Multi-Unit Franchisee Magazine Issue II, 2014 | Page 68

People BY NATE DAPORE

Re-Brand, Re-Model,
or Re-Train?
Improve hiring and training to increase sales

O

ver time, every brand evolves
to stay relevant to its customers. You may not go
through a corporate “rebranding” exercise to the extent that
Wendy’s, Burger King, or Arby’s recently
did, adopting a new logo, new store design, and/or new products. If you operate restaurants, think about it: at some
point, did you add new items to your
menu, redecorate your dining areas, or
buy updated employee uniforms? All of
these areas, along with your logo and
name, combine into your unique brand.
Changing just a few of these is a smaller
version of rebranding.
Rebranding your franchise is expensive. The costs associated with designing,
building, and rolling out a new logo, store
design, signage, uniforms, packaging, and
advertising (just to name a few) can cost
large franchises millions of dollars and
countless hours. So why do it? A large
portion of companies believe rebranding will help attract new customers, help
them relate better to their target consumer, and give them a fresh appeal in
the marketplace.
A large push is occurring for major
store remodels across most older, national restaurant chains, from Wendy’s,
McDonald’s, Arby’s, and Burger King to
O’Charley’s and Applebee’s. While the
extent of the remodels varies, the majority of the expense falls on the franchisees.
Most estimates show these remodels can
costs hundreds of thousands of dollars
per location.
Will spending several hundred thousand dollars out of your own pocket to
add Wi-Fi, flat-screen TVs, and stateof-the-art self-service drink machines
garner a large enough ROI to justify the
cost and time?
Bottom line? Your main goal with a

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MULTI-UNIT FRANCHISEE IS S UE II, 2014

remodel, or any rebranding exercise, is to
increase sales enough to cover the costs
and continue that increased revenue on
an ongoing basis. Some franchise owners,
after years of slow sales, are deciding the
cost doesn’t justify the gain; rather than
pay for the remodels, many are opting
to sell instead.
Obtain rebranding results
without rebranding?
Imagine if you could change customers’
views of your company and dramatically
increase sales without the expensive costs
of remodeling or rebranding. You can—
simply by improving your employee
hiring practices. The sales increases you
will see from improved customer service
(minus the minimal expense) will bring
you a staggering ROI.
Finding and hiring high-quality candidates can make or break the success
of your company. It all comes down to
customer service. Employees who know
your products and are attentive to your
customers’ needs will keep customers happy and coming back. However,
many managers struggle to find and hire
employees who can deliver outstanding
customer service.
Finding new faces
Finding great employees who are engaged
and a fit for your company culture—and
keeping them in an industry known for its
high turnover rate—seems like a daunting task. But a few simple steps can help
you quickly identify, screen, and hire
employees who will provide better customer service and increase sales.
1) Automate your hiring process. If
you are still drowning in a sea of paperwork and paper-based job applications, it’s
hard to quickly identify which applicants
are best for that open position. To make

finding new applicants quick and easy,
find an online applicant tracking system
(ATS) that offers a user-friendly online
job application, filters to sort applicants,
and integration with job boards.
2) Screen applicants thoroughly.
Chances are you sometimes interview and
then hire the last person who walked in
and applied for the job simply because they
were there at the right time—regardless
of whether you have better-fitting candidates in the growing pile of applications
on your desk. To quickly weed out the
not-so-greats from those best fit for the
position, use assessments. Attitude and
cognitive assessments can easily determine
engagement, job fit, and counter-productive
tendencies. Integrating assessments into
your ATS and online application makes
finding the best employees a breeze.
3) Engage, engage, engage. Communicating and actively engaging with your
new hires (and all other employees) is an
essential step that is often overlooked.
Research from The Conference Board
has shown highly engaged employees
outperform their less engaged colleagues
by 20 to 28 percent. Gallup polls have
found that engaged employees average 27
percent less absenteeism. Provide ample
training, give performance reviews, and
establish a clear career advancement path.
These are just a few examples of how to
help your employees feel engaged.
If you want to improve your store sales
but lack the substantial funding needed to
remodel or rebrand, look no further than
your current team members. Investing
in your employees—to hire, train, and
engage them—will dramatically increase
your sales. Happy employees provide
better customer service, which leads
to more sales. This year, invest in your
people. The results will astound you.
Nate DaPore is president
and CEO of PeopleMatter.
He is passionate about providing team members,
including his own, with a
rewarding workplace experience that values creativity and innovation.
Contact him at 877-230-4088 or info@
peoplematter.com.