How To Avoid Looking Like Spam, and Get Through to Legitimate Franchise Prospects

By: Michael Alston for Franchise Insights

December 17, 2025 – Last week, we shared shocking statistics on the drag introduced into the sales process by spammers to desired and requested follow-up conversations with franchise sales teams.

This week, we attempt to provide a concise review of the basics of how franchise development teams can get through to interested prospects. A comprehensive action plan is beyond the scope of this article, but we are attempting to provide a “first aid” list of the 20% of suggestions that might yield 80% of the results, by channel.

The first rule of not looking like spam is to not act like a spammer.

Reach out to prospects in the ways and order they prefer. For initial contact, choose these three channels in this order – email, text message, and then a follow up call. This best practice is supported by years of surveying prospects.

Email, Your Best Friend for Initial Contact

Sending an introductory email first gives you many benefits that impact all the channels of communication, and will make your conversations more productive. Starting from the top:

If at all possible, use an identifiable sender address (like “suesmith@yourfranchise” as opposed to “info@yourfranchise). For heaven’s sake, don’t send from “no-reply@yourfranchise.com.”
Make the subject line relevant, like “following up on your inquiry” or even “l look forward to our conversation.” Very important – don’t include words or phrases like “Act Now”, “Limited Time Offer” or “Make Money”, and avoid exclamation points or dollar signs.
Begin with “Dear [Firstname] so that the prospect can reasonably expect that this is not an email blast.
Introduce yourself: “I’m Sue Smith at {Your Franchise] responding to your inquiry about our franchise.
Most importantly, let the prospect know that you intend to call, and what number you will be calling from. You can ask them to add you to contacts, but if AT LEAST you include your calling number in the email, Apple’s phone app will recognize you from email and show “maybe Susie Smith” instead of sending you to voicemail per user preferences.
Provide a short paragraph or two with a link to further information (especially brand story or testimonial videos) on your website. Better yet, a set of links to a set of relevant resources that you want to put forward, rather than a link to your home page.
Include a personal signature like “Best, Susie Smith) with your contact information.

We hope there are not too many unfamiliar ideas in the list above, but you would be surprised how some senders overlook these basics.

Text Messaging – the Ideal Second Follow-Up

A brief text message during daylight hours (or over the weekend if that is an expectation of your sales team) is the best way to briefly set up a time to talk further, and to get your phones connected so that you are not blocked as spam after an initial exchange. Be sure to include the legally required “Reply STOP to stop” at the end of your message.

Voice Contact – The Final Frontier

Calling at a mutually-agreed time from a recognized number is the gold standard for not being considered spam. If you have not set a time, it is best to make follow-up calls during the prospect’s business hours – be considerate of time zones. Make the goal of that call to set an agreed-upon time, unless the prospect is ready for the conversation when you call.

As we learned from an industry survey last week, cold calls go unanswered by 68% of consumers, and 39% proceed to blocking the caller.

Following these basic rules of “first aid to avoid looking like spam” will increase the number of productive conversations and most importantly, decrease the likelihood of you and your company being flagged by the large email service providers, telcos and phone operating systems as potential spam.

Franchise Ventures is the leading franchise lead-generation platform for potential franchisees to thousands of growing franchise systems in the United States and Canada. Its franchise lead generation brands include Franchise.com, Franchise Solutions, Franchise Gator, Franchise Opportunities, Franchise For Sale, SmallBusinessStartup.com and BusinessBroker.net, and together they provide the largest aggregation of prospective franchise buyers in the U.S.

Interested in more insights from our proprietary data set? Subscribe here to make sure you hear about them first.

Contact Franchise Ventures to get your share of today’s aspiring franchise owners.

Published on Wednesday, December 17th, 2025.