It's harder than ever to get your franchise candidate on the telephone.

You and I both know you can't sell a franchise until you have further qualified the franchise candidate for your offering. And that means engaging in verbal dialogue with your interested prospect. Not exchanging emails. Dialogue. The coin of the realm for sales.

salesman on phone.jpgIt is tempting to let your franchise recruitment website & a high powered CRM do all the heavy lifting.

But that would be a mistake.

Your top of the funnel inquiry process should result in a franchise candidate having a telephone call with you. Done right franchise buyers will be asking you when would be a good time for you to have a call with them. (If doesn't then you need to address the issues in Why You Cannot Get Your Franchise Leads on the Phone & What to Do About It)

The first call with a franchise candidate has to be all about them.

And all the real candidates have these same 3 basic questions.

  • How much does it cost?

  • How much can I make?

  • Is my area available?

But, here are the 3 qualifying questions you need answered from the candidate.

  • Does the franchise candidate meet or exceed your liquidity and net worth standards?

  • Is where the franchise candidate wants to open their franchise a fit where it makes sense for you to develop?

  • How interested in your franchise is the candidate and do you want to move on to the next step?

How you ask these questions can make or break the sale.

The best franchise sellers have a script for all their calls.

But getting the first call right is imperative in order to earn you a second call. And to determine if the franchise candidate is qualified to deserve more of your time.

You can see how this is an exchange of information between you and the franchise candidate. They get what they need to maintain their interest in your franchise & you achieve your qualification objectives. It is a negotiation dance between you and the franchise candidate. They have to get the sense that they earned the information they got from you. You cannot just dump this information on a website without getting something in return.

The negotiation dance on the first call is what determines whether the franchise candidate is going to buy. Get it right, get a sale. Get it wrong, and you are wasting your time & the franchisor's money.

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