Franchise Development Manager India

Function: Franchise Development / Channel Development

Location: Pan India | Extensive Travel

Experience: 8–14 Years

Employment Type: Full-time The Opportunity

We are building an exclusive premium retail franchise network across India and are looking for a commercially robust, hands-on Franchise Development Manager to lead this expansion.

This is not a desk-based business development role.

We are looking for someone who has personally identified, evaluated, negotiated with, and appointed dealers, distributors, or franchisees in the premium building materials or allied industries.

You will own the entire franchise journey:

Market Mapping Partner Identification Qualification Negotiation Signing Store Launch Performance Management The Mandate

- 4–5 Format A franchise outlets signed and operational within the first 9 months
- 10–12 additional franchise outlets across Tier-2 India in the following 18 months
- Build a high-quality, sustainable network — not a high-volume, low-quality partner base

What You Will Own 1. Market Mapping & Partner Acquisition

- Build a city-by-city pipeline of potential franchise partners across India.
- Identify established entrepreneurs and dealers in:

- Premium Tiles
- Sanitaryware & Bath Fittings

- Lighting

- Surfaces

- Modular Kitchens

- Natural Stone
- Other premium architectural/building-material categories
- Source partners through market visits, industry relationships, brand principals, architects, interior designers, referrals, and trade associations.
- Conduct on-ground assessment of potential partners, including:

- Location

- Premises

- Brands represented

- Market reputation

- Architect relationships

- Capital capacity

- Family involvement

- Growth potential
- Develop robust relationships with local promoters and business owners.

2. Qualification, Commercials & Closure

- Qualify prospects against a clearly defined franchise partner profile.
- Reject weak candidates quickly. The quality of the network is more important than the number of signings.
- Present the franchise proposition, investment, margins, territory rights, payback, and business economics to prospective partners.
- Discuss the opportunity confidently with business owners and promoters.
- Coordinate prospective partner visits to the manufacturing facility and relevant company events.
- Negotiate commercial terms and drive the process through signing.
- Coordinate with Legal and Finance on agreements,



deposits, territory definitions, and commercial closure.

3. From Signing to Store Opening Own the franchise launch process and ensure the outlet moves from signing to opening within 90 days.

Coordinate

- Site approval
- Store design and fit-out
- Brand compliance
- Display planning
- Recruitment of store personnel
- Training and certification
- Launch event and local market activation
- Coordination with internal teams for supply, technical, and commercial requirements

4. Franchise Performance Management Signing the franchise is only the beginning.

You will be responsible for helping franchisees become productive and commercially successful.

- Enforce CRM discipline across the franchise network.
- Ensure project registration, quotation generation, and activity tracking are followed.
- Conduct monthly performance reviews with franchise partners.

- Monitor

- Sales funnel

- Architect and designer coverage

- Project pipeline

- Conversion

- Discounting

- Offtake versus commitment

- Store performance
- Identify underperformance early and take corrective action.
- Act as the franchisee's escalation point for supply, technical, and commercial issues.

Who We Are Looking For

Must Have

- 8–14 years of experience in channel development, dealer development, or franchise development.
- At least 4 years of personally appointing dealers, distributors, or franchisees.
- Experience in premium building materials or allied categories.
- Strong network and market understanding within the building-materials trade.
- Proven experience in negotiating commercial terms directly with business owners/promoters.
- Strong understanding of store economics, investment, margins, working capital, P&L;, and payback.
- Willingness to travel 15–18 days every month across India.
- Graduate degree is essential.
- Fluent in English and Hindi.
- Comfortable working with CRM systems such as Zoho or equivalent.

Strong Advantage Experience with premium brands/categories such as:





Tiles | Sanitaryware | Bath Fittings | Lighting | Surfaces | Modular Kitchens | Natural Stone | Architectural Products

Candidates from established brands in these categories with strong dealer-development experience will be preferred.

Knowledge of an additional regional language — Telugu, Kannada, Tamil, Bengali, Gujarati, or Marathi — will be an advantage.

MBA is preferred, but strong field experience and a proven appointment track record matter more than the qualification.

The Primary Interview Question

“Which dealers, distributors, or franchisees have you personally appointed? In which cities? What was the investment/business profile of the partner, and what did those outlets achieve after you appointed them?”

You should be able to answer this with specific names, cities, numbers, and outcomes.

This role is best suited to someone who has actually built a channel, rather than someone who has only managed an existing network.

What Will Make You Successful

- You are trusted by dealers and promoters in the trade.
- You can walk into an unfamiliar market and quickly identify the businesses that matter.
- You know how to get the attention of a local business owner.
- You can distinguish a genuine franchise opportunity from a weak candidate looking for a brand name.
- You are willing to walk away from a bad partner, even when there is pressure to show signings.
- You sell a business proposition, not just a product.
- You can discuss capital, profitability, succession, growth, and long-term business potential with promoters.
- You are honest about the opportunity and do not oversell the franchise model.
- You are equally comfortable with field acquisition, commercial negotiation, and post-signing performance management.

Key Performance Indicators Your performance will be measured on:

- Number and quality of franchise partners appointed
- 4–5 operational Format A franchises within 9 months
- 10–12 additional franchises within the following 18 months
- Partner quality and commercial viability
- Time from signing to store opening
- Franchisee sales and offtake
- Architect/designer network development
- CRM and pipeline discipline
- Franchisee performance and retention

Important This is a high-travel, field-intensive role.

Candidates looking primarily for an office-based business development position will not be a fit.

If you have personally built dealer/franchise networks and can demonstrate the cities, partners, and business results, we would like to hear from you.

📌 Franchisee Development Manager (Bengaluru)
🏢 Consult in India
📍 Bengaluru