infoYOGIS

The number one reason why most franchisors fail to sell is due to the fact that people buy from those they know, like and trust. They resist selling efforts from everyone else.

It doesn’t matter if you have the greatest offer, the smartest idea or the most profitable franchise. If people don’t know you, they resist buying from you.

If you’d like to sell more and recruit more franchisees for your business during the EXPO, take your time to “pre-sell” your prospects BEFORE the event.

Pre-selling is how you make your prospects like you. It is about how you establish yourself as an expert in the eyes of your visitors. Pre-selling is giving your prospects the reason why they think you are their friend, not a salesperson. And most obviously, pre-selling is something you do BEFORE you actually sell.

And, here are 5 ways to pre-sell your prospects that are easy to do, almost free and very effective.

1. Send the “expo” invite.

Send an email to your list of prospects, inviting them to the event. If you don’t have an email list, use your phone list. Give them a call, send them a mailer. If you don’t have your own list of prospects, rent one. There are a number of list-rental companies. Choose one and send an email invite. Do not forget to add your booth number.

2. Blog about the event.

Start writing about the event on your blog. Tell your blog visitors why it is important for them to participate. Give them directions to visit your booth during the event. Tell people about the event like a reporter. The best thing that attracts a lot of attention is doing a short video and posting it on your Blog or even better… submit to YouTube.

3. Offer an incentive.

This is a very powerful and persuasive ‘pre-selling’ technique. Give away something for free when people visit your booth at the event. You can offer anything like, coffee coupons, books, gift certificates, your product samples and so on. Just make sure that the free gift is valuable and worthwhile. Hint – valuable and useful information is the most sought after ‘stuff’ by visitors.

4. Get active on social networks.

If you are not on social networks, you are living under the rock! Get moving and get started on leading social networks including Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Post regularly, answer questions and recruit people for a special webinar or tele-seminar. You don’t know how much interest you can generate on these networking powerhouses.

5. Ask for referrals.

Word of mouth is the most effective forms of marketing. Ask your existing prospects, contacts and customers to forward your message to “their” contacts. People don’t do that on their own. Just “ask” and see how many people will start telling their contacts about your participation in the event. Craft a short message for your contacts to send to their lists and attach.

There are many other ways to ‘pre-sell’ your prospects. These are some of the most effective ones that I have personally used to generate trust and credibility.

Hope you will find this information useful. I’ll be glad to connect with you at the WCFE event in Los Angeles during Nov. 4-6.