Discovery Day, Decisions Day, CEO Meeting Day – whatever you might want to name it, they all mean around the same time. It’s a full day scheduled at the franchisor corporate headquarters or rented temporary office (if home-based). The day is a series of meetings that will provide information on the franchise system and opportunity offering, a tour of the headquarters or local franchisees’ storefronts, and/or the corporate call center. During the day’s events, be sure to discuss a day in the life of a franchisee, details about training and support provided from the franchisor, training for any employees, technology used to run the business (CRM, POS, protection programs, etc.), marketing, their income potential (only if you have an Item 19) and answer any questions the candidates might have.
Franchisor executives and other team members will meet the attending potential franchisees, explaining their roles and how they will work with them and the company (all while evaluating how they feel about the prospect for later discussion with the internal team or salesperson). People that should attend a Discovery Day: founder, franchise development rep(s), VP’s, trainers, a zee, etc.
These events do not need to necessarily be an in-person meeting either, however, it is recommended to be in person. Additionally, depending on if an attending potential franchisee will be investing into the franchise with a partner or a spouse, it’s recommended that they too attend your Discovery Day, even if they are not going to be a leading role in the business. If a “behind the scenes” partner or spouse is unable to attend, it is still recommended that a portion of the Discovery Day be shared with them through a possible means of a conference call or a video call for the most important portions of the event.
These events can be scheduled based on an “on demand” basis or depending on the number of candidates within your sales funnel, it could be a grouped event. There are pros and cons for both scheduling types, so you should weigh out this decision with your executive team. You can always adapt and grow into a different frequency; you are not committed to the format you started with.
Don’t Forget
- Make sure the FDD Receipt is signed and received before starting your Discovery Day, even if it is collected the morning of, the Day should not progress until you have obtained that for your records.
- If validation has not already been offered as a step in your sales process, after a Discovery Day is the last opportunity to encourage it. Depending on your meeting location, you could try to invite nearby franchisees to visit during the Discovery Day so they can offer validation and meet in person (it would be wise to not have the executive team in the same room when a franchisee can share their validation, it allows more freedom of speech).