As good Franchise buyer leads become harder to find I wanted to provide a few tips on qualifying your leads. Properly qualifying Franchise buyer leads can save you a significant amount of time, money & effort. Here are 3 Tips For Qualifying Franchise Candidates.
Tip #1
Don’t be afraid to ask the financial question.
I often talk to franchise pros that are hesitant to ask the financial question. Trust me when I say “The leads are expecting it”. Think about it, you know they want to know “how much can I make” right? So why wouldn’t they be expecting you to ask “how much money do you have?”.
Asking this question early in the process is not hard. Use something like:
If you found this were the right opportunity for you, performed your due diligence and it fit what you were looking for in a business, how much capital would you have on hand to invest into the right opportunity?
We typically ask this question about 3rd or 4th question and rarely get any push back on the actual question. Sometimes we get a vague answer, but we just ask a follow up to clarify.
Tip #2
Don’t let the lead answer with “I have enough” or “It depends on the ROI”.
We typically call over 8000 leads each month through our Franchise Lead Qualification program. Through that service, I can track quite a bit of data and from listening to calls as they happen I have noticed quite often when a lead says something like “It depends on the ROI” or “I have enough” they typically don’t have the capital that is required.
Many leads don’t realize how much capital it takes to start a business.
By clarifying their answer you will end up with more accurate information that will help you determine if the lead is financially qualified.
Don’t let them give you a partial answer. If they say “I have enough” you might ask, how much is enough? Or ask them if they have the actual capital that your company requires.
Tip #3
Make sure to qualify for other requirements such as: People Skills, Management Experience, Industry Experience etc…
It isn’t all about the money. Having the capital to buy a Franchise is just one of the requirements.
In the past many of you have heard me use the Airplane analogy.
If you had to fly somewhere right now you would purchase a plane ticket and get on a plane to fly there.
You are most likely financially qualified to buy that plane ticket.
Does having the money to buy the plane ticket mean that you are qualified to fly the plane?
Of course not, owning a business is like flying a plane, it takes experience, support, capital, skills etc…
Just because someone has the money to buy a business does not mean they should be “flying the plane”.
Making sure they are the right fit for a concept is critical at all stages of development.
I hope these 3 Tips For Qualifying Franchise Candidates help you with qualifying your Franchise buyer leads.
Call today to learn more about the Verified Franchise Leads™ program: 610-894-7499