In this article you will find out…
- How to avoid feedback pitfalls in franchise and agent businesses.
- How you effectively manage geographical spread and adapt to different local conditions.
- How you can compare challenges and opportunities between franchise/agent and traditional business operations.
Build strong brands through a customer-focused business model
In this article, we dive deep into the world of Customer Experience Management to explore how franchise and agent organizations can maximize the value of customer feedback! Along with the expert panel, consisting of brilliant Ulrika Ewerman see Linkedin and Helen Rigamonti see Linkedin together we address the challenges and present concrete actions on how the central organization can provide optimal support to its franchisees and agents.
I have also been given the opportunity to quote none other than Johan Martinsson, see Linkedin CEO at the Swedish Franchise Association, to shed light on the subject. Join us on this inspiring journey where we reveal the best tricks for building strong brands and thriving businesses by turning customer feedback into a powerful tool!
Challenges with Customer Feedback in Franchise and Agent Models
In our deep dive into the Franchise and Agency world, I begin by shining a spotlight on some of the most common challenges, obstacles that can also be found in traditional businesses.
- Communication and Cooperation: One of the primary challenges is to create smooth communication and collaboration between central organizations and franchisees/agents. As these units often operate separately, it can be a challenge to ensure that customer feedback reaches the central department and is distributed to the franchisees/agents in a quick and clear flow.
- Resource Variation and Geographical Spread: Franchisees/agents may be geographically dispersed and may have varying resources and conditions for collecting and managing customer feedback. This diversity can create complexity in collecting and analyzing feedback in a consistent manner.
- Consistency in the Brand: Ensuring franchisees/agents adhere to brand guidelines and provide a consistent customer experience is critical to maintaining brand consistency. Customer feedback can reveal any variations or inconsistencies, which can negatively impact brand reputation and customer loyalty.
- Responsiveness to Feedback: Convincing franchisees/agents to be receptive to customer feedback and to implement changes based on this feedback can be a significant challenge. Some franchisees/agents may be reluctant to accept shortcomings or change their already established working practices.
- Analysis and Insights: Collecting customer feedback itself is only part of the equation. The core organization must also have the capacity, time and expertise to analyze and manage the volume of data generated and turn it into meaningful insights that can guide improvements.
- GDPR and Privacy: Customer feedback may contain personal or sensitive information that must be handled with care and in accordance with data protection laws and regulations (GDPR). Ensuring that the integrity of customer personal data is protected can be a challenge when sharing feedback between central organizations and franchisees/agents.
Supporting Effectively with Customer Feedback
"You cannot value enough the knowledge that customers provide by feedback on their experience of the product or service. Today, all companies depend on customer feedback, both good and bad, to develop their business and strengthen their offer. With the help of technology, the feedback can now take place in real time and then it is important for the companies to act quickly to deal with any dissatisfaction before the issue grows. My understanding is that companies have understood this and are taking it very seriously.”Johan Martinsson, CEO of the Swedish Franchise Association
What practical steps can the core organization take to build and support a culture where customer feedback is prioritized and actively used by franchisees and agents?
Ulrika Ewerman: The first step is to answer the question why should we work with customer feedback? What happens if we don't? How does this affect me as a franchisee and agent? What do I and my business have to gain from working customer-centrically?
Customer centricity is not something that can be added on top of already established processes and methods. If there are no clear incentives for me as a franchisee or agent, I will not prioritize it either. It's easy to get lost here.
Helen Rigamonti: Prioritize customer feedback and build a culture of responsiveness! Working with customer insights is critical to creating and maintaining a customer-centric culture within companies. By understanding and acting based on the customer's needs and expectations, the company can create personal and relevant experiences, increase customer satisfaction, and build strong relationships. Customer insights also provide guidance for identifying areas of improvement, reducing the risk of failure and differentiating from competitors.
Responsiveness to feedback can be a challenge in franchising, where commitment to customer feedback varies among franchisees and agents. To overcome this, the central organization should take concrete steps to build a culture where customer feedback is prioritized. It includes training and education for franchisees, incentive systems that reward successful feedback implementation, and ongoing communication and support.
Annika Erhardsson: Review your feedback reports! Are they connected to your goals? Not only the central department's but also the local franchisee's? Regular reports summarizing and analyzing customer feedback should be shared with franchisees/agents. These reports provide insights into which areas can be improved and which are working well.
A tip in case the receptivity to the result is not great or the franchisees do not trust the messenger - let them compare the result against the common average and approach the goal slowly and be patient. It is more likely that a franchisee/agent with a negative attitude will listen to his colleague in the same seat and make decisions based on that. More positive experiences = more franchisees/agents who will want the same results.
