An exciting new support program is helping steer brand new Pack & Send franchise partners to hit revenue targets and kickstart growth.

“We want to keep track and hold the hand of our franchise partners in their first year,” says Pack & Send learning and development manager Kate Fellowes.

Kate has introduced a New Centre Program, based on experience with Pack & Send’s sibling brands overseas.

“We’ve followed what our sister companies are doing in the US, AlphaGraphics and PostNet. They have developed the playbook in how to implement this using the monday.com program management system. What we’ve done is really tailor the program to our specific needs and we’ve been very thorough,” Kate says.

“We have chosen a representative from each of our departments in what we call the ‘wheel of excellence’: sales, operations, finance and marketing” she explains.

New Centre Program delivers high-impact, structured franchise support

The program’s core objective is to accelerate onboarding, drive performance, and help each new store achieve stable profitability within its first 12 to 18 months.

The New Centre Program provides structured, high-impact one-one-one support that starts immediately a franchise partner signs up to their Pack & Send franchise.

It prefaces both formal induction training and the standard ongoing network sales and operational support.

Getting started with a New Centre Program

Once a franchise agreement has been signed, representatives from Pack & Send’s finance, marketing, sales and operations teams touch base with the brand new franchise partner.

Each representative has specific goals and responsibilities.

The first goal of the finance expert is to ensure profit and loss statements are lined up for monthly reporting. This sets up the finance team with accurate financial reports so they can coach franchise partners to breakeven and financial success.

“Our finance expert ensures franchisees set up accounting and bookkeeping services. We deliver fundamental MYOB training if the franchise partner is handling this themselves,” Kate explains.

“In operations, our team looks at staffing levels and purchasing. Our sales experts focus on ways new franchise partners can build a pipeline, and build and optimise the CRM (customer relationship management system) at an early stage.”

Learning marketing skills

For many franchise partners, marketing is a new skill and embracing the nuances of marketing channels can be challenging.

Pack & Send’s team makes sure they understand the options available and what each platform or channel achieves.

“Some of these are lead generators, some are for branding. We make no assumptions of knowledge and experience with different platforms,” Kate says. 

This clear and deliberate approach is strengthening the effectiveness of franchise partner training and learning, she adds.

The marketing team has boosted its training, building franchise partners’ knowledge banks so they can use their time more effectively. 

“We help them with marketing ads for their territory, alerting local businesses that the store is opening. We encourage them to network, ensuring they have the skills, business cards and training to optimise events,” Kate says.

The team reviews KPIs

The New Centre Program team tracks and monitors each part of the ‘wheel of excellence’. Department representatives are accountable for the effectiveness of their coaching and their ability to influence franchise partners.

“We regularly join the leadership team to review the KPIs, and see how each centre is progressing,” Kate reveals.

The program was lauched in June this year, and existing franchise partners who are still working towards their targets have joined the program to test its effectiveness.

“We have 12 legacy franchise partners in the program, six new franchise partners, and another three will be joining,” Kate says.

Providing a dynamic solution to common problems

Online learning, webinar training and coaching are combined with face-to-face training across the program. Kate reviews the Gemini summary of every recorded coaching session. Through this, she can spot common problems and concerns and create relevant training programs, delivering targeted solutions for frontline issues.

Pack & Send’s proactive approach ensures a dynamic training program that effectively nurtures new franchise partners through the early challenges.

“Once franchise partners complete the program, then the local network sales and operations manager provides support,” Kate points out.

“There is so much to a Pack & Send business that we can’t teach everything in just three weeks, so it’s crucial that strong support continues after formal training.

“What the New Centre Program does is guide and support franchise partners at a crucial time. It’s all about Pack & Send franchise partner centres’ early performance, and setting them up for ongoing success,” Kate says.