Franchise Everything

In this episode with James, we asked him to focus on a discussion on 5 key inflection points in the business that have been key in making the brand what we see today.

47secs - Changing the business model from Sub-Contractor to Franchise Partner in 2012 with the change of ownership to Singapore Post at the time.

2min 26 secs - CEO Richard Thame's arrival to the brand with a key focus on the franchising aspect of business. A long history of success with a number of other key franchise brands.

5min 59 secs - The massive surge in growth that particularly was triggered from the covid period, but that this growth has continued with 30million+ parcels a year now.

8min 29 secs - The role and changes with technology in the business and industry such as the Courier App, facilities being green, and automation machinery within freighting facilities.

10min 54 secs - Customer choices at the end user level and those options that customers now have, such notifications and deliveries to alternate hub locations like newsagencies, pharmacies and similar.

Podcast Produced by:  www.magneticbusinessmedia.com.au

Franchise Stories and Knowledge Base (our other website):  www.franchisebuyer.com.au

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Franchise owner journey: In search of better opportunities, Ash and her family migrated from NZ in 2014 without a business chosen. They had a lengthy 6 month wait after arrival to finally get the business they wanted.

With Ash at home with the kids, and husband running a wine cellar / liquor store business, back in NZ, trips to Australia looking at around 30 businesses was the process before narrowing to a Kwik Kopy franchise.

Now, several years later, Ash runs Kwik Kopy Camberwell, while her husband runs 2 retail based franchises of another brand - strong supporters of the franchise business model in making running a business easier!

:37 Migrated from NZ in 2014

1:26 Why Ash didn't enjoy running a cafe business prior for about 10 months.

3:06 Thinking of the move to Australia

3:48 Career as an accountant prior to having kids

4:15 Flexibility of your own business

5:42 Why Australia?

6:26 Researching a business to buy in another country from NZ

7:27 Took 6 months after arriving to find a business

8:04 Finding Kwik Kopy and missing out on one but buying one off-market.

9:25 What was so attractive about Kwik Kopy?

10:38 Husband running a different retail brand franchise.

10:59 The franchising advantages - especially through COVID

11:33 Training and learning the Kwik Kopy system.

12:18 Ash' role in the business and a normal day.

13:53 Most satisfying solutions for clients.

15:46 The main jobs done by Kwik Kopy Camberwell.

17:02 Investing in and training on new equipment to offer wider services.

17:35  Decision making on investing in ROI on equipment.

18:37 Love most about owning the business.

19:40 What the future looks like in the business.

Podcast Produced by:  www.magneticbusinessmedia.com.au

Franchise Stories and Knowledge Base (our other website):  www.franchisebuyer.com.au

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Franchise owner journey: After 15 years as a VP in Citibank Corporate, Neil was tired of the stress, no control of his life, and certainly didn't want to miss another school sports day!

A shift into a 'handyman' franchise made a lot more sense than it may have otherwise appeared on the surface to others.

Now a 20+year veteran in a business that sits in the size above 'man in a van' (called 'multi-person') for the brand, where he has staff and manages multiple trades in undertaking his work which is around 50% domestic and 50% stratas, corporates and schools.

:27 Explaining levels of the franchise

1:00 Structure of the business

1:50 Sharing resources with other Hire A Hubby's - not in competition

2:33 Types of work

3:59 Recent jobs worked on

5:28 Engaging specialist trades work (plumber, electrician etc)

6:06 Hire A Hubby role in works like 'prep for sale' and referrals for those

8:14 Reno like 'The Block' every week! Building relationships with real estate agents

9:59 Importance of staying local for profitability, yet with an ability to serve wider

11:57 Network helping with suppliers of materials

12:55 Neil's day to day work

15:04 Background, a career in banking, and a family

16:15 The volunteer handyman at son's pre-school - a passion realised

17:50 Quitting banking and finding Hire A Hubby

19:14 'Interviewing' the CEO about the franchise

20:07 Buying Gladesville then Ryde territories and too much work

21:22 Call centre generated leads

22:05 What makes the business work from a Multi-Award winner?

Podcast Produced by:  www.magneticbusinessmedia.com.au

Franchise Stories and Knowledge Base (our other website):  www.franchisebuyer.com.au

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Franchise owner journey: After 17 years in warehousing and logistics that included a redundancy triggered by automation, Dominic decided that he needed a change and to give him and his family the opportunity to earn more than was on the table.

Seeing the delivery drivers come and go, chatting to them and his uncle who owned a delivery run, he spent a week on the road to test if it was going to be right for him.

21 years later and he is a CouriersPlease veteran!

Running one territory, selling it and moving to a new one with higher growth potential for his plans, Dominic is still on a mission.

