Intro: [00:00:07] Welcome to Franchise Marketing Radio, brought to you by SeoSamba Comprehensive, high performing marketing solutions for mature and emerging franchise brands to supercharge your franchise marketing. Go to SeoSamba.Com, that’s SeoSamba.com.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:32] Lee Kantor here, another episode of Franchise Marketing Radio, and this is going to be a good one, but before we get started, it’s important to recognize our sponsor SeoSamba. Thanks to them, we get to do these shows every day. Today on Franchise Marketing Radio, we have Jania Bailey with Frannet. Welcome.

Jania Bailey: [00:00:51] Thank you. Thank you. It’s nice to be here, Leigh.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:54] Well, I’m excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us a little bit about Fran Net. How are you serving, folks?

Jania Bailey: [00:00:59] Well, Fran Net is a 34 year old company now. What we do is we work with people that are interested in pursuing business ownership and obviously we have a specialty in franchising. So we do a lot of education around what is a franchise model like and what’s the difference and being, you know, start start it yourself or buying an existing business and then buying into a franchise. We work with people who do not have a clue which franchise they want or that would be a good fit for them. And we take them through a series of questionnaires and assessments and one on one time to really help boil down what is going to be the best match for their skill sets, for their budget and for their long term goals.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:50] Now how many franchises are out there to choose from if somebody was interested in a franchise?

Jania Bailey: [00:01:56] Well, according to the latest statistics, you know it’s close to 4000 different concepts, so it can be quite overwhelming. If you just go to the internet and Google franchise opportunities, you’re just bombarded. And of that, four thousand roughly concepts, you know, that’s 90 different industries. So it is a huge variation, everything from a hotel all the way down to vending machines. So it’s quite the range.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:25] And when a person is considering this, is this something that they’re they even aware that there’s this many choices? Or do they think like, I like yogurt, so I’ll just look for yogurt franchises?

Jania Bailey: [00:02:38] Well, that’s a very good question, and that’s exactly what happens, is people think fast food is what they typically think. Anything related to food or retail. And of course, franchising is so much more than that. But we help people try to get out of that narrow mindset and look at all of the opportunities out there now. Obviously, we don’t tell them to go look at four thousand concepts, but we try to help keep their mind open to it’s more than what comes first in your mind. And so somebody comes in and says they want yogurt. I would probably start with them and say, OK, tell me why. What about yogurt? Well, I like yogurt. You know, you might say, or it’s always busy. Or then we start going in to the model and what you would be doing as an owner. And it may not be a fit for anything close to what you would like to do

Lee Kantor: [00:03:33] Because as an owner, it’s a lot different than being a consumer of something than being an owner of something, because the business model has to really work for you in helping you achieve what it is for your lifestyle and your financial goals, right?

Jania Bailey: [00:03:46] Exactly. And that’s what we’ll go back to your yogurt concept. You know, we think about it. It’s seven days a week. It’s open nights and weekends because it’s in retail settings. Are you comfortable with that? And then you look at the workforce well, we ask people, Do you want to work with white collar or blue collar younger people, more mature professionals? Does it matter to you? And for some people, it is very important that they work with professionals and adults as well. Yogurt business probably a lot of your workforce is going to be, you know, teenagers and we know the challenges that can come with that. So it might be on Friday night when they had a better offer. You’re in there scooping yogurt. Is that really what you want to do

Lee Kantor: [00:04:34] Now with the through the pandemic and with this great resignation that’s happening? Is this attracting a different type of franchise owner or are people considering franchising?

Jania Bailey: [00:04:46] Well, I wouldn’t say it’s a different type of owner, I think there’s more right now. What we have seen historically is it’s our clients have been people in transition, either they’re recently laid off from their job or they foresee that coming or they’re just burned out with corporate America, quite frankly. Now what we see is some of that burnout happening happening, some of that reshuffling going on and people just saying it’s time to do something I want to do do something for me. I’m tired of the corporate grind. So this is always what’s driven people to franchising. We think it’s just more right now, and it’s coming at a time where it’s coming in mass waves as far as people looking. What we do see is just because people are looking does not mean they’re buying. We do expect an uptick, but we’re seeing a lot of people who are exploring and looking around and thinking about it. So they make it to the buying stage. But initially, there’s just a flood of people looking

Lee Kantor: [00:05:54] And then are a flood of people looking. You mentioned transition, so typically I’m sure historically transition was happening. Maybe later in life. Is transitioning happening now at a younger time for some folks?

Jania Bailey: [00:06:07] Yes, and people are looking sooner than they did and wanting to know their options, and we do believe, you know, the pandemic has brought a lot of this on people working from home that just realize they don’t want to go back to an office setting and thinking about their future and what’s important. I know that several of us had friends and family that were impacted over the last two years, and that causes us to reassess what’s important in our lives.

