Express Personnel

Submitted by Bob Frankman on Wed, 2007/08/01 - 23:02.

Dear Franny,

Why is it that Express Personnel is the only personnel franchise brave enough to conduct and publish an independent survey on the satisfaction level of its franchisees?

I mean, for four years straight in a survey by an independent company, 3/4 of franchisees completed a questionnaire about sensitive franchise issues in which their anonymity was guaranteed. If I remember my college statistics, their sample size of surveys was so large that they could project a confidence level of 95% for their whole franchisee population with probably a confidence interval within +/- 0.5% or less. So, instead of 96% of franchisees being satisfied, it is possible that only 95.5% were satisfied in the whole network or 96.6% were satisfied.

And the results?

  • 96% of their franchisees were satisfied with the quality of service of their franchisor
  • 94% of their franchisees said that their franchisor is a competent, skillful and helpful to them?
  • And here's the acid test - 94% of franchisees would recommend Express Personnel to another prospective franchisee

How come more franchisors don't perform such metrics by independent auditors and then publish the results for the world to see, Franny? What are they hiding?

Inquiring minds want to know.

Kudos to brave Express Personnel for taking metrics and transparency in franchising to a whole new level heretofore unknown. Their competitors are yet to be seen.

P.S. The salesman from the other personnel company tells me not to trust such independent surveys. They say that I can know the general satisfaction level by talking to five franchisees that they have picked from a list they gave me. The salesman will call the franchisees beforehand to let them know I'm an honest prospect. According to the sales person, these selected franchisees are particularly candid in sharing information. Pretty helpful, huh? I wonder what is motivating the franchisee to spend so much time with the likes of me? What a nice bunch.

I understand in their spare time the salesman likes to post accusations on online forums about their competitor, Express Personnel.

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Survey Results.

Submitted by Dear Franny on Thu, 2007/08/02 - 07:44.

Mr. Frankman:

You are quite astute! 

Why is it that only Express Personnel is brave enough to conduct and publish an independent survey on the satisfaction level of franchisees?

More and more companies are begining to use survey's of their franchisees not only as a tool for improving their systesms, but as a tool for sharing the overall satisfaction with prospective franchisees.  For example at www.fransurvey.com they list more than 25 Systems for whom they've conducted surveys.  Any prospective candidate can download the 11 page report for just $24.95.  The first page of these reports can be viewed here on Blue maumau. 

How come more franchisors don't perform such metrics by independent auditors and then publish the results for the world to see, Franny? What are they hiding?

Obviously the franchisor must think about it, be willing to invest in it, and HAVE A LOT OF CONFIDENCE in the level of service which they provide to their franchisees.  Perhaps in time, franchise prospects will look first to those systems which have been FRANCHISE APPROVED by the Franchise Research Institute and who have the AAFD Fair Franchising Seal and most importantly franchisees for whom the system has proven to be worthy of investment.

No one should ever make an investment in a franchise based on the results of a survey alone; but a negative survey result could certainly help to narrow the list.

FranTastic Franchising,

Franny

Response to your Express Personnel comment

Submitted by Guest on Sat, 2007/08/04 - 13:36.

I am not a salesman for another company and resent that accusation.

As for Express I was in a room with 10 franchisees of this company and all answered that they would NOT buy this franchise if they had it to do all over again. You can spew stats but at the end of the day the important question is just what I mentioned above.

So again, save your money and buy something else and look at a different line of business. Way too much competition in staffing with little or no way to differentiate yourself.

Guest Gives Little

Submitted by Bob Frankman on Mon, 2007/08/06 - 10:52.

Anonymous Guest,

I'm not buying it. We don't know who you are. You've provided no evidence to what you say. You don't sound like a franchisee or an Express Personnel insider. And I'm not even sure you claim to be one.

The survey says that out of 300+, there are a few franchisees who are not happy with the system. (Again, good for them to publish such information.) It's hard to please all the franchisees all of the time.

I would think the challenge for franchisors is to satisfy as many as possible, and to improve the trend. That's no easy feat so I understand why franchisors don't like posting such satisfaction surveys.

4 out of 5 Surveys make this Fundament Error

Submitted by michael webster on Thu, 2007/08/02 - 09:33.

I have reviewed the free download, and it too makes the same fundamental error.

What is that?

"Most managers rejoice if the majority of customers that respond to customer-satisfaction surveys say they are satisfied. But some of those managers may have a big problem. When most customers are saying they are satisfied but not completely satisfied, they are saying that they are unhappy with some aspect of the product or service. If they have the opportunity, they will defect. Companies that excel in satisfying customers excel both in listening to customers and in interpreting what customers with different levels of satisfaction are telling them."

Buy whole article, Why Satisified Customers Defect , for $6.00 -it is a good deal. 

Michael Webster PhD LLB
Misleading Advertising Law

But guest asks for a lot

Submitted by Bubba Sparky on Mon, 2007/08/06 - 11:11.

Boycott a franchise on the word of an anonymous guest?  To be honest, with so many pleased franchisees in their system, I suppose it is possible the guest's commentary that the 10 franchisees simply were the displeased franchisee minority in the system and that anonymous guest fortuitously was in a room with them whilst discussing a dislike of the system.  Stranger things have been known to happen.  (http://www.2spare.com/item_51964.aspx)

It is somewhat odd that our guest is so adamant about the disreputability of the company, but offers no basis for this assessment (aside from the meeting of the only 10 franchisees who disliked the system).