:44 A strong logistics, freight and warehousing background with Woolworths and Safeway supermarkets

2:09 After 15 years in warehousing made redundant from Woolworths and what happened with decision making around it.

4:03 Starting a family and wanting a change of life in a different career.

5:04 Thought process in shift to owning his own business with CouriersPlease.

6:34 Going on a trial delivery run for a week with his uncle who owned a CouriersPlease run and going over the pros and cons of the franchise.

8:06 What appealed to Dominic the most about the business - personal relationships with customers.

8:24 With CouriersPlease 21 years and starting as a contractor now to a franchise partner structure since 2012.

10:01 Sold Dandenong territory and bought new run in a different location with more potential, and the process of growing and splitting the territory.

10:50 What Dominic sees as a growth territory in a CouriersPlease business.

12:39 What a CouriersPlease franchise partners day and the future looks like.

14:46 Doing pick ups from customers while doing parcel drops as well.

15:14 The changes coming up with automation in the business to very likely make operating the business a lot easier with less manual handling.

16:28 How Dominic is approaching growing his territory now and previously with employing contractors, splitting runs and selling them.

17:59 Biggest changes seen in 21 years in the business.

19:47 The future for Dominic and what sees for his business.

Podcast Produced by:  www.magneticbusinessmedia.com.au

Franchise Stories and Knowledge Base (our other website):  www.franchisebuyer.com.au

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Franchise owner journey - After spending 25+ years in food distribution and supermarket logistics, Ken channeled his passion for horticulture and the desire for a career change into a business of his own.

But, owning his own business wasn't necessarily in the plan.

The plan was to transition from supermarket logistics with a Certificate in Horticulture, and into the council parks and gardens division.

Disconsolate about the fact he couldn't secure a job with the qualification after 4 years of study, was thinking his age at 59 was becoming a problem.

A chance conversation with his brother who had just purchased a Coochie Hydrogreen franchise after being a customer, and everything seemed to just align very quickly for Ken from that moment onwards.

Now with 400 or so clients in his region, and a target for 500 in the near future, Ken is looking forward to more growth.

0:26 What Coochie Hydrogreen does

1:13 Career prior in food service for an extended period distributing to restaurants, hotels and the like.

2:27 Into a large Woolworths logistics distribution facility with night shifts.

3:44 How they supplied 50+ supermarkets across the region and what amazed Ken about the actual cost of delivery per carton and the size of the operation.

5:28 A passion for horticulture and after 13 years looking for something else that he had a passion for.

6:35 Was told that he needed a qualification in Horticulture to get a job with the Council, enrolling in a Certificate 3 in Horticulture with a goal to get onto parks and gardens with the Council while still working for Woolworths.

8:08 Why the passion for horticulture - it came from mum.

8:59 Couldn't get a job with council after getting the qualification, and felt at 59 his age was possibly a problem.

9:36 Chance conversation and found Coochie as an option from his brother who had just bought a franchise.

11:14 Launching Coochie in his region and feedback from current owners.

12:17 The help from Coochie and growing the business.

13:34 Progress of growth in the region starting from zero clients.

15:06 Ken's initial doubts and continued drive to grow the business from the start with simple local area marketing strategies.

16:39 How he grows the business with face-to-face marketing and a focus initially on the bowls club for clients.

18:16 Other local marketing activities in the are with kids rugby league, beer coasters in pubs and more.

19:08 The Coochie advantage of comparing the lawn next door after the lawn care program is implemented.

19:49 What he loves about the business now 5 years down the track and goal for the future. 

21:30 Bringing another staff member on and how the business operates.

Podcast Produced by: www.magneticbusinessmedia.com.au

Franchise Stories and Knowledge Base (our other website):

www.franchisebuyer.com.au

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From marketing with McDonald’s to cinemas, the car rental, print and travel industries, and ultimately on to a key focus in the parcel and logistics industry as the CEO of CouriersPlease, you’d never know Richard Thame started business life as an Accountant!

A common thread through much of Richard’s career has been around the franchise sector with most roles directly related. A quick realisation that accounting wasn’t for him, Richard started at McDonald’s in accounting and as able to cross disciplines into marketing for the brand.

Exposure to industries undergoing significant change has been typical with cinemas at the time of his role there battling video stores for relevance, and his time in the car rental industry with transitioning rapidly to booking cars online and not over the counter.

Seeing online retail as the future in 2008, as at the time, CEO of Fastway Couriers, Richard and his team set about positioning the business for that future.

Enticed back to parcel and logistics with CouriersPlease, Richard is very focused on the franchisor / franchisee relationship and making that the best it can be to enable the growth of the business, building on a sustainable point of difference, and embracing technology at the same time.

