Head - Franchise GTM & Sales Strategy

About Cult

About the Role

We are looking for a seasoned franchising and GTM specialist to lead the strategy for cult.fit’s gym franchise expansion across India. This role will define who we partner with, how to reach them, and what messaging resonates while ensuring the sales organization is equipped to convert high-quality leads across both existing and new cities.

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Key Responsibilities

Franchise GTM Strategy & Persona Definition

• Define clear, data-backed franchise partner personas (first-time investors, seasoned business owners, HNIs, multi-unit operators).
• Craft persona-wise value propositions and narrative hooks that reflect a strong understanding of franchising economics, risk profiles, and partner motivations.
• Build and refine an end-to-end GTM strategy for franchise acquisition—structures, messaging logic, funnel stages, and qualification frameworks.

Channel & Outreach Strategy

• Identify the optimal channels to reach each persona—brokers, offline franchise networks, business communities, B2B events, digital channels, and referral networks.
• Work with the digital marketing team (not hands-on execution) to provide strategic direction, messaging frameworks, and guardrails for campaigns.
• Develop the offline outreach and media strategy for partner acquisition, leveraging industry events, franchise meets, and local market opportunities.

Sales Enablement & Org Capability Building

• Build the playbooks, scripts, objection-handling frameworks, qualification matrices, and sales processes needed to elevate close rates.
• Partner closely with the sales team to ensure consistent, high-quality outbound efforts and structured follow-ups.
• Create a robust framework for structured partner evaluation, deal prioritization, and funnel measurement.

Large & Multi-Unit Partner Strategy

• Map the landscape of potential multi-unit / institutional franchise partners.
• Develop tailored pitches, commercial constructs, and engagement strategies for large-scale partners.

Market, Competitive & Franchise Intelligence

• Maintain a strong pulse on the franchising ecosystem in India—competitive models, economics, broker landscape, legal norms, and investor expectations.
• Use insights to inform partner personas, pricing/fee structures, expansion opportunities, and GTM refinement.

Cross-Functional Leadership

• Work with Marketing, Sales, Ops, Finance, Legal, and Expansion to ensure the GTM engine is aligned and scalable.
• Drive structured experimentation and continuous improvement across all stages of the acquisition funnel.

What Success Looks Like

• Higher-quality and better-qualified leads from the right partner segments
• Well-defined, scalable GTM playbooks for franchise sales
• Reduced CAC for partner acquisition
• Strong penetration in new/priority cities
• Onboarding of high-potential multi-unit franchise partners

Experience

• 8–12+ years in franchising, B2B GTM strategy, or commercial growth roles.

• Strong preference for candidates with hands-on franchising experience in India

  (F&B, fitness, retail, education, or other franchise-led industries).
• Alternatively, deep B2B GTM experience in high-consideration or niche categories (investment products, commercial equipment, SaaS for SMEs, etc.).
• Demonstrated ability to design GTM strategies and deliver commercial outcomes.

Skills & Mindset

• End-to-end understanding of franchising: persona design, funnel stages, qualification, deal constructs, economics, and post-deal partner expectations.
• Strong grasp of B2B sales and marketing fundamentals—segmentation, lead-gen logic, account planning, and message-market fit.
• Structured thinker with strong analytical capability and storytelling skills.