Make it future proof

Paul Crabtree Co-Founder Xpresso Delight
The key elements for a long lasting relationship with your franchisor

Paul Crabtree | Co-Founder | Xpresso Delight

Your business recipe
The Franchising Council of Australia stated that franchising is not a business itself, but a way of doing business - an innovative method of selling goods and services. This way of doing business can be rightly compared to a recipe, where the brand, products and services are the core ingredients, and the people (i.e. the human factor) are the key elements that ultimately will combine the ingredients for the perfect result.

That's how we see our business model at Xpresso Delight. We understand the ingredients needed, and more importantly the order in which those ingredients need to be used, to have a similar result each time. There is only one variable - but decisive for the recipe's outcome - and that's the individual. So our greatest challenge is first identifying suitable people coming in, and then ensuring that their motivation and satisfaction levels are still high throughout their relationship with us. We want to get the best out of them and help them to enjoy the Xpresso Delight experience as much as we do.

So, to sum up, what's the best way to keep the franchisee consistent in his/her business flow and what are the key elements for a long lasting relationship with his/her franchisor?

Beginning the relationship: training and guidance
First off, if you're not ready to start your own business but have decided that a franchise might be the right solution, you will want a system that provides you at the beginning with good guidance and the necessary training to get yourself started.

Once a prospective franchisee has met all the criteria and comes on board we ensure that they receive the necessary training to confidently start servicing workplaces with gourmet coffee machines. The master agent trains the franchisees intensively over two days on the firm's systems, operations and marketing. After that, they also undergo a six-week marketing action plan and a location sourcing system.

Guidance is a crucial point for Xpresso Delight, and, as a matter of fact, the company and the franchisee work together during the training phase to identify suitable locations for machines to go into. We'll help you develop a business plan that will bring your goals into focus, and train you in how to operate and service your machines. We also help you gain the necessary business, sales and marketing skills to manage and grow your business to whatever level you want to achieve. And with the market so fresh and unsaturated, you'll be able to go out and seize the opportunity with both hands.

Cultivating the relationship: support and financial reward
After you have selected favourable work locations and begun installing espresso machines, you will need the proper support and technical assistance for the issues you may come across. Ongoing support throughout daily tasks is what can really make a franchise system stand out and increase franchisees' satisfaction.

In this sense, Xpresso Delight provides a strong support network, with each state having its own master agent who deals with franchisees on a day-to-day basis, whether it's a machine repair problem or marketing advice, the constant support from master agents is just a phone call away.

Lastly, the relationship with your franchisor is more likely to be satisfactory if backed by a solid financial reward. Besides a massive return on time invested, we wanted to be sure that our franchisees were guaranteed success and trust in the system, hence our franchise fee refund offer.

We have so much confidence in our franchising model that we promise a minimum return on investment: something that many ventures can't even dream of. We came up with a unique guarantee - franchisees will make a minimum 40 per cent revenue return on capital investment within the first six months or the franchise fee is refunded.

Working towards happy endings
We've brought together the key ingredients and the necessary operations to get the best out of the franchising recipe. After all, the individual element is what can make the difference in a profitable relationship. That's why our attitude is that we're in a partnership with our franchisees and we try to encourage a good work ethic, excellent customer service and the importance of work-life balance. We want our franchisees to enjoy their business and not be run by it.

To find out more about a Xpresso Delight franchise business opportunity, and why they performed so well in the Passion, Rewards & Support categories, refer to the A-Z Franchise Listing.