Business Franchisor Nov 2018

Australian & new zealand

Franchisor Franc B u s i n e s s

VOL 07 ISSUE 01, 2018

NFIB

centralise your franchise group insurance want to build your brand internationally?

basic pr rules

if you want to undertake your own Business Franchise Australia and New Zealand 27

NEWSitems

Retailers Caught in The Penalty Rate Yo-Yo

AVIS BUDGET GROUP ANNOUNCES NEW MANAGING DIRECTOR FOR THE PACIFIC REGION

Over 350,000 casual retail employees will now receive an increased penalty rate for Saturday work as announced by Fair Work President Justice Iain Ross on the 1st October 2018.

Avis Budget Group has today announced the appointment of Tom Mooney as Managing Director for the Pacific Region.

The first rate increase is 15 per cent from 1 November 2018; with the rates going up 5 per cent annually until March 2020.

As a well-known name in the travel and mobility industry, Tom is a seasoned leader with an outstanding track record for driving growth and strategic execution. He joins Avis Budget Group from his previous role as CEO at Thrifty Car Rental in Australia and New Zealand. Previously, Tom has held several C-suite positions in start-ups and Global corporations alike, such as IAG, NRMA and First Data Corporation.

According to Senior Employment Relations Adviser Alexandra Woods from Australia’s largest workplace relations firm Employsure, representing close to 20,000 small and medium sized businesses, the increased penalty rates are causing frustration and confusion for small business retailers that are constantly being hit with changes.

In his new role, starting in October, Tom will lead Avis Budget Group operations and activities in the Pacific Region, ensuring customer excellence, continued upward trajectory growth, employee engagement and overseeing the many mobility initiatives across the region.

Mark Servodidio, President, International, Avis Budget Group, said: “We are thrilled to welcome Tom to the team, especially during this exciting time as we continue to break new ground in the mobility space. With a first-class career history and extensive industry credentials, we are confident Tom will make a big impact, bringing Australia, New Zealand and Singapore into a united region, transforming the business and taking Pacific’s performance to the next level.”

In the role, Tom will oversee all Pacific regional brands: Avis, Budget, Apex and Show Group, across the region.

“I’m very excited to be stepping into this leadership role at Avis Budget Group. This Global organization is focused on extending its customer reach, excellent product delivery and meaningful innovations - I’m looking forward to leading the Pacific region to help facilitate these goals.” said Mr. Mooney.

Tom’s role as Pacific Region Managing Director was effective from 1st October, 2018. He will be based in Sydney.

Got to: www.businessfranchiseaustralia.com.au/latest-news to find out more

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“Small business employers are feeling the pinch during the peak season and increasing consumer demand for longer operating hours before Christmas,” he said.

Woods adds, “Many retailers by now have already planned rosters and hired casuals before the busy wave of Christmas. Now, with this decision introduced, retailers are going to have to rethink their rostering arrangements and budgets.”

In addition to the increased rates for casuals, shift workers penalty rates on Sunday for permanent reduced from 200 per cent to 175 per cent and from 225 per cent to 200 per cent for casual shift workers Having witnessed many small businesses frustrated by the repeated penalty rate changes Woods said: “We speak to thousands of small business owners every week who would like to see government stop making frequent changes to penalty rates and get serious about supporting small business.”

In 2017, the Fair Work Commission cut retail casuals’ Sunday rates to 175 per cent from 200 per cent, to be phased in by July 2019. Then earlier this year, retail employers were required to increase penalty rates for public holiday and Sunday work.

Woods encourages employers to start getting prepared. “It’s so important to be across these changes now ahead of your busiest period. Check if the new penalty rates changes apply to your business before 1 November 2018.

Get the right advice to avoid paying the expensive price of getting it wrong.”

Fair Work Ombudsman Takes Crust Pizza Franchisee to Court

Mad Mex on partnering with 4FINGERS, and why they see “numerous” expansion opportunities in Asia

The Fair Work Ombudsman has commenced legal action in the Federal Circuit Court against a Crust Gourmet Pizza Bar franchisee in Melbourne, alleging it underpaid seven employees a total of $35,725.

