“If you qualify”

And, frankly, most prospective franchisees don’t qualify.

Mike Walters, Franchise Zone Manager

“Maintaining our culture is more important than selling a franchise,” explains Mike Walters, Franchise Zone Manager, and a Potbelly employee for more than nine years. “The Potbelly Advantage, which embodies our values, mission and vision, provides the strategic framework for our company and we won’t jeopardize it. That’s why we take franchise development step by step. Before we make a decision we constantly ask, ‘How will this decision impact our culture?’ If it’s going to be negative, we won’t allow it.”

Since its founding in 1977, Potbelly has opened 215 corporate restaurants, an average of seven a year, in 12 states. Two years ago the company decided to enhance its growth via franchising. At Potbelly, enhance doesn’t mean “speed up” as it would at many other franchise companies. Even as a franchisor, Potbelly might still only add an average of seven units annually, and that would be fine so long as the culture doesn’t take a hit.

Franchise Navigator: Identifying The High Performer Profile

“We’ve been very purposeful in planning our franchise rollout,” continues Walters, who’s part of a franchise team formed in January 2010. “We’re never in a hurry.” Fortunately, Potbelly doesn’t need to sell franchises just to stay in business (something else that’s not true at many other franchise companies). “It’s taken us two years to build the franchise model because building a strong model is a priority.”

With 215 units already in operation, Potbelly wanted to identify the personality profile for a qualified franchisee. And that’s something else that differentiates Potbelly from so many other franchise companies. Potbelly didn’t have to guess about the qualifications. “When our senior leadership team said it was important to develop a franchise profile, we decided to evaluate our own team,” continues Walters. “We know their performance, and if we can find franchisees like them then it will be easier to help the franchisees succeed.” That’s when Potbelly commissioned Craig Slavin, founder of Franchise Navigator, to survey the company’s general managers and create a High Performer Profile. Not only would all future general managers have to resemble the profile, the franchisee profile was also modeled on the High Performer Profile. Of course, these were the people who were already successfully operating Potbelly’s units!

Understanding The Components Of A Qualified Lead

Franchise Navigator is a behavioral, skills assessment tool that, since 1997, identifies the prospects that have the “right stuff” to be franchisees in any particular business model. The Franchise Navigator has demonstrated that there are four critical elements to a qualified franchise development lead:

1. Financial – whether the prospect has the money to open and operate a franchise.
2. Geographic – whether the prospect wants to open a unit in a geographic location that allows for market development.
3. Skills – whether the prospect has the right skills to execute the business model successfully.
4. Values and Behavior – ensuring that the prospect  can embrace the company’s culture.

The first two elements are relatively easy to identify; the last two: skills, values and behavior, are key components in business, and especially in a franchise company that wants to protect its culture. Franchisees who can’t deliver in these areas are more likely to fail and create havoc. That’s where the Franchise Navigator earns its value. It provides an online survey tool that takes a prospect less than ten minutes to complete. Potbelly can then view the prospect’s profile superimposed with the High Performer Profile. That’s when Potbelly knows if the prospect is a match or a mismatch for its business model.

Through interviews, background checks and questionnaires, Potbelly collects information from prospects who are also encouraged to view the company’s online brochure, which Franchise Navigator also designed to attract candidates that resemble the High Performer Profile. The e-brochure features a story line about the aspects of operating a location and being a franchisee in the Potbelly system. “The eBrochure is specifically targeted to the profile we want to attract. We use the e-brochure to provide a lot of information upfront, and it’s a great time saver. It answers most of the preliminary questions asked by prospects,” says Walters.

“We rely on the Franchise Navigator to tell us more about the prospect’s personality,” he continues, “and how it compares to the profile of our best operators. It’s another checkpoint for us. It works well because we get a different and objective perspective once we understand a prospect’s Franchise Navigator results. Do they fit into our culture?” Until that’s known, the prospect doesn’t qualify.

Actually, it takes at least two to make a prospect at Potbelly. The company seeks only single unit operators, but they come in pairs or partnerships. Walters explains, “Our business model requires a team approach. Each of our units requires 100 hours a week of management labor, so that requires two people. We build a local, family, neighborhood business, so it takes a partnership.” Potbelly isn’t just about the excellent food; it’s also about becoming a landmark. “We want our franchisees and general managers to become part of the neighborhood, sponsor local events, do some fundraising for local schools, sponsor local musicians who play music inside our restaurants, etc.,” says Walters. “It’s a huge part of our vision.”

