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If you’re franchise owner, here are three truths you’re contending with on a daily basis:
When buying the vast majority of products and services, customers are in a hurry. Whether it’s getting a haircut, fixing a dented bumper, or power washing the deck, they’re not interested in waiting a day or even a few hours for a quote.
Tech and its accessibility have made customers more impatient than ever before. They want a price quote, a way to book an appointment or speak to a real person about their needs, right now. As a franchisee, the speed of the response is the response, and it can mean the difference between new revenue and an empty calendar.
Anytime you sell anything, you compete with everything. It sounds like an absurd zen koan, but make no mistake, this is the economic reality of almost every industry, particularly in franchising where there are so many options.
Odds are, you’re not the only copy shop, smoothie store or pizza place in town that they’re looking at. Which means if somebody else responds to them before you do, you’ve lost the sale. That’s how fast revenue can go out the door. It’s not a matter of hours or minutes, but seconds.
If you’re a franchisee, you’re likely wearing a dozen different hats, running around all day, doing everything from marketing to operations to sales to management. But if you’re wearing all these hats, it means you’re likely not sitting behind a desk. Even if you’re not a brick and mortar shop, it’s still imperative to unlock efficiencies.
If you’re the owner of a local paralegal franchise, and you’re out doing a client meeting or running errands, you should be able to pull your phone out, click a single button, send an estimate to a prospective client and then get back to your other tasks.
Considering these three truths (speed, options, busyness), let’s take a moment to put yourself in your customers’ shoes:
Imagine you just moved to a new neighborhood and needed to find a good flooring installer. So you googled around for a local shop to accommodate your needs. Once you made a short list, you went to the website of the shops that looked solid. You filled out your contact information and a few tidbits about your project.
Which business will you ultimately give your money to?
Answer: The one that got back to you the fastest.
In a world with unlimited options, competency is the price of admission, but speed and accessibility are king.
In our years running FranFunnel, perhaps the most interesting insight we’ve learned about texting is the speed at which you can begin a conversation with a lead. We hear all the time that salespeople wish the conversations happened faster. Well, it seems that texting is the king of this.
Here’s a data set from a few years ago at the first response delays from every single lead we had ever seen at the time. For each lead that does respond via text, how long does it take to receive that response?
Wow! 50% of the leads who text you back do it within 5 minutes! Almost 70% text you back within an hour. In a field where getting conversations started is paramount, texting offers the ability to get it done quickly.
Bottom line, you may not be able to close a deal in the first five minutes, but you can definitely lose a deal that quickly.
As a franchise owner, you’ve already got enough on your plate. Let FranFunnel win over your impatient customers through texting automation. Book a demo with us today.
Scott Ginsberg is Head of Content at FranFunnel. He used to be impatient, until he moved to New York. Now he rather enjoys waiting for things.
