Posted by Dr. John P. Hayes
Sitting on the beach outside his Maryland vacation home in 1980, the franchisor asked me, “How do we get more franchise sales leads?”
Instinctively I said, “Write a book.”
Best advice I’ve ever given, and happily I’ve given it many times since. That’s how I wrote Start Small, Finish Big (the Subway story), You Can’t Teach A Kid To Ride A Bike At A Seminar (Sandler Sales Story), Target Success (which I ghostwrote for Don Dwyer), 12 Amazing Franchise Opportunities for 2015, and a dozen more books including several that are part of an ongoing series: FASTSIGNS Business Opportunity, Mr. Appliance Business Opportunity, Jani King Business Opportunity, and so on.
Books generate leads for several reasons:
• Put your name on a book and you’re an expert, even if you’re not! I wrote Franchising: The Inside Story in six months. I had never owned a franchise, but I interviewed 100 people to write that book. Forever after the media introduced me as a “renowned expert.” The media only want to talk to experts. If you’re not one, you’re going to be overlooked. • A book separates you from the pack. There are 3,000 franchise opportunities in North America alone. Maybe three dozen have books. If you look closely, they’re the companies that consistently sell the most franchises. Media as well as prospective franchisees gravitate to books. • Books make news. Dwyer’s book tour lasted for several months and allowed him to travel across the country to meet franchisees and prospective franchisees. The Subway book garnered national interviews. The Sandler book was featured on media and by Chambers of Commerce in 25 major markets.
Franchisors are scrapping for leads. And franchisors do pretty much the same things to generate leads. They show up at expos, they create brochures, they hire PR firms, they produce websites laden with keywords, they join VetFran, etc. And those things work, but with everyone doing them no one is getting the edge.
Then there’s FASTSIGNS. Amazon gave away 1,000 copies of their book in a single week. The book frequently shows up in the top ten best sellers in the Franchise category on Amazon. More than 80 people have reviewed the FASTSIGNS book and those reviews will remain on Amazon, one of the world’s largest search engines, forever!
Franchisors who produce books, including e-books, paperbacks and hard covers, generate more leads. Just ask them. Dr. John P. Hayes is the author of numerous best-sellers about franchising. He’s currently writing Secrets of the Top Senior Care Franchisees. If you’d like to talk to him about a book for your business, contact BizCom Press or email scottwhite@bizcompr.com.
Comments