Today, we’ll discuss lead generation, which is arguably the biggest obstacle to franchise sales and franchise development.
To be quite honest, in my 22 years in this industry, lead generation and franchise sales, franchise development has probably been the most challenging aspect, the biggest challenge to building a six-figure business as a franchise broker or franchise consultant. So that’s what we’ll be discussing today. And what I refer to as the various lead generating techniques is how to deal with this problem. Having many lead generation or marketing methods active for your company, perhaps even two.
I’ve learned a formula that says you need to have a six-figure income in order to accomplish your lead goals on a monthly or quarterly basis. This system recognizes four, five, six, seven, or even eight different lead producing tactics. Let’s discuss why this works, then. One of the first things to know is that no matter how much sales experience you have—and it’s good if you bring franchise, or excuse me, other types of sales experience into franchise development or franchise sales—this is still a very, very unique type of sale, especially if you’re not an experienced franchise salesperson, if you’re an emerging brand founder, or if you’re working for an emerging brand, and you’ve never sold franchises before.
In order to smooth out the process you’re establishing and the things you say at each stage of the process, you’re going to burn through some leads. You need a volume and quantity of leads. Therefore, unless you are a very seasoned sales representative, 70 percent to 80 percent of your prospects will come from personal recommendations. Otherwise, you’ll truly need volume and quantity. And I frequently advise that if you have fewer than five years of experience in this industry, especially if you have had less than two to three years, you will unquestionably need a quantity of leads. So that’s one of the main reasons why using a variety of lead generation techniques is crucial.
You should do this since you shouldn’t rely solely on one method of producing leads. When telemarketing was the dominant method of lead generation for the cemetery burial plot industry years ago, I recall that every week you would have someone phone you during dinner to try to set up an appointment to buy a cemetery space. And when the government intervened—and the industry had no control over this—it did so by passing legislation that mandated the creation of a no-call list. For several years, this completely disrupted that industry. Although they changed, the situation was never really the same.
There are some additional dynamics in that sector. the preference for cremation over burial. But in the end, it was catastrophic when something completely outside of their control stopped them from generating leads from the source that accounted for 95% of their lead creation. As a result, you should never rely entirely on one method of producing leads. Having a concept of the numerous lead generating strategies for this reason is therefore important. You want to use that in your company.
A third important point is that using multiple marketing strategies is simply wise business practice. When I worked with a single business owner, we always made sure they were using several lead generation or marketing tactics. This was true of every successful business owner I’ve ever been around or taught. And if you’re a broker, consultant, or even a top salesperson—as I’ve seen them over the course of my 40+ years in business—you should handle your territory like a business. Therefore, having different lead generation tactics makes sense. If you’re a broker, you should still treat your firm like a business, even if you’re so small that you don’t have any employees. Additionally, you should employ several lead generation techniques.
Let me briefly switch topics so that we can talk about some additional lead generation errors before moving on to marketing missteps. One of the things I’ve noticed is that once individuals attempt a strategy, if it doesn’t work, they stop. You know, that’s a major error. Instead, you should monitor your results, test and try new things—fine—but first, assess what’s happening and monitor your progress. Only then can you consider making adjustments. Look for some of the trouble spots; you might come up with a new tactic this way. You won’t do it very well the first time you try it, but that’s anticipated and acceptable. The more regularly you do it, the better it will get. You know, throw a tactic that you’ve only tried once to the wind, test it, analyze it, monitor your outcomes, make modifications, and repeat the process.
Another error that many individuals make in lead creation is trying out some truly bizarre and outrageous things. To reiterate, I don’t mind attempting new things. However, if you work in that field as a broker consultant, establishing franchises for emerging brands or being the originator of an emerging company, you shouldn’t base your first or second tactics on something that hasn’t been tried before. It’s just too dangerous to do. In my online course, Franchise Sales Accelerator, I teach nine and ten different strategies that have been demonstrated to be effective in the franchise industry. You should stick with these tried-and-true methods if you want to succeed in the market.
so early in the game—certainly less than three years, and possibly as long as five years. Avoid trying outlandish tactics; stick to tried-and-true business tactics instead to enhance your chances of success more quickly. In addition, I wanted to reiterate that even while you might start with five or six methods running concurrently in your organization, you’ll eventually bring it down to two or three, which is usually what I propose. Therefore, if you tried five, six, or seven and discovered three or possibly four that truly worked well for you, that’s fantastic. So, that pretty much sums up the concept of using many lead generation techniques concurrently.
The final lesson I wanted to impart about lead generation and marketing is that I categorize it into three groups. I’ve learned marketing and lead generation in this manner. I further divide it. into short-term, mid-term, and long-term strategies. Please allow me to explain what I mean by that. A short-term plan is one that will likely result in business within 30 days but no longer than 60 or 90 days. Therefore, short-term tactics are those that will start working for you right away. Long-term strategies will take three to six months or more to design and improve, but they will start producing leads in that time period. Of course, there are also long-term plans. Long-term techniques are often ones that will be effective for someone for six to twelve months at the most.
People are now saying to me, “Hey, you have to start the long-term approach at some point, or it won’t ever work for you.” But you need to take a closer look at what you’re doing. If you’ve been in business for less than, say, two years, you should definitely concentrate on short- and possibly even mid-term strategies, especially in the first 12 to 18 months. Why? We all need to earn money rapidly, so that’s why.
As a result, your short-term operating techniques won’t be as effective because it could take them a year to generate new leads and start paying off for you. Therefore, I always advise having a mix of short-, mid-, and long-term lead generation strategies. However, in the first 12 months, focus on the short- and mid-term strategies when operating and expanding your firm with numerous lead generating techniques working simultaneously. Add a longer-term strategy that will begin to pay off for you in year two as you become more successful and begin to crack through the six figure Commission or sales sector.
So again, one of the biggest challenges in franchise development for emerging brands for broker consultants, even for franchisors, has always been lead generation. But if you work multiple strategies simultaneously, ultimately, typically three or four, that really work well for you, you’ve tested them out. That’s what’s going to make you more successful after trying maybe seven or eight strategies over the course of a few months. That’s what’s really going to help you develop a six figure income.
