Are you involved with growing a brand through franchising and looking for ways to do one or more of the following?
- Grow per-unit sales
- Ensure that all locations are representing the brand in a consistent, uniform fashion
- Ensure that the customer has a great experience no matter when they visit
- Find ways to improve the customer experience
- Reward franchisees, managers, and staff members for doing a great job
There are many different methods that can be used to evaluate how franchisees are performing and upholding brand standards, but we believe that mystery shopping is the most effective and inexpensive way to put boots on the ground and see what your customers are seeing firsthand.
Grow Per-Unit Sales
Providing outstanding products and customer service will result in your customers returning and recommending your brand to others. This is a fundamental aspect of growing a business — just don’t make the mistake of assuming everything is going well. Include questions on your mystery shop report that get right to the heart of the matter and assess whether the level of service being provided by all of your locations is up to par. What gets measured gets done!
Ensure All Locations Are Representing the Brand in a Consistent, Uniform Fashion
Do you expect every customer to be greeted within a certain time, with a certain phrase? Do you expect staff members to ask your customers specific questions or educate them in a particular way? These items can and should be included in your mystery shop report so you can track how well your expectations are being met.
Ensure the Customer Has a Great Experience No Matter When They Visit
If you were to randomly pop into one of your franchise locations during a busy time and during a slow time, do you think you would receive the same experience? This is another aspect of a mystery shopping program that can be valuable from a franchise compliance perspective. We can send people in during weekdays, weekends, early, and late to see if there are any differences that need to be addressed.
Find Ways to Improve the Customer Experience
You can always ask your customers, “How can we be better?” but you are bound to get a wide array of responses based on their subjective opinion of how things should be. Our nationwide mystery shoppers will evaluate the experience using a detailed checklist which makes it easy to identify which items, big or small, need some attention to improve the overall experience. By following the trends and patterns over time, you can put together a better training or onboarding process for new franchisees to help get them up to speed quicker.
Reward Franchisees, Managers, and Staff Members for Doing a Great Job
Finally, don’t fall into that trap of looking for your franchisees to do things wrong so you can slap them on the wrist. Instead, leverage the really great mystery shop reports by providing some financial incentives, sharing them publicly, and even including a reward at your annual conference to celebrate the folks doing the hard work on the front lines to build your brand.
Growing a business through franchising can be very difficult, but if you have the right processes and partners in place, the sky’s the limit. Please contact us today about implementing a mystery shopping program to fit the needs and goals of your franchise operation. We have decades of experience working with hundreds of franchisors and franchisees in a wide range of industries. Call us now for more information!