One company has tapped into the need for an easy customer solution to multiple freight services and is reporting strong growth and a global footprint.
InXpress has had a terrific year, according to Australian managing director Lindsay Birley; it has seen substantial growth in franchisee numbers and services just four years after the 12 year old business which began in the UK and US launched in the Australian marketplace.
Over the last 12 months the Australian InXpress has doubled in size, with 30 franchisees now on board. The customer base has grown from 600 to 1450, with shipments up from 6500 to 9100 in 12 months, resulting in a 66 percent increase in spend and buying power.
THE COMPANY VIEWPOINT
Birley says “The InXpress industry is on the right side of the shift supporting global trade and e-com purchasing, while leveraging partners such as DHL, recognised as a global super brand in the transportation industry. InXpress has an experienced management team with an outstanding track record, and potential franchisees can leverage this expertise to build equity in their own business.”
There is at least one new franchisee a month joining the network, says Birley.
The franchise model leverages the volume spend with world class carriers, such as DHL, TNT and Toll to provide competitive shipping rates and value added services to customers, which are normally only extended to large multi-national clients.
InXpress focuses its core services around international and domestic air express and domestic road express. “A lot of freight companies charge account keeping fees and a minimum spend. So customers have several accounts and they are not paying the best rates,” says franchisee Jason Hand.
In contrast, the InXpress standard solution provides one customer invoice featuring multiple services from multiple carriers. “Franchisees spend the vast amount of time delivering exceptional customer service to existing and potential customers, 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 backgrounds. “Many InXpress’ franchisees are high energy individuals who enjoy a face to face business environment,” says Birley.
“Recently we launched into New Zealand, expanding our global portfolio to include another international location. This gives us a bigger global footprint and the ability to leverage even more savings for our customers and profit for our franchise partners.”
InXpress has developed a user friendly web based software program automating shipment processing, delivering savings on time and money.
Below: Some of the InXpress Australia team, from left – Lindsay Birley, Sam Orders, Ken Allen [CEO of DHL], Jason Hand, Shaun Birley, James Choo.
“The automated manner in which InXpress transact with their customers allows more time for the franchisee to further develop their business or spend time doing other equally important activities such as with family and friends,” Lindsay added.
To ensure franchisees are provided with the best possible start to their business, InXpress offers a turn-key operation with a three staged training program. The centralised support centre provides dedicated resources for the franchise system, also handling customer billing and collections.
THE FRANCHISEE VIEWPOINT
Jason Hand has been a franchisee with his wife and a business partner since 2009. They were looking to run a boutique freight business when they came across the InXpress model, which already did everything the trio had talked about setting up.
“We had been working in the freight and logistics industry for a number of years and we liked the concept of InXpress. We felt our past experience and skills would dovetail in perfectly as a freight consultant. The idea of low overheads and residual income also made the idea really compelling.
“It was the perfect business. They do all the invoicing and debt collection, things I didn’t have skills in.”
The business grew very quickly, and before long four people in the garage had grown to six in an office suite.
“With InXpress we can grow the revenue quite proportionally to the overheads. It’s not a bricks and mortar business, it’s a web-based solution, so we can grow easily.”
The business has been built by following the model of 30 customer contacts a day and investing in sales people and sales and marketing strategies to attract more customers, says Hand.
The model is non-territorial, and the Brisbane franchise now has a business manager in Melbourne.
Because Hand and his partners were the first franchisees in the Australian system after the master franchisee, the initial two years were spent fine tuning the model to suit the local market. “We were working to Australianise it. The pricing, carriers, even the buying habits are different here to the US and we were constantly refining procedures.”
From doing everything the business required in start-up mode, now Hand is able to focus his attention on customer advice and supporting the sales team. He is also president of the internal franchise advice council, a mentor to new franchisees, and on the company’s global technology taskforce.