I was part of a small delegation of franchise consultants and attorneys invited to speak to Australian franchisors by the Franchise Council of Australia at their national conference (similar to the IFA conference). Prior to my being invited, Greg Nathan, a prominent franchise thought leader based in Australia, made this observation at last year’s IFA conference. “If you are to ask any American franchisor, ‘How are sales?’ they will tell you how many franchises they sold. If you were to ask the same of an Australian franchisor, they will tell you how the franchisees are doing.”

Greg and I traveled throughout Australia teaching Franchise Sales Mastery, an integrity-based franchise sales system. In each city, I asked the franchise sales people the same question Greg posed, “How are sales going?” Now again, consider we are in a franchise sales training seminar talking to franchise salespeople. All but one answered in the context of how their franchisees were doing. Aussies may drive on the wrong side of the road, have cars with steering wheels on the wrong side, experience spring when they are supposed to experience fall, but they have at least one thing right. They are completely keyed into their franchisees’ profitability and performance. It's at the forefront of their thoughts. Many American franchisors are on the wrong side of the road on this issue. They think:

• If I sell enough franchises I win. The success formula for franchising is to close more deals.
• If franchisees aren't profitable, I can still sell through it and build the brand.
• Operational problems will somehow get fixed if we keep closing deals.

The success formula for any franchisor is simple. Develop profitable franchisees. If your franchisees are profitable and happy with their investment decision, FRANCHISE SALES TAKES CARE OF ITSELF. The best franchise salespeople are happy, profitable franchisees. Therefore, I invite you to shift your focus from being consumed by franchise sales to being consumed by franchisees’ profitability. .

 

So, how are sales?

We are finalizing our speaking and training dates for the first half of 2007. See the bottom of this email if you need a speaker, presenter, or key note speaker at your next meeting, event, conference, or retreat.

Sincerely,

Joseph Mathews