franchise opportunity are to them rather than telling them what you do and for what price. Your communications should operate in line with your recruitment process to help push prospects further through the process. Structure your communications around your recruitment process and you’re likely to see more franchisees coming through.
A successful recruitment process consists of lead generation, lead management and conversion. Different types of information through different channels are required at each of these stages. Yet, you must ensure that the messages you send out are consistent and provide a clear understanding of your franchise opportunity. This will draw prospects to you naturally.
Researching your target audience before undertaking any franchisee recruitment campaign will greatly increase your chances of attracting more leads. Understanding which media channels your target audience prefer to receive information through and which social activities they engage in will ensure that you allocate your resources as effectively as possible and don’t overload your prospects with too much information.
Lead Generation
Lead generation is the first step in building long-term relationships with your prospects. To achieve successful lead generation, you need to be proactive and present your company as an attractive opportunity. You can’t just sit back and hope they’ll come to you.
Lead Management
Lead management is the process of following up your leads. For prospects, this is the stage where they consider whether your franchise is an interesting opportunity or not.
Some prospects prefer to be in the driver’s seat of procuring more information about your franchise and others might want you to provide the information directly. This will often depend on their sense of urgency so you need to establish the communication channels that permit both. However, prospects are only interested for a short period of time and online-only communication channels are often slow with long response times and little consistency so it is important to bear in mind that prospects will be considering other opportunities.
At this stage, it is important to provide prospects with all the necessary information about what joining your franchise will entail. Successful lead management will lead to higher lead conversion so it is important that you get it right at this stage.
Lead conversion
Lead conversion involves transforming a lead into a franchisee. In order to achieve this, you need to provide information about anticipated timescales and support to effectively outline the course of action. This will ensure that prospects view you as a franchisor that is professional and well organised.
In order to provide the right information at the right time, you not only need to research characteristics of your perfect franchisee but also their behaviour. No prospect is exactly like another but you can identify common themes that will resonate across your target audience. It is important to bear in mind that prospects have different information needs in each stage of the recruitment process. We recommend that you create a bespoke plan outlining which information needs are to be addressed via which channels, as well as when they are to be addressed in your recruitment process.
Think you might be overloading your prospects with information? We can help you perfect your recruitment process and communications. Contact us on info@coconutcreatives.co.uk or call 01725 511 673.
As the warmer weather finally begins, Coconut Creatives have been reflecting on a successful Q1. We launched our bfa Qualified Franchise Professional approved workshops this year and we’ve had a great response so far. The franchisors in attendance have been engaged and have taken away useful information and advice to implement within their businesses. We’ve had great feedback so far and we can’t wait to see what the rest of the year brings for our workshop programme.
In other news, our Founding Director, Sarah Carlile, has finally had her baby! Baby Thea was born on 10th May and is the newest addition to the Coconut family. Sarah will be tied up for the next few months attending to the baby’s every need but, in true Sarah fashion, she’s still on call if the Coconuts need her. As Sarah unwinds and enjoys her baby’s first few months, Paul Clegg is taking the reins as Managing Director and keeping the team in order.
And we’ve got even more to look forward to over the next couple of months! The EWIF Awards 2016 will soon be upon us and we can’t wait to celebrate the achievements of so many women within our industry. There was a fantastic response this year and we’d like to thank everyone for taking the time to tell us about their achievements.
After a Coconut Wedding, our very own Helen Thresh will become Helen Mansfield, and then we’re ready to tackle the summer months before the busy Autumn period begins. We know that the summer can be a quiet time for our franchisor clients while prospects relax on holiday but we’ll be busier than ever at Coconut Creatives as we prepare our clients for the busy exhibition period by making sure stands, collateral and team members are updated and ready to tell prospects about their opportunity.
2016 is set to be an exciting year for Coconut Creatives and we’ve still got even more plans in the pipeline to make sure our services are innovative so that our clients remain at the top of their game and ahead of their competitors. The latter half of the year will also see Sarah returning to work and we’re sure the break will have given her time to think of more ways we can continue to develop our services!
