Were the last 12 months a resounding success for your franchise? Did you achieve everything you wanted to achieve and more? Whether it was a year to celebrate or forget, as 2024 draws to a close, now is the time to get your plans in place for the new year.
For most franchisors, a key objective is recruiting new franchisees. You could be looking to expand into new areas or manage natural turnover as franchisees move on. But where can you find potential franchisees? How can you successfully convert these new leads into business partners?
Start by reviewing 2024
Did you have a recruitment objective, and if so, did you achieve it? Where did you focus your recruitment efforts, and were they successful? This is the time to be honest with yourself. It’s ok to try things that don’t work, but it is essential to learn from them. Are you doing all the right things, but you just need to be patient? Or is it time to take a fresh approach? A clear picture of the past 12 months is an essential starting point.
Revisit your target audience
Like any form of marketing, you need to clearly understand who you are trying to recruit into your franchise. The more targeted you are, the more effective your recruitment efforts will be. Consider location, demographics, age, gender and experience. Focus on the emotional needs and pain points; you might be looking for people who want the empowerment of entrepreneurship but fear failure. Buying a franchise can fulfil their needs for freedom and security.
Look at your existing franchisors and those who have thrived in your franchise. What traits do they have that you could look for in others? Remember that your target audience may change over time. For example, many years ago, being able to work from home could have been an enormous benefit. Post-covid, it became less of a differentiator as flexible and home working became more commonplace. However, as more employers require staff to return to the office, remote work may become a more persuasive sales point again.
Write a plan and allocate your budget
Identify the tactics you will use to find and recruit new franchisees. This might include using online franchise recruitment portals, which allow you to target people already thinking about buying a franchise. Consider trade shows and expos. These might be franchise-related, like The British & International Franchise Exhibition, job fairs, or events like Retrain, targeted at people looking to do something different with their careers.
Consider both in-person events and online webinars and communities. These can target specific audiences, such as Investing in Women or Flexible Working People. Both attract particular types of people who may be ideally suited to running your franchise.
Social media could be a secret weapon in your planning. Targeted Facebook ads can help you reach a hyper-local audience if you are recruiting in a particular geographical area. LinkedIn can be very effective for reaching professional people who are currently employed but are considering moving to self-employment or franchising.
Strike a balance to spread your risk
Employing several tactics in your franchise recruitment can help maximise your reach while minimising risk. It could be tempting to go all out on one tactic like Google ads or invest all your budget in being the headline sponsor of a particular expo. A balanced approach with multiple touchpoints aimed at several groups of prospective franchisees is a wiser investment.
Franchise recruitment doesn’t generally happen by chance. Yes, you might be lucky that a prospect lands in your inbox one day. But for most franchisees, it’s a constant investment of time and energy to find the right people and sell the benefits of your franchise.
Use recruitment as an opportunity to celebrate your existing franchisees. Share their stories and let them tell others why buying into your franchise might be the best decision they ever make. Their real-life accounts add valuable authenticity and human connection to the ‘know, like and trust’ process, helping you build relationships with franchise prospects and successfully recruit them to join your business.
