Handling postal service disruptions at Christmas
For franchises that sell products online and ship them...
There is a buzz surrounding your exciting new franchise concept. The leads are flowing in but you’re not sure you are making the most of them. Here are some best practices our successful clients swear by:
(1) Don’t forget about the telephone.
In the Internet age it is easy to simply fire off an email and wait. Unfortunately, this approach will only provide you with the low hanging fruit and you are better than that. It’s important that you hold back on providing detailed information on your opportunity until you have qualified them over the phone. You need to call your prospects!
(2) Send follow-up emails.
Chances are your candidate works full-time and may find it easier to send you an email response requesting a time to chat on the phone rather than being able to call you back during your business hours. We recommend after leaving a voicemail to follow it up with an email to provide your prospect with multiple ways to get in contact with you.
(3) Call outside business hours.
If your prospect works a 9 to 5 job, then they might not be available to take your call when you are in the office. Set aside a little time one evening a week, on the weekend or on holidays to make follow-up phone calls. You will be surprised the number of people you reach.
(4) Don’t give up after one attempt.
You don’t know what is going on in your prospects life, maybe a family member took ill or they went on a vacation. Don’t assume that no response is a “no” to your opportunity. Make several follow-up attempts with your candidate to give them ample time to show interest.
(5) Its not personal.
Try not to take it personally when you don’t hear back from a prospect. Their lack of response is not a reflection on you or your opportunity. Ultimately there will be some leads that just don’t amount to anything and its important not to let those people get you down on your opportunity.
No matter what, make sure you keep the communication lines open with your potential franchisees because you never know when a cold lead will turn into a sale later on down the line.