After receiving a request for assistance from an employee, inspectors investigated the Cheltenham Crust outlet owned by Desire Food and company director and part-owner Chern Ming “Rick” Lee. The Fair Work Ombudsman alleges that this employee had been underpaid a range of minimum entitlements under the Fast Food Industry Award 2010 between October 2013 and May 2016. Alleged underpayments total $30,416 and arose from a failure to pay minimum ordinary hourly rates, casual loadings, annual leave entitlements, a special clothing allowance and penalty rates for night-time, weekend and public holiday work.

The investigation found similar alleged breaches for six other employees with underpayments ranging from $20 and $2,481 between May and August 2017.

The Fair Work Ombudsman also alleges that Desire Food and Mr Lee breached workplace laws by providing inspectors with false and misleading records that showed employees had been paid higher rates than was actually the case.

Further alleged breaches include not paying for meal breaks and a transport allowance, failing to engage casual employees for a minimum of 3 hours, not issuing pay slips, failing to issue pay slips that complied with the Fair Work Regulations 2009 and failing to adhere to frequency-of-pay laws.

All seven Crust employees worked as delivery drivers or pizza makers and at least three of these employees were living in Australia on student visas. One was 17 when the alleged conduct occurred.

“The Fair Work Ombudsman has taken a fast food franchisee to court today because we have a strong focus on protecting the workplace rights of vulnerable workers in Australia. We are conscious that age, language and cultural barriers, a lack of awareness about workplace entitlements and a reluctance to complain can create difficulties for some workers,” Fair Work Ombudsman Sandra Parker said.

Desire Food Pty Ltd faces penalties of up to $63,000 per contravention and Mr Lee faces penalties of up to $12,600 per contravention. The FWO is also seeking court orders for Desire Food to commission and report on an audit of its compliance with workplace laws, and undertake workplace relations training for managers.

Employers and employees seeking assistance can visit www.fairwork.gov.au or call the Fair Work Infoline on 13 13 94.

An interpreter service is available on 13 14 50.

Founder and CEO Clovis Young also confirmed that a brand refresh is due in the coming months.

Australia-based Mexican fast food chain Mad Mex says they have received “a lot” of interest for them to make their way to the Asian food and beverage scene.

But before the brand decided to go ahead with it, they made sure to fulfil their number one requirement: finding the right business partner.

“We wanted a partner with local market experience and existing scale that had a similar growth ambition to Mad Mex. Values and alignment are number one,” Mad Mex CEO and founder Clovis Young told QSR Media.

The partner they have been searching for: Singaporean fast food chain 4FINGERS. Both brands recently announced their monumental partnership that saw 4FINGERS acquiring a 50% stake in Mad Mex. 4FINGERS plans to establish Mad Mex’s presence in Southeast Asia, including initial plans to expand in Singapore and Malaysia for the next 12 months. The deal closed last 13 September.

“4FINGERS is an established brand with strong management and an experienced board of directors. It is growing in the region and there a numerous opportunities to co-locate in shopping centres or to leverage the existing relationships with landlords,” Young said.

Young will also retain management control of Mad Mex and says he expects to see additional growth in Australia and New Zealand given how the brand is currently delivering 4% like-for-like sales growth over the past two quarters.

“Mad Mex is the second key brand in the 4FINGERS Group. We are currently on the lookout for a third brand to complete this platform; a brand with similar characteristics to 4FINGERS and Mad Mex - strong, established, profitable and fast-growing that is easily scalable and has global potential,” Vijay Sethu, owner and director of 4FINGERS said.

Find out more at www.businessfranchiseaustralia.com.au/latestnews for more details

Business Franchise Australia and New Zealand 29

COVER STORY: National Franchise Insurance Brokers

Why centralising your franchise group insurance is a good idea

National Franchise Insurance Brokers (NFIB) is a company that specialises in insurance designed specifically for people working in the Australian franchising sector.”

Efficiency in business comes by ensuring all cogs in the business machine are fully functional and optimised. Franchise groups are tasked with monitoring and tweaking all aspects of their operating system to maintain efficiency across the board.

One of the most important aspects for groups to monitor is insurance – as any successful franchise group will tell you, it’s important that all franchisees have a level of cover that complies with their industry and their franchisor. Insurance models that specialise in group-standardised insurance packages allow for franchisees to be safe in the knowledge that they’re properly covered, and enable franchisors to be confident that their brand won’t be unavoidably affected by a negative situation in the future. Not only does this make life easier for the franchisee – leaving more time for them to run other aspects of their business - it also allows the franchisor to achieve a certain level of control over group insurance matters, without seeming overbearing.