The results from the Franchise Navigator clearly denote whether or not prospects share Potbelly’s vision, and whether or not they’re likely to work together successfully, and within Potbelly’s culture. “During phone interviews we get an initial impression of our prospects,” Walters continues, “but we rely on the Franchise Navigator results to tell us more. Then, when the prospects come to our Discovery Day, we can ask pertinent questions to dig deeper into their personalities and to see how they react to one another and to us. The Navigator’s results re-enforce our process and our decision making.” Walters says he and his colleagues pay attention to the Franchise Navigator results because “we’ve found them to be accurate. If the Franchise Navigator results aren’t where we need them to be, we won’t move forward with a prospect.”

And only then does a prospect qualify!

John P. Hayes, Ph.D. has worked in franchising for 30 years as a franchisor, franchisee, speaker and author. He coaches franchisors and franchisees.

Michael Vogel

“Driving successful growth in a franchise system requires more than just finding the right location and a person, or an operator, to open a restaurant,” says Michael Vogel, Senior Director of Development for Del Taco.

Vogel explains, “At Del Taco, we have the ability to grow anywhere with anyone. The real questions are: Where should we grow, and with whom? We answer the first question through market planning, and we answer the second question by using the Franchise Navigator.”

Broadening the use of the Navigator

About three years ago, Vogel and Barry Barnhart, Vice President of Franchise Operations (who at the time also was overseeing Del Taco’s development), began using the Franchise Navigator to help select franchise candidates. Today, the two franchise executives are planning to broaden their use of the Navigator because they’ve seen the benefits of using it to support as well as select franchise partners.

Barry Barnhart

“The Navigator changed our sales selection process by giving more of our people accurate information to evaluate a candidate,” explains Barnhart, who’s charged with supporting approximately 100 franchise partners, each of whom owns three to five restaurants. “Before the Franchise Navigator, the franchisee selection process consisted of four to five people interviewing the same candidate. Some interviews were conducted by phone, some by email, and others occurred out in the field at a restaurant. We had to then compile all the information in one place, and over time information changes based on opinions. If you really like someone, for example, you’re going to bring that candidate to the table with more enthusiasm than what the facts may dictate. You’re more inclined to ‘sell’ the rest of us on accepting your candidate. But all that changed when we started using the Franchise Navigator because now we just had the facts. We didn’t have to rely on the emotional part of selecting a franchise partner. As a result, we don’t select franchisees for the wrong reasons anymore.”

Franchise Navigator removes the guesswork

Vogel adds that the Franchise Navigator “has allowed (the sales team) to gain confidence in our decision logic instead of guessing who’s a good fit” for Del Taco. “More so,” he elaborates, “the Franchise Navigator helps us learn in a more intimate way what a candidate’s skills, understandings and capabilities are, and what their experience really entails. Sometimes what a candidate tells us doesn’t match up with reality,” and, unfortunately, the reality doesn’t come into play until after the candidate becomes a franchisee and opens a restaurant!

Shortly after using the Franchise Navigator to select franchisees, Barnhart started using it in the field to support them, too. “The Franchise Navigator takes the opinions out of profiling a franchisee,” explains the veteran ops executive. “It’s a great tool to help us get a feel for what a partner is all about. We deal with relationships, and the Franchise Navigator doesn’t talk about relationships, it just tells us the facts: who you are and how you think. It’s your DNA. It’s a tool that tells us who the franchisee is unemotionally and that really helps us understand how to help a franchise partner.”

Getting even more out of the Franchise Navigator

Recently, Barnhart told Vogel, “We’re missing the boat with the Franchise Navigator because we’re not utilizing the information to the best of our ability.” He recognizes that Del Taco is doing a good job of using the Franchise Navigator’s data to select franchise partners, but the company is not always taking advantage of the Franchise Navigator as a tool to support franchisees. “We can better utilize the Franchise Navigator by profiling some of our average partners,” says Barnhart.

