The X Factor: Franchisors emphasize creating personal customer journeys

The medical assistants who staff Any Lab Test Now’s 230 facilities throughout the country are essential to the company’s operations and success. They are the faces of the brand, and they are frontline superheroes as far as Any Lab Test Now CEO Clarissa Bradstock is concerned.

The company offers consumers direct access to clinical, DNA, and toxicology lab testing. To ensure that prospective medical assistants are a good fit, many franchisees add a layer of screening during the hiring process, so the inquiry goes beyond a resume review.

Applicants are presented with a series of scenarios and asked how they would handle them. The additional scrutiny is meant to discover whether potential employees possess an abundance of empathy, the quality Any Lab Test Now values most.

Empathetic, efficient service that’s easy to schedule separates Any Lab Test Now from its competitors when it comes to providing a holistic, frictionless customer experience, Bradstock says.

“When people come to us, they can be just really stressed. It could be stress that their cholesterol isn’t going down. Or they may have a sexually transmitted disease. Or they might have drug interactions. There are all kinds of examples for why they come to us,” Bradstock says. “What’s really important for us in health care is that level of empathy and understanding and making them feel welcome. That empathy side is something that’s really so important for our brand.”

In the not-too-distant past, many businesses thought that providing a good customer experience was as simple as being proficient and saying, “Thank you.”

Proficiency and friendliness still matter. But satisfying customers isn’t so simple these days because expectations have changed. Regardless of the services they offer, today’s franchisors need to deeply understand their patrons and anticipate their needs. They also must employ multiple channels and tailor their messages when reaching out. Perhaps most importantly, they need to make sure the people who use their services or buy their products feel valued. Loyalty is earned, and that means going above and beyond customer expectations.

After medical assistants are hired at Any Lab Test Now, many undergo an additional certification process. “The majority of that is focused on the customer experience, really training them in the Any Lab Test Now way,” Bradstock says. “The Any Lab Test Now way is to greet people in a friendly and open manner and also to get them in and out as quickly as possible. Because the value of our brand isn’t just the pricing of the tests, it’s also respect for their time. And then there’s that level of empathy.”

A flurry of feedback

Exceeding customer expectations means providing transparency and soliciting feedback again and again, says Joaquin Erazo, director of marketing for DreamMaker Bath & Kitchen.

The company is a full-service kitchen and bath remodeling franchise with 44 locations in 23 states. Its franchisees operate design centers in retail locations, allowing customers to see the remodeling options available.

“When they walk into a DreamMaker design center, they will see half a dozen kitchen vignettes with different styles and options and cabinetry and faucets and under-cabinet lighting as well as bathrooms, anything from showers with multiple body sprays to freestanding tubs,” Erazo says. “The design centers also have selection areas with lots of flat-screen TVs to show different before and after renovations. The very first step in the client experience is radically different from what most remodelers would offer people.”

It’s an important step because renovations are big-ticket investments, and franchisees want to do everything they can to ensure that customers are getting what they want and paying a price they can live with, Erazo says.

“Our design centers help homeowners communicate what their vision is for their own space, so they can immediately eliminate what they don’t like and highlight the things that they do like,” he says. “Then our franchisees can help to frame a little bit more of their budget expectations on what the cost and investment should be.”

Most people think about remodeling for years before they actually do it, and they read reviews—lots and lots of reviews—on social media about the company they are thinking about using.

“Reviews and reputation matter,” Erazo says. “Consumers will put a lot more weight on the opinions of strangers than they do with whatever the brand voice is. And the higher the ticket of the item that you’re trying to purchase, whether it’s a product or service, the more weight you’re going to place on those reviews.”

That makes customer satisfaction key. It’s a message that DreamMaker drives home at every opportunity. “Early on, we emphasize the importance of reviews to new franchisees, and we make it a point to make sure that every single client is satisfied, and we’re exceeding their expectations,” Erazo says. “How do we do that? We lean heavily on surveying our clients.”

