Testimonials

Hear From Our Exhibitors

"The West Coast Franchise Expo let’s us have the face-to-face interaction with prospective candidates that you can’t realize with other types of lead generation. Exhibiting at the expo allows Sarku Japan to properly introduce our image and brand in the context of comprehensive discussion. These are events are important for our strategy, and we’re able to what other concepts are doing to engage show visitors.

Our investment level is nearly $500,000, and financing is a challenge. WCFE attendees have shown a willingness to explore various financing resources, and the welcome news is that many of the people that we spoke with at the expo are self funded, and have the capital ready to invest. They’re ready to choose a franchise they’re just looking for the right fit.

Our plan is to participate in the three large franchise events in 2011. Franchise Expo South, The International Franchise Expo, and we plan to be back for next year’s West Coast Franchise Expo. We’re able to meet with quite a few international prospects and we’re sticking with the MFV events. We’ve reduced our presence at smaller, regional events that just don’t attract the high number of qualified candidates you’ll see at these IFA sponsored events. "

"When you’re here, on the show floor, at the West Coast Franchise Expo, it’s tangible. That’s the most important thing. When people are going take time out of their day and weekend to visit the expo are probably more serious that candidates we get from other mediums.

Friday was the single best tradeshow day that I’ve had in probably 21 years of being in franchising. The quality of the people we met was phenomenal, and I think our brand is well positioned so that we are a unique opportunity here at the expo. Many of the folks we met are a great fit for KLA – not just financially, but culturally and that’s really the connection we seek. We were so busy, I couldn’t get away from my booth to have lunch Friday – we spoke with individual candidates for over one hour very serious prospects. On Friday alone we had eight phenomenal leads and that’s the best day we’ve ever had. A prospect we met Friday was back first thing Saturday to continue the conversation.

Everyone we met at WCFE was a first time meeting - all these leads are brand new for us. One candidate plans to travel to the east coast to attend a discovery day during Franchise Expo South you just can’t acquire leads like this any other way. When you’re an east coast company, there are challenges to developing in the west. You need to be here face to face. Prospects can’t just drive over to your office to discuss the opportunity. So when a candidate plans to fly east, to take time off from their job and leave their family behind to spend critical time at a location and at our offices, it’s truly the most valuable lead we can acquire. The candidate that returned Saturday morning is from Mexico and will be opening up a Seattle location for KLA very soon.

In the past, I was never was that big a proponent of franchise expo events. Then we exhibited at FES in 2010 for the first time - where we awarded a new franchise. Our plans now include FES in 2011, the IFE in DC in 2011 and back here in LA for WCFE next November. The franchise expo events are an integral part of our planning moving forward. "

"WCFE was much better than I anticipated. I wasn’t sure how it was going to pan out this year but the attendance is fabulous with many more franchisors than I expected to see. There are a new group of franchisors that I hadn’t seen at previous expos which worked out extremely well - it gave me the opportunity to have face time wit these new companies. It’s been great overall.

I’ve been to every expo for the last 11 years. Franchise Expo events are a great way to meet franchisors face to face. The shows allow us to meet companies that we may not have been able to connect with for months - and we can do it all in just one weekend. "

"We came to exhibit for a few reasons. The first is that we want to be sure that the franchisors understand that we have built a dedicated division to support them and their business model as a complete solution. The second reason is to create a buzz to potential franchisees to realize that on careerbuilder, we not only have employment opportunities but also offer alternative career opportunities- many of the zors here at the event plus many others are on our site and offer options for prospects interested in investing in their own future.

We met a number of prospects and shared our story - we also met with many current clients and prospective clients and let them know some of things we’re doing to help them find great franchisee candidates as well as support their franchise systems for employment. "