Currently at Del Taco, all franchise candidates, as well as existing partners who want to expand their business, are required to complete the Franchise Navigator’s survey. Some existing franchisees have yet to complete the Navigator, and Barnhart plans to encourage them to do so. After a franchisee completes the Franchise Navigator, Barnhart says, “We can determine if we’re aligned with the facts. Maybe we’re reading the franchisee incorrectly, and therefore we’re not managing him or her well.” The Franchise Navigator will help correct misconceptions and help the franchisor team build a more productive relationship with franchisee partners.

And that’s how a franchisor can drive successful growth among franchisees!

John P. Hayes, Ph.D. has worked in franchising for 30 years as a franchisor, franchisee, speaker and author. He coaches franchisors and franchisees online and via telephone.

Liam Crowe and Buddy

Liam Crowe, and his wife, Natalie, moved from New Zealand to the United States in 2000 to launch an Australian-based dog training franchise and unintentionally proved the hypothesis that culture matters.

The couple admits struggling for the first two years, selling only 10 units. But after networking with other franchisors and experts, they “turned the model on its head,” says Liam, and sold 60 to 70 franchises a year for several years! Once again, however, they unintentionally proved that selling franchises is a good thing only if you sell them to the right people!

Happy, Well-Behaved Dogs

With those and other lessons learned, the Crowes have become two of America’s most accomplished franchisors. Their business, Bark Busters, has 250 franchise offices in 40 states, and has trained almost 250,000 dogs. Bark Busters teaches dog owners about canine psyche and how to train dogs using voice control and body language. A franchisee’s ultimate goal: to give customers a “happy, well-behaved dog.”

But as franchisors, the Crowes’ ultimate goal is to develop a thriving and satisfying national network of franchisees. Ten years post launch, they’re well on their way, but getting started was as difficult as . . . well, teaching an old dog new tricks!

Liam was a self-described “conservative banker” for ten years in Australia, and Natalie was a travel consultant. One day she suggested the two of them, and their frisky pup, Buddy, move to New Zealand! Why not? It’s beautiful country and easy living! But Liam said, “What are we going to do there?”

First Stop: New Zealand

Buddy, a cute mixture of cattle dog and Border collie, soon showed them what they’d be doing. Buddy was a barker, and generally out of control. After many unsuccessful attempts at training him, the Crowes asked a veterinarian for help. He suggested Bark Busters, which was started by two expert dog trainers in 1989. After just one session with a dog behavioral therapist, Buddy improved, and the Crowes were impressed. Short story: They bought the master license to New Zealand and within four years established six franchise units, which meant they had sold out the country! They also managed to get their business featured on 60 Minutes New Zealand, and they dominated the country’s dog training business.

Searching for another adventure, with Buddy in tow, the Crowes decided to introduce Bark Busters to America’s canine lovers. “We were brash entrepreneurs who thought we knew everything,” admits Liam, but in the not-so-easily impressed USA, people laughed at the notion of paying to train dogs. Nonetheless, Liam joined the International Franchise Association so that he could “pick the brains” of other franchisors, and based on what he learned he eventually tweaked the Bark Busters business model to make it more salable. He also established relationships with franchise brokers, who now liked what he had to offer, and by 2003 Bark Busters became one of the “big dog” American franchises. By 2007, Bark Busters had sold more than 250 franchises; brokers sold half the units.

And yet, the dog didn’t quite hunt. There’s never been a question about the services provided by Bark Busters franchisees – customers rave about the results – but the business seemed to have more bark than bite. Franchisees weren’t quite hitting their profit potentials, and the Crowes knew something more needed to be analyzed and fixed.

Profiling Franchisees

In 2006, they met Craig Slavin, founder of Franchise Navigator, and they asked him to help them profile the behavioral patterns of their franchisees, and ultimately to customize their sales materials to attract a specific type of franchise candidate. The Crowes had begun profiling their franchisees in 2003 because other franchisors considered it a “best practice.” Also, Liam believed in profiling. “It’s a way to help you avoid making mistakes,” he says.

In time, they discovered they had sold some of their franchises to the wrong people. “When we looked at the profile of their franchisees,” explains Slavin, “many of them were people who loved solving dog behavioral problems, but they were not people who liked selling and marketing Bark Busters’ services.” However, the network’s top performers were just the right mix, solving dog behavioral problems and selling and marketing their services.

