Multi-location websites and shared systems
Nobody decided that the third site would close an hour earlier on the listing than it does in real life. Nobody decided that one manager rings people back the same day and another does it on Fridays. Nobody decided that two of your locations are running last spring’s prices.
Drift is not a decision. It is what happens to six copies of the same business over eighteen months, and the only thing holding it back is somebody noticing.
The fix is not more oversight. It is having one place where a thing is true, and everywhere it appears reading from that place.
One of your locations is invisible, and nothing will tell you which.
A site whose listing has the wrong hours, or whose page was never really written, does not generate an error. It generates nothing — no enquiries, no calls, no complaints. The weekly numbers look ordinary, because the numbers that would have shown the problem are the ones that never arrived.
There is no alarm for demand that did not happen. It is the only failure in this whole business that gets quieter the worse it gets.
Seeing it takes one view that puts every location beside every other one, and a person looking at it for thirty seconds a week.
You already run the experiment. Nobody reads the result.
A business with one site has takings. A business with six has a control group: the same offer, the same brand, six different high streets, six different managers. The answer to what actually works is already in your own numbers.
Almost nobody reads it, because reading it means assembling six sets of figures by hand into one view, and by the time that is done it describes a month that has finished.
When that view builds itself and arrives on a Monday, the thing one manager does that the others do not stops being folklore and becomes a decision you can make everywhere.
What actually changes, in the order it matters to you.
- One screen tells you where everything stands.
- The follow-up that always gets forgotten, never gets forgotten.
- Your prices and photos change when you say so, without waiting on anyone.
- Everything about every customer sits in one place, and it's yours.
- Pages get written for the things people are actually searching for.
- Your ads point at your street, not your country.
- Reports arrive on a Monday without you asking.
- There's one number that tells you whether it's working.
- A customer's history is remembered forever, so nobody re-explains anything.
- Money's collected, receipts go out, and nothing gets chased.
The audit will tell you what someone finds when they search for one of your locations by name — and it is worth running for the site you think is doing worst.
Questions people ask
- Our sites have slowly turned into slightly different businesses. How does that happen?
- Nobody decides it. Drift is what happens to six copies of the same business over eighteen months — hours on a listing that do not match real life, one manager doing the follow-up and one who does not, two locations still on last spring’s prices — and the only thing holding it back is somebody noticing.
- How do we keep locations consistent without standing over every manager?
- More oversight is not the fix. It is having one place where a thing is true, and everywhere it appears reading from that place — so your prices and photos change when you say so, without waiting on anyone.
- One of my locations feels quiet, but the weekly numbers look normal. Is that possible?
- It is the usual shape of the problem. A site whose listing has the wrong hours, or whose page was never really written, does not generate an error — it generates nothing, no enquiries, no calls, no complaints. The numbers look ordinary because the ones that would have shown the problem never arrived.
- So how would I ever spot the location that has gone invisible?
- By putting every location beside every other one in one view, and looking at it for thirty seconds a week. One screen tells you where everything stands.
- Can I tell which of my sites is doing something the others should copy?
- You already run the experiment — the same offer, the same brand, six different high streets, six different managers — and the answer is in your own numbers. Assembling six sets of figures by hand describes a month that has finished, so the view builds itself and the report arrives on a Monday without you asking.
- Which location should I run the audit for?
- The one you think is doing worst. The audit will tell you what someone finds when they search for that location by name.
Want to talk through how this would fit your business? Message on WhatsApp, or send a message and it reaches the person who would do the work.