Show a clear and quick connection between customer feedback and the deal. Above all in the B2C business- Help the franchisees/agents to bring in new customers by, for example, quickly and continuously increasing reviews online. We help many of our clients create a fresher more fair image of the local franchisee/company by offering our clients to increase the number of customer reviews on all relevant review sites. We do this by actively encouraging people to leave reviews after completing a feedback survey.
If the individual franchisee/agent is not receptive or understands the value of feedback, my experience is that it is sometimes easier to point directly to the business (also applies to management). Make sure to achieve quick successes and show them” What's in It for Me” Naturally, you ensure that the feedback is centrally organized and baked into the franchise/agent fee. Read more about training and coaching in how to grow organically with the help of customer feedback in B2B business
What are some of the most common pitfalls or mistakes franchisees should avoid when dealing with customer feedback, and how can they be avoided?
Ulrika Ewerman: The absolute most common pitfall is that companies and organizations fail to link customer experience and customer satisfaction to business and key figures. If these incentives are not in place, the customer experience will never be prioritized either. There is not a management group today that has not written "increased customer benefit" or "the world's best customer experience" in their management documents, but then sends the signals down the organization without linking it to key figures or goals.
Customer experience and customer satisfaction are business critical – without customers, no business. It may sound obvious, but it's surprisingly common that people tend to forget it.
Helen Rigamonti: In franchise operations, there can be several common pitfalls or mistakes when it comes to handling customer feedback. Being aware of these and taking appropriate steps to avoid them is essential to creating a successful and customer-oriented business. Here are some common mistakes and how to avoid them:
• Ignore or disregard critical customer feedback.
A common mistake is to ignore or disregard negative or critical customer feedback. Failure to address these issues can lead to lost business opportunities and a reduced level of customer satisfaction. To avoid this, it is important to create a company culture where all feedback is seen as an opportunity for improvement. Clear guidelines for handling customer feedback and prompt action are key.
• Lack of clear guidelines for feedback management
If there are no clear guidelines for how customer feedback should be handled, it can lead to inconsistent and ineffective treatment of the feedback. To prevent this, the franchise company should establish clear and uniform guidelines for collecting, analyzing and addressing customer feedback. Regular training is necessary to ensure proper implementation.
• Inadequate communication with franchisees.
Franchisees and agents can feel isolated and overlooked if there is a lack of adequate communication from the central organization. To avoid this mistake, one should create an open and regular communication channel between the central organization and the franchisees. Share insights, success stories and best practices to foster collaboration and engagement.
• Not adapting the feedback strategy to local needs.
Attempts to implement a general approach to feedback collection can sometimes ignore local variations and peculiarities. To avoid this, the franchise company should adapt the feedback strategy based on specific local needs and conditions. This may mean using different feedback methods or adapting questionnaires to better suit different geographical areas and customer groups.
• Lack of follow-up and feedback to franchisees.
Lack of follow-up and feedback to franchisees about how their actions based on customer feedback affect the business can reduce motivation to actively work with feedback. To avoid this, a system for regular follow-up and feedback to franchisees should be implemented. This may mean sharing the results of implemented improvements and how these have affected customer satisfaction, which in turn creates incentives for continued engagement.
Annika Erhardsson: Some common pitfalls are that you want to measure everything, don't have a plan and don't have the management behind you. Measure only where needed in the customer journey and in the way that creates the most value for the core organization and the franchisees/agents. Do it properly and ensure that the management team and the central organization are wholeheartedly behind the work. It is long-term work that, just like with all change work, will require time, patience, that it is connected to the operational goals and that it is prioritized over time. Read more and take part in our checklist "Voice of customer - How to get started"
How can a franchise organization manage the geographical spread and the different conditions that franchisees and agents have when it comes to collecting and using customer feedback?
Ulrika Ewerman:
- Listen. What does the geographical spread and the different conditions mean? How can we as a central organization create the best conditions for us to jointly achieve the desired effect?
- Create structure and clarity around what kind of insights lie with the central organization and what lies regionally.
- Create transparency and participation. How do I as a franchisee and agent know what is relevant in relation to what I can influence? For example, if I receive feedback regarding a booking system, how do I know that that insight is prioritized and ultimately ends up on a backlog in a development team?
- Create the opportunity to easily measure effects and share good examples with others. “We had this challenge and we solved it like this with this effect.”
Helen Rigamonti: Franchisees and agents are often geographically dispersed, which creates challenges regarding variations in customer behavior and conditions for feedback collection. To effectively manage this, it is critical to implement digital platforms for customer feedback. These should enable a uniform collection process regardless of location, adapt the feedback instruments to local needs, and use technology for central compilation and analysis of data. Also develop custom strategies for different areas based on local market understanding!