National Franchise Insurance Brokers (NFIB) is a company that specialises in insurance designed specifically for people working in the Australian franchising sector. It’s a fully automated, compliant service that provides clients with full documentation. All policies are underwritten by some of the world’s best insurance organisations, notably Lloyd’s of London – arguably the largest insurance market in the world.

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How does it work?

NFIB’s basic premise is simple, to provide a centralised space for franchisors to easier monitor and regulate the insurance affairs of their franchisees; from here a secondary benefit comes to fruition – franchisees gain access to pre-determined covers tailored to their particular franchise group and industry. Making the (often tedious) process of purchasing insurance much simpler. The group-pricing structure available to companies such as NFIB (using ‘people-power’ to negotiate a better overall premium) acts a major advantage – often providing clients with premiums considerably lower than if individuals were to insure elsewhere.

franchisees. Prominent Australian franchisors already signed up to NFIB cite the level of control offered by the system as the most desirable feature. The ability to stay at-arms-length, but retain an input into something that could have a potentially adverse effect on the brand if handled wrong, is what sets NFIB apart from other insurers.

Looking for security, NFIB is a fully owned company within the PSC Group of operations.

Publicly listed the PSC Group has a proven track record in business acquisition, establishment and turnaround in the insurance services industry. The PSC Group comprises a portfolio of businesses ranging from start-ups to mature businesses...

The Benefits

For Franchisees

For Franchisors

In a nutshell, avoiding the tedium and time

Simple, centralised and compliant; these words form the basis of the NFIB system for franchisors.

With the aid of an online portal, franchisors that sign up to NFIB gain access to real-time reporting of franchisee insurance affairs – all relevant documentation is readily available through the NFIB website, from Product Disclosure Statements (PDS), to certificates of currency, to live updates referring to the take-up rates of

consuming nature of organising business insurance, paired with access to competitive premiums, is what draws franchisees to the NFIB system. Having an online space where documentation, important renewal dates, claims

While there is a lot of talk about doing business Online, Portals and websites, NFIB does offer that personalized service where franchisees and franchisors alike can have the time with a skilled and specialized franchise insurance broker one that is appointed to the brand from day one. Here the personal engagement will assist a franchisee who would like that help, but all remains written and issued through the portal. So it is the bringing together of people service coupled with the ease of transaction being online. With many payment options including monthly installments dealing with NFIB is certainly made easy.

NFIB stats report that 86% of everyone that visits one of their Franchisor insurance facilities and buys a policy with 97% of all franchisees renewing each year, these are impressive results that paint a clear picture testifying to the success of the business.

With an easy to use system, prompt and personal service, and insurance packages designed to suit your circumstances - they just might save you time and money.

lodgment and risk management information can be quickly accessed, is the defining factor in franchisee decisions to continue insuring with NFIB.

To find out more contact NFIB at: 1800 776 747 info@mynfib.com.au

Business Franchisor 31

Profile: Employsure

Advice for Franchisors from Employsure Franchise. It’s a word that has unfortunately become synonymous with media scrutiny for bad employee management and treatment.

Often it is the isolated stories that make headlines.

your obligations as an employer under the Fair Work Act. Publicised examples show what can happen if other imperatives or priorities creep into the franchise relationship providing each and every prospective franchise with the best chance of running a successful business, while acknowledging the impact of external market forces, should be the goal of ever franchisor.

Australia’s substantial and successful franchised economy is supported by one of the most comprehensive and effective franchising regulatory systems in the world. In our experience, most franchise businesses by far uphold the highest standards.

1. Calculate and forecast your labour costs.

Contrary to the highly publicised stories of underpayments and poor employee management of franchisees and franchisors, there are untold stories of families who have built generational franchise businesses, of entrepreneurs who have bought a struggling franchise business and turned it into one of the network’s best performers. It is women who have found the flexibility to balance families and business ownership, employees of a franchise business who have gone on to become profitable franchisees in their own right and individuals who have carved out successful careers as franchisees within more than one franchised brand. These stories and so many more exemplify the power of franchising to positively transform lives.

