how freight can deliver great results article

iOne company has tapped intothe need for an easy customer

solution to multiple freightservices and is reporting stronggrowth and a global footprint.

HOW FREIGHTCAN DELIVER

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GREATRESULTS LINDSAY

BIRLEYManaging direc-tor of InXpress

Copyright Agency licensed copy(www.copyright.com.au)

Franchising, National01 Apr 2014

General News, page 30 - 1,213.00 cm²Magazines Business - circulation 7,150 (Bi monthly)

ID 246145781 BRIEF DHL INDEX 1 PAGE 1 of 3

InXpress has had a terrific year, according to Australianmanaging director Lindsay Birley; it has seen substantialgrowth in franchisee numbers and services just four yearsafter the 12 year old business which began in the UK and

US launched in the Australian marketplace.

THE COMPANY VIEWPOINTBirley says "The InXpress industry is on the right side of the shiftsupporting global trade and e-com purchasing, while leveragingpartners such as DHL, recognised as a global super brand in thetransportation industry. InXpress has an experienced managementteam with an outstanding track record, and potential franchiseescan leverage this expertise to build equity in their own business."

There is at least one new franchisee a month joining thenetwork, says Birley.

The franchise model leverages the volume spend with worldclass carriers, such as DHL, TNT and Toll to provide competitiveshipping rates and value added services to customers, which arenormally only extended to large multi-national clients.

InXpress focuses its core services around international anddomestic air express and domestic road express. "A lot of freightcompanies charge account keeping fees and a minimum spend.So customers have several accounts and they are not paying thebest rates," says franchisee Jason Hand.

In contrast, the InXpress standard solution provides onecustomer invoice featuring multiple services from multiplecarriers. "Franchisees spend the vast amount of time deliveringexceptional customer service to existing and potential custom-ers, building up a solid and very profitable book of business.The carriers do the rest," Birley explains.

Franchisees bring to the network a variety of business back-grounds. "Many InXpress' franchisees are high energy individ-uals who enjoy a face to face business environment," says Birley."Recently we launched into New Zealand, expanding our globalportfolio to include another international location. This gives usa bigger global footprint and the ability to leverage even more »savings for our customers and profit for our franchise partners."

INXPRESS 2013Over the last 12 months the Australian InXpress has doubledin franchise size, with 15 new franchisees on board. Thecustomer base has grown from 600 to 1450, with shipmentsup from 6500 to 9100 in 12 months, resulting in a 66 percentincrease in spend and buying power.





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InXpress has developed a user friendly web basedsoftware program automating shipment processing,delivering savings on time and money.

"The automated manner in which InXpress trans-act with their customers allows more time for thefranchisee to further develop their business or spendtime doing other equally important activities such aswith family and friends," Lindsay added.

To ensure franchisees are provided with thebest possible start to their business, InXpress offersa turn-key operation with a three staged trainingprogram. The centralised support centre providesdedicated resources for the franchise system, alsohandling customer billing and collections.

THE FRANCHISEE VIEWPOINTJason Hand has been a franchisee with his wife anda business partner since 2009.

They were looking to run a boutique freightbusiness when they came across the InXpressmodel, which already did everything the trio hadtalked about setting up. "We had been workingin the freight and logistics industry for a numberof years and we liked the concept of InXpress. Wefelt our past experience and skills would dovetailin perfectly as a freight consultant. The idea of lowoverheads and residual income also made the ideareally compelling.

"It was the perfect business. They do all the invoic-ing and debt collection, things I didn't have skills in."

The business grew very quickly, and before long fourpeople in the garage had grown to six in an office suite.

Ve can grow the revenue quite>roportionally to the overheads

"With InXpress we can grow the revenue quiteproportionally to the overheads. It's not a bricks andmortar business, it's a web-based solution, so we cangrow easily."

The business has been built by following themodel of 30 customer contacts a day and investingin sales people and sales and marketing strategies toattract more customers, says Hand.

The model is non-territorial, and the Brisbanefranchise now has a business manager in Melbourne.

Because Hand and his partners were the firstfranchisees in the Australian system after the masterfranchisee, the initial two years were spent finetuning the model to suit the local market. "We wereworking to Australianise it. The pricing, carriers,even the buying habits are different here to the USand we were constantly refining procedures."

From doing everything the business required instart-up mode, now Hand is able to focus his atten-tion on customer advice and supporting the salesteam. He is also president of the internal franchiseadvice council, a mentor to new franchisees, and onthe company's global technology taskforce. F





how freight can deliver great results article

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