DreamMaker surveys after the first visit to the design center, after selecting appliances and fixtures, after the first day of demolition, and at the end of the project. All of that feedback gives franchisees an opportunity to correct an experience that’s not meeting a client’s expectations. “By the time the project is completed, there should not be any surprises,” Erazo says.

Along the way, clear communication is essential. A remodeling job takes weeks, sometimes months, depending on the scope of the project. Franchisees don’t start a project until all the material comes in, including every cabinet, knob, faucet, and piece of tile. That’s because the pandemic caused ongoing supply chain issues.

Keeping clients in the loop as the items arrive allows families to know when demolition is likely to start and when a project might be finished. Franchisees and their workers get to know their customers as well as their habits, schedules, preferences, and annoyances. Relationships are formed that can become close bonds.

When the job is done, DreamMaker franchisees present clients with an end-of-the-project gift, often one that’s more personal than a cutting board or a bath set.

“We encourage our franchisees to take it to the next level because they’ve built a relationship with these clients throughout the process,” Erazo says. “If you discover that both husband and wife went to Georgetown University, maybe the end-of-the-project gift is an autographed Patrick Ewing jersey, something that is meaningful to them and more personal. That’s a little bit of a cherry on top because we get to know them, and we’re very proud of that.”

A job done well could result in the prize DreamMaker seeks: the coveted review or referral.

“If you haven’t remodeled before, you think you’re buying a product or a combination of products: the cabinets, the flooring, the appliances, all that,” Erazo says. “In reality, we are selling a service. It’s listening to the needs, wants, wishes, and desires and translating that into the parts and pieces of the kitchen and bath and delivering an outstanding experience, so at the end of the project, the customer says, ‘That went a lot smoother than I thought it was going to. It was a great experience.’ And they’re more than happy to post that on Google or Facebook.”

Defining the X factor

Over the past year and a half, Goldfish Swim School Chief Operating Officer Mike Skitzki has visited most of the franchise’s 168 locations. He found that franchisees are aligned with the brand’s core values and Goldfish’s mission to help kids be safer in and around water. But many of the schools also had an X factor, one that was hard for Skitzki to articulate. Some schools just felt different. Special. Incredibly welcoming.

Then Skitzki read the book by Will Guidara, which details how a 26-year-old restaurant general manager took over a struggling New York City brasserie and transformed it into a restaurant that was named the best in the world 11 years later. Guidara instilled the importance of exceeding customer expectations in the restaurant’s employees. He focused on genuine interactions with patrons and creating memorable moments.

The book “gave me a vocabulary around this idea of hospitality. And what I realized was that some of our schools on purpose—a lot of our schools by intuition—were delivering on this concept of hospitality,” Skitzki says. “When you genuinely engage with the people you’re serving, and you can make authentic connections, that’s hospitality. And when we’re purposeful about that at Goldfish, that’s the X factor, and those are our schools that are just through the roof with customer satisfaction, retention, growth, and lots and lots of really happy kids.”

What does that look like in practice at Goldfish? It’s what they refer to as providing a Golden Experience, which includes anticipating needs. “I need to encourage and empower and train my teams that when they see mom coming in with her kids, and mom’s hands are full, let’s offer to carry something,” Skitzki says. “Or if someone forgot their goggles, let’s give them a pair of goggles. If mom is heading out to her car, let’s hold the door. Let’s walk out with an umbrella in the rain.”

It also includes creating memorable moments. If Goldfish does that well, positive reviews might get shared on social media. “Maybe it’s as simple as when we make a reservation for the first time, when we make that very first booking, if we ask mom what her kid’s favorite color is, and we’re waiting at the door with a yellow balloon for little Emma when she comes in,” Skitzki says.

Franchisees and their employees look for creative ways to show customer appreciation. They also try to foster personal connections with smiles and eye contact and by taking the time to update parents on their little swimmers’ progress.

