Choose on three things you can check: whether the proposal is actually about recruiting franchisees, what the engagement commits you to over twelve months and at minimum, and whether you keep the accounts and data if you leave. Then compare how each agency’s performance claims are evidenced. A confident pitch tells you none of this. A completed evaluation sheet does.
We’re a franchise recruitment agency ourselves, so read this as a buyer’s method you can apply to us as well. The worked comparison below uses two fictional proposals.
If you’re still deciding whether to hire an agency at all, start with our agency versus in-house comparison. This guide assumes you’ve decided to compare agencies.
Step 1: Make every proposal answer the same scope
“Franchise marketing” covers two jobs: bringing customers to your locations, and recruiting the franchisees who open new ones. When we checked US Google results for “franchise marketing agency” on 28 October 2026, most of the agencies listed sold the first. Ask for a written answer on each line below, so two proposals can be compared line by line:
| Area | What the proposal must specify |
|---|---|
| Job | Franchisee recruitment, location marketing, or both, and which budget pays for each |
| Markets and territories | Which countries and open territories the campaigns target, and who keeps that list current |
| Channels | Which platforms, and whose ad accounts they run in |
| Creative | What gets produced each month, and who supplies owner stories and approved investment wording |
| Pages and forms | Which recruitment pages and form questions are included |
| CRM | Fields, delivery, error handling, and who checks that inquiries arrived |
| Qualification | Written rules for Qualified (green), Nurture (amber) and Disqualified (red), what stays Not yet graded, and what stays unverified at inquiry |
| Reporting | Definitions, cohort cutoff, and whether the report reaches signed agreements |
| Exit | What you receive if you leave: accounts, audiences, exports, documentation, notice period |
Where a line says “we optimise quality” or “full-funnel”, ask for the artifact behind it: the qualification rules, a sample report, an example change log.
Step 2: Cost the commitment, not the monthly fee
Fictional example. Two proposals for the same US franchisor, USD, same $6,000 monthly media budget paid directly to the platforms.
| Line | Proposal A | Proposal B |
|---|---|---|
| Setup (one-off) | $4,000 | $0 |
| Agency fee per month | $3,000 | $4,500 |
| Media per month | $6,000 | $6,000 |
| Production per month | $1,500 (your estimate for external video) | included |
| CRM integration (one-off) | $2,500 (your contractor’s quote) | included |
| Minimum term | 6 months | 12 months |
| 12-month total | $132,500 | $126,000 |
| 12-month total excluding media | $60,500 | $54,000 |
| Agency setup and fees owed through the minimum term | $22,000 | $54,000 |
How to read it:
- The monthly totals look identical. A: $3,000 + $6,000 + $1,500 = $10,500. B: $4,500 + $6,000 = $10,500.
- Over twelve months, B is $6,500 cheaper, because A carries setup and an integration cost that B includes. A = 4,000 + 12 × 10,500 + 2,500 = 132,500. B = 12 × 10,500 = 126,000.
- B commits you to more if you leave early. In these fictional contracts, the remaining fees for the minimum term fall due on early exit: A’s setup plus six months of fees is $22,000 (4,000 + 6 × 3,000); B’s twelve months is $54,000 (12 × 4,500). That line excludes media, A’s external production and contractor costs, and any other termination terms. Read your own contract for what actually applies.
- “Production included” needs a definition. Ask how many pieces, of what type, with how many revisions.
Neither number says which agency will recruit better. It tells you what you’re committing before the evidence comes in.
Step 3: Check the evidence behind every result they quote
For each case result in a proposal, ask:
- Who was the client, and did they approve public use of this figure?
- What was counted: inquiries, Qualified candidates, signed agreements, units or openings?
- Over what period, from what starting point, in which country and currency?
- What else changed in that period: territories released, pricing, sales staff?
A result reported as “3x more leads” with no client, period or denominator can’t count in your decision. That doesn’t make the agency bad. If an agency can’t share client records because of confidentiality, it can still show its measurement method, a sample report on fictional data, or an authorised reference call.