A Cultural Issue

After looking at Bark Busters’ original marketing materials, including the Web site, Slavin identified part of the solution. Both the messaging and the color scheme needed tweaked to attract the right people. Liam agreed. “People are drawn by color combinations,” he notes, and he realized that the colors in his company’s logo – developed by Australians – were culturally meaningful to Australians, but not to Americans. “We needed a different color combination to attract the right prospects in the states.”

But wait a moment. Did Crowe and Slavin really believe that colors and words mattered to prospective franchisees? That new words and new colors would attract different, better franchisees?

Without a doubt they did.

Attracting Quality Franchisees

“We’ve been studying the combination of colors and messages for many years,” says Slavin, “and there’s plenty of scientific evidence to support that certain types of people are attracted to different colors and words. Once you know the profile and the values of a top performer in a franchise network, we can select words and messaging that will attract more of those people.“

In Franchise Navigator parlance, Bark Busters needed to attract prospects who scored high in the Influencer and Accomplisher categories. “Influencers are attracted by modern, trendy colors, such as contemporary yellows, greens and reds, and Accomplishers are attracted to high levels of productivity and on the color palette that tends to be blue.” Liam wasn’t looking for a dramatic logo change, but he and Slavin agreed on a new design and color scheme.

Top Dogs Wanted

Slavin also introduced new messaging to again attract the appropriate prospects – people who had the profile to reach the top performance echelon at Bark Busters. “Accomplishers and Influencers strive to be leaders,” he points out, “so I came up with the slogan: Top Dogs Wanted: Be a Leader of the Pack. And that has worked very well.”

Liam agrees. “Craig has been right on the money. The results have been tremendous since we’ve launched our new Web site,” which includes an interactive e-brochure, also created by Slavin. “The prospects we attract now are of a different quality,” continues Liam, “and it’s due to a number of things: our message, our colors, and the (operational) tweaks that we made to our business.”

In fact, many of the operational tweaks are intended to help the poorer performing franchisees improve. “We don’t know if we can make life-changing differences,” says Liam, “but we’re coaching our franchisees to be better business owners, and we’re introducing new services to help them. We’re showing them how to be more assertive and how to be better operators. Those who haven’t set goals, we’re helping them set goals and we’re holding them accountable. It’s working!”

Achieving Sales Efficiency

Sales have slowed, understandably. In 2008 the company sold 20 units; in 2009 only ten. “We’ll sell 15 to 20 in 2010,” according to Liam. In mid-January, the company had already sold two, and Liam was confident he had sold to top-quality candidates. The company’s lead generation is strong and building. “We get about 200 leads a month, but people are still scared (because of the economy) to pull the trigger.” Even so, Liam is pleased by the efficiency of his marketing and sales efforts. “We no longer spend weeks and weeks chasing prospects,” he explains. “We no longer spend thousands of dollars sending out marketing materials. Now, we tell prospects to go through our sales process online, and that works best. Of 200 prospects, we’ll give ten of them our profile, and eight of them will be good fits for our business. The people we are attracting now are very much suited to Bark Busters.” In the long run that will benefit both the franchisees and the franchisor.

After making some cultural adjustments, including color scheme and messaging, and tweaking their business model, including streamlining their online sales process, the Crowes have put both the bark and the bite back into their business!

John P. Hayes, Ph.D. has worked in franchising for 30 years as a franchisor, franchisee, speaker and author. He coaches franchisors and franchisees online and via telephone.

Franchise Central, the new business and social networking site for franchising, invites you to visit, create your own profile, and start networking with people who are interested in franchising . . . whether you’re a prospective franchise buyer, you’re looking for qualified franchise prospects, you’re seeking talent to hire, or you need recommendations about suppliers in franchising . . . Franchise Central is the place to meet and collaborate online!

Social Network for Franchise Community

Franchise Central functions just like your favorite sites, except Franchise Central is specifically for people interested in franchising. Visitors to the site can create a free profile, and then start communicating with other franchise-minded people through instant messaging, chat and Groups.

