A Focused Development Team
Christian Brothers Automotive, founded in 1981, took the long road to franchising. Exploring the concept in the mid-1990s, the system grew to 17 total locations by 2001. And that’s when things really got into gear. As we enter 2019, Christian Brothers has grown all the way to 185 locations, adding 22 last year alone.
The franchise sales department is a real point of emphasis for their company. They know that the secret to having successful franchisees is cultivating a positive relationship with their future owners from the very beginning of the sales process.
Texting Is How Leads Want to Communicate
Treating the leads the right way begins from the very start. By beginning a conversation via text, you get the benefit of keeping the conversation informal as well as using the method of communication that the leads desire. And the data backs up this point:
- Gallup reports that text messaging has passed calls and e-mails as the way that Americans prefer to communicate
- 90% of franchise leads would choose the initial contact to be via text as opposed to phone call
- Response rates from text messages can be as much as 6x higher than e-mail and phone.
Josh Barker, Director of Franchise Development, spoke to FranFunnel about layering in text messaging:
“This is 2019. Everybody’s got a cell phone. The way people communicate is text message. The number one way we schedule appointments is not via email, it’s not over the phone, it’s through texts.”
Automated Messages is the Real Coup De Grâce
Josh and his team started to analyze when they were receiving leads, and it became abundantly clear that they needed a solution for the leads generated when they were outside the office:
“When you start thinking about when people are looking at becoming a franchisee, it’s when they get home from work. They’ve had a tough day. They’re going, ‘Gosh, why am I not working for myself?’ That’s not happening 8 to 5. “
And it turns out that Josh’s intuition is spot on. Across all of FranFunnel, we see 62% of leads come in outside of what most businesses would call working hours. Unsurprisingly, Christian Brothers found something similar:
“I ran the numbers. Well over half of our leads come in between 5:00 PM and 8:00AM. They’re coming in off-hours, when we don’t have someone available…. How do we close that gap in communication? You have to be able to contact people when it’s top of mind. They’re going to get back to work the next day, and they’re not going to be thinking about it.”
The Results Have Been Astonishing
Using FranFunnel as an initial contact point 24/7/365 has led to significant improvements in actual results.
“The tools we had in place [prior to FranFunnel] were good, but we were always looking to be better. Our contact rate at that time was somewhere about 65%. Once we started to utilize FranFunnel, our contact rate went from good to great. Right now, we have about an 80% contact rate.”
And Finally There’s An Ability To Balance Everything
Ultimately, being able to communicate with leads using FranFunnel has done more than simply improve
Christian Brothers’ sales process. It’s allowed the sales team to “work smarter” and still spend time doing
the things that really matter:
“I’ve got three kids. When I come home, it’s game time. I want to be a good dad, a good husband, so I’m showing up and I’m playing basketball in the driveway. That does not mean a lead’s not going to come in. I can be playing basketball in the driveway, somebody submits a lead, and I’m already trying to make contact with them…It’s always working for us and I don’t necessarily have to be working. I don’t want everybody on the team to always think about work at 8:30 at night, right?This really does give them a little healthier work life balance.”
