Do you?

Here is the excerpt:

A “franchise seller,” under the amended Rule is “a person that offers for sale, sells, or arranges for the sale of a franchise. It includes the franchisor and the franchisor’s employees, representatives, agents, subfranchisors, and third-party brokers who are involved in franchise sales activities.”

What are your thoughts? Do you classify a Franchise Broker as a Franchise Seller? Take this one question anonymous survey:

———————

John Henning is a Franchise Expert with over 7 years experience in Franchise Operations, Sales, Brokering & Consulting.

John owns several Franchise related companies. http://FrachiseLeadQualification.com and http://FranchiseCoachSYSTEM.com

———————

Tired of making 100?s of phone calls each month? Let us do the legwork for you. Visit:

www.VerifiedFranchiseLeads.com

.

.

.

.

I have tried contacting my insurance company and it is tough to get a quote to say the least, they say they are working on it and I will provide the info to the group as soon as I get it, but in the meantime I wanted to take a little survey.

Based on Q&A #12 of the amended FTC rule, which can be read in it’s entirety here, do you think that Franchise Brokers should carry E&O/Errors & Omissions Insurance/Professional Liability Insurance?

Here is the info on the amended rule:

A “franchise seller,” under the amended Rule is “a person that offers for sale, sells, or arranges for the sale of a franchise. It includes the franchisor and the franchisor’s employees, representatives, agents, subfranchisors, and third-party brokers who are involved in franchise sales activities.” As stated in the Statement of Basis and Purpose for the amended Rule, this disclosure provides prospective franchisees with contact information for any seller with whom they are dealing and is “also helpful for law enforcement purposes, identifying who may be responsible for furnishing the disclosures.”

———————

John Henning is a Franchise Expert with over 7 years experience in Franchise Operations, Sales, Brokering & Consulting.

John owns several Franchise related companies. http://FrachiseLeadQualification.com and http://FranchiseCoachSYSTEM.com

———————

Tired of making 100?s of phone calls each month? Let us do the legwork for you. Visit:

www.VerifiedFranchiseLeads.com

.

.

.

.

Staying involved in the process can significantly help you close more deals if you can keep the candidate moving through that process.

How do you stay involved? Here are a few tips on staying involved in the process.

1. Know what the process is

If you don’t know what the entire sales process is for a particular franchise, how can you make sure the candidate is moving forward in that process?

Every time I refer a candidate to a franchise I ask them one of 2 questions. I either ask them to email me a step by step outline of their process or I ask them if their process has changed since my last candidate.

Not only does asking the franchisor what their process is help you help your candidate, but you will be surprised at how attentive the franchisor is to your candidate. When they know that you know what the process is, they tend to pay attention to you and your candidate a bit more.

2. Communicate with your candidate every week

You should set a specific day/time to speak with your candidate every week. Even if you only talk to them for a few minutes. Staying in constant communication with your candidate will keep them moving forward. You can also identify the serious candidates by setting this appointed time on the first consultation call. The ones that show up are usually serious.

On this call you can simply ask them “What is your next step?” or “What needs to happen now?”

3. Communicate with the franchisor every week

Franchise Sales people get bombarded with leads, emails, phone calls, meetings, traveling etc…

Staying top of mind is key to closing more deals. If you communicate with them each week about your candidate(s) you will close more deals.

As you build a relationship with the sales people, you can start following up via email. In the beginning I recommend a phone call, but after you get to know them an email will usually suffice.

Ask them the same question you asked the candidate “What is the next step?” or “What needs to happen now?”

4. Franchise Education

By continuously educating your candidate you have an excuse to stay involved with them. Gather up a list of franchise related articles or ebooks. Send them one per week 2 days before your scheduled appointment. On the appointment you can ask them if they received the email.

I like to use a system like Constant Contact. I preload 8 articles in there on franchising. Tips, information & educational pieces that I have written on franchising. These are short 200-300 word articles that discuss due diligence practices, franchise terminology & other important franchise information.

My candidates receive one email per week with a different subject that is discussed. This allows me to get an additional contact with them for free. It also creates some credibility for me as a consultant.

5. Get feedback.

If a candidate goes part way through the process with a franchisor and then decides they are not interested, ask them why. What was it that turned you off? Why don’t you want to continue? It may or may not be the franchise, it might be something outside of the process that is causing them to pull back.

Either way, if you don’t ask them, you will never know. And by asking, you can then use that information to match them with a different franchise that doesn’t have that issue or criteria or requirement or whatever it is that turned them off on that particular franchise.

In closing, if you stay involved throughout the process you are more likely to close a deal.

———————

John Henning is a Franchise Expert with over 7 years experience in Franchise Operations, Sales, Brokering & Consulting.

