I came home from the Franchise Leadership & Development Conference (FLDC) in Atlanta with plenty of notes, new connections, and a few statistics I haven’t stopped thinking about.
The big theme? Franchise development isn’t getting any easier.
Inquiries are down. Candidates are finding brands in places they weren’t looking a year ago. And getting someone from “I’m interested” to “Where do I sign?” comes with a few more hurdles these days.
But Atlanta wasn’t all doom and gloom. There were plenty of good ideas, candid conversations, and reminders that sometimes the biggest opportunities aren’t where we’re used to looking.
Here are five things that stuck with me.
1. The squeeze is real. Every lead matters more than ever.
62% of franchise brands are seeing fewer inquiries.
That was one of the statistics shared at FLDC that made me sit up a little straighter. And it’s not just a small dip. Across the brands studied, the typical brand saw an 11% decline in inquiries. So if your franchise development team feels like it's working harder to generate the same level of interest, you're probably not imagining things.
The natural reaction? More campaigns, more channels, more budget. And sure, generating demand still matters. But before pouring more into the top of the funnel, there’s another question worth asking:
What happens to all the leads you already paid for?
Did they get a timely response? Did anyone follow up after the first attempt? Did an interested candidate quietly disappear before ever speaking to someone?
When inquiries are harder to come by, those missed conversations become a lot harder to shrug off.
2. More leads don't necessarily mean more deals.
Here's a number that sounds impressive: 82% of franchise inquiries came from online sources, according to data presented at FLDC. Websites accounted for 52%, while paid and social channels contributed another 30%.
Clearly, digital is doing a lot of the heavy lifting. But here's where things get interesting.
The channel that brings in the most leads isn't necessarily the one that brings in the most franchisees.
A hundred inquiries look great on a dashboard. But what if only a handful turn into conversations? Meanwhile, another source sends a fraction of the volume but produces candidates who are actually ready to move forward. Which one is really performing better?
It's easy to celebrate lead volume. It's a lot harder, and a lot more useful, to trace what happens next. Are those leads engaging? Booking appointments? Moving through the development process? Signing agreements? Because at the end of the day, you can't deposit a lead count. The numbers that matter are the ones that move your business forward.
3. Your next franchise candidate might be asking ChatGPT.
"What's the best franchise to buy with $200,000?"
"Which home services franchises have recurring revenue?"
"What's a good franchise for a first-time business owner?"
Those aren't just Google searches anymore. They're questions prospective franchisees are asking AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Copilot. And it's starting to show up in the data.
One presentation at FLDC shared that AI was first explicitly identified as an inquiry source in its dataset in September 2025. Since then, AI-referred inquiries have appeared every month. For brands tracking this emerging source, AI accounts for approximately 2% of inquiries.
2% might not sound like much. But neither did many digital channels when they first appeared.
I’m not suggesting everyone drop their marketing plans and chase the latest AI trend. But it does raise an interesting question:
If someone asked ChatGPT to recommend a franchise in your category, would your brand make the list?
One practical idea I took away from FLDC: Try it yourself. Ask a few AI tools which franchises they'd recommend in your category. See what comes up. Then look at your own website. Are you answering the questions candidates actually ask? Investment requirements, business models, territories, timelines, and what makes your opportunity different?
AI recommendations aren't always accurate or consistent, but candidate discovery is evolving. And it's worth knowing whether your brand is part of the conversation.
4. Growth isn't just about signing more franchisees.
Here's a question franchise development teams probably don't ask often enough: Are we growing, or are we just replacing what we're losing?
At FLDC, one of our brand partners, Tom Wood, CEO of Floor Coverings International, shared a statistic that made me think twice: “Franchise sales must cover 17.5% of the existing base to maintain unit count.”
In other words, before you can even talk about net growth, you may need to replace a meaningful number of units lost through turnover.
As Tom pointed out, this is one of the most overlooked reasons why franchise systems flatten out.
But there's another side to the equation.
JJ Sorrenti, one of our brand partners, CEO of Best Life Brands, challenged brands to ask: “How many can we absorb?” instead of “How many can we sign up?”
It's a subtle shift, but an important one. Because signing more franchisees sounds great on paper. But if development outpaces the organization's ability to onboard, train, and support those new owners, are you really setting the system up for long-term success? And the market isn't making growth any easier.
A few other numbers shared at FLDC help paint the picture:
- 33% fewer SBA 7(a) loans in the first nine months of fiscal year 2026, according to the conference presentation.
- 8.9% higher construction input prices over the prior year.
- 29% less retail space under construction compared with the 10-year average.
Financing, construction costs, and location availability can all add friction to an already complicated process. So franchise development teams are facing pressure from both directions: bringing in enough new franchisees to grow while making sure the organization can actually support that growth.
More franchise sales don't automatically mean a healthier franchise system.
My takeaway? The goal isn't simply to sign more agreements. It's to build a system that can sustain the growth those agreements represent.
That’s why brands are actively measuring metrics like SNO (Signed and Not Opened), which tracks franchise agreements that have yet to translate into operating locations. It’s a reminder that signing a franchisee is only one step toward actual growth.
Ultimately, sustainable growth requires development, operations, and support teams to work toward the same goal: not just signing more franchisees, but successfully opening and supporting them.
5. Technology should create more human connections, not fewer.
This one hit close to home. At FLDC, I led a roundtable on "FranDev MarTech: What's Actually Working?" And one question kept coming back to me:
With all the technology available to franchise development teams, are we actually making it easier to build relationships?
We've got CRMs, marketing automation, AI, lead scoring, scheduling tools, dashboards, and probably a few platforms someone on the team forgot they subscribed to. There's certainly no shortage of tools. But more technology doesn't automatically mean better franchise development.
A perfectly automated process doesn't mean much if nobody's having a meaningful conversation at the end of it.
Franchise ownership is a big financial and personal commitment. Candidates want answers, guidance, and a real person they can trust.
And that's where I think technology has the biggest opportunity to make a difference. It can respond when someone is interested, even if that's at 9 PM on a Sunday. Keep the conversation going when a candidate needs more time. And free up development representatives to spend less time chasing unanswered messages and more time talking to people who are ready to engage. That's what stuck with me most from our roundtable.
Technology shouldn't replace human connection. It should make more of it possible.
The takeaway: Make every opportunity count.
If FLDC 2026 taught me anything, it's that franchise development teams have a lot on their plates.
Fewer inquiries. New discovery channels. More obstacles between interest and ownership. And an ever-growing list of technologies promising to help.
There's no magic button that fixes it all. (If someone found one in Atlanta, please let us know!) But one idea kept showing up across the conversations I had:
Growth isn't just about bringing more franchisees in the door. It's about making every opportunity count and building a system that can support what comes next.
That means engaging candidates when they're interested, understanding which leads are actually converting, and making sure development doesn't outpace the organization's ability to deliver. And using technology to give your team more time to do what people do best: build relationships.
Because ultimately, the goal is to build a stronger, more sustainable franchise system.
What was your biggest takeaway from FLDC 2026? I'd love to hear what stuck with you.
