Pack & Send’s COO Nicholas Woodward ranked second in the recent 2020 Top 30 Franchise Executives report.
What has he done to boost franchisees businesses?
“As chief operating officer at Pack & Send my role is to manage and implement operational and technological changes in the business, with the goal to deliver positive changes and improved profitability for our franchisees,” he says.
Last year was an action-packed 12 months for Woodward , who notched up a swag of
improvements that boosted franchisees’ business. Much of the developments focused
on transforming the business to embrace the digital age and e-commerce.
“We had to digitally re-imagine every aspect of the business from customer engagement,
service offerings, store operations and supplier integrations,” he reveals.
“When I need to lead these projects it helps to recognise and understand we are building for franchisees to be profitable, to be successful, and building for customers to transact easily.”
High up in the list of achievements is the creation of a new POS platform which
has delivered improved profitability through significant productivity savings.
Woodward and his team have provided Pack & Send customers a self-shipping platform that integrates with Amazon and eBay.
Under his leadership the training and onboarding program has been revitalised, a new store “first 100 days development plan” introduced, and franchisees given a second income stream.
“Franchisees didn’t have rights to earn revenue from digital channels,” he explains.
In collaboration with franchisees a new process was introduced in which they received income based on location, and then shared in the costs of expenses and a tech fee.
Woodward also led and facilitated the brand’s FAC and employed former successful
franchisees in key operational roles including field support and supplier partnerships.
He’s particularly well-placed to appreciate the value of franchisee input at a corporate level thanks to 20 years spent running a high-performing franchise himself.
“I know what is required in terms of a margin mix, the pain points of purchasing,” he
says.
Woodward has steered change management in the company, navigating the process in
hand with Franchise Relationship Institute’s Greg Nathan.
Agile innovation teams are crucial to delivering the right outcomes when there is a rapid rate of change. The inclusion of franchisees to help test, communicate and effectively champion new initiatives, has been fundamental to implementation.
Woodward says it’s a technique deployed across a number of projects in the digital transformation strategy.
“When we created agile innovation teams it helped franchisees understand we are
not adopting the old methods but building a scalable infrastructure to build a nimble
business.”
You can read the full story in the Top 30 Franchise Executives 2020 report, sponsored by BlueRock. Download it here.