John owns several Franchise related companies. http://FrachiseLeadQualification.com and http://FranchiseCoachSYSTEM.com

———————

Tired of making 100?s of phone calls each month? Let us do the legwork for you. Visit:

www.VerifiedFranchiseLeads.com

.

.

.

.

For disclosure, I am not a lawyer and this information should not be taken as legal advice.

In the past most business opportunity sellers chose biz op as their “legal” structure to avoid the more stringent franchising disclosure laws.

In a recent FTC rule change, biz opps are now required to provide a disclosure document as well as other important information like a list of people that purchased the biz opp within the past 3 years.

The new law also requires biz opps to update their documents every 3 months instead of yearly like franchising.

All of these changes were created to protect consumers. Here are the changes that go into effect on 3-1-2012.

—————————

Business opportunity sellers must disclose five key items of information:

- the seller’s identifying information;
- whether the seller makes a claim about the purchaser’s likely earnings (and, if the seller checks the “yes” box, the seller must provide information supporting any such claims);
- whether the seller, its affiliates or key personnel have been involved in certain legal actions (and, if yes, a separate list of those actions);
- whether the seller has a cancellation or refund policy (and, if yes, a separate document stating the material terms of such policies); and
- a list of persons who bought the business opportunity within the previous three years.

A few more things about the Disclosure Document: The prospective buyer has to sign, date, and return the form to you. You have to make sure you’ve attached any other documents the Rule requires. You have to update the form every quarter. And if you promote your business opportunity in a language other than English, the Disclosure Document – along with the required disclosures – must be in that language.

Furthermore, if you tell a prospective buyer something in person, in an email, over the phone, or in any other ad or promotion, make sure it doesn’t contradict what you say in the written disclosures. It’s illegal to make contradictory oral and written statements – and it just creates confusion.

———————

John Henning is a Franchise Expert with over 7 years experience in Franchise Operations, Sales, Brokering & Consulting.

John owns several Franchise related companies. http://FrachiseLeadQualification.com and http://FranchiseCoachSYSTEM.com

———————

Tired of making 100?s of phone calls each month? Let us do the legwork for you. Visit:

www.VerifiedFranchiseLeads.com

.

.

.

.

#1:

We all know that most of the leads you call are not interested, not qualified, no english, real estate people, college students.

The challenge is that the buyers are in there somewhere and you have to literally weed through 100′s of leads to get to those buyers.

So let’s do the math on this.

- Assuming a closing ratio of 1 out of 200 Internet leads.

- 100 leads takes about 250 calls, 2.5 calls per lead to get them all on the phone.

- 200 leads = 500 calls just to weed out the tire kickers!

- 30-40% contact ratio with about 1/2 of those being qualified.

Bottom line is it takes a ton of time each month just to make the preliminary phone calls to find the potential buyers.

That doesn’t include any time for sending emails either, that is just the time to make the 100′s of phone calls!

#2:

Most of our clients use the service because they end up calling the lead from a different position.

Let me put it to you this way, if you are chasing the leads down and qualifying them yourself it is tough to be the “Expert”. When we call your leads we qualify them and set an appointment for the “Franchise Expert”.

Now when you call the lead you are calling from a different position, you are calling from a position of authority that allows you to control the call and educate the lead versus chasing them down.

This is one of the large, but hidden values of the Lead Qualification Program.

It is really hard to be the expert if you are the one calling the leads and qualifying them.

Those are the 2 main reasons that people use a Franchise Lead Qualification program.

Some additional benefits:

- Able to process more leads, you can handle 200 per month instead of 100 per month.
- Focus on the buyers instead of the tire kickers
- Less frustration, you won’t feel the same amount of frustration because you aren’t calling them
- Ability to plan your day much more efficiently

With over 80 clients using the Franchise Lead Qualification program, we know that it works, the question is, why not use it?

—————————————-

John Henning is a Franchise Expert with over 7 years experience in Franchise Operations, Sales, Brokering & Consulting.

John owns several Franchise related companies. http://FrachiseLeadQualification.com and http://FranchiseCoachSYSTEM.com

———————

Tired of making 100?s of phone calls each month? Let us do the legwork for you. Visit:

www.VerifiedFranchiseLeads.com

.

.

.

.

Listen in to John Henning as he talks about this topic.

I tend to focus on getting leads to Discovery Day instead of getting leads to buy a franchise.

Here are some tips that might help you get more leads to attend a Discovery Day.

1. Start at the beginning. It all starts at the beginning of the consulting process. During the very first phone call, start preparing your lead for the entire process including explaining to them that they will attend a Discovery Day.