Home to Navigator, ConnectMe

Franchise Central is also the new home for Franchise Navigator® and ConnectMe®, the only real match in franchising. We are able to create this match by matching candidates to our clients’ three criteria:  their Franchise Navigator High Performer Profile®, geographic preference, and liquid capital requirements.  These are bona fide leads, not just names; ConnectMe is the only true, objective match in franchise recruitment.  Further, once candidates have gone through ConnectMe, they can also connect with other people with the same profile as theirs, as well as people who are looking at the same franchise and business opportunities.

Check it out now, and join the newest business and social networking opportunity in franchising!

Alex Roberts

One of the greatest challenges in franchise sales is to know – upfront — who is and who isn’t the right candidate for your franchise. Of all the thousands of leads that contact your company every year to invest in a franchise, who among them has what it takes to do what needs to be done to succeed as one of your franchisees? Who can execute the business model? That’s the mystery of successful franchise sales. Here’s a story about a franchisor that has discovered how to solve the mystery!

Providing the missing information

Historically, approximately 1 lead in 10 is a successful franchise candidate for most franchise companies. The mystifying, frustrating and expensive work is separating the one from the majority of candidates that would likely struggle, if not fail, if you accepted them as a franchisee. Every candidate who contacts you is obviously interested in your business, and most believe they can be successful owning a franchise. But when a candidate contacts you, each of you is almost always missing a critical piece of information:

• You don’t know the candidate’s skills, values and behaviors.
• The candidate doesn’t know which skills, values and behaviors are needed to succeed in your franchise.

Alex Roberts, vice president of franchise development for Service Brands, which includes the leading brands, Molly Maid and Mr. Handyman, enjoys using a tool and process that helps him and his team of eight staff quickly differentiate the best candidates. That’s particularly important for a company that sells franchises for four different brands (Protect Painters and 1-800-Dry-Clean are also part of the Service Brands franchise conglomerate) and every year receives more than 6,000 leads (including 1,000 from brokers).

“The people who contact us to invest in a franchise usually have been successful in corporate America, and they have a strong financial net worth,” explains Roberts. “In most cases, they’re sharp people. But we don’t know them. You can’t tell everything about them just by talking on the phone. We don’t really know what makes them tick. And they don’t know if they have what’s going to be required of a franchisee in our system. Until we can really communicate with them, we can’t help them understand what it takes to be successful in our businesses.”

Communication facilitates successful franchise development! And communication can’t occur between a franchise development agent and a franchise candidate until the former has collected all of the candidate’s pertinent information. Most franchisors don’t do that because they don’t know how!

Valuable insights

Early in 2009, Service Brands retained Franchise Navigator to profile and benchmark members of its Molly Maid and Mr. Handyman franchise networks. “Not all of the franchisees participated,” says Roberts. “More than 80 percent of Mr. Handyman’s 310 franchisees completed an assessment and we profiled about 60% of 425 Molly Maid franchisees. The results of the profiles for each business were amazing. There were no ‘a-ha’ moments, but we saw the results for our top performers as well as for franchisees who were struggling, and the Franchise Navigator results were dead on accurate. This became very valuable information for our franchise development and operations teams.”

Now franchise development could look at multiple candidate profiles and know in advance which ones had the right stuff and — perhaps more importantly — know how to communicate with each candidate. And for existing franchisees as well as new franchisees, the operations team would know how to communicate and connect with the franchisees to achieve more satisfying results. “We think the Franchise Navigator assessment is a better training and operations tools than it is a matchmaking tool,” said Roberts.

“Service Brands is using Franchise Navigator as a powerful tool to create the connectivity throughout their entire distribution system and to enhance the performance of individual franchisees,” explained Craig Slavin, who has spent nearly 40 years creating, growing, and managing franchise programs, and developing Franchise Navigator.

Finding the right fit

“We chose the Navigator because we want to find the right fit for our franchises so that we can grow our brands,” Roberts said. “The Navigator helps us identify the people with the right behavioral styles and attributes that are common among our more successful franchisees. To me this is a no-brainer. When we provide the assessment to our candidates they see we truly care about finding the right fit for our franchise. It gives us credibility. We’re not just looking for someone who can fog a mirror. We are looking for the right fit and the Navigator provides that information to both us and the candidate.” Upfront!

