In golf there is a facile yet profound saying that goes something like this:  100% of the putts that are left short fail to go in the hole.   Anyone who has ever played golf knows that there is nothing more frustrating then leaving a putt short.  Why?  Because in the back of your mind you know that had you hit he ball a little bit harder it just might have gone in.

What does putting have to do with on-line lead generation?  Admittedly not a whole lot save the following analogy:  If you leave a putt short the putt is not going in the hole.  Likewise, if you don’t take measures to generate franchise leads you pretty much guarantee yourself that you will not generate any franchise leads.

In 2009 there appears to be more than a few franchisors that have chosen to reduce their franchise advertising budgets.   And, there are even some that are choosing to not advertise at all in 2009.   I do not presume to know the particulars of each franchisors’ decision to reduce its franchise development budget. Reducing or eliminating the amount of money spent for franchise lead generation may in fact be a non-negotiable necessity.   If so, this post is not intended for them.  But for those companies that can spend money but are simply choosing not to (for whatever reason), then I would like to point out the following: Franchise Opportunities Network has been generating franchise leads for the last 9 years and we intend to be doing it for at least the next 9 years.  Stated simply: we are not going anywhere and we are not going to slow down our efforts.

Admittedly the decision by franchisors to spend less on franchise lead generation in 2009 impacts my company–as well as the rest of the industry.   But while I cannot speak for my competition, I can guarantee you that the economy is not going to impact how diligent we are in generating leads.  Our lead generation efforts are agnostic to our total client number.  We are going to work just as hard and be just as diligent whether we have 50 clients or we have 500 clients.

This means is that the advertisers who continue to advertise with us in 2009 (and those who join us in 2009) will get a relatively larger share of the leads we are able to generate.   Will this give those franchisors an advantage over their competition?   There is no way for me—or anybody else for that matter– to know for certain.   But not advertising in 2009 is quite similar to the putt left short.   And personally I hate walking to the next green wondering what could have been had I simply trusted my abilities and put a little bit firmer stroke on the ball.

Finally, and please excuse my continued use of golf as a literary device, but if you think you cannot hit a putt you are not likely to hit the putt.   Confidence is everything.   It is in golf, and it is in business.   In the last two months a never-ending avalanche of bad economic news has overrun us.   The problem with macro-economic news is that it is many times self-fulfilling.  If we think we cannot get out of this economic anytime soon then we are probably not going to be able to do so.   But that is antithetical to the ideological premise upon which franchising is based.  We are optimists.  We are “can do” people.   We never have and we never will simply sit back and wait for something or somebody (be it government or individual) to help us out.  In sum, we don’t need a bailout because we are the one industry that actually can bailout the rest of the economy.   We can, that is, if we thing positively and get the ball to the hole.

Franchising can and will thrive during this recession because we can and will hit the next putt.