Is Your Tech Stack Helping or Hurting Operations?

As the franchise management system for home service brands for over 12 years, we’ve encountered a wide range of tech challenges: everything from too many overlapping solutions (costing more money to address the same problem on multiple tools) to lack of automation with a heavy reliance on spreadsheets and sticky notes.

Both extremes can be detrimental to a brand, introducing more friction into the process.

The goal is to meet somewhere in the middle: a tool that streamlines operations while enhancing the client experience to increase revenue and drive overall brand growth.

Here are four simple steps to ensure your tech is optimizing your brand’s potential.

Identify Hurdles

Before you start looking for a new tool, you must first identify the challenges and the cause of those specific challenges. 

Start by asking yourself: is it a client-facing issue, a daily workflow hurdle, or maybe even both?

In other words, is it impacting the client experience? Such as poor reviews about lack of communication between a service agent and client. Or is it about Zees refusing to use the correct branded colors in their marketing?

By examining all the issues holistically, you can determine who is affected and the severity of each problem. This approach allows you to prioritize effectively and seek solutions that address multiple challenges simultaneously. Think “big picture”!

Explore Solutions

We all know that there are endless options of vendors, but it’s important that the solution you explore understands the franchising model. They could be an award-winning top-notch solution, but if they don’t understand your business workflows and the fundamentals of franchising, you may be doing a disservice to your brand.

The same goes for culture. Looking for a new supplier vendor is just as important as hiring a full-time employee. Culture is crucial. One of our favorite quotes at ServiceMinder is “Culture eats strategy for breakfast”.

For example, at ServiceMinder, we aim to serve as strategic partners above all else. This means as your needs evolve, we remain committed to supporting your ongoing development through comprehensive onboarding, hands-on support, and innovative product development.  

We know it can be hard to truly align on culture during the sales process, but it’s the perfect time to inquire about training process, cadence meetings, and annual meeting attendance.

All those factors matter when it comes to a long-term solution for your brand.

Without aligning on culture and franchise knowledge, you may find yourself spending a lot of time explaining and less time producing results. Remember, suppliers are there to help eliminate issues, not create more miscommunication and friction.

Implement New Tools

First off, let’s celebrate that you’ve found the correct solution for your brand—woohoo! Now, let’s keep the momentum going. 

To get our new product off the ground smoothly, we need to nail down the best practices for training and launching as a team. Two words to remember during this phase: patience and persistence.

Put together a solid roll-out and training plan that covers all the bases, including setting clear timelines and expectations for the official launch date to keep everyone on track.

It’s not uncommon for franchisees to resist this change, which is why it’s important to provide resources such as training videos, FAQs, or even direct training. This is where patience comes in: Rome wasn’t built in a day and the same goes for streamlining operations.

It’s also important during this time to set clear goals to evaluate the solution, such as tracking ROI, so in a few months you can determine if the solution is effectively addressing the initial issue.

Remember when we emphasized the importance of aligning on future cadence check-ins, culture, and other key aspects? Now is the time to hold the vendor accountable. They should schedule routine check-ins, provide training, and attend your brand’s annual meeting to address any issues arising from the change and ensure you’re on the way to solving your initial hurdles. 

Ready to Streamline Your Operations?

Not sure if your tech stack is hurting or helping your brand? Glad we got you thinking, but brainstorming is no fun alone! Book a free 1:1 demo here we’re happy to geek out with you.

Thank you to ServiceMinder for being a sponsor of the FBR Summit. Join us in Austin, TX, October 22-24 to meet the ServiceMinder team at this year’s Summit. Register now.

The Only Event Designed Just for Franchise Operations & HR Teams

How can you make an immediate and lasting impact on your franchisees’ success? Find out at the FBR Summit, October 28-30 in Austin, TX. The Summit is an intensive, franchise industry event created just for operations leaders and their teams that directly support franchisees. Don’t miss it!

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