With this recruitment and ROI calculator you set the costs of each recruitment channel against the number of signed franchisees, including your head office's hours. The second tool calculates what local visibility per location returns in extra customers and revenue. Key point: it is not reach that determines your return, but the number of contracts and customers it produces.
Calculator 1: what does a signed franchisee cost you now?
Enter your own figures for the past year. Everything is calculated in your browser only; nothing is sent or stored.
Calculator 2: what does local visibility return for your locations?
Use the extra calls and direction requests from your dashboard or baseline measurement. We promise no numbers; this calculation shows when it pays off.
How do you use the calculators for recruitment and local visibility?
At the top of this page you will find two tools. Everything is calculated in your own browser; nothing is sent to us. Work with the figures from the past twelve months.
Tool 1: cost per signed franchisee
For each channel, enter what it cost, how many leads it generated and how many people eventually signed. The tool shows the cost per lead and per signed contract for each channel. You then add your head office's hours, at your internal hourly rate. If you have a quote for recruiting on results, enter the success fee it states.
Tool 2: what local visibility per location returns
Choose the number of locations and the package: Basic €199, Growth €400 or Full service €600 per location per month, excl. VAT. Then enter how many extra calls and direction requests a location receives per month, what share of them become customers and what a new customer spends on average. The tool calculates the cost per extra customer and the revenue per euro invested. What the packages include exactly is explained under package prices per location.
Where do you find the figures for your recruitment costs and ROI?
You already have most of the numbers, spread across a few systems. If a figure is missing, leave the field empty rather than guessing.
| Figure in the tool | Where you find it | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Cost per channel | Invoices and the head office accounts | Include stand rental, fit-out, print and packages |
| Leads per channel | CRM or the mailbox where sign-ups arrive | Record the source for each lead, otherwise you cannot calculate per channel |
| Leads from a trade fair | Fair registrations, scanned badges and business cards | Only count people you actually followed up by phone |
| Signed franchisees | Contract records | Link each contract to the channel of first contact |
| Own hours | Head office calendars and time records | Meetings, follow-up, selection and trade fair days |
| Calls and direction requests | The dashboard per location or your baseline measurement | Compare with the same month before the start |
| Revenue per new customer | Till system or revenue figures from the locations | Use an average from your own franchise brand |
Work together on measurable results, not on an annual contract. Start with the free visibility scan.
Why calculate with result KPIs instead of reach?
Visitors, print runs and trade fair attendance say nothing about what appears in your bank account or contract records. It is 2026: you no longer need to pay for media without demonstrable results. A common objection in the market is that in the classic model you pay for listings, packages and stands, even if nobody signs. A directory remains useful for orientation. The only question is what you pay for. A detailed comparison is set out in franchise portal or in-house recruitment, and which figures to track per location is explained under the key metrics for chains.
| Reach KPI | What it tells you | Result KPI to measure instead |
|---|---|---|
| Visitors to a directory or portal | How many people dropped by | Signed franchisees per channel |
| Print run of a magazine or flyer | How many copies were printed | Cost per signed contract |
| Trade fair attendance | How busy it was on the floor | Introductions with candidates who fit on capital and region |
| Number of leads | How many names came in | Head office hours per signed contract |
| Impressions of a location profile | How often the profile was shown | Calls, direction requests and revenue per euro invested |
What does a fictional calculation of the cost per franchisee look like?
The button for the fictional example fills the tools with made-up numbers. It is not a market average and not an existing franchise brand. A fictional franchise brand spends €18,000 a year on a trade fair (60 leads, 1 signed), €9,000 on a franchise directory (120 leads, 1 signed), €4,000 on print (10 leads, 0 signed) and €3,000 on a newsletter (25 leads, 0 signed). The head office spends 200 hours on follow-up, at €60 per hour.
