How long have you been an Operations Manager at Any Lab Test Now?
Since December of 2014. I manage 7 of the corporate owned locations in Houston.
How did you become an Operations Manager at Any Lab Test Now?
I was with Any Lab Test Now since 2009. I started as a medical assistant just working at the front office like the MA’s do. Over the years I was getting more and more responsibility. When there was the transition of the previous ownership to corporate, I was promoted to Operations Manager.
What’s your medical background?
I’ve been a medical assistant since 2003, pretty much since I was 23 years old. I’ve only had a few jobs. I was with a doctor for 7 years, that’s where I started. I learned a lot just in the medical field. You pick up certain things after working 7 years with patients and doctors.
What stood out to you about Any Lab Test Now compared to other franchises?
What stood out to me is the fact that the customer can come into Any Lab Test Now and buy any kind of test with a doctor’s order already provided. I felt it was awesome for our country, and in general for people to have the option to walk into a place and buy whatever test they like when it comes to lab testing without having to go to a doctor first.
After working with a doctor, I know the process of going to get lab tests. When someone has insurance you just don’t get to pick whatever lab test you want to have done. You have to have a certain history or diagnosis. Just cutting back on the process of an individual getting a lab test, it cut the process by almost 70%. I knew from the very beginning that I thought it was something healthy for everyone, and I wanted to be a part of it.
What are the perks of being a part of Any Lab Test Now?
Being a part of an industry that doesn’t operate like everybody else. We’re unique! We don’t do what other places do. Once people know what we do, they’re surprised. That’s one of the perks because I get to tell other people you have other choices for their health.
As an Operations Manager, I get to deal with people on a very different level as far as employer to employee, and then as manager to customer. They are two very different relationships that I like to participate in on a daily basis. When I’m at a store I like to help the medical assistance take care of the customer. I tell the customer “thanks for coming in and we appreciate your business.” I want them to know from a management level that I am appreciative that they are coming into us.
How involved are you in the day-to-day operations?
I go to all of the offices once a week, sometimes twice a week. Every day I rotate, and on Fridays is usually my off day where I catch up on emails and anything I am working on the administrative side.
What are the challenges you face as an Operations Manager? How did you overcome them?
I feel like the strongest challenges were a year or two ago. Do I still have them sometimes now? Of course. Do I think I’ve learned and improved on what I’ve done and found ways to become better at them? Yes.
I think the main challenges for myself at the beginning were hiring the right people that are gonna make the difference here at the office. HR in general is a humongous learning curve for myself just because you want to have the best interest of the company at all times. You want to make sure that you do everything with the employees correct, and you don’t step out of bounds.
Training just involves a lot of time. We do a lot of tests. We work with over 20 labs and each lab has their own requirements. We have several national collection partners and each collection partner has their own specifications on lab tests. We have new tests that come out at least once a year. There’s always something new going on, so I would say that the training is a big chunk of the challenge. After having some time here I have a grip on it, but you are constantly learning.
What is the support like from corporate?
Personally speaking on my side, the marketing side is good. The Marketing Team is always available. They have done great things to make it easier for the franchisees, myself included, to order stuff to have access to marketing material.
They’re great if you have any questions in regards to marketing. ?When we have to reach out to the FSR’s they get back to us within a day or so and answer any of our questions. So far it’s positive. I would give a message to any franchisees to always reach out to your FSR’s for any kind of help or assistance. They are always able to help.
How is managing personal life while operating an Any Lab Test Now?
There’s only so much you can do within 40 hours of the week, especially in my case managing 7 locations and I personally own another one with another franchisee. It helps if you have a plan for your day, your week, even your month if you can. You don’t want to approach a job or operations without a plan. Otherwise it’s just going to be scattered, and it’s going to spill over into your Saturday, Sunday and family time.
What’s your route to success?
Number one I would say talk to other franchisees as much as possible and that means when we have our yearly conference or our smaller conferences, meet people and ask questions. Call them if you live in a city that has other franchisees, and try to schedule some time to meet with them and get to know from an insider’s perspective what are the best practices and what they go through. Don’t go at this by yourself. Even if you have experience and a lot of other things in business it’s better to get to know other franchisees and how they are doing things and how they are operating. Get their personal opinion on how to manage an Any Lab Test Now.
Meet and reach out to your FSR’s is my number two tip. Talk to corporate as much as you, can reach out to them and ask questions. They are the best ones to answer your questions because they deal with 100+ other franchisees so they are constantly working on these issues. Instead of guessing or not knowing where to go reach out to your FSR.
My last I would say get to know your customer. I think a lot of franchisees work behind their medical assistants, so take the time to meet the customer. Ask “how did you hear about us? what prompted you to come in?” I think that has a lot of positive qualities to it. One of them is that the customer feels like the business owners have interest in their life and that always leaves a good impression. Then Once you get into your marketing and your Google PPC you can adjust those numbers partially by what kind of people are coming into your store. Some of these people can be future B2B accounts. They may work at a business and they may refer that business over to you.
