Marketing advice
Happy new year!
Happy new year!
Start preparing now for a successful 2011, says Sarah Cook of Coconut Creatives
In the UK there are around eight hundred franchisors both from inside and outside the bfa all looking to recruit the best candidates for their franchise network.
October through to April is the most important time of year to focus on franchise recruitment. As we approach Christmas many people start to re-evaluate their life choices and a big part of this is their career. We are all familiar with cyclical national headlines such as ‘new year new career' but how you maximise your opportunities to capitalise on franchise recruitment during this time, starts right now.
It is all about timing. Putting your business proposition in the right place, at the right time, with the right message. This will ensure you receive the right enquiries and plenty of them. And here's what you can do:
1. Review your online profile: It is really important that you have current information including availability of territories, current prices, quotes and case studies. Prospects will spend time comparing information on your website against information they find on the 30 plus recruitment websites. If they find conflicting information on different recruitment websites, it makes you look unprofessional and can
easily get your company name crossed off their shortlist.
2. Update your case study materials: You should update your case studies at least every 12 months and now is a great time to look at this. Ensure you cover all the key franchisee groups, which include: couples in franchising, women in franchising, redundancy to franchising and so on. Find as wide a variety of case studies as possible that speak to your target audience coming from a different situation. In doing this, you are giving them confidence that buying your business model can work for them.
3. Find out January's weekly national newspaper feature topics now. You can find these easily by searching online for the contact details of the national newspaper editorial departments and making a call to each of them to ask what topics they plan to write about in January in their franchising and/ or business columns. If you submit a press release relevant to their topic a week or so before their feature deadline, you are much more likely to get some free coverage as your press release will be just what they are looking for.
4. Consider ALL your routes to market: there are so many communication channels for you to take advantage of to reach prospects. People will find you from 3 main routes:
a. From inside the franchise industry: exhibitions, magazines, websites
b. From your current stakeholder groups: suppliers, customers, competitors and your current database of prospects. Email them your good news and open day/ discovery day dates.
c. From within your own industry: anyone who is passionate about your business sector will be interested about your business opportunity, so talk at your industry events to build your credibility and use available databases where access in granted.
5. Work your leads effectively: once you have captured a lead, so much can be done to convert them. Ensure you have at least five key criteria and don't waste time talking to people who aren't really suitable. Instead, have a slick system for identifying who is hot and keep them hot. Remember the phrase ‘time kills deals' so keep them moving along the process with invites to HQ and discovery days, which will improve your conversion.
Request YOUR copy of Dream, Plan, Reduce Risk & Take Action
Franchisor News readers can receive a complimentary copy of Sarah Cook's forthcoming book titled Dream, Plan, Reduce Risk and Take Action, email Sarah Cook directly to request your copy sarah@coconutcreatives.co.uk
Sarah Cook is the founding partner of Coconut Creatives, the only marketing company to be accredited by the bfa offers
Request more info from Coconut Creatives.