2. Reinforcement. You should repeat the fact that they will be attending a Discovery Day during each phone call, reiterate the process to them at the end of each call. “Hey Bob, the next step is talking to existing franchisees then we will schedule you for a visit to the home office to attend a Discovery Day”

3. Explain to the lead what a Discovery Day actually is, don’t assume that they know. Most Franchisors host a similar Discovery Day process, fly in, meet & greet then eat, presentation, shake hands, fly home. Make sure your lead knows how it works.

4. Understand that most Discovery Days are hosted during normal business hours, prepare your lead for this and remember, to attend a Discovery Day the lead might need to take 1 or 2 days off from work, so schedule it in advance.

5. Get them to buy the ticket, go to expedia.com and look up how much the ticket would cost, find out where they are flying from and flying to, when would they want to lead. Take them through the process and then tell them “Oh it says here that the ticket is only $350 round trip!” or something similar, make it a positive experience. If the cost of the ticket scares them away they most likely will never buy a franchise anyway.

6. Overcome their objections. If they are all the way through the process and just won’t commit to a Discovery Day, then something is holding them back, usually this is an objection. If you can’t overcome the objection they will never move to the next step. Read an article on Overcoming Objections here.

Getting a lead to attend a Discovery Day can greatly increase the chances of closing more deals.

Good luck!

———————

John Henning is a Franchise Expert with over 7 years experience in Franchise Operations, Sales, Brokering & Consulting.

John owns several Franchise related companies. http://FrachiseLeadQualification.com and http://FranchiseCoachSYSTEM.com

———————

Tired of making 100?s of phone calls each month? Let us do the legwork for you. Visit:

www.VerifiedFranchiseLeads.com

.

.

.

.

So how do you stand out? How do you get the franchise lead to call you back instead of someone else?

Leaving an effective voice mail can make a big difference.

Here are a few tips that we use in our lead qualification service to get a better call back/response ratio.

1. Keep it short

No one wants to listen to a 1-2 minute message. 1-2 minutes sounds short but in reality it is not. Grab your watch. Start talking and see how long it takes you in seconds to run out of things to say.

After 15-20 seconds the lead loses interest in your message. So keep the message as short as you can while still delivering your message concisely.

2. Contact information

When do you say your name & phone number? Our statistics show that when we leave our name & number at the beginning of the call, we tend to get more calls back.

This is due to the fact that the listener is forced to write down your number so they won’t have to listen to the message again, just in case you don’t leave your number at the end. We still do leave the number at the end of course, but when they first start listening, they don’t know that.

And when they write down your number, they are more likely to call you back. Now it is on a piece of paper in front of them.

3. Ask them to call you back

Don’t just leave a message to tell them why you are calling. Ask them to call you back and you will get more return calls. Here are 2 examples:

Hey Bob, this is John Henning calling, my number is 484-366-1859. You requested information about owning an xyz franchise. I would like to talk to you about xyz franchise concept. My phone number is 484-366-1859.

Or:

Hey Bob, this is John Henning calling, my number is 484-366-1859. You requested information about owning a franchise, can you please call me back at 484-366-1859 to discuss? Thank you.

The 2nd message gets better results because you ask them to call you back instead of just stating that you received their information.

4. Don’t sell your service on a message

The purpose of a voice mail is to get a lead to call you back. Nothing more. Don’t sell your service or concept on the voice mail. The listener will hear it as it is, a sales pitch. No one wants to be sold, so don’t sell them. Tell them who you are, why you are calling and how to get in touch with you.

If you tell them that you are a franchise consultant with 10 years of experience that can help them find the right fit in their search for a business for free, you are less likely to get a call back then if you just told them your name, why you were calling and your contact information.

Once you get them on the phone in a live scenario you can sell your service to them.

5. Speak with passion and authority

If you are a timid person you probably get less return calls. If you are not excited about what you do you probably get less return calls.

The listener can sense your hesitation and reluctance in the message. If you use the word “um” at all in your voice mail you need more practice.

Hi Bob, um, this is John Henning, um, I am responding um to your request for um information. Please call me back if it is convenient for you. I hope to hear back, my phone number is: 484-366-1859.

Versus:

Hey Bob, John Henning calling, my number is 484-366-1859. I am calling about your recent inquiry into franchise ownership. Please call me back at 484-366-1859. Thank you.

This message is delivered with no hesitation and delivered with authority.

6. Write down your message

Put it in writing, read it 20 times over and over before calling someone. You will be able to deliver it without hesitation and you will know exactly what you are going to say every time.

7. Practice your voice mail

Call yourself and leave a message. Pretend that you are the lead and leave the same message you normally leave when calling a new lead.

Then listen to your own message. Save it for later use, you will need it.

As outlined in #6 you should already have your message written down. Now, say it out loud 20 times in a row.

Practice it on a live person and if you can, get some feedback. If you can’t say it to a live person, then record it and listen to it. Refine it to how you want it to sound. Once you have your final message ready to go, write it down and say it out loud 20 times.

