Don’t Judge a Book, or an Online Franchise Inquiry by its Cover

By Jocelyn Chavez

Remember the old saying “Don’t judge a book by its cover?” This is a good rule of thumb for sales inquiries generated for franchisors by online portals. When it comes to reaching out to prospects who have expressed interest in buying their franchise, however, franchisors too frequently dismiss the inquiries they get from portals and third party web sites as ‘junk’ or subpar. According to Mario Altiery, President and CEO of the Upside Group, and other franchise sales consulting and training professionals, it’s not the quality of the leads, but how franchisors are handling those inquiries and communicating with prospects that perpetuates what has become a very inefficient sales process.

 “When I hear franchisors criticizing the leads they receive from the online portals, that’s just foolish,” said Altiery. Prospects provide their contact information in order to obtain more detailed information about the franchise they’re interested in buying. Franchisors are mistakenly giving weight to this basic information and deeming these inquiries ‘good’ or ‘bad.’ In most cases this data is not enough to qualify a prospect and is meant to serve as an introduction, or way for the franchisor and prospect to connect to qualify each other. Altiery suggests franchisors consider the following:

• Disregard the Liquid Capital Information Field: “The liquid capital field in the form that prospects fill out is not always a true indicator of the money a prospect has in their possession or access to. Many people purposefully don’t answer that question because of privacy concerns.  Franchisors should not be categorizing an inquiry based on this field. Instead call the prospect, start building a relationship and create a good rapport. Then they’ll be more willing to tell you how much money they really have to invest and reveal their financial situation,” Altiery advised.
• Judging Someone Based on Their Name is a Big Mistake: “Some franchisors look at a person’s name and try to figure out what nationality they are. Then they associate statistics to decide if similar people of that background typically buy allowing them to qualify an inquiry on this information. That’s a big mistake. Don’t judge someone based on their name,” Altiery instructed.
• Don’t Profile People Based on Their Zip Code: “Franchisors like to look at the area where prospects live. If it’s a nice town or neighborhood they’ll call. Or if the zip code falls within a geography that they are targeting for development they’ll call,” Altiery said.  He warns, “That doesn’t give franchisors an accurate picture as to whether someone is prepared to buy a franchise or relocate to a more desirable area for the franchisor.”

The Franchise Buying Process Has Changed but Franchisors Haven’t Adjusted Accordingly

“With the internet, individuals are starting to look at franchises earlier, but the franchisor hasn’t adjusted their sales systems to account for this. Franchisors are talking to buyers earlier so they aren’t as far along in the buying process. It doesn’t mean they’re not a good candidate,” Altiery said.

“Franchisors are doing two things wrong. First, they’re using technology as a crutch. The system for obtaining leads through a third party website or portal should absolutely work, but the franchisors aren’t corresponding with those leads correctly, they’ve replaced phone calls and a personal approach with technology…they’re trying to let emails alone motivate prospects to complete longer forms to reveal more about themselves without calling prospects on the phone,” Altiery said. “Secondly, they’re approaching prospects in an adversarial, ‘prove to me you’re not a tire kicker’ fashion. They should be contacting every person with the same message and enthusiasm. It’s an important part of the process for the salesperson to get to know the prospects. Treat everyone the same until you find out they’re not,” Altiery explained.

Stop Making Excuses and Start Making Sales

Rather than classifying prospects they’ve never even spoken with, franchisors’ sales teams should be examining their sales process. According to Altiery there are 10 Essential Steps that every franchise sales professional should perform:

1. Master list - Develop a master list of prospective leads to call. This list should include the phone numbers, e-mail addresses and a space to make personal notes about the conversation. During scheduled times conduct prospecting call blocks using this list.
2. Time is of the essence- Prospects are inundated with information from competing franchises. To stand out from the crowd, “…contact prospects quickly and often as soon as you can,” instructs Altiery, who suggests calling prospects within hours or less of receiving a prospects inquiry.
3. There’s no such thing as a ‘pending’ lead- “You must have a precise plan and strategy for every single sales call. There’s no such thing as a pending lead, they’re either in the sales process or they are eliminated. Know exactly what you want to accomplish on each call, have an established strategy and set schedule of purposeful calls. You should be able to identify exactly where the prospect is in the sales process. ‘Pending’ is not a step in the process,” Altiery said.
4. Be Diligent- “Salespeople feel the quality of online inquiries are not as good as they once were, but they are only calling prospects once or twice. Our number one job as salespeople is to contact leads, calling is our job. Talk to every person. If you say ‘I want good franchisees’ you have to talk to every single person,” Altiery said.
5. Getting in touch with prospects is the sales person’s responsibility- “Leaving a message is okay, but salespeople cannot expect a prospect to return their call. They transfer the responsibility of the sale to the prospect. They blame the prospect for not calling them, it’s preposterous,” Altiery lamented. “Contact ratios are the most important numbers franchisors should be looking at. Of the number of leads they receive how many of those people are the salespeople getting on the phone…only then will they know the true value of the leads.” 
6. Keep the funnel wide– Keeping the funnel as wide as possible is essential to the sales process. Your goal is to present your product in the hopes every single inquiry would want to move forward. “If there are 100 leads, make strong attempts to reach all 100, allowing you more overall prospects in process, then you can decide how many you want to move forward with. By reaching as many prospects as possible from your pool of inquiries you end up with better franchisees because you can be selective about who you want to move forward with,” said Altiery. He continued, “Control your own sales destiny, sell everyone until the very end of the process then you can decide who is the best match for your system from a much larger pool of qualified prospects. Keep the funnel wide, sell efficiently and qualify thoroughly.”
7. Treat everyone the same- As Altiery writes in the May 2008 issue of Franchising World, ‘If one expects a prospect will be a ‘tire kicker’, then he will be.’ It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy, “Call every lead with the same vigor and enthusiasm every single time. Go in with a good attitude, without any predetermined ideas about the person on the other end of the phone,” Altiery instructed.
8. Pretend you’re a Broadway actor- “Have a script and deliver it like it’s the first time on every call. Have a plan for every phone call. The first, second and third call should all accomplish the steps of the sales plan, letting a conversation develop organically doesn’t work anymore.” Altiery said.
9. Set the stage so that prospects can move forward- leads will move forward if franchise salespeople take every prospect through the steps of the sale. “Salespeople should be finding out what each prospect is looking for, what their time line is and how much money they plan to invest. Without a plan if they do make a sale it’s by happenstance. If they don’t have a plan they can’t duplicate success,” cautions Altiery.
10. Know your competitors and your industry- “Be aware of how your company is being compared to other franchises in your category, industry, and across the board. Know what may be an obstacle and address it early on. Know what your concepts sexy selling points are and tout them. Know the franchise industry, how systems work and how the prospects can relate to them. Know the industry regulations and processes. Set the tone, tell prospects what’s important. That’s how companies should be doing it if they are they’re already winning. If they aren’t it’s time to stop making excuses and start implementing a strategic sales plan.”