ATTENTION FRANCHISEES... How Are You Doing?

by Nancy Friedman

When it comes to customer service, it is important to give yourself an honest report card periodically. Often, we are so busy focusing on the day-to-day that we do not stop and evaluate how we are doing from the customer’s perspective. Have you asked yourself the following questions lately?

• How would your customers rate your franchise customer service?

Failing at customer service should be an embarrassment to you.

• Does your staff, from you as the owner to your frontline staff, rate an A+ or an F?

• Do you train your employees, or do you just wing it when it comes to training in the customer service area?

• When a customer walks out of your franchise establishment, would you get an “A” or an “F?”

This is not brain surgery. Think about it. What is your franchise grade? I’m not a fan of big surveys. All you really need to know is if you got an A, B, C, D, or F on service, that would tell you a lot.

Failing at customer service should be an embarrassment to you. As a franchise owner, how can you go about getting higher scores? And please remember it only takes ONE staff member (including you, the franchisee) to bring your grade average DOWN.

Is your staff, and we’re talking all of them, helpful and knowledgeable? If not, your brand and reputation could be badly damaged. Very quickly! Never has this been truer than in our current social media universe where viral shaming is commonplace and an all too real occurrence.

So, what can franchise owners and franchise managers do to encourage excellent customer service? Here are five easy tips that will help up your game and provide better customer service that will generate sales and repeat customers:

Start some sort of training — NOW!

If you have some customer service training in place, review it with your employees. DAILY. If you don’t have a customer service plan in place, think about bringing in an experienced expert to spend time training your staff. Investing in YOUR people will pay off wildly.

And if time and/or money is an issue for you, remind your staff that, “Please,” “Thank you” and “You’re welcome” go a long way, cost nothing, and leave a lasting, positive impression on customers.

Meet with your staff at the end of each day.

Yes, EACH DAY. Discuss what went wrong and what went right. Make sure any customer service concerns are addressed immediately and solutions are made so customers are always satisfied.

Prepare your managers and staff with a mental suit of armor.

Make sure they’re aware all customers fall in between nice and difficult. Prepare them for the occasional abuse. Warn them in advance and make sure that when those incidents happen that your employees will still treat customers with politeness and respect.

Make sure your employees care.

Above everything. It’s vital your staff — from top to bottom — shows they care and want to help. Remember: your customers don’t care how much you know; until they know how much you care!

SMILE!

The most important customer service win: SMILE! Don’t let your franchisee employees greet customers without a smile. A smile leaves a positive, friendly first impression. Every time.

Remember. If your franchise doesn’t provide an “A+” grade in excellent customer service and fails to leave a positive impression, you risk your brand and reputation. Plus, you’re automatically giving the competition a helping hand.