All the while playing the role of husband and a father to 4 boys with everything that having a 3,6,20, and 22 year old children age spread brings with it!

0:22 Introduction

1:44 A big believer in the franchise business model

2:50 Diverse path from an Accountant out of uni and the realisation that accounting wasn’t form him.

4:25 An opportunity from an accounting role with McDonald’s to a marketing role in that brand.

5:20 Loved about product marketing at McDonald’s - the broad exposure within the business.

6:59 Moving to the film industry with Greater Union that was going through enormous change competing with video stores at the time.

9:00 Back into franchising in the car rental industry with Thrifty and key learnings in industries where they are commoditised.

11:45 A further shift to a role in another travel industry related business of technology handling millions of bookings with technology platforms for agency groups - retaining a franchise connection as a supplier to the franchise industry.

14:00 First foray into the parcel and logistics industry was with Fastway Couriers, and the changes.

15:40 Concept of focusing on online retail into the future from as early as 2008.

17:50 The beauty of franchise model in logistics that differentiates from a postal network.

19:23 How expesnive franchises are becoming.

21:33 Exposure to other franchise roles and companies after 10 years at Fastway, and moved into one of Australia’s oldest companies, Snap Printing as CEO.

24:42 Franchising networks standing out during covid challenges.

26:50 Why transition to CouriersPlease and back into parcel and logistics.

28:21 Securing large retail contracts for franchise partners while also providing systems and tools to help find their own customers.

29:04 Changes in business to consumer deliveries, and parcel lockers not growing as much as pick-up and drop-off points. Addressing pain points for customers.

31:08 Using the enormous database of customers to address pain points while keeping privacy front and centre, as well machine learning and technology investment.

32:12 Sustainability, working with customers for more eco-friendly packaging and initiatives toward electric vehicles over time.

33:30 Passion for franchising and involvement with the Franchise Council of Australia and a focus on franchise education.

36:43 Family life and balancing career with age gaps of a 3 year old and 6 year old kids along with 20 and 22 year old boys, and how this plays out.

39:18 Crystal ball for the future.

Podcast Produced by: www.magneticbusinessmedia.com.au

Franchise Stories and Knowledge Base (our other website):

www.franchisebuyer.com.au

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Making more sales out of existing locations is vital in maximising opportunity, and most importantly, keeping franchise owners as profitable as possible.

In this episode, Jeff Vassel, Global BDM for geotech, talks about gathering and analysing the data from a single franchise location and interpreting it for the best possible impact on that location.

Key factors in this process such as combining data sources, data variables, data overwhelm, product category analysis, and the key levers used across business, in particular in the QSR space are covered.

A focus on the key variables and examples of what that looks like puts some practical, real-world context on how this looks when undertaking the analysis of a locations or locations.

The concept of focusing on the characteristics of, and understanding why certain stores 'over perform' plays a vital role in maximising location performance to apply those learnings across a network as best as possible.

0:51 What geotech does in data analysis and planning for franchise companies

1:24 Where to start in the process of analysing a franchise location to help it generate more sales.

2:21 The concept of understanding more about the stores that 'over perform' in a franchise network, why that's important and how it is done.

3:40 How is the analysis physically done today with generating the data needed.

4:30 Combining data and what that looks like from a client, and how much data is available.

5:25 The problem with the large volume of data brands have.

6:10 Interpreting data to make it practical and useful for improving sales and having an impact in the business.

7:05 The most important variables in data that are most often useful in analysis with brands.

8:18 Can the fixes to trading problems be as simple as trading hours, signage location, menu range and similar, and how is that articulated to clients?

9:39 The key levers used across businesses like quick service restaurants (QSR).

11:15 Helping brands adapt their offer to drive thru when they haven't been built for it.

11:49 Product category analysis for product ranges that would perform better in certain locations and how they go about optimising it.

13:26 Light bulb moments with brands on information uncovered in analysis.

14:40 Recommendations for where to start to maximise a location off the data they have or can get.

Podcast Produced by: www.magneticbusinessmedia.com.au

Franchise Stories and Knowledge Base (our other website):

www.franchisebuyer.com.au

Listen or Watch on;

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Franchise owner journey: After buying a one-way ticket from the UK 25 years ago, Rod Reece came to Australia with an Economics and Law Degree, and worked his way up in telco's from door-to-door sales through to managing teams for years.

An urge to get away from the corporate pressures of never ending monthly sales targets, and a desire to spend around 12 weeks a year on holidays with the kids home from school, some sliding doors moments paved the way to the Dee Why Hire A Hubby franchise territory.

Now a 2023 'Man in a Van' Award winner, Rod has a great take on work-life balance and his keys to success in the franchise.