Use this information to calculate how much you will need to pay each employee. To do this, make sure you seek expert advice to ensure your forecasts are correct and what Award or agreement will apply to your business including the various classifications that will apply to individual employees.

Franchising is the engine room of the Australian economy, with almost 80,000 franchise units trading across the nation, the $146 billion sector is responsible for directly employing nearly half a million Australians.

Beyond the obvious responsibilities of sales and financials, as a franchise owner, you are ultimately responsible for managing employees.

Do you have sufficient business experience to take on this responsibility, or access to advice and resources that will support you? It’s essential to understand the complexities and fundamentals of becoming an employer and franchise owner if you’re looking to be successful.

So, you need to be aware of workplace laws and

There’s three things that will help you do the right thing by your employees and your business.

If you are looking to buy a franchise, your due diligence and financial planning should include a calculation of your potential labour costs. Work out what you think your staffing roster will look like each week. If you can base this off an existing franchisee in a similar market.

2. Keep employee records.

All employers are required to keep employee records for a minimum of seven years. Good record keeping can also help prevent and resolve issues with your employees and help keep track of your labour costs.

The maximum penalties for failing to keep employee records or issue payslips have doubled to $63,000 for a company and $12,600 for an individual. The maximum penalty for knowingly making or falsifying employee records has tripled to $630,000 per breach if the breach is serious and systematic.

3. Check your obligations and stay informed.

As your franchise kicks off and you start employing new employees or you keep adding to the team, you must remain informed about

Australia’s substantial and successful franchised economy is supported by one of the most comprehensive and effective franchising regulatory systems in the world.” your ongoing obligations to your employees. Ask for expert advice so they can notify you if the terms or rates of pay change in Awards. It’s also important to become familiar with the National Employment Standards to ensure you are meeting the minimum standards and implement measures to ensure you are updated on regular changes.

You can talk to your franchisor, check online resources, or ask an expert workplace adviser.

Running a franchise comes with challenges, but becoming an employer means there are many more complexities to consider. You need to manage the relationship with staff and workplace health and safety while simultaneously staying focused on growing your franchise.

This is where regular assistance from experts will give your franchise business far more efficiency and build in extra safeguards. Best practice involves knowing your rights and obligations and knowing who to contact if you need assistance.

About Employsure Customised expert advice and documentation with insurance and legal representation across employment relations and health and safety, packaged in one bundle for small and medium businesses. Employsure backs over 22,000 small to medium sized Australian business to succeed with confidence.

For more information contact Julie Glynn at: 0499 075 673 julie.glynn@employsure.com.au www.employsure.com.au

32 Business Franchisor

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18/10/18 4:43 pm

expert advce: Candice Meisels

Basic PR rules if you want to undertake your own

34 Business Franchisor

Many people have heard of PR or Public Relations.

Few are keen to admit that although they have heard the buzz word PR thrown around, they don’t want to admit that they don’t really understand what PR is or how it can help their business.

What is PR or Public Relations?

PR is the way that an organisation communicates with its internal and external stakeholders.

PR falls under the Promotion category in the Marketing Mix. The Marketing Mix is made up of four facets known as the 4P’s plus the businesses target audience. The 4P’s are Product, Price, Place and Promotion.

Product is the physical product sold including the way that the product is packaged.

Price is your pricing strategy including warranties, guarantees, vouchers, special offers.

Place is the place that the product can be purchased in a physical bricks and mortar store or if it is an online e-commerce store. Place also includes the business’s distribution channels.

Promotion encompasses advertising, in store promotions and Public Relations.

What is the difference between Advertising and PR? Advertising is the paid placement of a controlled message. The business chooses the size of the advert, where it is placed and the graphic and message it wishes to pay to get across to it’s target audience.

PR is editorial placement that is placed by a third party. The message can be shaped and molded but not controlled. PR adds credibility to a brand as it is not a paid advert. PR can help a brand, whether large or small, create brand recognition, loyalty and awareness.

Richard Branson has said that a good PR story is infinitely more effective than a front-page ad.

Bill Gates has stated that if he were down to his last dollar, he would spend it on PR. Now that you understand what PR is, how it falls under the colourful umbrella of Marketing and that it can give your brand, product or service

Candice Meisels is a PR Consultant specialising in start-ups and small businesses. Her passion is to assist start-ups and entrepreneurs achieve brand awareness and media coverage with limited budget.

