Selling to Franchises
Many media sales executives under estimate the power of local franchisees in national franchisor advertising decisions.
A few points to consider in your franchise selling strategy;
1.) The franchisor’s customer is NOT the end user (i.e. the consumer) it is the franchisee.
2.) Franchisors respect and consider the opinions of their customers; i.e. their franchisees.
3.) The advertising fees local franchisees pay to franchisors belong to the franchisee, and are only administered by the franchisor.
4.) Your local franchisee may sit on the franchisor’s advertising advisory board, or be asked their opinion about your media by the franchisor.
5.) Local franchisees have a strong vested interest in where and how their advertising investment is spent.
I know many franchisees will tell you “We don’t advertise, our head office looks after that”. But here is the bottom line. A combination push and pull strategy works best when selling franchises; pushing your campaign to achieve buy-in at the local level and pulling it through the regional or national level where franchisors aim to keep their franchisees happy.
By the way, have you considered what franchisees receive for their franchise fees and royalty payments? They get a recognised brand, a protected territory, proven systems and processes, training, continuous product improvement and new product development, management guidance, advertising and promotion and more.
As a media account executive you too represent a recognized brand, have a protected account list, proven internal systems, training, continuous format improvements and new products to sell, management assistance, and lots of in-market and on-air promotion…..think of it as your FREE franchise!
But here’s what’s important to you. I once conducted a study to determine the differences between the most profitable franchisees and the less successful franchisees within the same organization. The less successful franchisees always blamed external factors like location, the market etc.
But much to my surprise, I discovered the single most important differentiating attribute of the most successful franchisees was how they embraced the initiatives and systems of the franchisor and went above and beyond their minimal requirements or standards!
When your franchisor, that is your station management, launches a new initiative, they do so with one singular intent; to make you and your station more successful.