Global Franchise 10.2

At some point in nearly every franchise conversation, someone brags about how many units they’ve “sold.” And every time, I have to fight the eye roll. Here’s the thing. If you’ve “sold” 150 but only 15 are open, that’s not growth and I’ve been in franchising long enough to know it's a brewing problem. I’ve worked for brands with 5,000 locations and brands with six. Now I’m the CEOof a brand that just crossed 100 open units, an actual milestone, not a theoretical one. So, believeme when I say this: your sold- not-open (SNO) number is not as impressive as you think, and it could be a liability. SNO is the sugar high of franchising. It feels good, gives you a quick dopamine hit, and it makes for a shiny slide in a pitch deck. But it crashes hard.When you chase sales over openings, you’re risking your future. You end up with frustrated franchisees, burnt territories, broken trust, and a serious operations hangover. Don’t get me wrong, development is essential.We all want to grow. But I’ve seen toomany brands flame out trying to grow too fast, too recklessly. It’s a familiar pattern in franchising: sell 200 units in two years, open 30, and collapse under the weight of 170 unfulfilled promises. According to FRANdata, only 16% of franchise brands ever reach 100 open locations. Think about that. Not 100 sold. 100 open. If you’vemade it there, you’re already beating the odds. If your franchisees are winning with you, you’ve built something worth bragging about. So why don’t more brands focus on that? Because it’s harder. It’s less sexy.You can’t post a big opening number on LinkedIn the same way you can a 10-unit development deal. It’s not what will turn heads or garner engagement, but it’s the only thing that separates legacy brands from short-lived hype. Here’s my take: The only locations that count are the ones that are open, operating, It’s time to stop confusing deals for development. MassageLuXe International’s president and CEO, Kristen Pechacek , explains why your “sold” count might be your biggest red flag. SOWHAT IF YOU'VE SOLD 100 LOCATIONS? NO ONE CARES Winning brands have stopped thinking in silos “Our current processes are starting to break down. Obviously, this can’t support our expected growth.” I heard this from a franchise just last week, and it perfectly captures what I see across the industry: franchise brands hitting a wall where their homegrown marketing processes simply can’t keep up with growth. Nearly every franchise marketing leader I speak with faces the same challenge. The central team is drowning in localization requests, while franchisees are either waiting for relevant content or creating their own off-brand materials. This gap between central and local marketing represents one of the biggest untapped opportunities in franchising. Most brands approach this by adding layers – more designers, more approval workflows, more review steps. But here's what I’ve learned from dozens of conversations with franchise marketers: this isn’t a capacity problem, it’s a systems problem. One pizza franchise creative director told me his teamwas constantly fielding requests, but couldn’t respond quickly because of a clunky vendor setup. “We spend too much time going back and forth with our current vendor on template setup,” he told me. What should have taken minutes was taking days. Here’s the proof. One franchise I worked with was trying to find the budget to add two new designers to support an already overworked creative team. For a fraction of that cost, they discovered they could shorten delivery timelines, maintain brand consistency, and significantly increase local marketing output. They didn’t need more people – they needed better systems. The franchises getting it right share three key pillars. First, they make it easy. Franchisees aren’t professional marketers – they’re small business owners managing day-to-day operations. An e-bike franchise customer put it best: “Dealers use our platform constantly.” When it’s genuinely easy to use, adoption skyrockets. Second, they make it scalable. Smart templating changes everything. A Portland franchisee should see their local address and offers automatically appear on their content. Phoenix should see something different, all without manual effort. One restaurant franchise saved hours using this kind of automation: “Instead of our designers customizing 60 different Facebook posts, the system does it automatically.” And third, they make it connected. Winning brands have stopped thinking in silos. Local promotions, social updates, print materials, and timing coordination all happen from one central platform, creating speed Smart systems close the gap between central control and local execution, says Christopher Brown, Marvia's Director of North America. 56 GLOBAL FRANCHISE Issue 10.2