How do you find franchisees on LinkedIn?

In short: finding franchisees on LinkedIn

• LinkedIn is strong for reaching managers and professionals who are considering starting out on their own.
• Personal profiles of the founder and expansion manager work better than a company page alone.
• Stories from existing franchisees are the most powerful content.
• Use search filters to find candidates by sector experience, job title and region, and approach them personally.
• LinkedIn ads with a lead form work, provided you ask qualifying questions.
• Combine LinkedIn with a recruitment page and fast follow-up, otherwise the interest drains away.

Why is LinkedIn suitable for recruiting franchisees?

LinkedIn is where you find the people who often make good franchisees: experienced employees and managers in your sector, with entrepreneurship on their mind but no business of their own yet. You can find them by job title, experience and region, and they are willing to read business content. In addition, candidates who are already exploring their options read your LinkedIn to see who is behind the franchise brand. An active founder profile then builds trust.

Step 1: how do you create profiles that appeal to candidates?

Start with the people, not the company page. The profiles of the founder and the expansion manager should show why you started this franchise brand, who it suits and what a franchisee can expect from you. State in the headline that you are looking for entrepreneurs in a particular sector or region. The company page provides support with a clear page about becoming a franchisee and a link to your recruitment page.

Step 2: what content should you post?

Stories from existing franchisees work best: why they started, what the first year brought, what they would do differently. Add honest information about the investment, the support and the growth of the franchise brand. Post once or twice a week, preferably from personal profiles. In our experience, an honest story about a difficult start gets more reactions than a perfect success story.

Step 3: how do you actively search for and approach candidates?

With LinkedIn's search filters you can find people by job title, sector and region, for example store managers in your sector in a region where you want to open a location. Approach them personally and briefly, without selling straight away. A good first question is whether they are open to a conversation about running their own business in their field. Respect a no, and stick to LinkedIn's terms of use on the number of invitations and messages.

Step 4: when should you use LinkedIn ads?

When you need more reach than your network provides, or when you want to recruit quickly in a new region. LinkedIn ads cost more per click than other channels, but the targeting by job title and sector is precise. A lead form within LinkedIn lowers the threshold; do include two or three qualifying questions, such as preferred region and available equity. Combine ads with Google Ads for franchisee recruitment to reach active searchers.

Step 5: how do you follow up on interest?

Interest on LinkedIn is only the beginning. Send interested people to a recruitment page with all the information, invite them to an information evening and schedule personal contact within a day. Without fast follow-up, the candidate chooses the franchise brand that does respond. The complete route is set out in a marketing campaign to recruit franchisees; you can outsource it through franchise recruitment marketing services.

How do you measure whether LinkedIn brings in franchisees?

Do not just count followers and likes. Measure how many conversations come from LinkedIn, how many of those are qualified and how many eventually sign. Ask candidates in the first conversation how they found you, and record it. After six months you will see whether LinkedIn is a main channel or a supplementary one for your franchise brand. More about recruitment as a service is on leads for new franchisees.

Who is behind this approach to finding franchisees on LinkedIn?

Behind this page is a permanent team with no rotating account managers. Founder Gijs Bodenstaff (local SEO specialist since 2010, Google Product Expert, author of three books on local visibility for chains) is the contact for head office. Angela analyses visibility and leads per location, Elisabeth manages local advertising, Peter builds local authority and ten regular freelancers take care of profiles and reviews. Every figure on this page has a source; where we share something from our own experience, we say so.

Read more about the people behind this agency; the author's background is on Gijs Bodenstaff.