Award ceremonies are just the beginning as Franchising Magazine found out from winning Franchise of the Year,
Clark Rubber, 12 months on.
In October, 2006, Clark Rubber Franchising was crowned PricewaterhouseCoopers Franchise Council of Australia Franchise of the Year. The accolade was just reward for 13 years of sacrifice, vision, dedication and hard work from founder and manager director Chris Malcolm and his team. It was also a major pat on the back to the 80 franchisees (at the time) who had significantly contributed to the rapid growth of Clark Rubber franchising.
In his acceptance speech and later again to his own team, Malcolm, an FCA Hall of Fame inductee and FCA director, said the award identified that Clark Rubber was heading in the right direction.
"There's no smoke and mirrors at Clark Rubber. We are just a hardworking, committed group of people looking to achieve the same goals. The team, consisting of our franchisees, our staff and our suppliers, strives for best practice. Unless we are all firing together at the one time, we just couldn’t achieve what we have been able to over the past 13 years,” Malcom said.
Clark Rubber, leaders in the foam, rubber and above ground
pool retail market, has 86 franchise stores throughout Australia, as well as a further eight stores operating under the Para Rubber brand in New Zealand. It has experienced enviable growth since 1995 after the original owners of the brand opened the very first store in Richmond, Victoria, in 1946.
This is a remarkable turnaround for the brand, which closed its retail operation in the early 1990s after then owner, Adsteam, ran into difficulties and could not find a buyer. It was at that time that Pacific Dunlop purchased the brand name. Chris Malcolm took control of the shelf company in 1994, opening the first store in Nunawading, Victoria, a year later and within 12 months guiding the operation to 25 stores nationally. In 2000 he purchased the Clark Rubber brand from Pacific Dunlop.
It has been Malcolm's vision which has seen Clark Rubber once again achieve national renown and, sitting with a projected 2007/08 turnover of $110m, maintain the company's consistent annual growth of more than 14 per cent.
A successful communications and PR campaign to lift customer top of mind awareness and develop brand awareness has been greatly boosted by the franchising win. "In the past 12 months, we have recorded PR values in the vicinity of $1 m. A team of great people at Clark Rubber have worked very hard to reignite the brand. To win the award ahead of other world-class franchises was just reward to everyone at the company for those efforts.”
A marketing budget in excess of $10m, an in-house graphic design team, local area marketing and public relations, product management, merchandising, IT and financial expertise, as well as business analysts and in-house legal counsel, all make-up a wonderful support base for the franchisees.
Looking ahead
The recent appointment of general manager Coring Vucic has resulted in a greater level of leadership and accountability, explains Malcolm, bringing about exciting changes to the business.
"We will develop better and more structured training through our retail training organisation and will give more resources to the training area for both franchisees and Clark Rubber staff. One of the benefits of having a structured training program will be that franchisees will be able to offer traineeships to certificate level to staff, thereby improving their skills for the business and being able to retain staff longer by helping to develop a career path.
"We will continue to further develop our relationships with our suppliers and employ extra administrative staff as we look to develop the product and explore direct importing opportunities.
Clark Rubber is investing millions of dollars over the next 12 months in a five year program to install better communications and management systems to help reduce operating costs and deliver better services to franchisees.
"One of the most significant benefits from the new IT program will be our ability to help those stores that are struggling with cash flow and struggling with the management of their back office by offering them the opportunity for the back office to be managed via IT by our accounts department," Malcolm reveals.
"We are focused on supporting our franchise owners to grow their sales, to grow their business and therefore their profitability; working with those stores that are wildly successful, on the average store and, most especially, on those stores that are struggling.
'These objectives contribute to the continued success and strengthening of the Clark Rubber brand. They also provide the platform for our objective to have 100 stores nationally by the end of June, 2008.
So looking back over the year, has winning the award changed the business?
"Whilst success is to be recognised and celebrated, it is also a warning that if we allow success to go to our heads and fail to see it for what it is; a mere fleeting moment in the cycle of our business life," says Malcolm. "It is a celebration of the past, not a guarantee for the future. It is only a signpost in the road ahead; it is not the destination itself.
"We have only two options; to keep on moving forward, ormove backwards, but we can never stand still."
25-Sep-2007