Attention Franchise Recruiters: How Good Are You?

Are you striving for excellence in helping individuals explore your brand? How well do you educate individuals on everything involved with small-business ownership and franchising? If you have chosen franchise recruitment as your profession or “calling,” you should want to be world-class at what you do. Ask yourself: Is the success I’ve experienced with recruiting new franchisees because of practice and skill development, or am I just lucky?

I am asking you to get real and consider the root cause of your success. It might be one or more of these reasons.

• High-quality brand. It has amazing unit economics, good financing options, excellent validation, powerful lead generation, good press, and a solid, proven business model.

• Hot industry. Over the years at various times, certain industry segments boom with growth regardless of recruiter skill level. Anyone can go out and recruit 20 new franchisees.

• Dynamic economy. Depending on the brand and industry, economic conditions can create “good times” for signing new franchisees.

• Necessity. More adults today must consider small-business ownership for self-sufficiency and to have a chance at fulfilling their goals and dreams. Regular long-term employment in a company is not the solution for an increasing number of working adults.

If any version of these root causes might apply to your success, no need to apologize. You are the one who decided to be with that brand. What I am trying to get you to consider here is the possibility of a “blind spot.” (Blind spot definition: thinking you are good at something and you are not.) Blind spots in franchise recruitment are dangerous for your brand and for your future.

Let us say you have a lot of natural talent to connect and build rapport with people. You have personal experience as a small-business owner or franchisee, which gets you a long way in collaborating with a candidate. It is possible that your performance might be average or better than average with little to no practice, continuing education, or coaching. You show up, climb on the phone (or Zoom), and get signings.

I have met franchise recruiters who make significant six-figure annual incomes who do not have a clue about the true skills, process, science, and metrics of being a professional franchise recruiter. They are blinded by success and believe they are better than they are. Typically, this gets exposed when conditions and circumstances change with the brand, industry, economy, and/or lead generation.

The path to world-class

So, you may be asking, “How do I know if my signing results are based on my skill, circumstances, or luck?” Check yourself against the following.

Weekly practice and skill development. Malcolm Gladwell, in his book Outliers, talks about the 10,000-hour rule. His research uncovered that it takes about 10,000 hours of intensive practice to achieve proficiency in complex skills and materials. If you invested 3 hours daily toward practice and skill development, the rule says you might be at mastery level in a decade. Gladwell gets real about the 10,000 hours and what it means in a brief, raw, and no -spin video. It’s 4 minutes long and you can see it on YouTube (“Malcolm Gladwell Demystifies 10,000 Hours Rule”).

Talent is not enough to be a world-class recruiter. Talent is what we show up with. Talent is more about our natural abilities and strengths. To be world-class requires continuous training and education. Carl Lewis, the most decorated male track and field athlete in history, is fast. He has natural speed. No one taught or coached him to acquire that natural ability. That is talent.

But being an expert-level sprinter and many times Olympic and World Champion… the difference came from practice and education. Mastery level at sprinting was 100% the result of intense practice, skill development, and study for hours each day over years. Why did it matter? Because all the other top sprinters were born fast, too. Sometimes, natural talent can hold you back from being great.

Does it really have to take 10,000 hours and a decade? Mastery can happen faster. Here is what you need to do.

1. Practice in a deliberately intensive manner with the right curriculum and content.
2. Use metric and data-based gap analysis for skills and behaviors.
3. Get a coach providing guidance and accountability.
4. Join a peer group with others wanting to improve.
5. Have a daily commitment with fanatical quality and focus.

If you already have all your bases covered to become world-class, congratulations! Keep at it every day. If you are realizing gaps in your career growth, now you know what you need to do.

Let’s go to work!

Art Coley is CEO of CGI Franchise. CGIF was founded in 2015 with a mission to help franchise companies implement and execute repeatable and sustainable recruitment systems using the Recruitment Operating System. His team is based in Temple, Texas, and works with brands worldwide. Contact him at 281-658-9409 or acoley@cgifranchise.com.