Franchise Update Magazine Issue IV, 2016 | Page 52

LIGHTS!
BEST FRANCHISEE
SATISFACTION
2nd Place:
Fastsigns International

Catherine Monson

On her way out of the
country, Catherine
Monson, CEO and
president of Fastsigns
International, stopped
for a minute to say that
everyone at the Carrolton, Tex.-based franchise is excited about

this award.
“We are honored to receive the STAR
Award for Best Franchisee Satisfaction given
out last week at the Franchise Leadership
& Development Conference,” she says.
“Every team member at Fastsigns understands that our top priority is profitable,
growing, happy franchisees. We focus on
franchisee profitability as our single most
important strategic objective. With strong
unit-level economics, we then focus on
helping franchisees grow their profitable
sales volume. That, combined with treating them as family and open, transparent
communication, leads to high franchisee
satisfaction.”
Her only regret? “That this award is
for second place and not first! Everyone
who knows me knows that I strive for excellence and am very competitive.”

BEST WEBSITE
PRACTICES

1st Place:
Mighty Auto Parts

Over the years, Joshua D’Agostino, vice
president of business
development for
Mighty Auto Parts, says
he’s picked up some
website best practices
by working with other
Joshua D’Agostino
franchisors and marketing companies, by studying other
websites, and by listening carefully to the
mystery shopping results each fall at the
Leadership & Development conference.
Based on these sources and more, he continually incorporates the most effective,
up-to-date functionality into the Mighty
Auto Parts website.
“For example, we know that searchable maps and territory maps as well as

50

short and long inquiry forms are helpful,” he says. “Our site also offers easyto-find contact information. I know that
testimonials and videos are hot right now,
but there haven’t been a lot of hits there
on our website. The most visited features
on our site include the territory map so
they know what’s available and where,
and the investment criteria section.”

BEST WEBSITE
PRACTICES
2nd Place:
Smoothie King

Counter to what some
consider conventional
wisdom of having a
website designed from
within, Metairie, La.based Smoothie King
found it best to have a
vendor specializing in
Steve Shields
restaurants re vamp
their franchise development website.
“We’ve found that having someone
looking at what we do with different
eyes has been a plus,” says Steve Shields,
senior business development manager at
Smoothie King. “Jason at Dogwood here
in New Orleans worked closely with our
franchise development department and
our marketing team to come up with a
nice, clean, strategic look and feel to our
website.”
The new website, part of the recent
revitalization of the brand with new owner
Wan Kim at the helm, was designed to
allow potential franchisees to proceed
through the initial process at their own
pace, he says. “If they want to jump right
in and call us or contact us, they can. If
they’d rather read and do their research
before starting the process, they can do
that, too.”

“Smoothie King
has been
franchising since
1989, and we’re
having a lot of
success with our
fresh look
and logo.”

The video testimonials available on
the website have proven to be effective
as well, says Shields. “Having the franchisees speak creates a certain level of
brand authenticity. Smoothie King has
been franchising since 1989, and we’re
having a lot of success with our fresh
look and logo.”

BEST TELEPHONE
PROSPECT
FOLLOW-UP
1st Place:
Wild Birds Unlimited

Always energetic Paul
Pickett, chief development officer at Wild
Birds Unlimited, is
quick to credit two of
his team members for
the award.
“I didn’t speak to
Paul Pickett
the mystery shopper.
Our executive assistant, Cheryl Miller,
answered that call in her usual enthusiastic and professional tone and got him
to the right person in record time,” says
Pickett. The right person in this case
was Lisa Hammer, manager of franchise development, who represents the
brand’s culture of positivity and transparency, he adds.
“Lisa has specific information we want
to collect from a candidate just to make
sure they’re a good match. She also makes
herself available to answer questions and
ask questions that help her dive deeper
into the individual’s motivation,” Pickett
says. “We consider it essential to communicate with candidates the way they
want and to give them a safe space to ask
and answer some pretty tough questions
about their finances and motivation. But
we try to do it in an optimistic way to
lay the foundation for what could be a
great, long-term relationship between
the individual, the brand, and our team.”
When Pickett heard the mystery
candidate speaking on stage at the conference (Art Coley, who called himself
Dudley Pennington on those calls), he
went into his phone and pulled up the
CRM and there was information about
him, his desires, goals, operational plans,
and interest in the hobby of bird-feeding.
“This said to me that Lisa responded with
full knowledge and the nuances of who
‘Dudley’ was,” says Pickett. “She really

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