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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.