:44 One way ticket to Australia from the UK 25 years ago with an economics and law degree

2:31 Door-to-door selling phone and TV plans with an external contractor to Optus

3:23 Getting made redundant and the impact

5:44 Job satisfaction and family was the priority in finding the next thing to do

7:33 First heard of Hire A Hubby at a soccer match, but had never wanted to buy a franchise for varying reasons

8:30 Sliding doors moment - daughter spilled acetone on a new coffee table and at Bunnings looking for lacquer, Rod came across a Hire A Hubby franchise owner

9:36 Process of buying the business from the existing owner who was actually in Greece at the time

11:13 What is Hire A Hubby Training like?

12:15 Business handover with the existing territory owner in Dee Why and advice from him.

13:43 What does a Hire A Hubby franchise owner do? Rod focuses a lot on the real estate market with agents and property managers.

15:10 Types of jobs worked on in the business and passing referrals on within the Hire A Hubby network or beyond.

16:10 12 weeks holiday a year, how Rod manages that with running the business.

16:49 Taking on staff members to delegate work in the business.

17:20 Award winner 'Man in a Van' - single franchise owner operator without staff.

18:20 Secrets to success in a Hire A Hubby franchise.

Podcast Produced by:  www.magneticbusinessmedia.com.au

Franchise Stories and Knowledge Base (our other website):  www.franchisebuyer.com.au

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Franchise owner journey: Kervin Merchant came to the Kwik Kopy Blacktown franchise after diverse careers in IT hardware support, and ownership of a hotel in New Jersey in the USA, and finally back to Australia to raise a family.

Now entering the $1million turnover club, Kervin’s is a story of going for exactly what you want, while still be very certain first in knowing exactly what that is!

0:30 $1million revenue award announcement with Kervin being welcomed into the Centurion Club within Kwik Kopy at the upcoming National Conference.

1:20 What's it like owning a Kwik Kopy franchise business? Now 5 years into the business Kervin explains what the experience has been like with his team a key.

2:12 Kervin's diverse career path from moving to Australia from India to study IT, gaining his residency and moving into an IT career.

3:50 Moving to New Jersey, USA for an IT job, and ended up buying a hotel while there and changing career with his own hotel business.

6:50 Most difficult thing about owning a hotel - the 24/7 nature of the business.

7:35 Moving back to Australia to raise children, and the start process of looking for another business.

8:34 Criteria to buy a business that fits best for the family and lifestyle, and discovering Kwik Kopy.

10:46 Buying a franchise business that is already operating, and the process of research and due diligence on the business with Kwik Kopy.

12:45 Loving the training in learning about printing and how to run a Kwik Kopy franchise business, and the value of an experienced team.

15:11 The type of help needed and provided to a Kwik Kopy franchise owner in day to day operations, and what Kervin has found very helpful about the business.

16:19 How daunting it was taking over the business from the existing owner and the learning curve as a new owner in the industry.

18:08 The role Kervin plays in the business in day to day operations, and how doing deliveries of completed work to customers makes a huge difference as he can get face to face more often with customers.

20:27 Reasons for success in getting into the $1million turnover club in the business.

21:45 Future planning for Kervin in the business with a focus on the existing location with opportunities for growth, and succession planning for a key staff member retiring after 34 years in a key role.

Podcast Produced by:  www.magneticbusinessmedia.com.au

Franchise Stories and Knowledge Base (our other website):  www.franchisebuyer.com.au

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CouriersPlease is a small to medium parcel distribution company with a National footprint of 800+ franchise territories.

The chat with James centred on some key aspects to the business;

:45 What is CouriersPlease, including the size of the network, company ownership, and areas for growth and territory structure,

2:30 Sub-contractor to franchise model - When and why CouriersPlease changed from a sub-contract model to a franchise,

3:30 How franchise partners run their territories with relationships within their customer base being a key part,

5:00 Going above and beyond as a franchise partner and what that looks like in CouriersPlease,

6:29 Investing in a CouriersPlease franchise, what the process is, what you need and how it all works,

8:30 What training do you get as a CouriersPlease franchise partner,

9:25 How a CouriersPlease franchise partner finds new customers and build their business with national sales support,

11:30 How CouriersPlease wins new business as a brand with customers and larger accounts,

12:38 Loving what they do - CouriersPlease franchise partners longevity with one celebrated recently for 40 years in the business,

13:22 Technology in a courier business and the innovations in the brand such as the courier driver app,

15:14 The adoption of tech within the business and used by drivers

Podcast Produced by:  www.magneticbusinessmedia.com.au

Franchise Stories and Knowledge Base (our other website):  www.franchisebuyer.com.au

Listen or Watch on;

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Apple Podcasts:  https://tinyurl.com/2hucxpyz

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YouTube: https://youtu.be/NwcoX29KdIs