Lee Kantor: [00:06:34] So now talk about this partnership you have now with Fran Connect.

Jania Bailey: [00:06:39] Yes, Fran Connect and Fran met both service franchisors. If you think in terms of we work with about two hundred brands now, Fran Connects got a lot more brands than we do, but we both work to assist those franchise owners with their growth and their overall status in the industry as far as knowing what’s going on. We try to keep them informed so we work together on projects and data gathering to supply that information back to the franchise industry. And then also, you know, brands that work with us obviously may need Friends Connect and Fran Connect brands may need Fran Net. So we do some cross referrals and just make sure all of our clients are aware of the opportunities with the other company.

Lee Kantor: [00:07:28] So now how is Fran Connect different than Fran that?

Jania Bailey: [00:07:31] Well, Fran Connect is basically offering cerium services, so it’s more on the technology side, and they do have programs for emerging brands all the way up to, you know, legacy brands, very well established companies. So they’re on the technology side and providing that data and helping the franchisor stay on top of all of the data they need to run their business. And we’re on the side of helping them find franchisees.

Lee Kantor: [00:08:02] So you help the franchisor find franchisees, and Frank Connect helps the franchisor interact better with their franchisees through the technology.

Jania Bailey: [00:08:13] Exactly. And with prospective franchisees, they’ve got programs that help on the franchise development side that interact very well with what we do as far as the back and forth with the companies on those prospects.

Lee Kantor: [00:08:28] So for franchise owners and especially emerging franchises, why is it important for them to partner with the franchise? Why? How are you kind of a tool to help them grow?

Jania Bailey: [00:08:39] Well, we’re not for everybody. You know, and when a brand is thinking they might be ready to work with broker groups, there’s a lot of questions they should be asking. You know, is the expense something that they can take on? They’re going to have to go to meetings as well as any initial fees or monthly fees and that type of thing. Do they want to work with multiple broker groups or one? But when they start looking at broker groups and looking at Frenette, what we need to do is help determine if we’re the right fit. Are we going to bring them the type of clients that they’re looking for, the franchisees they need? We take our franchise orders through a process very similar to the ones we take our candidates and we’re. What are you looking for? What, who’s your top performer? What type of person is successful with you and what? What does their income level potentials look like? Is that going to line up with our average client? So there’s brands, for example, if somebody says we have to have someone with a real estate license, well, that’s not our client, that’s not who we see as a rule or not enough of them that it would be beneficial. So those are the type of things that a brand needs to look at when they’re talking to the broker groups is, you know, getting down to do they see the person on need and if not, then they need to look at other opportunities for candidate generation. But a good relationship with friend can be very beneficial to a young and growing brand because we are seeing candidates they would never see. We’re not buying portal leads or on the internet that much. Ours are coming from our local market marketing efforts. Our people are local market based. We are a franchise ourselves, so our people are out networking and finding people that are not surfing on the internet.

Lee Kantor: [00:10:37] So now do you find that most emerging franchise laws are kind of going technology first or digital first and this kind of boots on the ground second? Or is it do you recommend that it’s some combination? Like what if you were starting a franchise from scratch? How would you go about kind of marketing it the opportunity?

Jania Bailey: [00:10:59] Well, you know, the first 10 franchisees, a lot of times were friends, family and employees that have been a part of the flagship company. We tell them they really need to have their proof of concept buttoned down well before they try to work with the broker. So if it were me, I would get my five to 10 open and operational and make sure my unit economics are attractive to other people, and that the model works in multiple locations, not just in my hometown. So there are those type of things that need to happen. I would look at if I was ready for a broker group in terms of I financially can support the growth they could supply me and I’m ready to handle those leads. Who is my franchise development person who’s going to be the one to take the candidate through the process? Can I support the number of leads that may be coming in? I would never depend on just one source. Lee, I would always be looking at my own website and being sure it’s optimized and I’m driving traffic there where I can. I would be looking at social media. I would be looking probably at portals as well as some trade shows, the expos. I would do a little bit of everything in the beginning and to get my momentum going. The brokers should be a add on to those other things. Don’t ever put all your eggs in one basket.

Lee Kantor: [00:12:33] Now you mentioned at the start a lot of successful franchise laws start their first. Few are employees or super fans of the brand. How does that emerging franchise kind of get a clearer picture of who that ideal franchisee is? If most of the initial people are kind of people that are very comfortable and familiar with their brand? How do they kind of extrapolate that out to get clear on OK? This means that. This type of a person would be the most successful in some, you know, random market outside of my territory.