Candice has worked in PR management, strategy and implementation for the 15 years. She has worked for companies based in Europe, the UK and South Africa and Australia. Candice is also a PR Lecturer, speaker and assessment examiner.

credibility, awareness, recognition and loyalty, you need to know where and how to get your own business PR. Many larger companies with bountiful budgets can hire the services of an in-house PR professional, dedicated to PR. Global businesses have entire PR departments. Multi-nationals have both PR departments and agencies. Businesses who do not want an internal PR employee, can hire an external, specialist PR agency. Most agencies will work on a retainer basis. If your business has budget and can afford an agency, then this is the first avenue that you can look into for your business.

SME’s on the other hand can either try to undertake PR themselves or they can try and source a PR consultant that will work for them on a freelance basis.

If you decide to undertake PR on your own, you will need to make sure that you have the correct PR tools to begin fleshing out your first PR campaign.

Before commencing your PR campaign, you will need to create a press kit. Your press kit includes a press release, your logo, high resolution images for print use, low resolution images for online use as well as your head shot and bio if relevant to your business.

The press release has evolved over the years.

Once it was the ‘be all and end all’ of your PR campaign, but times have changed and with the digital world innovating on a daily basis, press releases are not the knot that ties your campaign together anymore.

In saying that, press releases are still necessary.

Many key media outlets still request the traditional press release.

When writing your press release, make sure that it is newsworthy and interesting. Journalists receive thousands of press releases and pitches.

Make yours stand out by creating a short, sharp and newsworthy headline.

Ensure that your press release is about one page

The best way to flesh out your media list, is to think about what type of media your target market or target audience consumes.” in length. Your press release needs to have an introduction, body and conclusion. It needs to explain who, why, what and when plus include media contact details.

Your press release can include a headline, subheading, date, introduction, body and conclusion.

Your body will also need to include a quote from a key spokesperson in your business.

At the end of your press release state your media contact details. If the media wish to interview you, pursue your story or if they need PR assets such as photos of your product or your head shot, they need to be able to contact you.

Once you have bolted out your press kit which includes your images, bio and press release, you will need to decide which media to target with your pitch.

Your pitch is the way that you explain your story and brand story to the media. It is how you convey your newsworthy story or idea. Your pitch needs to be short, sharp and focused. You should not ramble when developing your pitch.

If you are delivering your pitch on the phone, it needs to grab the media’s attention in 30 seconds. If you are writing out your pitch in an email, keep it to one to two paragraphs in length.

If the journalist is interested in your pitch, they will ask for more information including your press release and images etc. They may also request an interview with the key spokesperson quoted in your press release.

Now that you have your press kit, press release, images and pitch ready, you are ready to handle your own PR.

Business Franchisor 35

Online media is short lead as information and news stories can be uploaded immediately. Digital PR can help with your SEO and can be linked through your social media accounts and Marketing newsletters.�

How do you know who to target? Which media outlets should you contact?

The best way to flesh out your media list, is to think about what type of media your target market or target audience consumes. You can also ask yourself what type of media you would love to see your brand, product or service in.

If you sell baby, parenting, maternity or children’s products then you will need to target parenting media.

If you sell travel related products or services, then you will need to target travel media as well as lifestyle media.

If your product or service is more niche and targets a specific niche media, then focus all your PR efforts in this area.

Your media list may vary per PR campaign. For one particular PR campaign you may want to focus on mass media and for another campaign you may want to focus on business media. Your press releases and messages will need to be

36 Business Franchisor

adapted and localised depending on who and when you are targeting specific media outlets.

Media Outlets include Print, Online, TV, Radio.

Print can be divided into long-lead media which are print publications such as magazines which are nutted out 2-3 months prior to release.

Print media also includes weekly magazines or journals and both weekly and daily newspapers.

These are short-lead print publications.

Online media is short lead as information and news stories can be uploaded immediately.

Digital PR can help with your SEO and can be linked through your social media accounts and marketing newsletters.

TV outlets can be targeted depending on the time and type of show that you are targeting. Are you targeting morning shows or breakfast shows, the news or evening shows? Is your content lifestyle based or is it tailored to a business show or a health show? Pitch to the show that correctly meets your PR requirements and make sure that your pitch matches their viewer requirements.

