What is the number one reason for business failures? I'll tell you because I don't want to leave you in suspense.

It's not getting enough business.

Marketing in other words. That's why most businesses don't make it. They simply aren't able to attract enough paying customers to make a profit that is needed to cover overhead and let the managers and owners take home their bread.

And that is why when you research a franchise, you should consider how important marketing is. What thae means is that franchise marketing plans should be a key to your buying or not buying a franchise.

But how can you know if a marketing plan is good or not?

How to determine if a franchise marketing plan is workable

As usual, Franchise Brief has a great blog post on this subject, this time on franchise marketing plans. 

Are you wondering how to evaluate a franchise marketing plan? It is important to know how to do this because if the franchise you buy into doesn’t have a well mapped out marketing plan you won’t do well as a franchisee. Here are some steps you should take in doing so.

You should definitely know the basics to a marketing plan. A marketing plan is pretty much a set plan on how to bring business to the franchises. Franchisees put in a certain amount of money to contribute to this marketing plan. This money covers advertising expenses. Franchisors may advertise on T.V, radio, direct mailings, and so forth.

The key takeaway here should be that you, as a franchisee, will be paying for this marketing. Franchisors may do some advertising, sure, but you as the franchisee have to figure that you will be responsible for most or all of your marketing.

So first you have to make sure you are confident as to what that marketing plan is. And second, you have to make sure you have the bucks set aside to weather whatever marketing delays and sales cycles there are…because you spend marketing money up front but customers typically come in later. Sometimes much later. And if you are in a B2B franchise, you may have to wait to get paid, too.

 

Another thing you want to do is ask questions. This will help you know where the franchisor is with the marketing plan right off the bat. Here are some good questions to ask; do you know and meet the needs of your customers? Do you know what your customers like?

If you do not know much about the franchise you are thinking of buying into, I suggest you ask for more information. You can call their corporate headquarters and ask for all public information on the franchise.

Another way to get an idea of where a franchisor is with their marketing plan or how it works is by asking for the table of contents of the marketing support guide for franchisees. There may be some sensitive information in the guide, but if you request the table of contents, you will have an idea of how the franchise markets its product.

These are really good ideas. The major point I want to reinforce is that of all things you are clear on, this should be the thing you are clearest on: how will you get customers? How will you attract people to your franchise?

This is where I want to make it clear that there is a difference between marketing and selling. Marketing includes all the efforts you make to attract customers. Selling is the act of taking a customer who inquires and converting that customer into a sale.

My experience in many different businesses is that the marketing system is the most critical part of getting things off the ground. And if you have to rely upon hard selling, you are less likely to be successful.

For instance, if you are looking at financial services franchises, many of them, such as loan brokering, require you to generate leads but then also require you to do a lot to sell those leads. So there is both a marketing function — lead generation, and a selling function. I would encourage you to think very carefully about any franchise that requires a lot of selling.

Marketing is the easy part, quite often. The selling is where it is hard.

It is very hard to find salespeople and harder still to keep them. So you may end up doing all the selling yourself. Just keep it in mind!

The best way to get info on a franchise’s marketing plan is by talking to franchisees involved with that franchise. You should ask about their sales and what kind of avenues for advertising work best. You should also ask what they would change about their marketing plan. Another good question to ask them is whether or not the franchisor is receptive to the franchisee’s input. Ask if their ideas of been taken into consideration or if they have been used.
 

True enough, except for a startup franchisor. Then it is harder. You have to look carefully at the startup franchisor's own marketing efforts. They had better be successful or you will want to move on to something else. Don't get too attached to any one idea or concept. Make sure the marketing is very clear in your mind before going further. 

And if you want, take a look at this financial franchise deal I might be putting together, which requires some marketing but not so much selling. Just join us and I'll send you some neat free stuff via email. I will respect your privacy in all events.