| Step | Calculation | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Add up media costs | €18,000 + €9,000 + €4,000 + €3,000 | €34,000 |
| 2. Add up leads | 60 + 120 + 10 + 25 | 215 leads |
| 3. Cost per lead | €34,000 / 215 | €158.14 |
| 4. Own hours in euros | 200 hours x €60 | €12,000 |
| 5. Total recruitment costs | €34,000 + €12,000 | €46,000 |
| 6. Cost per signed franchisee | €46,000 / 2 signed | €23,000 |
| 7. Leads without a contract | 215 - 2 | 213 leads |
| Step | Calculation | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Cost per month | 20 locations x €400 (Growth) | €8,000 |
| 2. Extra actions | 20 locations x 30 calls and direction requests | 600 actions |
| 3. Extra customers | 600 x 20% | 120 customers |
| 4. Extra revenue | 120 x €150 | €18,000 |
| 5. Cost per extra customer | €8,000 / 120 | €66.67 |
| 6. Revenue per euro invested | €18,000 / €8,000 | €2.25 |
What this fictional calculation shows
Per lead, the directory seems cheapest: €75 compared with €300 for the trade fair. Per signed contract, the two channels cost €9,000 and €18,000 in media respectively here. Print and newsletter together cost €7,000 without a contract. And the 200 hours of filtering raise the price per signed franchisee from €17,000 to €23,000. Your own figures may turn out very differently.
Which recruitment and marketing model moves with your results?
If the calculation shows that you mainly pay for reach, a model that only costs money when something happens is the obvious choice. We work this way on both tasks. Our story behind it is told under faster, more transparent and sharply priced.
Recruitment: nothing upfront, a success fee on a signed contract
With recruitment based on results you pay €0 upfront. You pay per verified introduction with a candidate who has already been checked on own capital, financeability, region and motivation, plus a success fee on signing. The amounts are set out in writing in your quote in advance. Candidates also come in through your own recruitment pages and online visibility; see finding prospective franchisees online. Franchise brand profiles can be claimed free of charge via franchise-starten.nl for franchisors. Please note: after the pre-contractual information, the Dutch Franchise Act requires a four-week standstill before anything may be signed. Have your contract reviewed by a franchise lawyer; this is not legal advice.
Local visibility: fixed price, no annual contract
For locations there is a fixed, public price per location per month and no annual contract. We report on measurable actions such as calls and direction requests, visible in measurable results per location. If it does not pay off, you can stop. You start with a free baseline measurement of your locations, so you can fill tool 2 with real starting figures.
What does a location outside the Google Maps top 3 cost you?
This calculation uses Dutch figures instead of American click-through rates. The average revenue per franchise location comes from the Dutch Franchise Association (NFV) statistics, reference year 2025. Nobody can say in advance exactly how much revenue a location loses without a top position in Google Maps, with a Google Business Profile that is not in order, or without proper review management. So you calculate a scenario per cause: a few percent of revenue going to a more visible competitor. Add them up and you see the combined cost.
| Sector | Revenue per location per year | 1% revenue missed | 3% revenue missed | Growth package (€4,800 a year) as share of revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All sectors (average) | €1,445,000 | €14,450 | €43,350 | 0.33% |
| Services | €480,000 | €4,800 | €14,400 | 1% |
| Hospitality | €1,230,000 | €12,300 | €36,900 | 0.39% |
| Health care | €1,270,000 | €12,700 | €38,100 | 0.38% |
| Non-food retail | €1,750,000 | €17,500 | €52,500 | 0.27% |
| Food retail | €2,910,000 | €29,100 | €87,300 | 0.16% |
| Other brands | €680,000 | €6,800 | €20,400 | 0.71% |
- 6 of the 100 largest Dutch franchise chains reply to a Google review within 24 hours; the average response time is 6.8 days and 90% has no demonstrable review management process.
- Only 40% of the 500 Google Business Profiles examined is fully completed.
- In the measurement one review was viewed around 15,000 times on average: an unanswered complaint stays visible to thousands of people.
- 42% of consumers would rather not do business with a company that never replies to reviews (BrightLocal 2026).
Sources: NFV Franchise Statistics, reference year 2025 (34,937 locations, €50.5 billion revenue); Local SEO Franchise Benchmark 2026 (100 largest chains, 500 profiles); sector model on franchiseseo.nl (in Dutch). The percentages are scenarios you choose, not a measurement or a promise. We do not promise rankings or revenue.
Questions about the recruitment and ROI calculator
Are the figures I enter in the calculator stored?
Are the numbers in the example a market average?
Why do I include the head office's hours?
What if a channel generates many leads but nobody signs?
Why do you not state an amount for recruiting on results?
Can I ignore reach, such as trade fair attendance or print runs, completely?
How do I know how many extra calls a location receives?
Which package do I choose in the local calculator?
Can I stop if local visibility does not pay off?
Does the Dutch Franchise Act standstill count in my recruitment planning?
Sources
Gijs Bodenstaff
Franchise marketer, local SEO and GEO specialist, author
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