Mystery shopping in franchises
One of the successes of franchises and their consequent growth in our country is due to the implementation of a properly verified and systematized work system. Quality and customer service is one of the success and survival factors of any business.
No one doubts that the image that any store in the brand conveys to its customers influences the rest of the chain.
To the extent that each of the franchisees rigorously complies with the established procedures, the brand will be strengthened.
The quality and respect of the franchise slogans, therefore, must be measured on a constant basis.
Mystery shopping techniques make it possible to control each of the essential parameters of the activity of each business and advance in the possible areas of improvement.
A few days ago, we were able to verify in a prestigious coffee shop, how many of these slogans are forgotten to such an extent that any claim from a customer is received as a rarity.
The glasses used for the service showed a shameful state of deterioration due to the continuous use of the dishwasher. The drink ticket and the return ticket (a mere 10 euro cents) never made it to the table despite a long wait.
Presented the claim in the bar, nobody knew how to solve these small details in a simple and practical way.
Out of curiosity, we did another test at another of the franchised establishments. This time the glass was in a slightly better state but we demanded the change, obtaining the answer that "they were all the same" and after a long period of time it was changed for a highball glass that was absolutely inappropriate for the type of consumption.
Far from apologizing, we had to endure bad faces and the bad humor of the person in charge who murmured our atypical demand at the bar.
This fact reveals the weaknesses and shortcomings of quality and customer service policies and, what is more important, of permanent monitoring measures so vital in this sector.
Competitiveness is increasingly a question of quality, innovation and service than of price. Knowing what happens every day in our establishments, with our customers, is of such importance that it leaves a little perplexing the obvious neglect of many of these aspects.
Any policy not geared towards your full customer satisfaction is doomed to utter failure.
For this, we believe that the implementation of a continuous quality policy is essential. A policy that must be promoted with controls, training and information for all employees and franchisees. Only in this way will we be able to install our brand on the path of excellence and business success.
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