David Schwartz of Franchise Clique Announces New Daniel Island Headquarters to Accommodate Increased Growth

Charleston, SC (May 31, 2018)— Franchise Clique, LLC, a leading franchise recruitment and lead generation company serving the franchise industry, today announced it has moved into new corporate offices at 133 River Landing Drive in Daniel Island’s growing business district to accommodate rapid company growth.

Franchise Clique was founded in 2009 in Charleston, South Carolina. The company offers lead generation and business development services for franchises and businesses of all kinds. It is privately held and boasts that its leadership team has decades of combined experience in lead generation.

Franchise Clique, LLC New Corporate Headquarters

“Going into our tenth year this is a monumental time for Franchise Clique and is the start to large company improvements that have the staff and customers eager to benefit from the unique opportunities this expansion provides,” said Franchise Clique Chief Executive Officer David Schwartz. “Franchise Clique’s new office space provides an updated and healthier work environment for existing and incoming employees while also leaving room for even greater company growth in the future.”

The new space reflects Franchise Clique’s proactive company goals that are meant to bring customers top-notch service while maintaining a high level of efficiency.  The new location is near Daniel Island’s public dock and walking/biking trails which are walking distance from multiple restaurants and shops.  The new office provides each employee with a personal office space which is a drastic improvement from the cubicle-style space from before.

Lead Generation 101

In between unpacking boxes and putting away belongings my home telephone rang. I reached to answer it thinking it was probably my mother. I kicked myself as I realized even she didn’t have my new number yet.

“No thank you,” I said, “I’m really not interested.” The call was, of course, from a solicitor. Despite her encouragement to support a worthwhile charity by purchasing magazine subscriptions, I refrained. I was more concerned with how this woman got my telephone number.

Cold calling is a (very annoying) marketing tool that often yields poor results for one simple reason: you’re calling an uninterested prospect.

Lead generation is a marketing term that refers to the process of generating prospective consumer interest or inquiry into products or services of a business. Quite simply, lead generation identifies the people who want to talk to you.

Used by companies large and small for a variety of reasons, lead generation is a solid and effective marketing tool. The goal of lead generation is to generate quality leads. Quality leads are determined by a prospect’s inclination to take their inquiry or interest to the next level. A quality lead expresses interest and then, due to your excellent sales technique, turns that interest into an investment or a purchase in your product, business or service.

Lead generation methods and techniques are numerous and most businesses use a combination of several methods as part of their marketing strategy. The most important lead generation methods are those that work (i.e. generate quality leads). While no best methodology or technique exists there are best practices for each method. Keep your end goal in mind when choosing lead generation techniques for your marketing campaign.

When the term lead generation is mentioned, it often brings to mind online marketing and advertising – a very commonly used method. Franchise Clique’s expertise falls under this category. Due to the fact that the Internet is like a storefront that is always open, online advertising is a cost-effective approach to lead generation. Through search engine optimization, organic search engine results, paid search engine results and a laundry list of other ways, you are able to generate leads literally in your sleep.

Common Lead Generation Methods

1. Branding – Involves the use of sponsorships, advertising, associations, newsletters and events to produce leads.

2. Public Relations – Involves the use of editorials, news releases, public speaking engagements, news coverage (radio, broadcast, print and online), article placement, and content generation to produce leads.

3. Website – Involves search engine optimization (SEO), podcasts, blogging, RSS feeds and unique URL landing pages to produce leads.

4. Phone Calls – Involves developing relationships, gaining internal referrals, identifying business shortcomings and needs, opt-in for content notification, re-engaging with previously missed opportunities, identifying and/or verifying contacts and inviting contacts to events in order to produce leads. *Please note the difference between this marketing approach and cold calling. This is about developing and not establishing relationships.

5. Email – Involves using one-to-one messages or one-to-many messages to produce leads.

6. Online Marketing – This is probably the most popular and widely known lead generation method. It involves using organic search engine results, paid search engine results, webinars, newsletter sponsorships, banners, portals and online directories to produce leads.

7. Direct Mail – Involves using postcards, personal letters, dimensional mail (this is exactly what you would imagine it to be—something other than a normally shaped piece of mail), and self-mailers to produce leads.

8. Events – Involves going to and/or hosting one or more of the following: seminars, workshops, webinars, conferences, executive briefings, and tradeshows.

9. Referrals – One of my favorite methods. Referrals work because of how much we believe the opinions and experiences of those we trust. Using referrals as a lead generation technique involves using vendors, consultants, customers and partners and their trusted experiences.

For more information, I suggest you read The B2B Refinery by Green and Saylor, Lead Generation for the Complex Sale by Carroll and Marketing for Dummies.

3 Key Things You Need to Know About Advertising and Lead Generation

Since the recession of the late-2000s there has been a distinct change in the nature of the businessperson: the Great Recession has made us distrusting worriers with unmanageable expectations. As the chief executive officer of Franchise Clique, I am familiar with the anxiety associated with starting a successful business. I started Franchise Clique a few years ago during the Great Recession. Keeping this in consideration, I have a three key pieces of advice for all of you who are about to start an online advertising campaign.

First and foremost, don’t be a servant to your checkbook! I am not advising you to be financially irresponsible (wasn’t that a culprit of the Great Recession?) I am encouraging you to adjust your focus. It is a very common (daily) occurrence for clients to be nervous about the amount of money and time they commit to lead generation and an online advertising campaign. Clients should view money spent on lead generation as an investment. Ask yourself how much time and money you are willing to invest in selling your franchise or business opportunity. From that point on, be committed to your commitment. If you have committed to six months (a very reasonable amount of time) do not be tempted to pull the plug on your investment prematurely.

My second key piece of advice is to trust your online lead source and think of him or her as your lead generation expert. Your success is a direct correlation to your online lead source’s strategy. The better your lead generator’s strategy and budget, the better your results will be. However, it is not your lead generator’s responsibility to close the deal for you. We have the skills, technology and experience to do wonders with your investment. Trust us to connect you with great prospects. You come to us for lead generation because this is our trade and we know what we’re doing. To that end, it’s your responsibility to turn that prospect into something profitable.

The final and most important thing you need to know about lead generation and online advertising is to manage your expectations. In the March 2011 issue of Inc. magazine columnist and senior editor Norm Brodsky made an excellent point about the nature of business today, “…the Internet has robbed us of the capacity for patience.” If an advertising effort does not experience instantaneous phenomenal success do not call it a failure. Good things come with time. A colleague in the diabetic supplies industry (historically a very tough lead generation niche) spends millions of dollars and canvasses thousands of leads every year. He is consistently committed to his lead generator, accepting of the nature of the lead generation and online advertising industry and all the more successful for it.