It has been widely accepted that any New Year brings about change, it is as good a time as ever, and due to events of the past couple of years, more people than ever will be looking into their employment options, this could be the best time ever for the franchising sector!
The Franchising Sector Has The Biggest Ever Opportunity Right Now
Never in history, has there been so many people who have been displaced, whether it has been redundancy, the threat of redundancy, a lifestyle change, or the feeling of wanting more than have now, but how can franchising capitalise on this today, let us discuss some options in this short article…
Let Us All Get The Franchising Message Out There
You’ve probably got the best franchise that exists, haven’t you? If that is the case, why are you not telling as many people as you can about it? You can have the best franchise but if nobody gets to know about it, you will never ever progress, it is time to double down on your marketing efforts, it is great news for you, because again right now, more people than ever will be receptive to discovering more which means your marketing spend and actual acquisition cost will be the lowest it can ever be.
If you have had campaigns that worked well in the past, look at these again, look at where all of your gains have been and score them in order of what delivered the best results, then start to be more ambitious with other marketing areas you need to test, to progress, you must not stand still, that is just crazy in a market that wants information from you now!
Franchising Can Be For Everyone!
Granted that franchising should always be about finding the right ‘fit’ but how do we know who the needle in the haystack is? Yes, OK, they do usually end up sticking their neck out and every single enquiry should be handled as a unique enquiry, give everybody the time they deserve, after all, they have usually taken time out of their day to make an enquiry, the very least you can do is respond to that enquiry, look at the alternative, they have put their hand up, lets now showcase what we have to offer!
There are of course many factors that influence a franchisor to onboard a franchisee, and one very good one (that most enquiries should have) is enthusiasm, if this is the case, almost everybody you talk with can be a potential franchisee, on this basis, we can all show that nobody needs to be necessarily excluded!
Remove The Barrier To Entry For Your Franchise
Franchisees are almost always unsure of what any next steps are, sometimes they believe they know it all too well and try and run before they can walk, let us take charge of this and show them! The first part of any conversation should be advising them exactly about what the franchise is, or is not, this is our opportunity to really educate the potential franchisee and again part of ensuring the right fit, this is again great news for you because if this is any misunderstanding at all, or if the franchise is not quite what the potential franchisee thought it was, everyone can quickly move on without any other complications, this could even be an opportunity for you to propose they even look at other opportunities so they can still be looking within franchising!
Advise On Options That Will Help People Buy A Franchise
One of the most efficient ways to show this currently is the little know Government Start-Up Loans, there is huge credibility in offering this as a solution right now, partly designed to get more people into self-employment (which is what buying a franchise is) and with the bar set so low to enable more people to be able to access the funding, this really is a very viable route to finance for virtually everyone you talk to, by now, you might have just removed that one barrier that any potential franchisee might have- the funds to buy a franchise, this could well be the difference between those staying where they are or beginning their entrepreneurial journey, and you alone can make this happen for them!
With Only Around 1000 Franchise Systems In Operation In The UK
For a developed country, this is a tiny fraction when compared to the likes of the United States and Australia, where it is reported that we are around one-fifth per capita in comparison, this is a huge opportunity for the UK to market exactly what we have and also to devise more franchise opportunities by reaching out to those companies we feel to have the franchising potential, those companies that are probably already thinking about it, should you be the one that is educating them about the process, what have you got to lose?
The Franchising Sector Should Collaborate More
What more can we do to help the entire sector? There are many people within franchising that are receptive to this, if that is you, when was the last time you reached out to others? Put aside any competition you feel might cause any conflict, this theory is not about that, it is more about a collective voice to help that potential franchisee, if we let this group of people fade away, the sector will miss one of the biggest every opportunity we probably have in our lifetime.
Where Passion Meets Business…
The franchise sector is one of the best to be involved in, made up of many industry experts with years and years of experience, this is the sectors chance right now, let us all have further dialogue to be able to change for the better and achieve what we all know we can so we all contribute to franchising, even the smallest of suggestions can have the biggest impacts!
This post was written by Richard Pakey, Regional Director at Lime Licensing Group.
