Franchise Spotlight with Katherine LeBlanc
Sep 28, 2026 · 36 min · 10 segments
Ziebart's Chief Growth Officer Larisa Walega and Franchise Assembly co-founder Liane Caruso join Katherine LeBlanc for a direct conversation about what's actually working in franchise development…
Larisa WalegaGuestLiane CarusoGuestSo to put you on the spot, what's the most overrated lead source in franchise development? And both of my guests were very excited about their answers.
I do think when I came into this role, so I led marketing on the FranDev side first before then helping to lead the entire department.
And I remember being given that task and saying, you know, assess what you're doing and let's put together a different plan.
And I assessed the portals that we were using and found I added this extra metric.
I also added a metric in between that and then whatever that next step in each brand can be different in their franchise development journey of like an actual contact rate.
Because you can say all day, right, that you have, I call them inquiries, okay? Like they're inquiries, they're not leads until you actually have contact.
And I found that the contact rate in the portals versus several of the other channels that we were using was very, very low for us.
And Leanne, what about you? What's the most overrated lead source in franchise development?
So I think it's a lot harder to get to your ideal candidate than people think that it is.
And the DMs and The DMs and then the DMs again, like that's, you know, I don't think people are, everybody thinks people are on LinkedIn a lot more than they are.
I think because the franchise space is on LinkedIn so much, but we're just talking to each other.
So I think for organic, I don't mind that only because I think it's a validator, but I don't think it's necessarily a lead source.
So to put you on the spot, what's the most overrated lead source in franchise development? And both of my guests were very excited about their answers.
I do think when I came into this role, so I led marketing on the FranDev side first before then helping to lead the entire department.
And I remember being given that task and saying, you know, assess what you're doing and let's put together a different plan.
And I assessed the portals that we were using and found I added this extra metric.
I also added a metric in between that and then whatever that next step in each brand can be different in their franchise development journey of like an actual contact rate.
Because you can say all day, right, that you have, I call them inquiries, okay? Like they're inquiries, they're not leads until you actually have contact.
And I found that the contact rate in the portals versus several of the other channels that we were using was very, very low for us.
And Leanne, what about you? What's the most overrated lead source in franchise development?
So I think it's a lot harder to get to your ideal candidate than people think that it is.
And the DMs and The DMs and then the DMs again, like that's, you know, I don't think people are, everybody thinks people are on LinkedIn a lot more than they are.
I think because the franchise space is on LinkedIn so much, but we're just talking to each other.
So I think for organic, I don't mind that only because I think it's a validator, but I don't think it's necessarily a lead source.
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