Franchise development numbers sound like a riddle: If you close 30% of your leads, how many leads are needed in the sales pipeline to reach your goal by the end of the year?  

However, fran dev teams can help themselves and their brands by collecting data on everything from who your leads are to where they heard about your brand and what they are reading. So, what can data reveal about pipeline leads and what it takes to get them to sign on the bottom line? And how can data give you an edge?  

Collecting the right data can allow the optimization and streamlining of the sales process – and automation to help you work smarter rather than harder. 

What Data Tells You 

Franchise development data can be broken down into three broad segments: demographic, behavioral and sales.  

• Demographic data tells you the basics about your leads – gender, age, race, marital status, net worth, education, where they live, whether they are veterans, etc. Some of this information can tell you whether a lead meets the minimum qualifications or whether they live in markets that you wish to develop.  

• Behavioral data tells you how to find and communicate with qualified leads, such as through podcasts, social media channels, email or text messages. This information will show what messages are likely to resonate with leads and where they will see those messages. 

• Sales data – those numbers that every good salesperson knows by heart – include close rates and timelines, as well as info on where the sales process breaks down. 

If historical data exists, use it to establish benchmarks, optimize processes and document improvement. If no historical data exists, your starting point may be based on salesperson intuition – your assumptions about leads and processes. Ensure assumptions are tested to understand whether what you “think” is correct. Sometimes, numbers will surprise you.  

How To Put Data To Work 

Your CRM, or customer relationship management system, collects your data from various sources – leads’ contact forms, ad campaigns and your CRM itself – and allows you to make it work for you. 

The CRM can provide insights, help you streamline campaigns and processes and become more efficient. A CRM can help determine where leads are coming from and whether your campaigns are bringing in quality leads. CRMs also can help track how much you spent to get a lead as well as the cost and time it takes to close the deal.  

If you’re running campaigns on several platforms, knowing where a particular lead came from and which platform is delivering the best quality leads is critical. For example, if you don’t know whether a lead came from LinkedIn or Google, you can’t know what that lead cost – or whether a particular campaign is a good use of your marketing dollars. 

A CRM also will allow you to automate parts of your sales process, such as sending an initial email when someone submits a form, or texting and emailing to nurture a lead through the funnel. 

Collecting the right data can help your fran dev team work more efficiently. By tracking data, you can see where your process runs smoothly and where it could use some work. Data also allows you to automate parts of your job so that you spend less time on routine tasks and more time ensuring that a candidate is the right fit for your franchise. Franchise development has an extremely long sales cycle in the best circumstance; the last thing you want to do is waste months on the wrong person.