Service Brands doesn’t use the Navigator to qualify or disqualify candidates, Roberts reported. “If we get an assessment back and it’s right in our sweet spot for a successful franchisee, we tell the candidate they’re a good fit and that helps reinforce the sale. But if someone tests low for our ideal profile — let’s say they’re lower in the Influencer category (one of four attributes the Franchise Navigator measures), which we know is important if a franchisee is going to succeed at selling — we then explain those results to the candidate. We ask other questions. We learn more about their skill levels. We ask if they’re willing to improve certain skills. We also want to know if they plan to hire people with certain skills to help them operate the business.” The results of the assessment allow Service Brands to raise concerns and questions early in the sales process to help both Service Brands and the candidate decide if there’s a match.

“We use Franchise Navigator as an educational tool,” said Roberts. “It helps us understand how we’ll need to train and support a candidate, and it shows the candidate what’s necessary, too.” In fact, Roberts said candidates are never surprised by the results of their assessments. But when their profile is compared to a high performer’s profile they may be surprised when they learn how their profile does or doesn’t fit with the targeted business.

“Yes, that’s me!”

“Candidates know themselves,” said Roberts. “They know their strengths and weaknesses and whether or not they are Accomplishers, Influencers, Associators or Contributors. There’s hardly ever a surprise when they see the results. They don’t come back and say, ‘I can’t believe I didn’t score higher.’ They come back and say, ‘Yes, that’s me!’ We’ve had candidates with low scores tell us they had always thought about improving in an area — maybe it’s networking or public speaking or sales — and that tells us whether they’re willing to do what needs to be done. That’s wonderful from our perspective. All the research that the Franchise Navigator team has put into identifying these behavioral traits is right on target.”

The Franchise Navigator’s intelligence makes it much easier for both Service Brands and a candidate to mutually decide not to pursue a franchise sale. “If a candidate isn’t willing to do what needs to be done to succeed, we’re both better off not moving forward,” said Roberts. “There’s no sense investing $100,000-plus in a business model if you’re not going to do what it takes to be successful.”

Amen! Just as there’s no sense in spending time and money sifting through candidates that don’t have what it takes to succeed in your franchise.

John P. Hayes, Ph.D. has worked in franchising for 30 years as a franchisor, franchisee, speaker and author. He coaches franchisors and franchisees online and via telephone.

Dennis Jenkins

If you were Dennis Jenkins, vice president of franchise licensing at Money Mailer, and your company announced a finance program that invites qualified prospects to join one of the nation’s premier franchises for the low initial investment of $7500, you’d be thrilled, wouldn’t you? Imagine the prospects you’d attract with such a low, out-of-pocket investment!

But what if you were the only sales executive in franchise licensing? How would you feel about your ability (not to mention your mental stability) to handle the volume of leads that a revolutionary finance program will generate?

Managing lead flow

You’d be frightened, wouldn’t you? You’d at least be nervous. How can one person possibly handle that kind of increase in lead flow?

But Dennis Jenkins, a 10-year veteran with Money Mailer, is as confident as ever. He’s neither frightened nor worried. Bring on those leads!

A tool that selects franchisees

It’s not that he’s cocky. It’s just that he knows only one of every ten prospects that contacts Money Mailer is a candidate for the highly sales-oriented Money Mailer franchise.  And unlike so many of his colleagues in franchise licensing around the world, he has a tool that tells him which experienced sales professionals are qualified to take the next step in his licensing sales process!

Since 2006, Jenkins has used the Franchise Navigator, a skills based behavioral profiling and screening tool that eliminates the unqualified candidates in just a few minutes and tells him where to invest his precious sales time.  Franchise Navigator knows precisely the type of profile that Money Mailer seeks, and all Jenkins has to do is watch his computer screen to see which candidates exceed the established threshold.  And that’s how he can almost single-handedly sell dozens of franchises annually at Money Mailer. During his tenure at Money Mailer, the company has sold more than 325 franchises, including resales.

Lead flow to increase fourfold

The new finance program will be a boon for Money Mailer’s franchise sales in 2010. “The program was just announced (in early December) at our convention,” explained Jenkins, “and (in less than a week) I’ve received more calls from our franchisees about referrals than I normally get in a year!”  Once the public learns about the financing program Jenkins expects his lead flow to increase four fold.

