4 Ways to Reach More (and Better) Franchise Candidates

Development drought? Tap into a new well of qualified leads

Those who have been in franchising long enough know that when unemployment rises, the number of people turning to franchising also rises. When it becomes harder to find a job, many people decide starting their own business is a better option.

Today however, unemployment rates have dipped to some of the lowest we’ve seen in nearly two decades. That coupled with changes to the workplace brought on by the pandemic—The Great Resignation, work-from-home as the norm, and staffing shortages for small businesses—means the stream of franchise candidate leads is at a trickle at the same time many brands are hoping to accelerate development to keep up with customer demand.  

In our latest research, 84% of franchisors rated their opportunity for growth as strong or very strong, yet 40% said franchisee recruitment significantly limited their growth.

How to Compete for the Best Franchise Candidates

With franchisors all competing for a limited number of candidates, development teams need to get creative to find new leads. One way to do that is to leverage franchisee satisfaction data (preferably collected by an independent research firm like Franchise Business Review) to show candidates why your brand should be at the top of their list.

Not only is the data FBR provides an independent validation of what your marketing and sales team is telling candidates, FBR can also open up a spigot of new lead flows to help you reach candidates that wouldn’t have found you or come to you otherwise.

We drive thousands of franchise seekers to our website each day, but unlike website portals (which allow visitors to request information from tens or hundreds of brands at once) or franchise brokers (which charge upwards of $15,000 -$20,000 or more per deal), FBR only allows the top 200 ranked brands in franchisee satisfaction—the most telling indicator of the health of a franchise system—to take leads through our site.

FBR generates an affordable lead stream from franchise buyers who are genuinely interested in researching the top performing brands and doing their due diligence to determine where to invest.

If those sound like the kind of people you want to reach, here are a few ways we can help.

4 Ways to Get in Front of Quality Franchise Candidates

1. Franchise Validation
   The Franchise Validation program  is one of the best ways to educate interested candidates—and capture qualified leads. We create a dedicated profile page on our site that allows candidates to download your franchisee satisfaction report along with FBR’s expert third party review of your franchise opportunity. Leads go directly to your development team and candidates get valuable data to aid in their buying process.

2. Lead Generation
   FBR’s lead generation program matches high quality candidates with your brand. We create a separate, dedicated profile page on our site to market your brand and drive website traffic to it. Leads go directly to you on a cost-per-lead ($85) basis. Take as many leads as you want or cap the number to control your budget.

3. Content Marketing
   When candidates are researching franchise opportunities, they don’t want a straight up sales pitch, they want to get to know your brand and engage with the people behind it. Content marketing is an effective way to capture candidate’s attention with a compelling story about your brand that resonates candidates who are a good fit for your system. But, if you don’t have an editorial team dedicated to creating engaging blog posts and stories, it can be tough to keep your content marketing strategy performing effectively. FBR’s editorial team can do it for you.

4. Call Optimization
   A way to leverage technology and AI to maximize your qualification calls and increase first-call conversion. FBR can refer you to our partner that specializes in optimizing calls to close more deals.

The first step in taking advantage of any of these opportunities is for us to survey your franchisees to see if you qualify as a top brand. We’d be happy to walk you through how the process works, what you can expect, and all of the benefits—both development and operations related—you’ll gain. Contact us to get started!

Free 10-Minute Demo

What are your franchisees saying about your brand? It could be tanking your marketing and development efforts.

Now’s the time to find out. In 10 minutes, we’ll show you how to get:

• A confidential assessment of your brand
• Your FSI benchmark score, which shows where you rank
• The opportunity to be recognized as a Top Franchise award winner

Schedule a Demo