As consumers, we’re familiar with customer service—the assistance received from a vendor before, during, and after purchasing a product or service. We’ve probably all experienced great customer service and not-so-great service at some point. And, usually, these experiences can shape the way we view the company or the person from whom we received the service.
Satisfied customers and clients are at the heart of any successful business. Creating relationships through excellent customer service keeps customers happy and keeps them coming back. With franchised businesses, customer service not only needs to be top notch, it needs to be consistently excellent during every interaction at every location in the system.
Dissatisfied customers will tell people about the poor service they received, and with all the avenues available through social media and the internet, it’s easier than ever for one person’s opinion to circulate quickly.
In a franchise system, everyone is responsible for generating positive reviews of the company’s customer service—in different ways. Head office is in charge of creating customer service standards to be followed. Franchisees are trained to ensure that they and their employees are meeting or exceeding these standards at their own location. But how does a franchisee make certain that his or her employees are providing a consistent level of service? In a word: training.
How training makes the dream work
When setting up a training program, the first place to look is to the core philosophies of the franchise—what should be imparted to the end user, the customer?
There are so many variables and different scenarios that a customer service person may have to deal with, so teaching the core principles first gives franchisees and employees a ‘compass’ to rely on in customer service situations. Once an employee has shown that they can navigate simple scenarios, the training should take them through ones where the ‘right’ way is less obvious or where there are multiple ways of dealing with the scenario that may be considered ‘correct.’
Once employees are trained and, on the job, the franchisee, manager, or supervisor can provide feedback. But even the most hands-on of franchisees or diligent of managers will be unable to see and hear every customer interaction that takes place. What happens when those people aren’t around?
One way is through outside assessment, such as a mystery shopping program, which sends anonymous reviewers into locations with a checklist of things to look for.
For example, if the training instructs in-store employees to offer customers a free sample as they come in, mystery shoppers who conduct a survey “mission” at that franchise’s stores will have to note whether or not they were greeted with a sample. During a mystery shopping mission, the shopper uses the survey to evaluate different aspects of the shopping experience.
Once the data from the visits is collected from the mystery shoppers, franchisors are able to share the findings with individual franchisees and the system as a whole. This allows franchisees to compare their results with those of other locations and for the franchisor to identify any trends.
During the franchise investigation process, prospective franchisees should explore the franchise’s entire training program, not only considering the training they will receive, but also how their future employees will be trained.
After all, in a successful franchise system, good customer service is everyone’s aim. Well-trained franchisees and employees on the frontlines who create outstanding consumer experiences receive detailed feedback on how they’re doing—that’s the foundation for great customer relationships that will have people coming back again and again.