A Feel-Good Franchise Sales Experience

Franchise development is ready for modernization. Cadence Franchising has the solution.

Whether you’re with an emerging franchise brand or an established system, there’s a lot to look after when it comes to bringing on new franchisees. Between the market research, candidate interviews, and deal negotiations, it’s best to leave the recruiting to the pros, so you can focus on the business.

Cadence Franchising is a CFA Franchise Supplier Member, specializing in helping franchise sellers “modernize” their sales systems. Founding partners Corey Nicholson and Cindy Hill are using their years of franchising experience to drive a necessary evolution in the development space.

“You have brands that are investing a lot into modernizing the consumer experience for their end customers,” says Nicholson, pointing to investments in apps and in-store experiences as examples.

“We found that brands are falling behind on updating their franchise recruitment experience. It’s still quite archaic, and we’re here to modernize it.”

Corey Nicholson

Starting at the very beginning of the recruitment process, from the initial inquiry to signing a franchise disclosure document (FDD), Cadence is utilizing the best CRM technology to help franchisors book more calls, increase conversion rates, and find franchisees that are a natural fit for their systems.

“From that first visit to the franchising website, seeing the ad on social media, or meeting the sales team at a tradeshow,” says Nicholson, Cadence captures and messages leads efficiently using the right software, giving franchisors “speed to lead.”
Nicholson and Hill point to their experience helping COBS Bread as an example of how to create and run a franchise sales machine.

“We served COBS Bread for a long time and helped refine their sales process, resulting in accelerated growth with quality new owners.”

Corey Nicholson

When it comes to lead generation, prospective franchisees inquire about franchise brands a number of different ways, including through tradeshows, online franchise directories, or PPC ads. Working with franchise systems of all sizes, Cadence provides guidance to each brand to help identify lead generation methods that will be most effective for them. Once a lead is acquired, Cadence welcomes, nurtures, and qualifies them.

After more than a decade as colleagues, Nicholson and Hill decided to become entrepreneurs themselves. Cadence refers to a rhythm of communications, and that’s what Nicholson and Hill bring to the table from their experience in franchise sales and marketing.

Cadence doesn’t “talk at” buyers, says Nicholson. “We believe in listening to them, learning about who they are, and finding the right mutual fit for both them and the brand.” Franchisors are very mindful of who they award franchises to, and Cadence works hard to find a fit that will bring both parties long-term success and fulfillment.

Cadence utilizes carefully selected CRM and Marketing Automation software, including Zoho CRM, Act-On, and Textellent, to implement a powerful sales tech stack for franchisors. These tools enable them to execute beautifully designed nurturing campaigns that convert curious leads into excited potential owners.

Cadence manages the franchise recruitment process from the first form submission, phone call, or live chat interaction, so interested leads get the information they need when they ask for it. In one-to-one interactions with leads, Cadence serves as the franchisor’s mouthpiece, sharing the brand story, providing the qualification criteria, and describing the next steps. Cadence delivers a friendly, personal touch to the introduction stage of the recruitment process.

How personal? Their nurturing campaigns go beyond typical e-blasts. Following brand guidelines, they communicate to leads based on what they know about them now and learn about them over time. They are responsive to each lead’s level of engagement, adapting it’s individual cadence of communication. Pun intended.

Nicholson and Hill provide tools to revamp the tradeshow experience by using mobile lead capture to automatically drive leads to a call scheduler, decreasing the manual work involved in following up with tradeshow visitors.

Franchise Disclosure Documents (FDDs) and Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) are taken care of using e-signature technology, ensuring sensitive documents are properly managed within the CRM. It all boils down to delivering an enjoyable selling experience for the brand team and an impeccable buying experience for the candidate.

Cadence Franchising was built on a commitment to innovation and a passion for helping franchisors and franchisees succeed. Nicholson and Hill are determined to be the go-to provider of lead nurturing services for results-driven franchisors seeking discernible growth.

“We work with brands that share our passion for finding the right entrepreneurs to grow their system. We look for passionate entrepreneurs to advance through their pipelines.”

Cindy Hill

Nicholson and Hill’s passion for franchising grew while working together on a wide range of clients, including franchisors, brokers, lead generators, and other industry suppliers. Despite being under a year in operations, Cadence has already brought its services to big names like McDonald’s Canada, Laser Clinics Canada, and Oxford Learning Centres, working with them to modernize their franchise recruitment methods.

Cadence’s discovery process begins with an audit of a franchisor’s existing lead generation efforts. “How are you generating leads? What’s the monthly volume?” For franchisors who aren’t generating enough leads, Cadence will recommend one of their established partners to bolster lead quantity.

For brands that have seen their lead generation slow down, Cadence will launch a nurturing program to generate attention from an existing database of stale leads.

It’s not just large systems that rely on their expertise. Cadence is assisting start-up franchisors like The Fritter Shop (an emerging franchise from London, Ontario) get a jump-start in the Canadian franchise market.

As franchise industry veterans with years of experience working with both CFA and International Franchise Association (IFA) member companies, Hill and Nicholson are keenly aware of the needs of franchise sellers around the world. They have strategic partnerships in marketing & advertising, territory mapping, public relations, financing, construction, legal, and more.

“We’re focused on doing what we’re good at. Everything else is about connecting people.”

Cindy Hill

Moreover, Cadence’s French capabilities can help franchisors navigate the intracacies of franchising in Quebec, where language restrictions often prohibit franchisors from expanding in the province. Cadence’s in-house bilingual services are another value-add for franchisors, ensuring that their leads in Quebec are nurtured appropriately.

It all speaks to the dedication that Nicholson and Hill have to the world of franchising. Their active involvement in the CFA community accelerated their development of meaningful relationships within the industry.

“We have the same mentality about relationships with our franchise family as we recommend to our client’s investing in lead generation. If we’re going to invest in it, let’s nurture it.”

Corey Nicholson