Of course, it’s important that booking apps work, that scheduling make-up appointments is easy, and that websites have pertinent information. Marketing also matters.

“One thing that we’ve always looked at as a company is making sure we understand the consumer first,” says Chief Marketing Officer Shana Krisan. “We did a big study across all of our locations. We wanted to make sure that what we were doing was still in line with consumer expectations and making sure that they understood why we are the best choice for swim school.”

The analysis dug into what customers thought about Goldfish’s marketing, curriculum, technology, and other aspects of the schools’ operations. “Our whole goal was really to identify any gaps that we could then take back in-house to fix,” Krisan says. “There were franchisees involved, lots of consumers, lots of consumer surveying, lots of consumer phone calls across 36 states.”

The information gathered is critical to Goldfish’s goal of ensuring the franchise is meeting and exceeding expectations all around the country. “From a marketing perspective, those consumers and those markets can look quite different,” Krisan says, “so we need to make sure that we’re not only telling the story and educating the consumer from where we started in the Midwest, but that it also makes sense in the South and in the East and in the West, where we’re going. We found that we do a pretty good job across the board, but there are always areas for improvement. And so that’s where we’re focusing right now in 2024, improving on that customer experience and that customer journey.”

Krisan and Skitzki say candid feedback is an invaluable tool that should be embraced. “If we’re open-minded and listen with open hearts and open ears, and we take the feedback that comes,” Skitzki says, “that helps us get better.”

One goal, many layers

It often takes a concerted, sustained effort for a brand to stand out in a crowd of competitors. Every aspect of a business—operations, marketing, technology, and training—should be geared toward that goal.

There isn’t one aspect that’s more important than the other, says Bradstock of Any Lab Test Now. “I think, at the end of the day, that relationship with a human being is going to be what’s going to bring that customer back,” she says. “But the interesting thing is that if they don’t come through the door because there’s too much friction in ordering, then we don’t get that experience. So, they are all equal in how they can impact the customer experience.”

Any Lab Test Now is always looking to take the customer journey to the next level.

“We continuously improved our website. Now, consumers can go online, schedule an appointment, and we have a shared calendar at the store, so it’s real-time interacting. They can pay for the test online. They can also do the consent forms online. When the customer comes into the facility, we already know who they are, and we’ve already gotten all their information. They’ve paid. We just have to do the service and get them in and out as quickly as possible, which we try to do in 15 minutes. Customers really like that because they can do everything up front, and everything is seamless. And that’s something we’ve changed over the last three years, really adding those features,” Bradstock says.

It benefits the customers and the franchisees. “From the store level, it makes it so much easier for them because they don’t have to deal with paperwork, so we’re making it easier for franchisees. They can just pull up the customer and get all the information they need,” she says.

This summer, the franchise plans to roll out an AI tool to help customers better understand what lab tests are available and might prove beneficial. The messaging around the benefits of particular tests often comes from customers themselves. That feedback enables franchisees to feel more empowered to go out into the community and share the Any Lab Test Now story.

Not too long ago, a triathlete in his 50s wandered into a store in Utah. He was curious about the services offered. The medical assistant on duty answered his questions, and then the man confessed that he hadn’t felt like himself lately. He also said he didn’t like needles and wondered whether a urine test would suffice.

The medical assistant listened and then explained the options and what might be useful. Without pressuring him, she encouraged him to consider taking a complete blood count test. Though he was hesitant, he decided to do it. The results came in, showing the man had signs of having an aggressive form of leukemia.

Though he could hardly believe the results, a doctor confirmed them. The man sought treatment and says his life was saved because of that spur-of-the-moment decision to pop into that Any Lab Test Now location.

“I’m here as a result of it,” he says in a video recorded for the company’s YouTube channel.

It’s hard to top that story when it comes to making a difference in a customer’s life. Still, Bradstock says, “It’s just one of many about how we’ve really helped people during tough times.”