
Countrywide Signs Case Study
Countrywide Signs Case Study
Client Background
Countrywide Signs, started in 1998, are responsible for the erection, servicing and maintenance of ‘For Sale’ and ‘To Rent’ boards on behalf of Real Estate Agents.
The founding Directors created a transparent and ethical business structure where everyone benefited; the real estate agents, the property seller/buyer, the local Countrywide Signs franchisee and the national network as a whole.
The Directors invested in cutting edge technology, systematized the business to the highest level and, through franchising, quickly became the market leaders, a position they continue to hold today.
Situation
Having established themselves as a viable business venture, Countrywide Signs had successfully gone through the process of becoming a franchise.
The consultancy who helped them develop their franchise model had no real experience in how to find franchisees. Countrywide Signs was spending a lot of money in the wrong areas without success.
Countrywide Signs was introduced to Dug Aylen who specialized in franchisee recruitment. They had 6 franchisees at that time…9 years later they had 64.
Objectives
Identify and focus on finding the right franchisee owner profile
- Create excellent and relevant content to help aid potential franchisee research
- Achieve national franchise coverage
- Get as close to a zero franchisee failure rate as possible
- Create franchisee businesses that hold a good resale value
- Achieve market leadership position
Solutions
The primary franchisee recruitment improvements implemented included creating:
- Relevant content correlated with the interests of the ideal franchisee profile
- A dedicated franchise opportunity website
- Comprehensive monthly reporting to monitor and improve every stage of the franchisee recruitment process
- Geo-coded reports to target potential franchisees in specific territories
- A resale program to help existing franchisees to sell their business
Outcomes
- Strong Network: Lowest franchise failure rate in the country
- Profit: Generated additional royalties of $2 million
- Re-engagement: 30% of franchisees recruited from a lead list more than a year old
Testimonial
“How it’s working for me”
“Although we had proven our business model we realized that finding the right kind of franchisees was a different matter entirely.
We did not have an organized way of collecting and keeping our franchise leads. We also got very frustrated going through the process of trying to speak to any inquiries we did receive. Why did most people who showed an interest in our franchise opportunity not pick up the phone when we called, or at least call us, or email us back
Dug Aylen, along with his insights, methods and processes, showed us there was a better way of handling the entire franchisee recruitment process. We were so impressed we felt that the best thing to do would be to outsource it entirely with the Premier Recruiter solution.
Over the last 9 years, we’ve added 60+ franchisees to our network, and almost filled all available franchise territories. As well as the actual results, the only involvement we’ve had regarding franchise development is to meet with highly Qualified Prospects on Discovery Day. Dug’s involvement with our company has proven highly efficient, effective and lucrative.”
– Tony Williams, Founder and Managing Director, Countrywide Signs