Team Hot Dish attended the Annual Franchise Leadership and Development Conference on October 9-11, 2018, for the 8th straight year. Fresh off the conference, the team is busy activating new ideas and leveraging the content shared from the industry professionals, as well as inspirational speakers.
A key data point from the conference is the results from the annual survey of franchise brands regarding their marketing and lead generation efforts for franchise development. This year, the average Cost Per Sale (CPS) was reported as $8,984. When partnering with our clients, this average can be used for setting budgets to help meet client goals. For example, if your brand has a development goal of 20 new locations in 2019, the planning team can calculate an ideal budget by taking the average CPS multiplied by the goal of 20 to get to a budget of $179,680. In addition, it was reported that the average Cost Per Lead (CPL) was $126. Based on this stat, we could assume that a $179,680 plan could produce roughly 1,426 leads. The survey results are important metrics that help set expectations and serve as benchmarks until historical data can be collected.
Throughout the conference, the common themes that were discussed included:
- Best practices for following up with new inquiries includes options such as text messaging for communications with prospects.
- Lead generation is strong amongst brands, but following up and engaging with leads after they inquire is a pain point.
- Developing a sales process to heighten engagement in robust ways during the prospect’s journey to buy a franchise by sharing differentiating factors that are memorable, meaningful, and move the needle.
Lastly, the STAR award winners were announced based on the results of the annual mystery shop. And our very own client Tropical Smoothie Cafe received a STAR award for their franchise website. The award recognizes brands that provide the best user experience and content for the visitor to research the brand. Congratulations to Cheryl Fletcher and Jennifer Folger at Team Tropical Smoothie Cafe and our rock star team at Hot Dish Advertising thatdeveloped and manages the site. This was a well-deserved recognition.
Want to learn more about the industry averages shared at the conference? Contact the team at Hot Dish, and put the data to work for you info@hotdishad.com.
