Any Lab Test Now: The Rx for Franchisee Engagement

CASE STUDY

Retail health care is a nearly $5 billion industry, with 50% growth of retail health clinics expected over the next five years. As one of the fastest growing direct-access lab testing companies in the nation, Any Lab Test Now already has over 215 locations. And with consumers increasingly seeking affordable ways to take control of and manage their health care, Any Lab Test Now continues to experience significant growth.

Challenge: Low response rates to internal surveys; difficulty communicating value to franchisees

To support that growth and their franchisees, Any Lab Test Now continually develops programs to help franchise owners move the needle on their businesses, but getting franchisees to take advantage of them was a challenge. CEO Clarissa Bradstock knew that asking franchisees for feedback was key to identifying the disconnect, but the internal surveys they conducted only got a 20% response, which didn’t accurately portray the sentiment of the majority of the franchisees in the system.

“The response rate to our internal survey was low, and we tended to get the same franchisees responding each year, thereby not getting a full picture of the franchisees’ satisfaction and areas in which we could improve,” said Bradstock. She turned to Franchise Business Review to help them better measure franchisee satisfaction.

Better Listening = Greater Engagement

The response rate on FBR’s survey more than doubled to 67%. Based on the feedback, the team at Any Lab Test Now was able to identify the root cause of the lack of engagement. “The primary issue is that they don’t fully understand all of the programs that we have developed to help them move their business forward,” said Bradstock. “We haven’t done a good job of explaining the value of the different programs and initiatives and the long-term positive impact for them and the brand as a whole.”

The data showed that there was a clear distinction between franchisees who are actively engaged with the new initiatives and franchisees who are participating. With these insights, Any Lab Test Now was able to focus on improving communication with a goal of getting franchisees to take advantage of all the programs.

“The FBR survey does a good job of giving not only a high-level perspective from the franchisees, but also giving us specific areas in which we can measure incremental improvements.” – Clarissa Bradstock, CEO, Any Lab Test Now

The team implemented weekly Town Hall Meetings with 35% of the franchisees participating live and the remaining franchisees accessing the recaps and listening to the recordings. They also contact franchisees who share their names directly to listen to their concerns and share how the system is continuously improving to increase the overall value to their business.

Communication Is the Cure

Any Lab Test Now’s focus on continuously improving systems and processes has had positive results. Data from their FBR surveys from 2018 and 2020 showed:

• Franchisees rating Communication as “excellent” doubled
• Overall Training & Support scores jumped by more than 10% from 2018 to 2020
• Over 75% of franchisees responded “strongly agree or agree” when asked if they are an active participant in the brand
• Any Lab Test Now ranked in the Top 10 Health & Personal Services franchises for 2021

“The most valuable piece of our partnership with FBR is having a professional third-party organization survey our franchisees for feedback. It gives us valuable feedback from our franchisees, but it also helps us compare ourselves to our peers,” said Bradstock.

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