One of the most important parts of franchise development is communicating the sales benefits. What appeals to potential buyers? Why would they choose you?
Having a community of franchisees who are supportive to one another is an important sales point that franchise companies should promote. You can help facilitate community bonding throughout the year in between your franchise conventions with an online community on your website.
Why is Community Important?
Peers are important in any industry. Whether it is tech, construction, or real estate, we know we need each other. We seek out mentors and we mentor others. We look to learn about the latest trends and we experiment with our marketing.
Franchise development is no different. One of the benefits of buying into a franchise is the established brand awareness and cohesive marketing materials available to you. It’s only natural that a new franchisee would want to look to a successful one.
Community as a Selling Point
Going it alone is scary in any business. This is why buying a franchise is appealing to many small business owners. Knowing that you can reach out to a fellow franchisee brings a sense of relief and reinforces the belonging.
Building your franchise community is a mission-critical step in the long-term success of your franchise story. The feeling of belonging and purpose that the owners feel and believe in inspires them to press on and thrive.
Rick Grossman
That community-driven approach to franchise development is effective in opening new stores. The best part is that it trickles down through to the local community. Each franchisee is part of a local community that they know best.
Post-Convention Relationship Building
One of the franchise development opportunities I’ve worked with is WIN Home Inspection. They have annual conventions and leadership meetings. There are plenty of social opportunities as well as classes the franchisees (they’re called ‘strategic partners’) and potential franchisees can attend.
Relationships are built over the course of these events, dinners, and classes. To keep this going all year ‘round, they have a ‘Women of WIN’ Facebook group. Many of the strategic partners are husband-wife teams, and while I worked in Franchise Development, I was fortunate enough to participate.
Our franchisees (i.e., our Strategic Partners) genuinely care for each other and live the principle of “The rising tide lifts all boats”. Our Strategic Partners continually support each other with exchange of ideas and best practices.
WIN Home Inspection
But could you imagine how much more powerful it would be if they had a PeepSo community on their website? Franchisees would stay online – on your own web property. This is the same area where you provide marketing materials, tips, and blog posts to share on social.
How Will You Create a Community?
It’s your community, your way with PeepSo. You have all the tools you need to engage your clients. Create your community your way. There’s no reason why you shouldn’t start today.
