So, you are running your franchise or branch network, and all you really want is for everyone to give their (and ultimately your) customers a consistent experience. This is an admirable goal, and ostensibly it should be a fairly straightforward process. You decide what you want the customer experience to be, you tell your Franchisees what this is and then they implement it. Job Done!
But it is never that simple. Everyone has to understand your vision, and more importantly interpret it in the same way. They must accept that ‘just changing something’ or ‘doing it a different way’ because they think it will be easier/quicker/cheaper/ better for their own localised operation may actually detract from your overall goal of creating a cohesive user experience and ultimately a stronger brand.
But equally you don’t want your franchisees to feel disempowered; you just want everyone to be doing the same thing. So what you need is a defined and controlled change management process, where your vision and goals are clearly communicated, implementation progress is tracked and verified, feedback is freely shared and if needed, the process is refined and updated.
This is where Kehorne can help; we have 14 years of experience helping some of the largest international franchise networks to design and build their internal communications systems.
At the simplest level these may just be surveys or questionnaires which collect information on how existing processes are performed, with detailed reporting and analysis to provide a solid foundation for strategic planning. As we only build bespoke systems, we can be very focused on the data we collect and you decide what is important. As they are closed systems, users need to log in, and logins are tracked so it is easy to see from our administrators’ dashboard who has accessed the system, when, and how much of the questionnaire they have completed. Automated emails can be sent to prompt users that have not logged in yet, or to remind users who have started the process but not completed it.
More complex systems can enable you to monitor and control the rollout of large-scale changes across your network. Our ‘bespoke’ approach allows us to make your system as simple or complicated as it needs to be to satisfy your requirements, with document libraries (for supporting materials), file uploads (for evidence), approval mechanisms, comment threads and clear process instructions for your Franchisees to follow. Progress is monitored and trackable via the administrators dashboard, so within seconds you can get an overview of how your project is progressing, who is on track, and who needs some encouragement. If your project is time sensitive, deadlines can be set against individual tasks, and automated email reminders sent to users to help them to stay on track. These systems enable you to manage your change project effectively without having to send staff to every location to train or verify that changes have been implemented.
So why not forget the cats, get your ducks in a row, and lets discuss how our expertise can help you simplify the process of change across your network, and achieve your goal of a consistent user experience?
Come visit our site here – www.kehorne.co.uk/franchise