Then call yourself and leave another message. Now listen to this message and compare it with your first message. Which person would you call back?

In closing, we all know that getting a lead to call you back is difficult for many reasons. By following these 7 tips, you should see improved results over the long term.

———————

John Henning is a Franchise Expert with over 7 years experience in Franchise Operations, Sales, Brokering & Consulting.

John owns several Franchise related companies. http://FrachiseLeadQualification.com and http://FranchiseCoachSYSTEM.com

———————

Tired of making 100?s of phone calls each month? Let us do the legwork for you. Visit:

www.VerifiedFranchiseLeads.com

.

.

.

.

Identify the objection. If you don’t know what the objection is, you can’t help the candidate overcome it. The easiest way of identifying the objection is asking the candidate exactly what it is.

For example, you are talking to a candidate, they have talked to the franchise, they don’t complete the application. That should be a flag for you. You should realize that there is something holding them back from completing the application for the franchisor.

Call up the lead and ask them why they haven’t completed the application. Here is how you might phrase it: Hey Bob, I was just talking to Jim at XYZ franchise and he told me that you were going to send in your application so he could send you the FDD.

When do you think you can send in the application?

If Bob answers that he doesn’t know when or next week sometime or anything other than today or tomorrow, there is an objection hidden in there somewhere.

Ask Bob what is holding him back from doing it today or tomorrow? Don’t be afraid to ask what the objection is. If you have built the proper rapport with the candidate, you are allowed to ask these questions.

Regardless of what the objection is, if you don’t identify it, you will never be able to help them overcome it.

Be Proactive. The easiest way to overcome an objection is to be proactive. If you know that a franchise only has 6 units, don’t hide that information from the lead. Tell them right up front that this franchise is an emerging company that has 6 units and that should make it easy to perform their due diligence.

If a company has a lot of competition, be proactive and tell the lead “When you talk with Jim at the franchise company, he will be able to address all of your concerns throughout this process, one of those is probably who the competition is right? He will cover that with you when you talk”.

If you are proactive with the important pieces of information up front, you will have less objections later. If you have to react it is harder to explain your way out of something than it is to explain it up front.

Don’t think that a lead isn’t thinking these things and that you should not introduce them. They ARE thinking of these things and they will just come up later. Every lead thinks about how much does it cost, how much can I make, will it work for me, how does the economy affect it, how much does the location affect it, what is the competition like etc….

If they are not thinking of it now, they will later. Better to overcome the objection up front than have to react later. This also helps to weed out the scaredy cats.

Overcoming the spouse objection. When you hear “My wife won’t let me leave my job” or “My husband says that this business has too much competition”. How do you address that?

The spouse objection is the easiest one to overcome. Have them involved in the process. From the start the spouse should be on the phone calls. The husband can not sell the service or franchise like you can. He won’t explain it like you did, he won’t answer her questions like you answered his.

Besides that, her questions will be different than his. Even though they are married, they will have different things that are important to each of them. For example, she might be afraid of him leaving his job and he will want to make sure he can make enough money.

If you include/require the spouse to be involved in the process you will also weed out the ones that haven’t talked to their spouse about owning a business.

If you have not included the spouse in the process and you get the objection, there are only a few ways to get the spouse over the objection, get them on some validation calls or get them on a call with you.

The Fear of buying objection is not one that is easily overcome. I have a theory that most people that go all the way through the due diligence process and don’t buy have a fear of buying a business.

The most effective way I found to get over that objection is to have them speak with existing franchise owners. Most of the time I will ask them how many existing owners they have talked to and they will usually say 1 or 2. There are many reasons they are afraid to pull the trigger.

- Not mad at boss any more
- Job is going good this week
- Change in life
- Financial reasons
- They don’t have the money
- 3rd party validation (Friends & family told them not to do it)

Whatever the reason is, if they agree to talk to a few more existing owners you will see a change in their attitude. If they don’t agree to do this, there isn’t much more you can do other than educate them on the franchise. Setup a conference call with the sales person and address it head on.

Overcoming objections can mean the difference of closing 2 deals per month instead of 1 or adding an extra 3 or 4 sales per year.

It does take a little more work, sometimes up front, sometimes during the process, but it is usually more than worth it. Most of the time, it is just getting their questions answered to their satisfaction.

———————

John Henning is a Franchise Expert with over 7 years experience in Franchise Operations, Sales, Brokering & Consulting.

John owns several Franchise related companies. http://FrachiseLeadQualification.com and http://FranchiseCoachSYSTEM.com

———————

Tired of making 100?s of phone calls each month? Let us do the legwork for you. Visit:

www.VerifiedFranchiseLeads.com

.

.

.

.