Carl Erickson

As owner of Central Illinois Indoor Billboard Network, relationship-building was very important as I set-up my network of 40-50 inch TV's in small to medium sized business in the community. Our technology turned these TV's into Indoor Digital Billboards, so local business can advertise on them. Then, my team would make (30) second full-motion ads for the business, who hosted our TV Billboards. These businesses were basically my partners who received free advertising. I utilized my sales, marketing and management experience as I built my network of billboards. Once my network was established with businesses who hosted my TV's, I would sell advertising to local businesses and make a 20 second ad to fill the loop. I received recurring revenue by selling local ad space on the TV's.

The Indoor Billboards are a Branding Mechanism. They see you here and they see you there. The business's are Top of the Mind, due to the Indoor Billboard ads being seen all over town. I presented the benefits to potential advertisers.

In addition to the billboards, I provided Digital Marketing Services, such as building Websites, optimizing Google Business Profile with 5 Star Reviews and adding Citations plus a fantastic technology called GEO-Fencing. N-Compass provided support to dealers for my Digital Marketing Services and Indoor Digital Billboards.

My job as a dealer was business development as I grew my business by adding billboards in high traffic locations in my Central Illinois Territory. I sold advertising to local businesses to fill-up the advertising loop. I had the opportunity to make multiple streams of income, by offering digital marketing services to my Hosts and advertisers. Sales of new accounts and management of existing accounts were critical for success.

This is a good business model, but I was in a small market and I needed to travel 120 miles daily to make it profitable. I started in the closest market to my house, which was the smallest and it was a 50 mile round trip and it was the least profitable market. I had to pay a monthly fee/royalty for every TV / Billboard I had in the marketplace.

I learned many things about this opportunity, such as new sales skills, managing the business, along with relationship building, but what I'm excited about today, is most small medium sized business need help with Digital Marketing Services, such as a SEO optimized website and much more to acquire leads, which leads to more revenue. If he business is not doing it, the competition will! This is where the opportunity lies.

As a Franchise Consultant, my job was to place my clients into franchises by mentoring, coaching and guiding them through the franchise selection, evaluation and buying process as well as helping them access the capital to own and operate that franchise.

I had a portfolio with over 500 franchises from all business categories, such as Business Services, Home Improvement Services, Automotive, Health-Care Services, Food & Beverage, Real Estate, Technology and many more industries.

I built my business buying qualified leads from various lead sources for people who are interested in franchise ownership. As a franchise consultant, I reached-out to leads and qualified the prospect by phone. I was comfortable talking to clients from all over the United States. I help educate the prospect on the franchise industry and what to expect as they go through the process. Relationship building and listening skills are very important as the client needed to trust me. We have a set of questions to control the call. I know how to follow the process that has been successful in the franchise consulting industry. What are the clients interests, skills, their industry background, capital to invest/ down money, net worth, do they have any credit issues and etc. I was not afraid to ask the tough questions. If they are serious about franchise ownership, I introduced the client to funding sources very quickly, so we knew how much capital they could be approved for a franchise. I obviously did not want to present franchises to the prospect, if they could not qualify for the brand financially.

Typically, I presented 3-4 franchise business models that fit the prospects goals and background. I'm very capable in presenting quality presentations to the client. If they liked any of my choices, I introduced the prospect to the Franchise Development Manager for the the specific brand. I then helped and guided the prospect through the process. The potential franchisee will go through 4-6 calls / interviews with various people in the franchise and can take up to 5-6 weeks. I follow-up with each client after each call with the franchisor and see what he thought as I help guide them through the process.

As a franchise consultant, the fees can be very lucrative, but buying of a business is a big decision for the potential franchisee. I had people back-out after a few months who had gone through the process and one guy left while he was in was in training. The key is to have a pipeline of prospects, as true of all sales. In addition, the cost for leads can very expensive. The industry is very competitive, as their are other consultants presenting other franchises from the web, and the prospect also may have a franchise they are already interested in and go straight to the franchise. Very competitive industry.

The key is the client has to like and trust me as I guide them through the process and hold their hand. This is a consultative selling business model. As a consultant you learn much about human nature, but everybody is different. You have to listen and ask the right questions.