Step 4: Fill in the evaluation sheet
Mark each requirement Demonstrated (you’ve seen the evidence), Partially demonstrated (some evidence, with a named gap) or Unresolved (no evidence yet). Decide the must-haves before you read the proposals. Any must-have that isn’t Demonstrated, partial or unresolved, puts that proposal on hold until it is.
| Requirement | Must-have | Proposal A | Proposal B | Evidence note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scope is franchisee recruitment, not location marketing | yes | Demonstrated | Demonstrated | Both scopes name franchisee recruitment |
| Qualification rules written, including what stays unverified | yes | Demonstrated | Partially demonstrated | B says “we pre-qualify” but sent no rules |
| You own the ad accounts, pixel and data | yes | Demonstrated | Unresolved | B runs ads in its own business account; “transfer on request” isn’t defined yet |
| Costs comparable on the same scope | no | Demonstrated | Demonstrated | See the cost table |
| Performance claims give period, denominator and source | yes | Partially demonstrated | Unresolved | A offered one reference call; B: “clients see 3x leads” |
| Handoffs named, with failure handling | no | Partially demonstrated | Demonstrated | A leaves CRM delivery checks to you |
| Report follows cohorts to signed agreements | no | Demonstrated | Partially demonstrated | B’s sample report stops at cost per lead |
| Exit: passes the three exit acceptance tests below | yes | Demonstrated | Unresolved | B: 12-month minimum, no export list |
| Must-haves not yet Demonstrated | 1 | 4 |
Three exit tests you can run before signing
These need no personal data:
- Admin access. The agency adds your named admin to each ad account, pixel or dataset, and analytics property, in your own business account. You log in and see it. Pass means admin rights on day one.
- Data export. The agency exports sample CRM records (test or fictional) with field definitions and the grading rule version. Pass means they open in your own tools with their history.
- Integrations under your control. List each integration (forms, CRM, conversion uploads), confirm each runs under credentials you own, and push one test record end to end. Pass means it arrives without agency credentials.
The decision for this fictional franchisor. Neither proposal is ready to sign:
- A has one must-have on hold: its performance evidence is partial. Take the reference call, and ask A to price the CRM delivery checks it currently leaves to you.
- B has four must-haves on hold: qualification rules (partial), account ownership, performance evidence and exit (all unresolved). Ask B in writing for its qualification rules, and ask it to run the three exit tests and define what “transfer on request” means. If B passes, its lower twelve-month cost becomes a real advantage. Until then, its $54,000 minimum sits on accounts it controls.
There’s no total score in the sheet, on purpose. Adding up ticks lets strong areas outweigh a missing must-have, such as access to your own ad account.
Step 5: Agree what your team still owns
An agency can’t sign franchisees. Your team keeps the territory list current, answers inquiries within the agreed time, grades candidates under the written rules, and runs discovery. Put those obligations in the plan next to the agency’s deliverables, with names:
| Handoff | Agency | Your team |
|---|---|---|
| Territory list for targeting | Applies changes to campaigns within an agreed time | Development lead updates it and notifies the agency |
| Inquiry delivery | Monitors delivery failures daily | Confirms receipt in the CRM |
| Grading | Builds the fields and reports | Development reps grade every inquiry |
| Learning loop | Changes ads based on recorded reasons | Records a reason for every Disqualified and stalled record |
When results disappoint, this table is where to start: was it the agency’s part or yours that broke? If inquiries waited three days for a call, that’s a handoff your team owns, whichever agency you hire.
Questions to ask on the next call
- What will you look at before recommending a budget? A good answer names the inputs: your last few months of graded inquiries, your open territories, your team’s call capacity.
- Show me a report you’d send us in month three, on fictional data. Check that it separates Qualified, Nurture, Disqualified and Not yet graded, and shows cohort age.
- What happens if the first message doesn’t work? Ask for the stop rule and who decides.
- Will you run the three exit tests before we sign? The answer should be yes, with a date.
Download the worked comparison: C02-proposal-cost-comparison.csv, C02-agency-evaluation.csv and C02-exit-acceptance-tests.csv. Replace the fictional rows with your proposals.
If you’d like our proposal on the same sheet, bring your completed scope table to a diagnostic call. Our pricing is published, so you can cost it before the call.
Related: franchise lead generation · franchise recruitment marketing · qualifying franchise leads · cost per signed franchise
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