5 Keys to Success: World Options CEO Malcolm Rees on Streamlining Logistics, Franchisee Expertise, and Leveraging E-Commerce Growth
Episode Timeline
- 0:00 – Intro
- 0:19 – Simplifying shipping (First of 5 key things)
- 1:18 – Franchise owners as educators and trusted contacts for customers
- 2:57 – Knowledgeable franchise owners with trusted products (Second of 5 key things)
- 4:12 – Non-exclusive territory sizes for franchise partners
- 5:12 – The World Options Knowledge Hub (Third of 5 key things)
- 6:55 – Self-service systems for customer independence (Fourth of 5 key things)
- 9:02 – The logistics industry’s compounding growth (Fifth of 5 key things)
- 11:00 – Wrap up
In this episode we asked Malcolm Rees, CEO of World Options Australia, to discuss what he sees as the five key factors that have shaped the success of the World Options franchise business up to this point.
Overall, the key aim of the World Options business through its franchise partners, is to streamline the process of shipping for SME’s in the market via a multi-carrier online platform.
In this discussion, the five key factors that Malcolm identified are;
Simplifying Shipping – The company’s software streamlines the shipping process, allowing users to ship goods quickly by automating tasks like filling out forms and managing bulk shipments. Franchisees also provide support, ensuring smooth operations and addressing specific shipping challenges.
Franchise Owner Expertise as the differentiator – Franchisees are trained to become trusted, knowledgeable partners for small and medium-sized businesses. Their expertise builds trust with customers, and the face-to-face interactions foster strong relationships.
Knowledge Hub – A learning management system serves as a “knowledge hub,” enabling franchisees to improve their skills through courses on business operations, sales, and how to maximise the platform’s features. This hub promotes continuous self-improvement.
Self-Service Portal – The shipping portal is designed for customer self-service, allowing users to track shipments, manage invoices, and address queries independently. This frees up franchisees to focus on sales and new business development, and removes a lot of previous manual entry of information.
Growth Industry -Logistics, as a growing industry, has a compound annual growth rate of 5-7% according to Malcolm. World Options benefits from the e-commerce boom, as more online sales require efficient shipping solutions.
The focus was broadly on the importance of technology, expertise, customer service, and industry positioning in making World Options a successful franchise.
