Connecting with the customer

Forbes.com recently ran an article on Jim Skinner, CEO of McDonald's. The message was that Skinner was in tune with his customers because he actually visited the stores. Sound obvious? Yes, but with all he had to do, why would he make it a priority? Shortly after I joined Great Clips, our president, Rhoda Olson, told the entire executive team that we were each expected to visit 20 Great Clips salons in that quarter. I was waiting for someone to raise their hand and clarify the request; certainly we weren’t expected to take time away from our responsibilities to visit 20 salons…were we? Heck, I only get my hair cut every month, and almost always at the same salon – so I still had to visit 19 salons! What amazed me was that Rhoda made it her priority to get out into the field. She's rarely in the office. Instead, she's on the road visiting our franchisees or one of our 2,700+ salons. Needless to say, I got out of my comfort zone and hit the road, too. There were several Aha! moments for me because what I learned was that by understanding what the customer is experiencing and how they feel about our brand we can design and deliver the necessary training, marketing and support that our franchisees need in order to succeed. Somehow Jim Skinner and Rhoda Olson already knew that. I have a lot more to learn, but what I know is that successful franchise leaders have a sense for what the “end user” customer needs, and make it a priority to deliver it.