Uniformity, but individuality

I slipped my Norton Dominator into top gear and shot round the corner, leaning over as I hammered through the arch of the railway bridge. The blue serge trousers and silver buttoned tunic, topped off with the crested helmet, flashed past. In my handlebar mirror, I saw the bull's-eye lantern still waving back and forth.

In those days, prospective law-breakers returned to face the consequences of their actions. In any case, the policeman was on nodding terms with my Dad. "Right young man, now get this straight," he told me sternly. "When I stand at the roadside looking for teenage tearaways and you see me stick my arm out, it isn't to see if it's been flamin' raining. Have you any comments before I decide your fine?"

I will never know why I chose that exact moment to ask if his head went "right to the top of his helmet", as they said in the village. The resulting thick ear produced a lifelong respect for all those who dress in uniform.

Those thoughts returned last week when my domestic lighting circuit failed. In my panic, I did what we all do and rang AAAA Electrical 24/7 Ohm Service on its mobile. A guy finally turned up in a gas tar black and dog muck brown transit and parked across my lawn. I studied his beer and sauce-stained T-shirt and jeans and explained the problem. "Can't do anything till tomorrow," he replied. "It's £55.00 per hour mate, and it's going to take me a couple of hours to test, then there's the cost of the repair."

Sitting in the dark gave ample time for sober reflection. I should have supported our profession and rung a fellow member of our franchise community.

Within moments of dialling the free phone line I was opening the door to a fully uniformed franchisee. In his left hand was the electrical tester; in his right the screwdriver; on his company shirt the franchise logo. On my drive was his sparkling white service vehicle showing his name and address. He slipped on a pair of clean over shoes. Within 15 minutes, the fault was rectified, the fixed price invoice provided and paid, and my new found franchise friend left his card for any future problems.

The strength of the police force does not rely on the attributes of each officer. However easily a single officer may be overwhelmed, we know that within minutes another uniform will appear, and another, and another until the offender is eventually overcome. The strength of the police lies in the authority that comes from thousands acting under the same laws and regulations.

In exactly the same way, the franchise concept supports and protects the individual franchisee. Head office provides the information and expertise; fellow franchisees offer advice and encouragement; and the operations manual offers the official line to be taken in any situation. Even the newest entrant is able to speak and act with uniform confidence.

While accepting that mutual support is the main strength of franchising, it does not free the franchisee from responsibility for correctly presenting their business proposal to their customer. New entrants will initially adhere to the standards that formed part of the start up training. But as they progress and gain experience, it can be easy to cut corners.

In the rush to complete the service or the sale, people can tend to overlook the need to gather information about their customer, to ensure that full details are kept of the transaction, and more importantly ask for recommendations.

There is no better time to gather sales data than during the minutes a franchisee spends in front of their customer. They are in someone's home by invitation, or the customer has chosen to be on the franchisee's premises. The customer's presence already shows they have an initial liking for the business. That is the moment for the franchisee to gain that valuable insight into a customer's preferences, needs and choices.

My advice is, each week a franchisee should choose one special question to ask each customer or prospect. "What made you choose our company?" perhaps, or, "Could you tell me what other companies you tried?" At the end of the year, the franchisee can look forward to at least 50 blocks of information that can then be used to improve their approach.

Franchisees should not be surprised if customers give answers which appear to conflict with reality. Many times I have been surprised to hear that a customer chose a particular franchise because of a television advert, knowing full well that they had never appeared on TV. However, it may well be that a competitor has indeed been advertising and their name has been forgotten. The special question then becomes, "Have you seen our advert on TV?"

Franchising in general tends to price products and services at the premium end of the market. To the less experienced franchisee, asking a premium price presents a problem, which quickly communicates through to the client and reduces confidence. The franchisee needs to spend time between calls thinking through their pricing - dissecting the various factors which go to make up the costing structure, and deciding if there is flexibility. Rather than debate with a customer why the price is higher than the competition, franchisees should take a more positive approach and sell away the difference.

A franchisee should assume that their core service price is fixed in stone, or they will soon incur the wrath of head office, but they ought to consider if anything can be added or subtracted from the cost equation. They might say to their customer: "Our emergency call out charge is £75, but if the job is completed within the first hour, then I would be happy to run a complete safety/security/economy/service check on your installation." The sting of the call out charge has been reduced, and the possibility developed for future valuable business. "Your unit is now working correctly, and I have checked its performance. It could do with a short service to improve performance, which I can book in next Thursday or Friday."

Franchisees need to remember wherever possible to provide their prospect with three price choices. Customers will have already contacted two other potential suppliers. Everyone wants to know the lower, median, and highest prices for any product or service they seek to purchase. The less aware supplier will offer a 'take it or leave it' price.

The intelligent franchisee will provide the three prices within their offer. They give the customer a choice: "If you could arrange for the property to be cleared before our call, then our charge could be reduced by £30." Should the customer not wish to take up the offer, then price resentment is reduced and the resulting investment is made to appear reasonable.

Good franchisees also rely on the vast difference between a quote and an estimate. A competitor who gives an estimate is leaving the customer wide open for a further charge. Offering the customer a quote gives absolute reassurance that the price will not increase, however complex the task. The franchisee sells the benefits of dealing with their franchise over those who guesstimate the price.

The bottom line is this: franchise systems bring strength through uniformity and teamwork, just like the police. But good franchisees find ways to comply with the manual while responding to customer requests and pressures.