Jania Bailey: [00:13:08] Well, they need to really study who these people are and what they bring to the table because just because it’s a fan of the brand doesn’t mean they’re going to be the right fit. So look at these initial franchisees and who’s excelling and what is it about them? What did they bring to the table? What’s their background? What’s their skill set? And that begins to paint a picture for you of your ideal candidate. We know that some of the initial people, any franchisee or franchisees or brings on, there’s going to be some misalignment down the road. They may be great early franchisees because they support the brand. They support you as a franchisor, but it may become apparent pretty quickly that there are some that just long term aren’t the right fit. And that’s where we start having resale opportunities and we call it pruning to grow forward. So the franchise needs to stay very observant, let their operations. People start listing who’s who’s surviving and who’s doing well and why, and what is it about them that sets them apart?

Lee Kantor: [00:14:15] And then for you to help them, you have to be crystal clear on that, right, because the clearer they are on who that ideal franchisee is, that helps you identify the right match in the local market that you serve.

Jania Bailey: [00:14:28] That’s exactly right. And we’ve been called the match.com of franchising because we really do drill into both the franchisor and the candidates to make sure we’re making the best match. We don’t want to just be throwing spaghetti at a wall and seeing what sticks. And it’s very important to us because as I mentioned, our people are local market based, so their franchisees of their touring and the people they’re dealing with, they’re going to continue to see after the placement is made. So we’re very, very stringent about these introductions that we make and being sure we’re giving our clients the best possible options to review when they’re considering franchise ownership.

Lee Kantor: [00:15:10] Now for you, who is that ideal candidate for franchisee? What does that person look like in a local market for Fran?

Jania Bailey: [00:15:18] That’s a good one. We’re actually looking for hunters as it might be people who can go out and generate leads themselves in their local markets. They’re not afraid to knock on doors, so to speak, but do a lot of networking. They’re going to be involved in their local communities. I want them to be so visible that if somebody tells their friend, you know, I’m thinking about making a change, I might want to go into business that somebody that knows them is going to say, you should talk to fill in the blank, Fran, that person in our market. They seem to help a lot of people. So we want to become that local market expert that people know and immediately feel comfortable referring people to.

Lee Kantor: [00:16:03] So what is the day in the life of a friend that local market consultant look like? What are the what are some of the activities they’re doing every day to be top of mind because these people aren’t running ads like, Hey, I’m unemployed now or I’m about to be fired in three months or, you know, like these people are are not out and about, obviously. So they have to be kind of friends of friends in order to be identified, right?

Jania Bailey: [00:16:29] Exactly. And I will go back to it’s a lot of networking and that does include online being visible on LinkedIn and in the different groups in your community as much as possible. I mean, it’s great to connect with other people in the industry, but it’s more important to be connecting with prospective clients. So we need to think in terms of that when we’re picking and choosing how we use our time in their local markets, it’s going to be Chamber of Commerce. It’s going to be, you know, being AI groups. It’s going to be any type of networking that’s possible. Just getting your name out there. It’s going to be speaking at the rotary luncheon or speaking at the Chamber of Commerce or participating in a regional job fair expo type thing. So it’s it’s just getting your name out there in the beginning, especially what we finally, after thirty four years, the majority of our current clients are referrals from previous clients, which is very nice and says a lot about our success in what we’re doing.

Lee Kantor: [00:17:33] And do they typically come from like HR background? Are they people that were in HR? So they’re familiar with these kind of people in transition?

Jania Bailey: [00:17:44] The people in H.R., as it might be, or if you think in terms of outplacement firms, those consultants do refer people to us, that’s one of our referral sources friend that also has a national relationship with score. And with the small business development centers, both of which are under the SBA umbrella Small Business Administration. And we work with them on national, regional and local levels in providing education to their clients that are interested in business ownership. So a lot of referrals from these networks that we work with.

Lee Kantor: [00:18:23] Now what do you need more of? How can we help?

Jania Bailey: [00:18:27] Well, we just need more visibility and more people to understand what net does and how we’re different. We’re not your typical. There’s different groups that do things differently, and that is the oldest, and I’m very proud of the integrity of our organization. So just keeping us top of mind, if you’re looking for a franchise or if you’re a franchisor. Give us a shout and see if we’re a fit.

Lee Kantor: [00:18:52] And then what’s the website?

Jania Bailey: [00:18:55] W w w dot Fran Net. And there’s two INTs fray in in itI.

Lee Kantor: [00:19:04] Well, thank you so much for sharing your story. You’re doing important work and we appreciate you.

Jania Bailey: [00:19:08] Thank you, Lee.

Lee Kantor: [00:19:10] All right. This is Lee Kantor. We will see you all next time on franchise marketing network.