How to use training videos to scale a multi-site business or franchise
We believe training videos are the best way to ensure your systems are understood and followed by employees. This is particularly true in industries where new employees have little to no prior knowledge and are required to quickly learn both technical and soft skills.
Video is a fantastic tool for training employees on how to use specialized tools and equipment
Check out this video we produced for WOW Carwash in Las Vegas. This is the first video a new hire will watch when they begin their training. Notice the energy, the inviting tone, and the visuals that paint a picture of what the role will look like. All of these elements would be incredibly difficult and lengthy to communicate in writing – especially to a person who’s new to a role and unfamiliar with the industry they’re entering.
The magic of this intro, beyond being inviting and informative, is that it’s consistent. Every single new hire receives the same warm welcome across every single location. And they’ll receive that same warm welcome for the next several years of company growth.
Without video, it would be impossible to achieve this level of clear and consistent communication for every employee on day one.
The driving question behind every growing business:
”As we grow, how do we increase profits while ensuring our customers receive the same high-quality experience at every location?”
An effective leader can train and manage and develop a culture within a small team, but as new locations and teams are added it becomes harder to maintain, harder for the founders to keep the vision alive, and harder to keep operations running smoothly across the board.
Scaling a multi-site business is difficult. Operational challenges grow along with business growth. We’ve seen these challenges up close with our clients, as they begin to shape their business into something scalable. We’ve watched them tackle these problems with rock-solid, repeatable, systems.
If you own or manage a multi-site business, you’re familiar with the importance of systems.
Systems are the secret sauce
As Michael Gerber talks about in his legendary business book, The E-Myth, the answer to scaling a successful business lies in repeatable systems. This is why Gerber encourages every business owner to create procedure manuals for their business; so the roles and expectations in the company are clearly defined and can be adopted by new employees with limited interruptions to the day to day operations. It’s a beautiful thing to see a business that’s mastered its systems.
Start with procedure manuals, but don’t stop there
Procedure manuals help keep employees on track with important tasks; if there’s any question on how the widgets should be placed on the thingy, or how employees are to talk to customers, your procedure manual should answer that. If it doesn’t, the scaling will get clunky. A company doesn’t need effective systems in order to grow — it needs systems in order to grow sustainably. If you’ve already ventured into a multi-site business venture, you’re no stranger to systems. And you already know that the enemy of a fast-growing business is poorly communicated systems and/or ignored systems.
Not every system is created equal
I worked for my dad in construction for a year when I first graduated high school. As a green labourer, I remember asking him how to do something. He responded with something like “I don’t know, you just do it!”
With 25 years of experience, most of the work my dad did was second nature, and it was difficult for him to see what I was confused about. So I asked another, less-experienced guy on the team to show me. As a result, I learned that guy’s way of doing things.
My dad has done well by keeping his business small, and it works for him. But imagine he had 5 crews working across a city and each one was told “you just do it.” Either the business would meltdown, or my dad would.
When it comes to scaling a business, there should always be space for employees to offer feedback to improve systems, but it’s up to the operator to make those changes to the system.
Are your systems running smoothly?
If your business has multiple locations, it has systems – there’s no question about that. The question is how solid are the systems? Are they in writing? Are they easy to reference? Are they up to date? Even if you have those important elements locked down, it means nothing if your employees don’t implement the systems.
Does everyone in your company understand the systems? Are the systems being effectively taught to new hires? Are they being properly implemented? Written procedure manuals are the backbone of a scalable business model. They create a gold standard for everyone working in the business.
Teaching the system
The next big challenge, after creating the systems and hiring great people, is teaching the systems to your new employees. The larger the company, the harder it becomes to do this effectively.
When we were approached by Sunset Grill, a restaurant franchise with nearly 200 locations across Canada, they had a kitchen operations manual which they wanted to convert into a video series. The book had prep instructions for each of their meals – a handy guide for the cooks and kitchen staff.
But a book is not the most effective training tool. Sunset Grill management knew this and hired us to convert their recipe book into a video series. Not only does this help with training inexperienced cooks, but it also helps set the standard for experienced workers too. An experienced cook may know how to cook scrambled eggs, but do they know how to cook them the Sunset way? Video training helps set this standard across all locations.
An above angle is a great way to show the learner how to do a hands-on task, such as food prep
Shadow shifts have a dark side
Shadow shifts are a great way to train new staff members. The new employee hovers over the shoulder of the experienced employee and soaks in the learning, soon taking over and getting their hands dirty and learning the ropes under the careful eye of the veteran.
But this method comes riddled with problems too, not the least of which is the problem of inconsistency. Again, the company is faced with the problem of everyone doing things their own way. Chris, who’s worked at your company for 5 years has his own way of getting the job done and teaches his way to 4 new recruits. It’s pretty close to how your procedure manuals outline it, but not quite bang-on. Amanda, who’s been with you for 2 years does things slightly different than Chris and teaches her way to 6 new recruits.
