7-Eleven empowering your team | Inside Franchise Business

7-Eleven: empowering your team to connect with customers

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For many franchisees in customer facing businesses, providing great customer service is one of the reasons they chose to own their own business in the first place. They are motivated by building customer relationships and use their local knowledge to ensure they grow.

According to Janet Mao, franchisee for 7-Eleven South Oakleigh, investing in customer service and sales training for team members is key to ensuring that your business can succeed.

“I wanted to improve my business, and make sure it reached its potential. A few years ago, I looked at my business and saw that customer service standards were not where they needed to be. The results I was getting were OK but not great. I knew I needed to focus on the customer more. I realised that every member of my team needed to have the skills and commitment to provide great service, add value to customers and drive growth on every shift,” Ms Mao said.

Ms Mao used the training and incentive programs available from 7-Eleven to help kickstart the change she wanted.

“I attended the 7-Eleven customer service masterclass and then invested in having my team members attend. It was a commitment of time and wage costs, but by having all of the team trained and consistently applying what we learned, it has proven a good investment,” she said.

The South Oakleigh store is one of the pilot stores in the Good Value Good Call program, an incentive program that supports the skills learned in the customer service masterclass.

“As a result of the customer service masterclass program, my team and I have been able to improve our Net Promoter Scores from an average of 20 to be consistently in the high 60s  and 70s. Better service and talking with our customers mean we are able to grow sales by offering customers additional items or deals that might provide them with extra value. We’ve used the 7-Eleven Good Value Good Call incentive program to track our progress on upsell against others in the network,” Ms Mao said.

“As the business owner, I need to set an example in building sales, set clear individual targets, and ensure everyone has the support they need to contribute to their full potential. The Good Value Good Call program gives me a simple framework to celebrate and recognise team members, and to understand where individuals might need more coaching or training.

“Now, every member of my team understands the importance of great service in driving loyalty. The impacts of Covid-19 in 2020 have shown that customer loyalty is crucial for my business in tough times as well as in driving strong growth in the better training conditions,” Ms Mao concluded.