Franchise Development Strategy

Developing a solid Franchise Development Strategy is the key to rapid franchise growth.  Sure, you may have a really cool franchise concept, you’ve slugged through getting your FDD done, your item 19 is in place, you may have even sold a few non-corporate owned franchise units.  But, if you’re the one who is still calling every cold lead that comes in off of the internet and trying to figure out internet marketing at the same time, your franchise system as a whole is probably going to suffer.

So, what’s a better way to do it?

Let’s talk through some keys to developing a strong franchise development strategy.  Our main focus here at Lead PPC is franchise leads and franchise lead generation.

 

4 Keys To A Solid Franchise Development Strategy

There are several keys to success if you’re looking to improve your overall franchise development strategy.  Here are a few to remember.

Key #1: Make Sure You Have Your Item 19 In Place And A Few Non-Corporate Stores Sold Before Advertising

As an ad agency that works nearly exclusively with franchisors, of course we love to bring everyone onboard.  The reality, however, is that if you don’t have good numbers on your Item 19 and a few references that prospective franchisees can call, you’re going to have a hard time closing deals.  Franchise broker networks have also realized this issue and for this reason will end up charging you more like $40,000 per franchise sale instead of $25,000 per deal because it takes them that many more leads to find someone who will buy into your franchise opportunity with no Item 19 and no references.  So, get those in place before considering working with an agency.

Key #2: Start With Google Ads and Meta Ads

Sometimes, it’s hard to know where to begin when it comes to designing your franchise development strategy.  Let me offer some advice here.  Don’t do portals and don’t do franchise broker networks right out the gate.  Get your SEO driven website up and running, and then immediately after that work with a reputable franchise PPC agency such as us here at Lead PPC.  The Cost Per Sale ends up being about $5,000-$12,000 per deal typically, so that can help you drive much needed revenue and profit out the gate so that you can then go hire some franchise broker networks.  You’ll need both to succeed.

Key #3: Hire 1-3 Franchise Broker Networks

Having franchise broker networks in your back pocket that are producing sales for you is so important.  It can be exhausting trying to have your franchise development reps cultivate and close each cold lead.  Let a few franchise broker networks help you by warming up a lot of leads for you so that you are closing some deals from your own SEO and PPC driven pipelines and then other deals are getting prepped and ready for you from franchise broker networks.  These deals end up feeling a lot like referrals, which is nice.

Here are some good franchise broker networks to consider:

Key #4: Test Other Mediums Like Trade Shows And Franchise Portals

Once you have SEO, PPC, and franchise broker networks all producing for you, it’s time to start playing with other potential lead sources such as trade shows and franchise portals.  Yes, it’s difficult trying to decide which portals to go with, and they provide a bunch of junk leads.  But, if you can get a combo like Entrepreneur.com and Franchise Direct working for you in tandem with your other lead sources, now you really have something.

Here are some franchise portals worth taking a look at:

 

Need Help?

If you would like to speak with us about potentially having us help drive quality franchise leads for your franchise please fill out our Contact Us form.

We are a boutique franchise marketing agency / franchise ad agency that specializes in franchise marketing and franchise advertising via PPC (Google Ads + Meta Ads).

Additionally, if you need help with franchise sales or with finding a solid franchise broker, we would be more than happy to share our opinions with you on the subject.  Thanks!