Pretty soon, it’s not hard to imagine the customer experience has drifted off course. As the company grows, it becomes harder and harder to keep everything on the rails.
Time is Money
The other problem with relying too heavily on shadow shifts is time. Every hour of a shadow shift costs the company two hours of labour. If you’re training multiple employees for several days across 15 or 30 locations, the time will add up and eat into profits.
Procedure manuals and shadow shifts shouldn’t be replaced. But if you want to scale more effectively, they should be supplemented with training videos.
Great employees deserve great training experiences
Every operator of a business wants to get great results from their people, and a good leader values the people they hire and works to create a positive environment for everyone – customers and employees alike. A good leader will invest in team-building experiences, encourage employees when they do a good job, and take time to coach in areas where improvement is needed.
Why accept mediocrity when it comes to training videos? Video is a huge opportunity to equip your employees with clear expectations alongside an inspiring vision of the why behind your business. And remember one of the biggest benefits: Scalability.
In day-to-day operations, most business operators show their employees they value them. But for some reason, much of the training seems to be a necessary evil – a box that needs to be ticked so we can get on with business. This is the old way of doing things.
What if there was a way to effectively train hundreds of employees across multiple locations while at the same time building excitement around your company? That would be an ideal scenario for any growing business.
Training videos are the new system.
We believe the best way to build a system for hiring, onboarding, and training employees effectively and at scale is to produce quality video content that achieves two main goals:
Communicate to employees what they need to learn in order to do a good job
Inspire employees to get behind the vision of your company
It’s that simple.
Both of these important goals can be achieved with the same video content. Through careful planning, you can communicate both the vision for your company and the nuts and bolts of the role. The right video content will teach both the why and the how.
By creating the right video training, you establish a rock-solid foundation on which every new employee enters the company. It becomes crystal clear why the company – and specifically the role within the company – exists and how to do a good job in that role.
A car wash is a great example of a business that requires both technical skills and interpersonal skills at the entry position level
The Portage way for producing high-quality training videos
How do you lead your company from the old to the new way of training new employees?
At Portage Creative, we’ve developed our own system for helping multi-site businesses convert their existing training into effective training videos. If you’ve read this far, you probably have procedure manuals and training documents.
We work with these existing documents, discuss with your team where these documents fall short, and we get to work producing your new training videos.
Assess
We assess your training needs based on current training materials and areas you’d like to improve and provide a quote.
Convert
We convert your training manuals into video scripts and a shot list, working with you to add additional training content.
Plan
We create a production plan based on the video scripts and storyboards
Capture
We move into production. This includes filming the video content as well as designing short procedure manuals called “Quick Guides”, which are a mix of text and photos. These are for easy reference and can be delivered side by side in your favourite LMS.
Edit
We edit the videos. Photos are pulled from the videos to illustrate the Quick Guides. We keep your operations team updated on progress and are involved with revisions as needed.
Say goodbye to digging through dusty procedure manuals for answers (was anyone ever doing that anyway?)
Now, everything is kept in an organized library of video content, easy to pull up on any mobile device.
Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater
You’re not tossing printed or digital training manuals altogether – the training manuals are seeing an upgrade. They’re also getting a name change. We call them The Quick Guides.
Quick Guides are documents with less text and more visuals – the same visuals seen in the training videos. This information is for quick reference during a busy shift. It may be one comprehensive document or multiple smaller documents divided according to different topics.
Delivering the training
In order for training to be effective, it needs to be accessible. You may already have a Learning Management System (LMS) for employees to access training. This is great for the initial phase of training. But in some cases, with complex equipment which may need basic servicing from time to time, you’ll want these videos easily accessible on any device in the spur of the moment.
In the case of the car wash training videos we produced for WOW Car Wash, we recommended using QR codes in various locations around the facility. Suppose an employee is returning to work after a sabbatical or they just need a quick refresher on how to clean out the vacuum system. In this case, they can simply scan the QR code on the vacuum and watch the 3-minute video on vacuum maintenance.
For your business, you may want to place QR codes on a quick reference sheet in the staff room, so every video and Quick Guide is listed and easily accessible by every employee when it’s needed.
How to know your company is ready to invest in training videos
Of course, you can invest in training videos at any time. But to really see the benefit of video training, chances are you’ll have some other important things in order first. Here are some questions to ask yourself before diving into producing training videos for your company.
Do you help lead a multi-site business or franchise?
Do you have a clearly written policy and procedure manual?
Does your company’s leadership value culture, and is ready to invest in it?
Do you want to express your company vision more clearly to your team?
Is it taking too long to onboard new employees?
Are you spending too much time training employees?
If your answer is “yes” to most of the above, chances are you’re ready to invest in training videos.
Our team at Portage Creative is dedicated to growing the influence of organizations that care about the people they serve.
Training videos are a great way to establish expectations, train for technical skills, and get your team on the same page across multiple locations.
If you’d like to explore the idea of producing training videos for your organization, get in touch to see how we can help.