Optimize Outreach, Conserve Costs, And Generate More Leads
Franchise lead generation is already a grind; obviously, you want to get more lead conversions with less work. There’s no quick fix, but you can fortify your strategy to save yourself time and resources. One way to do this is lead management software with conversion-prediction capabilities. But there are many potential strategies for lead generation and conversion.
Ultimately, you’ll want to structure your process such that it follows franchise lead generation strategies that have the most successful margins of conversion. Common strategies include:
· Franchise Portals
· Trade Shows
· Conferences
· Word-Of-Mouth And Related Incentives
· Analytically-Charged Project Management (PM) Software
Franchise Portals
Franchise portals produce qualified leads. You can feature them on your own website, and you can get yourself in front of prospective leads searching the web by using outsourced franchise portals.
FranchiseGator.com is a great example. It features listings for the top 100 franchises. The pros? You get leads—probably around a hundred a month. The cons? That’s going to cost you between $3k and $5k; depending on the portal—it’s usually around $30 to $50 per lead.
The industry standard is conversion rate is 1-3%; meaning a monthly $3k to $5k gets you 1 to 3 leads, or 12 to 36 a year if you’re getting conversions at the industry standard. At $36k to $60k a year, you’ve got to project a few years into the future to get an idea of sustainability, which is easier to do with data.
Trade Shows
Franchise expos happen throughout the year. These require quite an investment: you’ve got to send salespeople out, they’ve got per diems, there are fees associated with having a slot among competitors—the list goes on. Conventions could easily cost you $3K-$5K. Certainly, these costs have a propensity to produce returns in terms of leads, but you can’t always count on such returns from every convention. Other positives include interfacing with other franchisors, keeping an eye on the competition, and establishing your own legitimacy.
Conferences
Generating leads from conferences is less reliable across the board but it does happen. Entrepreneurs may attend with a list of questions pertaining to financials, how long it takes to turn a profit, what level of liquid asset investment is required; etc. However, you will have instances where you get people probing you for information, and then disappearing into obscurity. Quantifying leads that are converted from conferences is key to determining profit.
Word-Of-Mouth And Related Incentives
Referrals are arguably the best and most qualified leads; incentivizing referrals can be very beneficial. You might have a lead develop through an interested entrepreneur interviewing a manager at one of your locations. Incentivize that manager for two reasons: he’ll be more likely to bring you leads with high levels of qualification and you don’t want him to reveal critical information which might spoil the sale. Still, it’s tough to depend on—there’s a lack of control.
Analytically-Charged Project Management (PM) Software
One increasingly successful, and quantifiable, strategy involves PM software. There are a number of options out there, one of the most effective being Synuma. Such PM software provides analytics that measures the progress of your lead pursuits and the accuracy of certain outreach methods.
You can receive alerts and notifications informing you when to touch base with certain leads. Analytics can help “project” when leads are most likely to convert, based on previous lead conversion strategy. You can receive custom sales reports and build assessments of leads to help determine the best conversion strategies. The best PM software is cloud-based, providing security in operations and increased “horsepower”, something exceptionally considerable in light of Big Data’s emergence on the scene.
Synuma is an easy-to-use solution that requires minimal data entry but provides you with many useful insights. When you can align management of projects throughout your sales floor, everybody can be kept on the same page. Revenue, operating weeks, costs, territories, pipelines, and more can all be managed remotely or on-site.
In addition to simplifying communication efforts and keeping everybody on the same page, these softwares give you a high-level overview while allowing you to zoom in on the details as necessary. It is worth noting that it will take some extra time and energy to get new software, and learn how to use it effectively; usually a long ramp-up period.
Informed Lead Management
Franchise lead generation is essential aspect of franchise operations for sustainability and growth. This is one reason most franchisors approach all the methods of lead generation discussed here, among others, simultaneously.
But if you’re doing that without data that informs your outreach, you’ll probably waste resources. You can generate more leads when the “sites” of your marketing “gun” are calibrated through PM software. You’ll waste less marketing ammunition!
Imagine being able to cut $10k from your monthly budget just through software which demonstrates portals are generating three times the leads of costlier conventions and trade shows. This kind of software management organizes data in an effective and beneficial way to help you reach such conclusions.
