Snap Eastwood has been named franchise of the year for a 'solutions over products' strategy and focus on higher-margin work.
[Photos: Who was at the awards?]
The Sydney franchise claimed the Sales Achievement Award ahead of 156 other stores after posting the highest revenue in 2012-13, excluding major corporate accounts.
Co-owners Jason O’Connor and Lisa Dupen also won the national award in 2007, which was the same year they bought the business.
Snap Eastwood earned $2.9 million in 2012-13. O’Connor told ProPrint that turnover was about $3 million when they bought the franchise and later peaked at $3.2 million.
He said the decline was partly due to the challenging market and partly because the franchise surrendered about $100,000 of unprofitable work.
"We've tried to base our business model on higher-margin business. We thought these low-margin guys were taking up a lot of time when we thought we could go out there and chase higher-value work," he said.
"Our main thing is to make life easier for our customers and if you can do that, they tend to pay a bit of a premium."
[Feature: Snap CEO plans to open 120 stores]
O’Connor said the 14-staff operation planned to focus on one-to-one marketing services for its smaller clients.
He said a lot of those businesses were open to outsourcing their marketing because they were so focused on day-to-day operations and too small to have dedicated marketing staff.
The marketing includes regular print collateral, newspaper ads, EDMs and websites, he said.
O’Connor told ProPrint that there was a lot of potential in helping clients maximise their websites, because many of them were "online brochures" rather than active sales tools.
"We really try to structure ourselves on relationships with our customers and try to be relevant to them, rather than just a print supplier," he said.
"So the sales people are based more on offering solutions than taking orders. We structure our business around being a one-stop shop."
AWARDS
Sales Achievement Award
Eastwood (NSW)
Sales Achievement Award finalists
West Melbourne (Vic), Southport (Qld), Osborne Park (WA), Adelaide Flinders Street (SA)
Regional Sales Achievement Award
Wollongong (NSW)
Non-print Sales Award
Caulfield South (Vic)
Sales Person of the Year
Geoff Phillips, Applecross (WA)
Centre Manager of the Year
Damien Robertson, Norwest (NSW)
Community Achievement Award
Damien & Leanne Cook, Castlereagh Street and Silverawater (NSW)
New Franchise Owner of the Year
Ian & Sue Mackie, Dandenong South (Vic)
Multi-franchise Owner of the Year
Judd Duhigg & Simon Morcom, Queen Street and Maroochydoore (Qld)
Star Award
Rod Harrington, Laverton North (Vic)
Hall of Fame inductees
Jason O’Connor & Lisa Dupen, Eastwood (NSW)
Paddy Thompson Award
Justin & Aniella Leeks, Osborne Park (WA)
Ireland Recognition Award
Connor Smith, Sandyford (Ireland)
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