To find out more about working with Coconut Creatives or attending one of our workshops in 2016, please contact us on 01725 511 673 or info@coconutcreatives.co.uk
The first Coconut Qualified Professional Franchise (QFP) workshops of the year have got off to a roaring success. Our first QFP workshops of the year ‘Speed up Your Network Growth’ and ‘How to Motivate your Franchisees’ provided franchisors, both large and small, with skills and knowledge to take away and implement within their businesses straight away.
“Every time we hold a workshop, it’s great to see so many people in the room who are engaged and taking in the advice that we’re giving. We work hard to make sure the workshops run smoothly and that the content is interesting and valuable to everyone there. There was such great feedback at this workshop from the franchisors who attended and we’re so pleased that our content also helps even more people become qualified in the franchise arena,” explains Paul Clegg, Managing Director at Coconut Creatives.
Since 2010 we’ve had over 200 franchise brands from the franchise industry benefiting from our practical workshop programme to fine tune their franchise recruitment and marketing performance. Our workshops have grown year on year and we’re so proud that they’re now accredited by the bfa. Franchisors take away such valuable information and we provide relevant examples and case studies.
Here’s what a few of our attendees had to say:
“Great day with plenty of hints and tips to take back and start implementing. I loved the guest speaker and it was invaluable to share ideas with sector colleagues,” Karen Atkinson, Cafe2U.
“Fabulous, one of the best and most relevant courses I’ve attended for this stage of our franchise development,” Lisa Curteis, Rosemary Bookkeeping.
“It has been the most inspiring, relevant workshop and I’ve been left with so much that will help me to make improvements – something from every part of the day. The workshop content delivered above and beyond my expectations,” Amanda Wigzell, Little Squigglers.
“I have been wowed into a new world of marketing my business in a clear way and in manageable chunks,” Clare Carrick, Back in Motion.
“This course gave me the tools and the confidence to take my business further and feel ‘I can do this!’,” Rosie Mead, Musica.
In our last blog post we looked at Making The Most Of Your Existing Database and discussed the importance of sending regular communications to your database of prospective franchisees. One of the ways we suggested is to send a monthly newsletter or (as we like to call it) a keep warm email!
So sit back with a cuppa and watch this month’s #CocoQuickTip on how to keep your leads warm.
If you have any questions you would like answered in a #CocoQuickTip video tweet them to @coconut_creativ using the hashtag #CocoQuickTip
Your existing database is a goldmine of prospective franchisees that most franchisors forget to engage with explains Adam Love, Head of Online Marketing at Coconut Creatives.
Your existing database is full of prospective franchisees. You may have been in touch with them when they first enquired but when they didn’t progress any further down the recruitment process, it is likely that you threw them back into the pot and you haven’t really been in contact with them since. Your database is a valuable resource and it is important to keep in contact with your prospects on a regular basis to give yourself a greater chance of recruiting more franchisees.
There are a number of reasons why prospects may remain in your database for a long period of time before they become franchisees. Personal and financial situations may change, which is why it is important to keep your franchise in the front of their minds so that when they do decide to take a leap of faith, you are the first person they will come to.
Regular communication with your existing database is crucial, especially if you are operating on a low budget. By making the most of existing prospects, you can save money and resources on finding new leads and focus more on the high quality leads you already have.
How do I re-engage the leads in my database?
For your communication to have maximum impact, it is important to make sure that it:
Is attention grabbing
Has a target audience in mind and has the correct tone
Is short and clear
Creates demand
Includes a call to action
Offers an incentive.
When you are communicating with your database, make sure you have something to say or something to offer to get the best response. Things you could offer include:
Expert guides
Hints and tips
Personalised invitation to visit HQ
Industry reports
Tour of a franchisee’s business
Monthly newsletter.
Regular activities like the ones listed above come at little or no cost to you but offer a great return – new franchisees! Even if the prospects don’t sign up straight away, these activities will keep them ‘warm’ and interested in your franchise. Regular contact also builds trust between you and your prospects which is essential once the franchisor-franchisee relationship has been formed. It will also help you to stay ahead of your competition and make sure your brand is the first that a prospect will think of when they decide to take the next step in the decision-making process.
