Interview with sweetFrog, a premium frozen yogurt franchise headquartered in Virginia, on how Franchise Mapping Software helps them manage multiple territories. Shemar Purcell is the Franchise Development Associate & Marketing Coordinator at sweetFrog, and a GeoMetrx customer for several years.
Before joining sweetFrog, Shemar worked at Outdoor Living Brands, where GeoMetrx was already utilized to map territories for 4 different franchise concepts.
Rich Mithoff and the team provide fantastic attention and quality customer service. When joining sweetFrog, Shemar wanted to make sure she received the same level of attention she was used to. sweetFrog was having some issues with their existing mapping software not really being clear, easy to understand, nor easy to operate.
sweetFrog has varying radius around stores throughout the globe. Rich and his team have been fantastic in not only helping them upload the prior 350+ territories they already had, as well as helping the sweetFrog staff understand how to utilize the software.
“It really does come down to the fact that it’s easy to use, easy to understand, and their level of customer service is the best in the industry.”
What problems were you facing before using GeoMetrx?
“sweetFrog was already unhappy about the mapping software they were using. Everything they do was on the street level, basically a Google view with a circle around it. The maps were confusing and not easy to read. You couldn’t just log in and clearly see where stores or territories were located. It wasn’t easy to hover over and identify zip codes or other sorts of natural and unnatural borders around territories. The software had glitches, was slow-moving and, overall, a tedious process.”
What was surprising to the staff once they started using Geometrx compared to what they were used to?
“The biggest surprise was the software’s ease of use. It’s very easy to pinpoint down to a state and see exactly how many territories we have. We can go down the street-view and identify new areas where we can put potential brick and mortar franchise locations. Our radius is a lot smaller compared to other businesses. We aren’t using multiple zip codes or a 60 mile radius. Our radius is typically 5 to 7 miles outside of a store. The ease of their tools, such as being able to drop a pin and use the circle tool to create the 5-7 radius.”
What are some ways you use franchise mapping to try and understand your customers and their patterns of behavior?
“With sweetFrog we cross all socio- and economic classes. Everyone can afford a $5 cup of yogurt, which makes it more of pillar of the community. People come to congregate, host Spirit nights and fundraisers.”
How have you found the franchise mapping service to help you uncover hidden gems of information about your customers?
“I have spoken with many franchisors to validate GeoMetrx software, as well as discuss their current mapping software. I found many of them had never taken a deeper look at their franchise territories, reviewed how many potential target clients are in a designated areas, nor identified the viability before creating a territory. Explaining the resources available with GeoMetrx has been instrumental in helping these franchisors review the way they develop their territories.”
What parts of the franchise mapping service have helped improve sales the most?
“The GeoMetrx resources. The demographic research available to build target client areas and create viable territories; to clearly articulate what an area looks like, where the best places are going to be, and have the opportunity to break it down by county, street and zip codes. GeoMetrx is an all-encompassing franchise mapping software for franchisors that is easy to use, and fits within your current system. Rich and his team do a fantastic job of customizing the software to fit the needs of any business. No matter what type of franchise you have, Rich can help you create a quality product that will best serve you, not a blanket, one-size-fits-all.”
To learn more about sweetFrog, visit them online at www.sweetfrog.com.
Interested in learning more about how mapping can help you manage multiple territories more efficiently? Click here to contact us.