With arguably the largest and most popular franchise exhibition of the year at Birmingham NEC now over, it is time to reflect on the value of exhibitions as a whole for both franchisor and potential franchisee…
Little versus Large
I recently attended the regional Thames Valley Franchise Show in Reading, where I represented one of my clients, Countrywide Signs (www.countrywidesigns.com) on their stand.
With the doors opening on Thursday 4th September at 6pm and closing at 9pm, the show appealed to many who could attend following a day of work (there were even complimentary bacon rolls and champagne provided!!), and with the show running on Friday from 10am to 3pm, it caught those who were able to take a day off work, or who wanted a longer weekend.
With a cost of under £900 for the stand space, over 600 visitors and with only around 30 exhibitors, the format worked exceptionally well. We had arranged for Countrywide Signs leads already in the pipeline and from around the area, to come along to meet with us at the show so were covering our bases in case the show was a disappointment.
The results have been extremely encouraging so far. We picked up 8 extremely good leads at the show (of which 4 have either attended a further meeting, or will be), and carried out 4 prearranged meetings with existing leads. Although it is slightly too early for anyone to have signed a franchise agreement, I would stake my house on the fact that we will get at least one new franchisee from it all, which makes it more than worthwhile and extremely cost effective.
The regional shows are held annually at Leicester, Bristol, Kent, Reading and Norwich and provide an excellent way for brands to target specific areas directly, and at low cost.
I was also at the Birmingham NEC held during the first weekend in October. Having attended these shows either as an exhibitor, or a visitor for the last 6 years, what was immediately apparent was the downturn in the number of stands. I was told by the organisers that the number of stands occupied was down between 25-30%. Over the 2 days, visitor numbers were also down, and the reason for this was not a major sporting event, or good weather, which combined against the event last year in the form of the Rugby World Cup (England played Australia in the Quarter Finals on the Saturday of the show) and a very hot (and late) summers day!
Another of our clients, Dream Doors (www.dreamdoorsltd.co.uk), the current BFA Franchise Brand Builder of the Year, were exhibiting at the NEC and the feedback I had from them, and many other exhibitors I knew and spoke to, was that it was a lot quieter, but it did mean they were able to talk in more depth with interested parties, and in some cases, even carry out an initial meeting on the stand.
From the Horses Mouth…
In 2007, Dream Doors exhibited at every major franchise event except for the one in Scotland. This included London Olympia, Manchester and Birmingham. The cost for attending all the shows was around £28,000 including stand space, travel costs and accommodation.
Going over their 2007 figures recently, it is very interesting to see how that spend played out now there has been time to see what was achieved…
From the franchise shows they managed to collect 44 genuine enquiries (people they talked to and actually filled out a form). 6 of these subsequently attended meetings with Dream Doors at their head office, and from these 6, 3 signed franchise agreements and paid in full. The average cost of recruitment through exhibitions for each franchisee was over £9,000.
Comparing this with their online and print advertising spend for the whole of 2007, it makes for very interesting reading. They spent a total of just over £36,000 which generated 426 leads; of which 19 attended a meeting and 11 signed a franchise agreement.
The average cost for recruitment through online and print advertising therefore was just over £3,000 – almost a third of the cost of recruitment from the shows!!!
The question Dream Doors is asking right now, and an issue I am consulting with them on, is could they have found more than 3 franchisees by choosing not to attend the shows, and putting that budget into other areas – areas that include increased internet advertising and marketing, as well as more targeted print advertising. It is not quite a simple as it sounds because we carefully need to go over the feedback from the 11 franchisees who were generated through internet and print advertising, and see whether any of them were directly influenced by seeing Dream Doors at an exhibition, but indications are that this influence would not have made a huge difference to the results.
In 2008, Dream Doors has already spent over £20,000 attending the major franchise exhibitions, and to date, have only signed 1 franchisee. Even if they managed to sign 1 from Birmingham, the cost of recruitment via franchise shows would still be around £10,000 and higher than the cost in 2007…
So….Are they worth it?
There are many reasons franchise brands continue to exhibit at the major shows…for some, the costs are justified because they do manage to convert booth visitors into franchisees, albeit at a high cost; for others (with larger budgets), it is all about credibility and maintaining status in the industry regardless of the actual results; for a few it just a chance to have a ‘jolly good social’ no matter the cost and for many brands (especially those new to market), it is what they are ‘told’ to do by the industry experts who are advising them.
My view is simple – I would encourage brands firstly to look very carefully at their annual recruitment budgets; allocate enough of that budget to set up internet and print advertising to ensure a good number of leads throughout the year and base franchisee recruitment targets on these. This should be the priority spend as exhibitions are only worth attending if you can stomach the cost of a ‘no result’, or be able to set much longer term targets around exhibitions knowing the cost of recruitment may be 3 times that of other means.
If you would like to have a chat to me about any areas of franchisee recruitment (including how to set targets and budget accordingly; where best to place advertising for franchiseese; whether to handle leads in-house or out-source; what systems are currently being used to best handle leads and the likely costs of recruitment), please fill out the form on our site and I will be happy to give you a call.
