Franchisees who are 'Getting it Right'

LEFT : Dean and John Anastasiadis RIGHT: Craig Banfield

"Success in convenience retailing is all about having the right people in your business. People with a passion for delivering an unbeatable customer experience and a commitment to "Getting it Right!" everywhere, everyday and every time", says John Dulgaro, Acting National Manager Retail at Caltex when talking about the type of franchisees the company loves to work with.

Craig Banfield and the Anastasiadis brothers – Dean and John – may run their Caltex sites on opposite sides of the continent, but they have much in common when it comes to ‘Getting it Right!”

Craig, in Beechboro, Perth, and the Anastasiadis brothers – at Mt Waverley and Carnegie in Victoria – have achieved stellar success. They sit on their respective state franchise councils and are praised as outstanding operators by their business managers.

“Craig is a model franchisee,” says WA Business Manager Greg Smith. “He’s committed to retail standards, excellence in retail execution and customer service.”

Victorian Business Manager Tracey Atkinsonhas equal praise for the Anastasiadis brothers. “They take great pride in their two sites,” she says. “For them, every detail counts.”

These operators’ careers began in similar fashion. Craig Banfield started out in 1999 as a Calstore customer service attendant in Perth, moving into manager roles before becoming a franchisee himself in 2007. Now two years on, his shop sales have grown by 50 per cent.

The Anastasiadis brothers also started off on the shop floor. In the early ‘90s they helped their father run Caltex South Melbourne before following in his footsteps. In June 2009, they became the first franchisees to operate a Caltex 21st Century (21CC) site at Mt Waverley.

Why are Craig, Dean and John doing so well? They offer this simple advice to others:

LEAD BY EXAMPLE

Craig Banfield: If your team see you doing basic, little things like walking the site multiple times a day, facing shelves, picking up rubbish, cleaning, checking the bathrooms and removing hazards, they’ll do the same.

Dean Anastasiadis: To perform at their best your employees need to see you getting your hands dirty, arriving at work early and leaving late – not ridiculous hours, but enough to show you’re dedicated. You can’t demand performance from people if you don’t perform and have a do-as I-do-culture. Being hands on means getting involved in all aspects of the business. Except the back office – leave that to the experts.

EMPLOY AND ROSTER THE RIGHT PEOPLE

Craig: Check applications for employment carefully and get as much information about a prospective hire as you can before interviewing them. A résumé may give you little or nothing useful about someone’s background, education, workplace visas and so on. Take your time; you need to ask a multitude of questions and do all reference checks. Your team is the face of your business to your customers.

Good rostering is essential. I have key staff in the right places to cope with surges in trade such as Thursday nights. Better to have too many on duty than too few and get caught short. If a customer can’t get served they may turn away.

ATTEND TO FINE DETAILS

Dean : Have an eye for merchandising and make sure shelves are always full and products face the front. Be as diligent as you can with controls.

Craig: Ensure you stick rigidly to planograms and that your stock control system is functioning well so you have no out-of-stocks. If you want to build sales, stock must be fresh, full-faced (placed with the labels facing the customer) and clean.

STICK TO THE RULES

Dean: As franchisees we must obviously work within the guidelines. But if you’re getting 100 per cent in your mystery shopper tests (part of the Caltex All Stars excellence program), having great retail execution, great fresh food and running your business at optimum levels, you’ll succeed. The things you can control most – like making sure you have outstanding customer service, that your shop is clean and well presented – are key. The Caltex model is proven and constantly evolving. It’s not number one in brand choice by coincidence.

HAVE PASSION

Craig: Working in management roles in Caltex and Calstores gave me inspiration and ideas about running a successful business. I also had confidence the Caltex All Stars program would contribute to a strong and successful business. To be successful you must build a team who’s passionate about working towards the same goals as yourself. We share knowledge at our monthly team meetings to ensure everyone’s on the same page. If you’re not passionate in engaging your team it will show in your performance.