Annika Erhardsson: From a technical point of view – Offer tools adapted to the reality of the business so that each franchisee/agent can uniformly collect customer feedback. In Quicksearch's platform, depending on the need, we usually send the same survey combined in different channels and forms. For example, via physical feedback devices, SMS, e-mail, QR codes, in apps and on the web. It is also important that the franchisees/agents receive actionable feedback that they can actually influence themselves, but also that there is transparency for the central unit's results. There needs to be a collective agreement and understanding of who is responsible for which part of the customer journey.
Don't forget to bake it into the franchise/agent/overhead fee so everyone has the same opportunity to work with feedback regardless of financial resources and geography.
Do you feel that franchise operations have the same overall challenges and opportunities as a traditional company operation?
Ulrika Ewerman: Yes, I would say so. In my role, I meet all types of companies in all types of industries with the commonality that they want to go from words to action and become truly customer-centric. They want to move from just talking about the customer to actually making it happen across the organization.
Regardless of industry, size and geographical spread, I face the same challenges and the same opportunities for change.
Helen Rigamonti: Franchise businesses share both challenges and opportunities with traditional businesses, but they have their own unique characteristics. Creating a common understanding of the importance of customer feedback and implementing customized strategies is, in my experience, the key to success. By actively working with the challenges and providing effective tools, a customer-oriented culture can be created that benefits all parties.
Annika Erhardsson: I would say that in many ways they have the same common challenges. In a franchise/agent business, however, the central department often has an agreed part with how and with what they should support their franchisees/agents. If they do not live up to it, the reactions can often be harsher as it directly affects their franchisees/agents' private finances and invested capital. I also feel that because the direct link is also a greater involvement in feedback and that there needs to be a routine to involve and take advantage of the franchisees' internal feedback, and not just the customers'.
Remember that when you can use a feedback tool, you can also bring out the voices of those who may not always be heard in the noise. It will then be easier to sort and know what is good and how big a problem is actually experienced. You will also be able to make decisions more quickly and involve the franchisees in questions regarding priorities and evaluations of, for example, existing and new services/marketing campaigns, etc.
Summary
I hope you got a good dose of useful information from the article! Below I will do my best to summarize insights into some concrete actions.
• First, it is crucial to clarify why it is important to work with customer feedback and connect it to business benefit. It is also necessary to create clear incentives for franchisees and agents to ensure prioritization of customer-centric actions (I want to clarify here that we are not referring to bonuses).
• A key aspect is building a culture of responsiveness where customer insights are prioritized. This involves offering training and support to increase engagement and create personalized and relevant customer experiences. Another recommendation is to work with your feedback reports and link the results to overall business and operational goals. It is important to be transparent and create an open dialogue to promote improvement.
• To demonstrate the direct link between customer feedback and business success, it is suggested to create quick successes, especially in B2C business. This may include increasing online reviews to attract new customers and strengthen the company's reputation in connection with the feedback survey (Where appropriate).
• Geographical diversity and different conditions among franchisees and agents should be managed by listening to local variations and adapting the feedback strategy accordingly. It is again important to create transparent communication and involve the franchisees in the process.
• To avoid common pitfalls, it is necessary to actively address critical feedback and establish clear guidelines for handling customer feedback. Customized tools for feedback collection that can be technologically scaled up if necessary should be offered for an easier and uniform collection. It is also beneficial to bake the feedback process into the franchise fee to provide equal opportunities for all involved.
• Finally, similar challenges and opportunities between franchise operations and brick-and-mortar businesses indicate that the principles of successfully transitioning from words to actions and becoming customer-centric are transferable across industries and sizes. However, it requires a common understanding and a focused effort across the entire organization.
Quicksearch – Your Partner in Customer Feedback
In order to effectively manage and benefit from customer feedback, companies today have access to tools such as Quicksearch. Quicksearch is a specialized platform targeting automated actionable customer and employee feedback, making us an ideal partner for companies working with franchisees, chain stores and agents.
If you have any questions about how your particular franchise or agent business can work with collecting customer feedback, you are most welcome to Contact Us!
Sincerely
Annika Erhardsson, Quicksearch
The expert panel consists of:
Ulrika Ewerman: Expert in CX (Customer Experience) and CX Management. Ulrika is a frequently employed lecturer and coach with a focus on customer-centred organizational development. Helps companies and organizations move from words to action by connecting customer experience and CX to business goals. Ulrika has 20 years of experience as a consultant (Veryday and McKinsey Design) with a focus on customer-driven organizational development on a global level. Most recently comes from a role as Head of Strategy and Head of CX at Volvo Car Mobility. Read more about Ulrika here
Helen Rigamonti: Helén Rigamonti has over 25 years of experience in leading positions with several assignments to lead customer-centric change. Helén is the responsible course leader for several courses and certifications in the subject of Customer Experience Management, including IHM Business School. Helén is also an ambassador and member of the management team for the European Customer Experience organization where she is also responsible for training. Helen is a frequently engaged lecturer, writer, consultant and mentor within CXM and Voice of the Customer. Read more about Helén here