When it comes to radio, are you targeting consumer news radio, breakfast shows, afternoon or drive time shows, afternoon shows, sports shows, health shows or lifestyle shows?

Just like TV, you need to think of who their listeners are and if your pitch matches their show and listener requirements.

Other ways that you can get PR and brand recognition for your brand is through giveaways and competitions. You can also offer samples or gifts to influencers, media and celebrities.

Start-ups, small businesses and medium sized businesses can use their personal stories, business stories, products, services and expertise to graciously grab a share of the PR pie.

Public Relations is not just for large, global and multi-national businesses. PR can help your startup or SME grow from start-up to stardom in an authentic, organic and credible manner.

If you want your business to grow in a costeffective, organic manner, then sit down and brainstorm your next PR campaign.

Candice has recently written a book, The Power of PR for start ups and small business and is available for pre-order: www.makingmagichappenacademy.com/ product-page/the-power-of-pr

MANAGE YOUR FRANCHISE NETWORK THROUGH ONE CENTRALISED CLOUD HOSTED SOLUTION

Best Practice Franchise Management Franchise Infinity is a cloud based solution that combines a range of effective management tools into one application that allows you to manage your franchise more efficiently than ever before.

Communicate easily with your franchisees, and have all your documentation and training manuals, health and safety requirements, forms, marketing material and brand guidelines all in one place... everything you need to keep your franchisees on track and on brand.

It’s the all-in-one tool that allows you to manage all the critical aspects of your franchise – compliance, communication, training, operations and ultimately the performance of the business.

Franchise Infinity has been built by experienced practitioners who understand the intricacies of running a franchise business, and what it takes to ensure franchisees and staff are complying to the processes and protocols that have been put in place.

By enabling your franchisees to access all the information they need to operate the way you want them to, Franchise Infinity allows you to spend less time being a cop and more time being a coach.

Running a smooth franchise operation can be a headache, particularly if your franchisees and their staff aren’t all singing from the same hymn book.

Because it’s cloud based, Franchise Infinity is always up to date with the latest operational information your franchisees need to maximize earning potential, and allows them to easily maintain control of the business.

Franchise Infinity is also accessible from anywhere, on any device.

Download the Android App from Google Play, Apple iOS or any web browser. That means you can manage your franchise network from anywhere, and your franchisees can access and share information with their staff easily.

Franchise Infinity is fully customisable. Brand it as your own, with your logo and colour palette. You can also customise the modules, choose what each one contains, how it operates and who can access it.

Franchise Infinity provides you with the structure to organise your franchise network your way.

Features at a Glance Learning Management System

Compliance Audits & Checklists

Improving staff skill levels and consistency.

Deliver electronic education courses and training programs, and stay in control of all levels of staff training with reporting & tracking.

Powerful auditing tool that drives selfaudit compliance checklists. Reports are time /date stamped and automatically distributed. Highly effective at driving system compliance. Also integrated into the task manager.

Document Vault

Survey Tool

Franchisee private cloud storage to keep all business records. Secure, eyes only, easily accessible to allow you to access your entire franchise directly from your smart device.

Communications Suite An internal bulletin board that allows you to effectively communicate with your network. Fast, efficient, traceable. Includes an SMS driven messaging platform that allows text messages directly from your desktop.

Critical Document Repository

Conduct fast effective surveys on your entire network. Plot and analyse all feedback. Establish who hasn’t responded to survey requests and follow up.

Integrated Helpdesk Create and track technical support tickets directly from the system.

Procurement Tool Franchisees able to place approved product orders on internal and external suppliers. Analytics on all purchase orders.

A place for all business documents that need to be actioned between yourself and your franchisees, such as franchise agreements and date sensitive documents.

Emails will be automatically sent on achievement of milestone dates.

Workflow Manager

Franchisee Recruitment Management

Task Management

A place to keep your potential prospect information, including contact details, detailed notes and stages of recruitment journey. Utilising automated email all communications are tracked and archived.

Document Repository/ Brand Bank Keep your operations manuals, forms, policies, marketing campaigns, contact sheets and training videos where your franchisees and team members can easily access them and stay up to date.

Forum/Internal Business Blog

Effectively manage the onboarding and workflows of setting up a new franchisee.

Track progress through analytics and assess state of readiness in preparation to start operating.