Perhaps anonymous guest should offer specifics.  You offer nothing to substantiate your claims and hide in a cloak of anonymity (ironic coming from someone registered on this site as Bubba Sparky ain't it).  Give us a little something to work with.

Benchmarks

Submitted by Bob Frankman on Thu, 2007/08/02 - 11:48.

Good point. The statement that 96% of their franchisees are satisfied with their franchisor leaves out details. Their chart above (from their one page overview) shows that 13% consider that the overall quality of service to the franchisor is only good.  42% didn't rate the service as "Excellent", only "Very Good". That does leave room for improvement. Hell, a few even think the service is bad. So there are issues tucked away, which is Michael's point.

Why aren't 100% of their franchisees in franchise bliss ALL the time and where can Express improve? It is quite probable that the surveyor provided such info to the franchisor. The neat thing for the franchise buyer is that they have 4 years of data with Express Personnel to track franchisee satisfaction trends. As does Express' management.

Bless Express Personnel for caring enough about their franchisees to track and publish such metrics.  

Inquiring minds want to know, where are the rest of the personnel franchisors in keeping track of network satisfaction?

Satisfied Customers.

Submitted by FranSynergy on Thu, 2007/08/02 - 09:56.

Michael Webster makes a very good point about SATISFACTION.  I once worked with a multi-brand international franchisor who tinkered with the idea of putting the internationally recognized "No Symbol" (red circle with a slash thorugh it) over the top of "Satisfied Customers".

The thought process was quite simple, if a customer is "Just Satisfied" it means that at most, the customer has a perception of a fair exchange of value for money, but has NO LOYALTY.  That when the customers perception changes and they believe they will receive a greater value elsewhere they're gone.   This particular franchisor recognized that they did not want or need 'Satisfied Customers" but rather a need to develop "Enthusiastic Customers".  This particular franchisor would strive to develop "Enthusiastic Franchisees" and to teach their franchisees to develop "Enthusiastic Customers".

As I've stated in a previous post, a survey is simply a 'snap shot' of the overall attitude of the system at the time of the survey.  Things can change quickly, and often do --- both for better and worse.  When available the results of a survey should simply be a small part of one's overall evaluation, and the results should be consistent to everything else you hear and learn. 

Believe & Succeed,
Dale
FranSynergy, Inc.
Synergizing Franchising!
www.fransynergy.com

Express

Submitted by Guest on Mon, 2007/08/06 - 14:52.

Believe what you want...the truth is that there is unrest in the system and it is squashed. I have no vested interest in having you believe this. I just wanted to help some people avoid a huge mistake.

By the way I have experienced this franchise experience first hand....and there are more than a hand full of disgruntled franchisees.

So be it....to those that are investigating this oppoortunity...be very careful. I tried...oh well!

Benchmarking Franchisee Satisfaction

Submitted by Craig Hsueh on Thu, 2007/08/02 - 11:57.

Good discussion, gentlemen. I wish I would have gotten a sense of my network's general satisfaction before I bought. It was so hard to find out the health of the franchise and satisfaction levels a few years back.

From where I sit, benchmarking the whole network's franchisee satisfaction is a very welcome trend and a critical piece of information.

Bubba Sparky

Submitted by Guest on Mon, 2007/08/06 - 15:02.

I would love to give you more.....I was deeply involved with one of these franchises and I'll leave it at that.

What I am saying is take the surveys with a grain of salt and ask owners the hard questions.

1. Can you make money doing this?
2. What are the gotchas in the franchise?
3. WOULD YOU DO THIS ALL OVER AGAIN? The most important question to ask and get answered?

By the way the room was full of franchises out to dinner, all from one area of the country and the question was asked about buying the franchise again. These were not just disgruntled franchisees but all owners from the same area.

Anyway....I just want people to be careful and not make a big mistake.
I'm not sure buying any franchise in the staffing business makes sense, let alone Express. Research the industry first and then you can be more informed when talking to Express or any other franchise vendor in this space.

Best of luck to all!

100%?

Submitted by Guest on Mon, 2007/08/27 - 09:55.

It is unreasonable to believe that 100% of a franchise population will be pleased 100% of the time. Franchisees go through a number of phases, relying on the franchisor in the beginning, learning to operate on their own, moving onto thinking they know more about the franchise than the franchisor and finally, realizing that it is a mutual relationship. Someone will always be having a bad day, a period of low profits, etc.

Think about your own workplace - is EVERY SINGLE employee happy EVERY SINGLE day?

When buying into a franchise we expect them to excel in acheiving OUR goals. But it is just not feasible to expect perfection 100% of the time. And you said it...4 years to look back on, they have sound research dating back 4 years. They don't pop up and fall off the radar screen every other year. They are consistent in their services and care what their franchisees have to say. Good for them!!

The graph shown for Express Personnel is accurate because it doesn't not say that 96% say the franchise opportunity is Excellent - but rather, shows the opinions of the majority of the entire franchise population. I say give it up for Express Personnel for giving us "glass walls" to see through, rather than giving us 10 extremely happy franchisees to talk to when looking into their opportunity.

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