Presented at the MYOB Excellence in Franchising awards, Mister Minit’s Maria Walton has taken out the Franchise Executive of the Year award. This award recognises excellence in leadership of a franchise system.
Judges’ comment: What impressed judges about Maria was her all-round dedication and commitment which found fruition through a clearly enunciated vision for the future of the business; truly a consummate franchising professional.
Says Maria Walton: Our highly motivated individuals serving our customers are the critical success factor for our business. Franchising is unique for us in that it’s about developing and retaining the best and the brightest in the industry rather than to raise capital.
I have seen the difference that franchising has made to our people. It is not only about business ownership and creating wealth which provides choices for their family and lifestyle, it’s about the development of these
successful men and women in their own personal development. I have seen franchisees grow in confidence and in self esteem and that to me is inspiring and rewarding.
I feel pretty lucky to get recognised by the industry doing something that I love doing.
Since joining Mnit her leadership has driven quantum rebuilding of the brand through the introduction of a new business model of franchising, recognising the critical importance of true ownership in a people based
service industry.
It’s a team award. We’ve been toiling for the last seven years to increase our franchises, and we got two awards on the night, our first awards. As a functional leader, the hard work and best practice has been recognised externally.
It’s raised awareness and is benchmarking us internally.
The hardest part of the business is transparency around communication and relationship building, but Walton says the financial results indicate this is working and will be built on. Coaching rather than compliance is the key.
There’s momentum now and the pressure is on, for me, to keep growing in the role, and by 2014 to have mostly franchised outlets. We’re now 50/50 and want 90 per cent franchised.