Our Fishies are always looking for new ways to grow, which is why we love our monthly professional development series.
In June, we spoke with Shawn Caric, Vice President of Franchise Development at Smoothie King, where we spent a productive hour discussing all things fran dev. While we consider ourselves franchise PR pros, every good PR pro knows that you can always learn something new — and we definitely did during our conversation with Shawn. He gave us a fresh perspective on today’s franchise development landscape, pointing out the challenges franchise sales teams are experiencing and strategies that have helped Smoothie King get deals done.
Here are some of our key takeaways:
Create news and noise in a crowded space.
Franchising is no joke — each year, around 300 companies launch a franchising program, and every eight seconds, a new franchise opens! That said, the franchising space can be quite crowded, to say the least. When you’re looking to get some major brand love, it’s important to know and understand your audience, so that you know how to attract their attention.
What do prospects want to hear?
There can be a lot of aspects of a brand that make it stand out, so you’ll want to share as much as you can in all the relevant communications vehicles. From breaking brand news, impressive economics, and relevance to a timely trend, to community and cause work, there’s always something to talk about…it’s just a matter of getting it out there.
Speed to lead.
While PR is important for driving brand awareness and educating prospects on potential franchising opportunities, the work doesn’t stop there. It’s important for brands to be available to prospects and show them from the start that there is a high level of responsiveness and engagement from day one. In fact, according to FranConnect, research shows that 86% of franchise deals closed happen when the lead is contacted within four hours of expressing interest — but 75% of franchisors fail to meet that goal.
