If you’re wanting to start a business, but have no idea about some aspects of running a business, such as sales and marketing, then franchising may be the best approach for you.
When you run your own business, there’s no escaping it: Sales and marketing becomes part of your toolkit. Converting leads to customers is the key to growth, so the onus is on you, as the business owner, to make it work. Right?!
If you’ve had no experience with sales, or have had some pretty bad experiences, then reading this may have brought you out into a cold sweat. In fact, it may be why you’ve never taken a step to start your own business. But, the fear of sales shouldn’t hold you back from pursuing your dream. At least, here at The Wheel Specialist, we don’t think so. Which is why we have developed support to guide even the most introvert of sales person who doesn’t think they could sell the sun to an Eskimo, never mind ice.
Behind any good business is a brilliant sales & marketing strategy!
One of the best things about opening a franchise instead of starting out on your own, is the support you receive from your franchisor. And we’re no different here at TWS.
We have an experienced team who absolutely love sales and marketing! They’ve learned how to master both these elements of business growth and turn leads into customers. When you join the TWS network, they will give you full training in the TWS strategy. The biggest benefit of this to you, as a new business owner, is knowing you won’t need to rely on guesswork to find those initial customers, by using our tried-and tested launch plan.
I’m not a natural sales person. Can I still succeed?
No problem! Meet Chris Turner who offers all our franchisees a new trade sales service, having spent 24 years in sales. So, you can focus on your business growth with his support.
When you join TWS, Chris and his team will work closely with you as you build your customer base. This is because they support both new and existing franchisees to generate sales – specifically to the trade network. The products within the TWS range are in demand, so you’ll find it easier than you realise to connect with people who want to use your services.
Chris’ sales experience, combined with his passion for your franchise growth, means he will warm-up cold leads in your territory, on your behalf. “My goal is to relieve the anxiety franchisees may feel about sales, and increase their confidence when speaking to new trade customers. So, I do the hard part of talking with cold leads, then give franchisees a list of prospective customers ready to buy from them. The Wheel Specialist is a great brand, and people can see it for themselves when they look at us online. I’ve had a number of occasions when I’ve gone into a trade customer, explained who we are and what we do, and immediately had to call the franchisee as they have a car on the forecourt needing its wheels to be refurbished. This happened five times in Ribble Valley alone!”
Because of the brand TWS has built up, franchisees can be confident about the number of people interested in what they offer being higher than average. “In some of my previous roles,” Chris says, “if I spoke to 100 leads, I’d have a positive response from about 5%. But with TWS, I’m finding about 60% are genuinely interested in what we offer. They’ve seen our marketing online, and recognise we’re a professional business; especially when we make the time to speak to them.”
But what about the next stage?!
We still have you covered! Even when you start having conversations with the leads Chris generated for you, he’ll guide you through how to do this, continuing to build your confidence.
As Chris explains, “We’ve created a really simple strategy for our franchisees to follow-up with these new leads. I’ll talk them through what to do, show them how it looks in practice, and support them through the first few calls. When I was with Caroline at Ribble Valley recently, she’d felt anxious about making calls, as she found sales awkward. However, she was astonished at how easy it was to speak to new customers, making bookings straight away whilst connecting with future customers. Caroline is good with people – she’s really warm. So it wasn’t hard for her to use this skill to draw leads into conversation about her business.”