But he’s ready because “The Navigator has helped us streamline our sales process,” he explains. “It’s the absolute first step in our process. Rather than over-nighting ten pounds of information to a prospect, I send them an e-brochure and a link to the Navigator survey tool and in 15 minutes or less online the candidate will know and I will know if we need to talk any further. The company saves thousands of dollars by not producing gobs of materials and by not spending all that money on overnight mail.”

How Money Mailer saves money

The company’s savings continue even after the franchise sale. First, Jenkins explains, “superior candidates produce more business once they become franchisees. Our business model has become much more sophisticated with the addition of mobile, online and interactive so not just anyone can succeed, even after they graduate from our outstanding training program. But now, because we’re only licensing sales professionals that meet the Navigator’s initial benchmarks, we have much more productive franchisees. They generate business faster than they used to. The number of ads a new Money Mailer franchisee puts into their first mailings today, compared to five years ago, is significant.  We’ve experienced double-digit increases by recruiting superior candidates that can sell our integrated media portfolio!”

And that’s still only part of the company’s savings. “Turnover was wasting valuable resources because we were licensing too many candidates without proven sales experience,” Jenkins continues.  “Our turnover is down by over 40 percent as a direct result of screening for the appropriate sales experience and adding the Franchise Navigator.  The Navigator goes beyond a resume or an interview and gives us an objective benchmark showing me how a particular candidate compares with other successful Money Mailer franchisees.  It’s really streamlined the incredibly time consuming initial screening process.”

Raising franchisee performance expectations

Three years ago, when Money Mailer stopped using a competitive profiling tool and switched to the Franchise Navigator, they surveyed 132 of their then current franchisees to identify the success profile for their high performers.  And then the Company boldly increased the minimum threshold required in order to take the next step in their licensing process!
“We raised our base requirements by five points above what was recommended by Franchise Navigator,” Jenkins explains. In other words, candidates don’t just have to meet the recommended benchmarks, they have to exceed them!

Result: better quality of franchisees

Prior to making these changes, Jenkins says he – and at the time, his sales team – talked to 60 candidates out of 100, spending hours providing detailed information about Money Mailer.  “Today,” he says, “I talk to 10 out of 100 candidates and less than 50% make it to the final step of our qualification process.  We license fewer franchisees but the quality has improved immensely.

Franchise Navigator helps Jenkins find the Influencer/Accomplisher/Associator profile. In other words, says Jenkins, “we need a candidate who is more of a hunter than a gatherer and the Navigator is an important first step in zeroing in on that profile.”

Helping all franchisees succeed

Jenkins’ workload has also been reduced by a decision at Money Mailer to focus on recruiting franchisees only in markets adjacent to existing franchisees.  This is a real win-win for us, Jenkins explains, because existing franchisees are able to expand their clients’ reach by advertising in the new franchisee’s envelope which contributes directly to the new franchisee’s bottom line and obviously means more revenue for Money Mailer corporate.

“Our existing franchisees want to make sure I recruit the best possible candidate for their neighboring zones and they will do everything possible to help the new franchisee succeed,” he relates.

Ensuring the network’s growth

Money Mailer’s new finance program is a response to the current economic situation, and it’s likely a precursor to what we can expect from other franchise companies. “Candidates that needed financing to join our business would typically use their home equity line of credit, for example.”  But not any longer. “We had to control this situation (the lack of financing) to ensure our growth,” he continues, “and our management team decided to put this finance program in place. It will make a dramatic difference in 2010!”

Qualified candidates will be able to acquire a Money Mailer franchise – which requires an initial franchise fee of $37,500 – with a $7,500 down payment. Money Mailer will finance the balance and not require payments from the franchisee for two full years!  They also provide a launch package that includes $20,000 in production credits paid to the new franchisee in the first year.

“The finance package is just now going in to our Franchise Disclosure Document,” says Jenkins, “and when our franchisees heard about it at the Convention, I’d say there were about 300 jaws that fell open. We’re all very excited about it.”

John P. Hayes, Ph.D. has worked in franchising for 30 years as a franchisor, franchisee, speaker and author. He coaches franchisors and franchisees online and via telephone.