One of the benefits of my business is I get to see and help a lot of great companies.
I get to see their marketing.
All of it.
The good, the bad and the ugly.
I get to see their propositions, both the good and the ones that need some work.
That’s what I want to talk about today.
I had a great conversation with a business leader the other day. They are in the professional services franchise business. They have a great offering, been in the market for a while, and their customers and franchisees love them.
The messaging they’ve been using to attract new franchisees into their business, is that the economy is changing, due to COVID.
Franchising is an excellent alternative to employment, and with thousands of lay-offs and redundancies, there’s a real opportunity.
Franchising is a safe bet.
People get access to years of IP, super support and help in delivering great outcomes to customers.
All fair enough, but I wanted to dig deeper.
Why would a franchisee join the company?
Why not set up their own company with all the institutional knowledge and IP built up from years of employment and industry knowledge.
One could easily go and repackage that knowledge.
The truth is, most people are terrified of setting up their own business because they don’t know how to attract and win customers.
The actual delivery of the service is the easy part.
It’s the attracting and winning customers that lets most people down.
Basically, most people just don’t like selling.
Truth be told, most people don’t like sales people either.
Ever since the Fuller Brush Days*, there’s this negative stigma attached to sales, so naturally, new business owners feel apprehensive.
So, what I told this company is that’s their broken bone.
That’s the gold we have been digging for.
That’s the bit that you’ve got to address to win more franchisees into the business.
If the franchisor starts to advertise a proven track record on how to win customers, they address the number one problem that is holding people back.
Naturally, potential franchisees will be interested in joining, if their number one pain point or problem is solved.
You have to fix that broken bone first.
You got to dig deeper into what the customer problem is.
Quite often, it’s not what’s sitting on the surface.
It’s underneath that.
Happy digging.
If you want to learn more, please contact me.
I would be happy to discuss different approaches with you on how you can dig deeper.
KS
*I’ll save you googling it – Fuller “Handy Brush” was developed as a door-opening gift for door-to-door sales people in the mid-1920s.
