Following up with franchise inquiries is such hard work.
If you've done it you know what I mean.
You get more no answers, hang-ups, unreturned calls and people who say they never heard of you or your brand when you make outbound follow up calls than you do get franchise sales successes.
These follow up calls seem more like the most dreaded practice in sales "Cold Calling".
We don't like getting "Cold Calls" from salespeople.
Salespeople of all stripes hate making "Cold Calls".
What I am about to say may seem counterintuitive and you might not like it - I think you should treat every Franchise Inquiry Follow Up as a "Cold Call".
That's right, it's a "Cold Call".
But you say 'no the Franchise Inquiry is someone who wants to buy my franchise and that's what the lead supplier promised me'.
Okay then why is it so hard to get these hot prospect Franchise Inquiries to answer and return calls?
Let's stipulate that the Franchise Inquiry can't be considered a Franchise Lead until you talk with them and qualify them.
So here's what you need.
You need to know 2 basic things about your Franchise Inquiry to be true -
- Good Email Address
- Valid Telephone Number
Armed with the basic Franchise Inquiry information here's what you do.
Write up a voicemail script first since you'll be getting your Franchise Inquiry's voice messaging service most of the time.
Your message is about you reaching out to them about [insert franchise brand] and you'll be calling them back.
You may get lucky and some of your Franchise Inquiries will call you back. And from time to time you get to be pleasantly surprised.
However it's self-deluding to think that Franchise Inquiries who are being chased by other franchise sellers are going to call you back.
It's your responsibility to get them on the telephone.
When you get them on the phone don't sell. It's not time and the Franchise Inquiry is not ready for a pitch.
Your job at this point is to confirm your Franchise Inquiry's interest in your brand and are they qualified to invest in your franchise.
The close on the 1st call with a Franchise Inquiry is confirming a date and time for the next call in your franchise sales process.
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Sales often loads their to-do lists with so much that everything looks like a lot of effort.
Too much effort.
This is a good way to get on with it.
I think thats right.
Sales teams have long lists of items. And cold-calling is likely not the top item.
I applaude your 'audacity' (honesty) in calling something for what it is.
3d party 'leads' (and I continue to have a hard time referring to them as such) are nothing other / better than some unvetted pieces of information with an uncertain likelihood of interest and potential. The cost of those leads is unrelated to the actual interest of the person to be a viable candidate.
Samuil -
Leads that come from the online sources are just expressions of interest in a particular franchise.
Many of these leads are sold to franchise brokers. It is very difficult for brokers to get these recycled leads on the phone.
Joe, agreed & agreed. I have now scrutinized the lead generation landscape enough to fully share your viewpoint. My personal goal is to develop my own viable lead strategy that does not rely on 3rd party sources. In reality, this model will evaporate due to changing and proliferating technology-driven changes in people's behavior and the wide availability and accessibility of quality data.