Tasks driven through support office, system generated or internally by the franchisee. Able to be escalated and are time/date sensitive.

Centralised Brand Management Manage multiple brands and networks from one centralised portal. Areas of similarity can easily be duplicated across all networks. Brand integrity remains intact and partitioned, only available to its specific stakeholders.

Field Service Support Management

High impact, low cost, resource light

An internal message board that assists franchisee’s to informally communicate peer on peer.

Unique OPS support portal. Expand the support team’s effectiveness and span of control. With the ability to host centralised site notes, conduct audits and run analytical reports when in the field.

Communication | Compliance | Performance | Learning

Analytics

API Integration

A tiered pricing solution with a low monthly subscription per seat, ensures a long term cost-effective solution – only pay for what you want and use.

Set up and customise analytics criteria to monitor and report on key performance areas and indicators for your network.

Export to Excel for enhanced reporting and sharing.

Stay on top of your franchise network easily and effectively with Franchise Infinity. Email sales@franchiseinfinity.com or register your interest at www.franchiseinfinity.com

Easy API integration into supported platforms to extend solution effectiveness and offer a holistic view of the business network.

expert advce: Carrol Boyes & Craig Ludwig

Want to build your brand internationally?

The global retail environment is changing. It’s being transformed by the launch of many new brands, progression of existing ones, improved service ethos and access to information through the web with the widespread adoption of handheld technology. All of this within a context of ongoing social and cultural change.

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Carrol Boyes is the founder, creator and CEO of Carrol Boyes (Pty) Ltd in Cape Town. She is an iconic South African designer and her brand has deftly crafted a coveted and high-end product range of upmarket home and lifestyle items. Her products are associated with style and finesse and are available throughout South Africa, and in over 30 other countries around the world.

While it is true that every brand believes that ‘change is a way of doing business’, there can be no denying that markets like South Africa compel us to rethink conventional wisdom about product, customer expectations, service, and loyalty.

As we have spent a number of years engaging with retailers and brands in various markets, we can tell you with certainty that emerging markets like South Africa offer unique challenges and unprecedented opportunities for brands.

From our experience, there are four fundamental principles of building a brand on an international scale that are timely, relevant and remain consistently true, over time and across geographies.

Firstly, it’s always about the product. If the product delivers to shopper expectation in terms of design, quality and value, you will be successful. It is so inspirational to work in an environment where every item has been created with passion by the artist herself. No product will be launched unless the artist is wholly satisfied with the excellence of its style and quality.

Secondly, the most successful consumer brands view customer service as an ‘aspirational journey’ that evolves with time - fuelled by knowledge, trust and confidence. It’s the art and science of earning the respect of a ‘customer’ and elevating the relationship to that of a ‘client’, then to a ‘friend of the business’, and ultimately to a ‘brand ambassador’. It aspires to have the customer live the brand, day after day. This point serves, to consider your trade partners across the global stage.

Thirdly, customer service is not about doing one thing or another extremely well. There is no single ‘silver bullet’. Quite the contrary.

It is about doing everything with excellence.

It is all encompassing. It touches design, quality, product, relevance and availability, the shopping experience, and the quality of the experience versus the shoppers’ expectations.

It goes beyond and encompasses marketing, merchandising and in-store greeting. Exceptional customer service is an end-to-end experience,

whether it be in-store, online, or on-the-go with mobile technology.

Fourthly, customer service is about exceeding expectations consistently. Everything must be right all of the time - every time. It may be a cliché - but it is undoubtedly true. It takes only one unsatisfactory experience for customers to question their loyalty. Brand consistency is key across all platforms. Consistency in ethos, product delivery, quality, customer support, marketing communication and brand identity.

No wonder every forward-looking brand is preoccupied with new ways to stay ahead of customer expectations – whether through research, technology, or more effective training and professional development.

So, what does this mean to forward-looking companies like Carrol Boyes who are committed to growing the local design talent and taking it to the world?

It means we always have to be acutely aware of what dynamics are defining the preferences and buying patterns of the increasingly more affluent shoppers who are moving up the social and brand spectrum.

There are profound differences between the retail and customer service landscape in our home market versus that of a mature, First World economy.

The evolution in South Africa has been astonishing since Carrol Boyes launched in 1989.

As you would expect, average income levels in South Africa significantly lag those of Europe, Australia and North America.

