DIGITAL

INTERNATIONAL
International Franchise
Expo: Prime Opportunity
for Consummating
International Sales
Internet communications are great but they don’t replace face-to-face
meetings. That’s what makes franchise expos valuable.
BY DR. JOHN HAYES
Four brothers visiting the 2015 International Franchise
Expo glanced at a poster touting international sales at
the Wayback Burgers booth and said to the franchisor,
“No Pakistan?”
“Not yet, but you could be the first,” responded an
enthusiastic Bill Chemero, executive vice president. That
answer initiated a 15-minute discussion, followed by a
private sales presentation, and ultimately the sale of the
master license for Pakistan.
Meanwhile, the guys at the Sanoserv booth, first-time
IFE exhibitors from Malta, were closing down five minutes
before the end of the last day of the show and a prospect
stopped to ask for information about their hygiene business.
Several weeks and several discussions later that prospect,
an engineer looking for his own business, bought the master
license for Ecuador.
HIGHEST QUALITY DOMESTIC AND
INTERNATIONAL PROSPECTS
These are just two of many examples that explain why
franchisors rely on the IFE not only for their domestic
expansion in the United States, but for international sales
too. Through the years, most companies that exhibit at
the IFE do so for the domestic opportunities because
approximately 80 percent of the visitors come from the
United States. However, as international attendance has
grown, many exhibitors have launched their international
expansion from the IFE simply because the right prospect
showed up at their booth.
What began almost 25 years ago as the only national
franchise expo in the United States has since become a
58 FRANCHISING WORLD NOVEMBER 2015
springboard to franchise development worldwide. “The IFE
attracts the highest qualified prospects from all 50 states
and 122 countries,” explains show producer Tom Portesy,
president of MFV Expositions.
“In seven years of franchise development,” said franchise
veteran Chemero, “we’ve opened 97 units and we have 350
more in development in the USA alone. Fifteen percent of
those sales are a result of the IFE and other expos” produced
by MFV Expositions and sponsored by the International
Franchise Association.
“Ninety percent of my international sales came from the
IFE,” explained Ray Margiano, who won an international
franchising award from the IFE in 2005 for his vast
productivity. He sold master licenses for Heel Quik, his shoe
repair business, in 30 countries. At the first IFE, Margiano
sold a master license for Japan to Duskin, one of the world’s
largest franchise conglomerates. He eventually sold his
interest in Heel Quik, but returned to the IFE in 2000 with
a new concept, Foot Solutions. Since then he’s sold master
licenses in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon,
Germany, Ireland, England, Scotland, Malaysia, South Africa,
Australia, and Singapore – all from the IFE.
CELEBRATING IFE’S SILVER ANNIVERSARY
In 2016, the IFE will celebrate its silver jubilee at the
Javits Center in New York City. Plans are already in the
works to produce a record crowd of visitors and exhibitors.
MFV Expositions dedicates a multi-million dollar budget to
advertising and promotion, and relies on dozens of strategic
partners worldwide to produce aisles filled with qualified
prospects for the three-day expo.
(Continued on page 60)