4 Customer Experience Pitfalls Within The Franchise Industry

I’ve spent years studying the franchise business model; it’s complex. Ensuring that you have a seamless customer experience across the entire brand is key to success.

One of the primary reasons that someone may invest in buying a franchise is because of it’s proven operating systems. If you follow the established blueprint created by the franchisor you can reap the financial benefits. This attracts professionals to the franchise business model, however, it’s not as simple as it may seem.

With my customer experience and franchise background, I have recognized many customer experience operating pitfalls. However, there are ways to avoid these pitfalls. If you are able to secure the following four areas within your franchise model, you will increase the likelihood of your success.

Consistency across the board

For the franchisor, one of the biggest opportunities and threats is the consistency of the customer experience across the entire brand. Customers expect consistency. It’s what builds ‘customer trust.’ If you buy a pizza from Domino’s you expect the same level of service in Vancouver, Canada as you would in Sydney, Australia. If the customer experience is fragmented then the customer’s loyalty is in jeopardy.

I can do it better

I’ve witnessed franchisees who believe that they can do it better, which goes against why they bought into the model in the first place. I recognize that entrepreneurs are always going to try to “hack” their way to success but their motivation may actually hurt their performance. Part of the reason the world’s greatest franchise systems work is because their customer experience strategies are proven. If you’re going to “colour outside the lines” you must ensure that what makes sense to you, as the entrepreneur, may not make sense for the customer experience.

Your focus on HR is poor

I believe you must hire your employees exactly like you would plan a wedding (if we want your customer experience to be superior). Think about how meticulous you become when you are deciding who will be invited to your wedding. You analyze from many different angles on who will attend; that’s how you need to behave when you are going to welcome individuals into your business.

“When hiring in either our franchise or the sales centre we hire for personality first. Our business has the systems and training in place to support people. This allows us the freedom to hire regardless of skill set, for our frontline roles and ensures we can deliver a fantastic customer experience. Skill set allows your employees to check the service delivered box, their personality will deliver the WOW” says Rhys Green, Operations Manager (Sales Centre) – 1-800-GOT-JUNK?.

One poor hire can spoil the bunch and threaten the customer experience that is delivered to customers. And despite all of the HR strategies and resources that you provide to franchisees, your customer experience may still be at risk.

Not having world-class training

My first job was working at McDonald’s when I was thirteen years old. The training that I received was impeccable. The exceptional training that I received enabled me to contribute to the success of the franchise from day one. Simply having training systems that are created by the franchisor may not effectively impact your employees. An effective training program is part of a superior onboarding experience for your new hires and employees. If you deliver a world-class experience to your employees they will do the same for your customers. It’s that simple.

Buying into a franchise system is a fantastic way to experience entrepreneurial success. However, ensuring that everything you do contributes to the success of the franchisor’s customer experience, will yield more success in the long run.

What are your thoughts? What are some other pitfalls?

4 Customer Experience Pitfalls Within The Franchise Industry