Do Prospects Suffer From ADD Following IFE, Or Do You?

So, like a flash in the pan, the 2016 IFE has come and gone and the dog days of summer are upon us.  If you’re like most, your teams had completed their post-show analysis even before leaving New York.  Like pundits on game days, they’d crunched the numbers, discussed the stats, estimated attendance, hourly traffic patterns and of course, the number of leads they’d generated, while recounting their most memorable conversations.  My guess too, is that many sales people even began betting which ones and who, would morph into their hottest buyers.  Then, several days later, some undoubtedly found themselves stunned, by just how wrong some of their initial assessments had been.  Fast forward even further and now, weeks after the fact, many are actually scrambling, struggling to remember more about some of those other conversations that they had, but paid less attention to.  Unfortunately, with the passage of time, many of those details have been forgotten or have become little more than a blur.

This sad song gets sung by far too many, but if you’re reading this, it’s not too late to change that tune.  You see, for every franchisor and sales rep. in a similar position, there are dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of attendees, who at this very moment, are struggling too, but with the flip side to the same exact issue.  Think about it: They entered The Javits Center like deer in the headlights, trekked from booth to booth, listened to pitch after pitch and loaded bags with koozies, keychains, flash drives and more.  Hours later they left The Expo, feeling as though they’d been drinking from a fire hose.  Their eyes by then were really glazed over and their heads aching, from the tsunami of information they’d tried their best to absorb.

SOLUTION:  Why don’t you hit the reset button on your approach to these leads and do something that most franchisors do not do enough of, if they do it at all.  Instead of firing up e-mail campaigns and phone calls with your Second Act being much like your First, reach out and thank these prospects for stopping by to see you.  Invite them to tell you what it was about your brand that captured THEIR interest in the first place.  Ask for a conversation to talk about THEIR goals, THEIR desires, what it is that’s important to THEM!

Your best shot at re-engagement with these leads will come from you being one of those very few franchisors that are asking them what it is that is important to THEM, not just selling your brands value proposition TO them.  Give this a shot.  I think you will find the results to be quite amazing.  Then, let me hear from you.  I’d love to share some of your success stories on this blog, in the months to come.