Capturing Franchisees at the Right Show

This article was written by Mark Siebert of Entrepreneur.com

Perhaps one of the most frequently asked questions in franchising is, "How do I find franchisees?" What some of my clients have in their head is a carnival-esque vision from their franchise youth -- standing at a booth at a trade show, hawking like the barker with the too-small basketball hoop.

Today's franchise sales process is, of course, much more sophisticated than this. The Internet generates most franchise sales leads -- by some accounts, more than 70% -- with public relations, print advertising, direct mail and referrals generating much of the remainder. But for many franchisors, trade shows and expos remain as relevant today as they did during their heyday.

Franchise Shows vs. Industry Shows

Before exploring the question of whether trade shows and expos are the right strategy for you, let's draw an important distinction between franchise shows and industry shows. ...