In the beginning of our last franchisee recruitment training academy we went around the room and asked each participant, �What one thing do you want to take away which would make these two days together worthwhile?�
One thirty-something young man said, �I want to learn more about buying behavior so I can tell between who is a real buyer and who is wasting my time.� A thirty-something woman simply added, �I want to close more deals.�
And what professional salesperson wouldn�t want to waste less time and close more deals? But what if franchise development professionals are not called to be professional salespeople.
Random House Dictionary defines selling and recruiting the following ways:
Selling: �To transfer goods to or render services for another in exchange for money.�
Recruiting: �To strengthen or supply with new members.�
Recruiting comes from the French word �recruiter� which means �to strengthen.�
Selling comes from the old English word �sellan� which had basically two meanings: to exchange for money and to betray. I am who believes franchisors who operate from a �franchise sales� paradigm employ both of these meanings at the same time.
The goal of selling is to close a deal. The goal of recruiting is increase the franchisor�s competitive position by adding to its talent pool and bench strength. Recruiting requires the recruiter to distinguish those candidates who will predictably add value to the system from those who will predictably deplete the system by requiring the franchisor to divert more resources supporting them than the franchisees contribute in royalty dollars. Yet the franchise salesperson is often rewarded as if each franchisee recruited adds the same value. This sets up a scenario where the franchise salesperson can win in the short term while poorly performing franchisees and the franchisor both suffer long term. He is where �sellan� as in �betrayal� kicks in.
Franchisors operating from a sales paradigm cling to a false belief that all royalty dollars are equal. Those who operate from a recruitment paradigm correctly understand that a peak performing franchisee pays more in royalties and consumes fewer resources than average, meaning their royalty dollars offer the franchisor a higher margin than under performers and a better return on resources.
At the end of our intense two-day Mastering Franchisee Recruitment program, we doubled back around the room to listen to what participants took away from the program.
The thirty-something man said, �I thought I wanted to size people up quicker so they don�t waste my time. What I learned was that I am so focused on my own agenda I don�t listen for their wants and needs. I saw I am wasting their time.”The thirty-something woman said, �I wanted to close more deals. Bug I learned I am so concerned with closing them I forgot to get to know them as a person. And that�s not what I stand for or who I want to be known as.�Dr. Phil said, �There are two types of people: those who get it and those who don�t.� Franchisors need to train and retain franchise development professional who do.