When it comes to your success, no one wants it more than your Skip Territory Manager and the team who supported you. In fact, their number one goal is to help you optimize your offering and succeed on the network. Whether it be adding menu photos, adding combos, or running promotions to help you get more customers, your Territory Manager always has your back.
We talked to Brittany Astrope, Territory Manager for half of Winnipeg, to get her best insider tips and insights to help empower your success on the Skip network.
First things first, what are your responsibilities as a Territory Manager?
I’m actually in-market so I have the privilege of being able to meet with Partners weekly, sometimes daily, which I think is my favourite part of the job. Reason being, you get to just sit down with them and have a conversation or, more importantly, learn their story. It’s pretty cool to see how some of these people started from nothing and here they are now, four restaurants later. At the end of the day, I think connection is really important.
What are your personal motivations for achieving your own success?
I think, for me, it’s having the Partners I look after able to rely on me, but then also not having to as much. I like giving them the tools they need to be successful and not be afraid to change their menu to attract new customers, for example. Then I’ll feel like my job is really done, when we’ve worked together and they’ve kind of learned how Skip works. They obviously come back when they need certain things, but it’s more about helping develop their understanding of Skip and having their business succeed. But, even more importantly, I like seeing them go from, say, $500 in sales a week to $1500.
What key metrics or success factors do you measure by?
Retention is a big one. Exclusivity is another. We have an exclusive program, which essentially means that the Partner is only on Skip. Optimization is another, as in optimizing the menu to get new customers, including adding menu images, free delivery, getting them to link their web page to Skip, and getting them to post on social media.
What promotional tips have you shared with Partners to help increase revenue?
My number one thing is social media — it’s free, so use it to your advantage. It only takes a little bit of extra time, whether it be you or your assistant manager, just to get your brand name out there to attract new customers. Instagram has this great feature where you can add a button that says “Order Food” that users can literally click on and it’ll link to your Skip menu. It’s so easy once you get the hang of it.
What advice, tips, trends, best practices, and overall customer support do you share with Partners?
The portal is your virtual guide when it comes to your business on Skip. . It has so many great features and it’s going to give you all the information you need to know. So, for example, if there’s a rejected order or missing items, we literally have a newsfeed of all your information right there. Use it to your advantage as it will help you keep tabs on what’s going on in your business or if there’s an outage on Skip.
How have you improved delivery operations since inception?
Because customers can complain and get refunds through the self-serve feature, our fraud team has come a long way as far as putting safeguards in place so customers can’t continue to request ongoing refunds.
What local knowledge have you provided to Partners?
The key thing is, you want to differentiate yourself. You want to make sure your menus are appealing. You want to make sure you have an established brand, so create a logo. (If you can’t afford it, use Canva.) Word of mouth is really important too, so when your customers are coming in, make sure you’re saying, “Thanks for coming by,” and “Tell your friends about us.” Those little things can go such a long way when attracting new customers.
To give context: we have some restaurants that are on the platform with no photos, and no logo. They have just a name, and that’s not appealing to customers. We’re so used to this restaurant culture before delivery where you see the food being passed around, and you’re like, “Oh, that looks good. I’m going to order that.” But that doesn’t happen when you’re ordering online.
Anything else you’d like to share as it relates to Skip providing the best Partner experience?
Persevere. No matter how challenging it gets, you’ll always come out the other side.
Thanks to Brittany for her incredibly useful tips and advice. We hope they help you on your journey to success.
