The Client
This client is a fragrance and cosmetics franchise with approximately 2,000 stores located in Central and South America, Europe, and Asia.
Background
The company felt that a successful Franchisee should be entrepreneurial, while also able to work within the parameters of the larger organization. The company wanted Franchisees who could work independently but who also worked as a team with each other and the corporation to ensure brand consistency across the various locations. While the company believed these qualities were critical, they had not conducted a systematic assessment of the personality traits necessary to succeed as a Franchisee.
The Business Challenge
In the midst of promising growth, the company realized that it did not have a program to select and develop successful Franchisees. As a result, some franchise stores were exceeding company goals while others were not. Therefore, the challenge for the company was to determine the personality traits that would lead to success in a Franchisee role and to better identify those with these traits. Additionally, the company wanted to refine its selection process while maintaining elements that had contributed to its past success, such as strong Franchiser-Franchisee relationships and a renowned brand reputation.
The Strategic Solution
The company approached Caliper to help them gain a solid understanding of what it takes to succeed in a Franchisee role and to redefine their expectations for Franchisees. Caliper began by examining objective and subjective performance data on Franchisees; these data were used to identify top and bottom performers. Next, the Caliper Profile was used as a valid and reliable tool to assess the personality and cognitive attributes of these two groups.
Based upon the results, Caliper was able to create a model for a successful Franchisee that could be used to:
- Audit the current Franchisee population
- Identify issues for Franchisee training and development programs
- Measure and select future Franchisees
The company identified 85 top and 85 bottom performers out of their population of Franchisees to be assessed for this study. Various performance data were provided for each Franchisee, including the following:
- Number of stores owned by the Franchisee
- Regional manager’s rating of the Franchisee
- Market share
- Numerical evaluation of the Franchisee (based on factors such as the percentage of sales goals met)
The Results
The results of the Caliper Profile were used to identify the personality traits of franchise owners who were categorized as top performers. Caliper was able to create a Top Performing Franchisee Profile. Due to the value provided by this initiative, the company decided to administer the Caliper Profile to the rest of the Franchisee population. Based upon these results, Caliper is helping the company to identify gaps between current employees’ attributes and the Top Performing Franchisee Profile so that they can provide needed training and development programs. Moving forward, the company plans to use the Top Performing Franchisee Profile to select new Franchisees who display these desired attributes. Additionally, the company plans to work with Caliper to benchmark other key jobs (e.g., counter staff) located in the franchise stores and to implement a Top Performer Analysis for these positions as well. By using this process as a basis for selection, training, and development, the company is ensuring that everyone is being evaluated and performing according to the same high standard.