Finding your perfect franchisees is not as easy as it sounds

Many franchisors jump in and allocate their franchise recruitment marketing budget without taking the time to really understand their ideal franchisee profile, causing long-term problems, says Sally Butters, Director of Coconut Media.

Whether you have a brand new franchise opportunity or you have a 100-strong network, taking time out of your everyday workload to research and compile an accurate profile of what your perfect franchisees are like and how they behave during the franchise purchase journey is absolutely invaluable. This will save you a lot of problems in the future, as it not only gives you an insight as to where you should allocate your budget to generate franchise prospects for the best return on investment (ROI) but also ensures that you attract the right franchisees with the right messages and, therefore, successfully grow your network.

Click here to read the full blog post on Select Your Franchise or visit our services section to find out how Coconut Creatives can help you identify your perfect franchisees!


Finding your perfect franchisees – Sally Anne Butters writes for The Franchise Magazine, April 2012

Many franchisors jump in allocating their franchise recruitment marketing budget without taking the time to really understand their ideal franchisee profile. Whether you have a brand new franchise opportunity or you have a 100-strong network, taking time out of your everyday workload to research and compile an accurate profile of what your perfect franchisees are like and how they behave during the franchise purchase journey is absolutely invaluable.

Build at least 3 perfect franchisee profiles for your franchise brand

There is never one simple perfect franchisee profile for any franchise brand so whilst a franchisor might think they know what they are looking for in a franchisee, these are likely to be general ideas rather than built on strong research and proof.

If you already have franchisees, select your top 10 performing franchisees and undertake some research to find out more about them; their skills, expectations, background, personal interests, media consumption and their journeys to purchasing your franchise.

If you don’t have any franchisees yet or if you think you don’t have enough to obtain an educated set of results, you can also extend your research to some of your hottest prospects who have been through a substantial amount of your recruitment process.

You will then be able to create at least 3 profiles of what your perfect franchisees look like.

What to do when you know who you are looking for

These profiles are not set in stone and some elements from profile 3 could be found with attributes from profile 2 (and so on) but getting them down on paper will give your franchise recruitment marketing strategy a focus. They can help to navigate around where to advertise and with what messages to make your franchise most attractive to people you already know could have great success in partnership with you.

If you uncover some similar traits then act on them within your recruitment process. Here are just a couple of examples:

Tailor your Discovery Days – if you have lots of franchisees who play golf then host a Discover Day at a golf club in a region where you wish to recruit;

Integrate case studies – prepare a bank of case studies of current franchisees so you have at least one that each of your perfect franchisee prospects can relate to.

Play to your strengths

There will also be some attributes that you know your franchisees must have to just get their franchise off the ground, some key elements that can’t be learnt and may not be found during a 1-1 meeting. Rosemary Bookkeeping is one business where franchisees must be good at networking to start building their client base; they must have the confidence to stand up and introduce themselves at a networking meeting or Chamber of Commerce breakfast club. Rosemary take the opportunity at their Discovery Days to run a mock networking exercise where they can see if the attendees have the basic skills and confidence that will stand them in good stead for business development. Think of what similar qualifying tests you could devise to help you identify if a prospect is perfect for you!

Many people may think that they are your perfect prospects and, for some mature brands such as O2 and McDonald’s, it may be a case of ruling out prospects, rather than qualifying them in, at the beginning of the recruitment process. They may request that prospects provide an evidence-based report on their suitability to be a franchisee and they can rule out those who cannot complete this task.

It’s up to you

The time you take in getting the basics right will pay dividends. Taking a couple of days to assess your perfect franchisee profiles every six months will end up saving you and your franchise recruitment team several hours each week in dealing with unsuitable candidates and give you reliable information on where to target your recruitment budget and with what primary messages.

How To Improve Your Franchisee Conversion to 1-in-28 – Midlands

With the franchise industry changing fast, it’s vital to keep up with the latest thinking for franchise recruitment.   This is a unique opportunity to gain up to date insight on the latest marketing techniques that can help boost your franchise recruitment.

Topic: How To Improve Your Franchisee Conversion to 1-in-28
Date & Location: 30th May 2013 – Midlands
Places available: 10

View our 3 minute workshop video

Coconut Creatives is the ONLY franchise marketing specialist offering workshops that bring together independent experts in the key fields of marketing, PR, copywriting, branding, social media and events to show you how they all effectively combine to produce excellent results.

You’ll take away some really valuable pointers to utilise within your own business, including:

  • Your perfect business ‘elevator pitch’ for use on flyers, prospectus & at exhibitions
  • Top copy tips for franchise advertising and PR
  • Franchise branding ideas to help you stand out from the rest
  • Video concepts that get prospects listening to you
  • An applied budget matrix to manage your recruitment
  • A professional structure for your marketing
  • Benchmarking your current performance against other Franchisors – see how you currently perform!
  • Plus, personal feedback on our 1 to 1 afternoon sessions, worth £450!

“Warm, engaging and creative workshop.  We found the day extremely motivating covering so many relevant topics inspiring us to move forward with many of the ideas given.”
Janet Walmsley, OSCAR.

Current Promotion
Places booked 6 weeks in advance will be entitle to our early bird offer – 2 places for the price of 1.

Email Lucy or call 01725 511673 to check availability, for more information, an agenda or a booking form.

New book from Coconut Creatives available on Kindle!

Yes the book is finally here! The long awaited Franchise Recruitment Marketing bible by Coconut Creatives Founder, Sarah Cook. Her book takes a pacey and highly informative romp through the world of the most effective marketing systems and strategies for recruiting franchisees.

And while we’re waiting for the paperback version to be delivered in mid-January, we’ve issued a Kindle edition – available for download now on Amazon!

Franchise recruitment marketing might sound more than a little niche, but much of this book also makes for fantastic general business marketing advice – Sarah is a Chartered Marketer who has worked across many different industry sectors in both large and small businesses.  The information is easy to follow, easy to digest and, best of all, her methods really work, as is evidenced by the number of clients whose testimonials appear in the front.

The paperback should be available on Amazon in the next couple of weeks but, for now, why not avail yourself of a digi-copy? (Click below)

“Having known Sarah through her university years and through her respective highly successful career in Marketing and Business Planning, one has to respect the wealth of knowledge, drive and passion that has come to define Coconut Creatives as a very special company.  Sarah’s advisory work with industry organisations and enterprise groups shows her energy and beliefs to be at the forefront of her profession.”
Nick Rowles, Senior Lecturer in Marketing Communication and Strategic Management at Bournemouth University.

“This is an inspirational book for anybody who wants to market their franchise.”
Linda Whitney, Freelance contributor to the National Press, including the Daily Mail’s careers and franchise pages.