Getting connected

Business and pleasure

As he strolls down a picturesque fairway bordered by mangroves and the sea, you wouldn’t think Todd Stewart was hard at work promoting his business. But the franchisee at the Caltex Star Shop in Redcliffe, Brisbane, has found some creative ways to combine business and pleasure.

At the golf club Todd sponsors a number of tournament prizes as well as the par three holes where players see a Caltex Redcliffe supporting the community message. He has put up $100 in StarCash for any player who hits a hole in one.

Franchisee colleagues who are thinking about giving back to their community shouldn’t just make a donation, advises Todd, they should get involved. “Just handing over money doesn’t work,” he says.

He stays personally involved with seven sporting clubs in his district: Australian Rules, rugby union and rugby league football, touch football, tennis, golf and lawn bowls.

It’s been a successful way to build relationships. People know and recognise Todd at events and make the connection between the sponsorship and his business. “A percentage of people associated with an event will go out of their way to give me business because of it, and they say so. That commitment is part of the volunteer culture.”

During the six years he’s been active in sponsorships, Todd has seen shop sales revenue grow by 25 per cent a year and is convinced some part of that is due to his support for local events.

Rather than cash donations Todd favours other gifts. At a recent tennis tournament for junior players – the biggest in the region – he provided trophies to winners and runners-up in each category. He also gave $100 in StarCash as a prize in a special draw for the parents.

“If I’m sponsoring an event I try to be there to present the trophy. That way, people can see that you’re actually involved.”

He tries to use StarCash in all his sponsorships. Free fuel is a great gift which has obvious benefits for his business.

Incentive schemes can work well too. Todd operates one for parents and members of the Junior Rugby Union competition where his dockets are marked throughout the year. At financial year end Todd gives assistance, the value of which is determined by the value of the dockets redeemed, in buying sporting equipment.

“Rather than just handing over money we’re giving people a reason to support us in turn.”

Goodwill in Gisborne

Danny Gevergizian, franchisee at the Caltex Star Shop in Gisborne northwest of Melbourne, is a major sponsor of one of the most popular events on the town’s calendar, the annual Gisborne Festival. A procession of floats parades through the town and ends at the showground. The sponsorship allows the Caltex brand to be displayed on the festival’s promotional material.

In the past three years the business has also given StarCash to the Country Fire Association and to local schools for fundraising as well as certificates of achievement, coach awards and best player awards to junior football and cricket teams. “We’ve also been giving Local Site Marketing-based prizes the winners can redeem in the shop,” he says. A successful home side helps. The Gisborne football team often features in the grand final for the region and Danny’s sponsorship here earns him a banner at the home ground. It’s a personal involvement – Danny’s son plays in the junior competition. “We’re a small community so it’s especially important to be involved at that level,” he says.

There’s plenty of evidence of the goodwill generated. Two weeks of disruption during a recent shop fitout saw no drop in fuel sales. “It would have been easy for my customers to avoid a cramped temporary hut by going to my competitors but they didn’t. I put it down to goodwill in the bank.”

He’s convinced that by staying involved he’s benefiting his bottom line. In four and a half years he’s seen a healthy growth in his shop sales and fuel volumes – and that’s despite strong new competition in town.

Cost-effective sponsorship

When Iain and Rosemary McPherson eat out in a local restaurant, even when they’re walking down the street, people stop to say hello and have a chat. In the eight years the couple have been running the Caltex Star Shop at Brighton in southwest Adelaide, they’ve given annual cash donations to a variety of local causes, and it’s made them many friends.

The McPhersons make a donation to the local Drug Arm volunteers group who assist in the rehabilitation of people with drug and alcohol problems, for example. Plus they sponsor two local surf life saving clubs, a tennis club and the Brighton Football Club where their 17-year-old son plays for the under 18s, a team Iain also manages.

Iain sees this commitment as a necessity in a competitive environment, because the site is flanked by a Woolworths and a big BP. It’s cost-effective too, he says, because the Caltex Brand group reimburses them half of the sponsorship money.

While he can’t put an exact figure to the amount of business the sponsorships help to generate, he gets an indication by collecting receipts from club members buying fuel. The receipts are stored in a box, then at the end of the year the McPhersons add them up.

“We live in the community and our children have been going to schools here,” says Iain. “It’s very important we’re seen to be giving something back.”

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