But this does not mean that there is no market for luxury goods. In fact, a growing number of the population experiences a high standard of living and the middle class is emerging as a retail force to be reckoned with.

However, it is safe to say that the majority of customers in South Africa have different expectations when they are buying premium and luxury products for the first time.

We must acknowledge that complacency is the silent killer of our industry. We must act with an enlightened sense of urgency to anticipate and lead the way.”

In the First World, the usual pattern for the rise of the middle class sees incremental rises in income accompanied by growing appreciation of higher quality products and service levels over time. In South Africa this model just doesn’t fit.

This is due to the fact that many previously disadvantaged members of South African society have been catapulted into higher wealth brackets. This may have happened in a matter of years, without having followed the normal process of wealth accumulation and life experience which in other societies may take a life time or many generations.

Despite these vast differences, there are some key facts that remain true no matter which market one is dealing with. The service bar and expectation of a brand is set at the top from day one.

A winning brand must demonstrate uniqueness, connectedness and, ultimately, value.

This most desired customer segment is something of a moving target. Their needs and expectations are dynamic and tend to change continuously. To stay on top, brands must formally evaluate their customers’ changing needs.

Yet companies who are not willing to constantly update their product offer and service delivery do so at their own peril. Without question, however, the most powerful phenomenon in the branded and retail sector over the past number of years has been the emergence of smart phone technology.

The world has truly ‘jumped on the bandwidth’, so to speak, and are surfing the web to stay connected, access social networks, complete banking transactions and, increasingly to shop.

We are even changing the way we look with some of the apps available today.

It’s fuelling the revolution in customer expectations of brands that is powering up with the advancement of digital technologies, greater accessibility through affordable data and the popularity of many social networking apps. The

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Exceptional customer service is an end-to-end experience, whether it be in-store, online, or on-thego with mobile technology.” that personal technology has permanently shifted the balance of power to the customer. They have more information, access to opinion, decision making tools and buying power at their fingertips than any generation in the history of retailing.

In the truest sense, the retail revolution of this generation will be fought hand to hand – or more specifically - ‘handheld-device’ to ‘handheld device’ with the digital channel gaining ground on the storefront as the battleground for success.

Our mission critical is to find meaningful ways to connect to the digital world and integrate our brand with our customers, like-minded partners and the communities they value most.

We must bring our online and mobile strategies in line with the behaviours and interests of our most valuable customers and the customers of tomorrow.

Secondly, we must acknowledge that complacency is the silent killer of our industry.

We must act with an enlightened sense of urgency to anticipate and lead the way. We need to focus on the customer’s preoccupation with newness and timelessness.

Craig Ludwig is the Chief Operating Officer of Carrol Boyes, a premium design led manufacturing, wholesale and retail business. The brand has 22 corporate stores in South Africa, exports to 30 countries globally and has listings in some of the world’s premium retailers, including David Jones in Australia and Bloomingdales in the US. He has over 25 years of experience across various formats of retailing and brand management in South Africa and internationally.

Finally, we must never lose sight of the fact that our ability to deliver customer service and the brand promise - whether online or in-store starts with our investment to grow our people, to raise professional standards, and build a career in product design, brand management and retailing to be proud of.

Talent will determine success.

the need to speak to our customers in a way that

scale.

Today, Carrol Boyes (Pty) Ltd is a womanowned business and a multi-cultural organisation that supports gender empowerment both within and out of its infrastructure. The company’s ethos is driven by a sincere commitment to the betterment and welfare of individuals in the community and workplace. It invests in its staff to ensure the future growth of the organisation, and supports the community at a grassroots level. The Carrol Boyes brand is recognised as an icon both locally and internationally.

is uniquely and explicitly relevant to their stage of

Firstly, we must accept and adapt to the reality

www.carrolboyes.com

implications of technology adoption and usage

life, family and friends, self-image, culture, beliefs

cannot be ignored. The number of global smart

and specific shopping motivation.

phone users is estimated to be 2.3 billion.

It’s another way we can present a more

Looking to the future, our success will depend

modern image to our customers of the future by

on our ability to engage a younger ‘mobile

associating ourselves with the ideas, information

generation’ of customers whose brand

and causes they care about. There are customer

preferences are still in the making. We recognise

service lessons that can be applied on a global

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