Selling Franchises

There are two aspects to selling franchises. The first one involves doing everything reasonably possible to get the attention of prospective franchisees and then vetting them to ensure that you end up with the best qualified franchisees. The second involves actually providing the prospective franchisees with the requisite information, signing documents and completing the monetary transactions that will undergird the franchisor-franchisee relationship. The first is tremendously challenging, but once it is achieved, the second is comparatively straightforward.

Tracking down potential franchisees and convincing them that buying a franchise would be the fulfillment of one of their lifelong dreams is not a remotely easy endeavor to take on. Many first-time franchisors can likely attest to having waited more than one year before they managed to sell even one franchise. This is illustrative of the fact that franchise companies do not simply build themselves. However good a franchising idea you have, you will not go anywhere with it unless you are willing to undertake the research to find out whether there is a market for the goods and services you propose. Additionally, once you have established that there is indeed such a market, you should be willing to make the effort to promote your franchise company to potential franchisees with the aim of selling franchises to them.

 

Selling Franchises with Targeted Advertising

 

Promoting franchising opportunities can be highly expensive. If you choose to follow the normal media route, you will have to pay the high rates associated with advertising on the TV or radio or with taking out an advert in a regular newspaper. The problem with these forms of media is that, not only are they expensive, but they also reach a broad, undifferentiated audience. This is an inefficient way of advertising if you want your message to reach people who are actually likely to become franchisees. This problem can be remedied by putting advertisements which indicate that you are selling franchises in targeted advertising. In other words, you should place your adverts in places where entrepreneurs and potential franchisees are bound to look.

These places include business magazines which cater specifically to business-minded audiences. They also include online directories specifically set up to include franchise companies that are currently selling franchises. A franchisor’s best bet is to have his or her franchise company listed in the more popular directories, along with the contact information of those who are interested in learning more about the franchising opportunities. Yet another option is that of targeted advertising on the internet. This could involve paying to advertise on franchising-related websites and on social networking sites like Facebook.