The Limits of Intuition in Franchise Marketing

As franchise consultants we can quote average close rates and costs in the franchise sales process as if they were dogma, but the truth is some franchisors will significantly outperform the averages. What does it take to get to that next level? Here, we talk about marketing to beat the average.

When prospects call your franchisees, if your franchisees are not validating well, you have a problem. As a franchisor you may be better in the long run addressing the franchisee validation issue rather than simply increasing your ad budget.

Also, your concept, no matter how strong it is, must communicate its unique value proposition if it wants to stand out from the crowd. Well written ads and other marketing materials must differentiate you from the thousands of other franchise opportunities in the marketplace.

Far too many franchisors rely exclusively on the founder’s intuition, and few franchisors actually test ad and media performance. The franchisors who are able to beat the averages will consistently measure empirical cost and performance data for each of the various media and different messages that are employed for lead generation.

To generate franchise sales at an accelerated pace the franchisor needs to have a strong understanding of their prospective franchisees and the media that attracts that prospect. Again, too many franchisors choose to use intuition as their primary guide when it comes to gaining this understanding, only to find out, that their intuition, shaped as it is by their own entrepreneurial compass, does not always represent their ideal franchisee.

While it’s fine for franchisors to use their intuition as a guidepost, actual data is needed for lasting success.