Soap Box

In the first article of this two part series, I wrote about the pitfalls of relying on the Franchisor being a member of the FCA (Franchise Council of Australia) and some suggestions on what you need to do to perform your own due diligence. In this follow up article I will explore what you can use the FCA for.

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In this first of a two part series, Telcoinabox's Damian Kay explores how to utilise the Franchise Council of Australia (FCA) when buying a franchise and what to do once you become a franchisor.

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In part one; we explored growth by acquisition as a means to gain economies of scale and size. Part two, we will explore organic growth - the act of growing your business in two ways - winning customers and getting more out of the customers you already have.

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Telcoinabox founder Damian Kay says successful businesses must learn to love chaos

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Telco in a Box managing director Damian Kay says there are several steps to producing successful – and less stressful – business relationships within franchises

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The debate around the functional separation of Telstra presents a very varied set of opinions.  This depends on who is making them and what their interaction is with Telstra.  As a pure reseller customer of Telstra Wholesale (TW), Telcoinabox enjoys a strong relationship with Telstra that is pro-active and mutual.  

Who would have thought that when I agreed to sponsor Leo Rodriguez in the 2008 Sydney to Hobart Yacht race that 1. I would participate in the race and 2. the "Telcoinabox" name would be exposed through every newspaper, radio and TV station in Australia.  You could not have written the script that well.  Initially I was not to participate as it was possible that Tash and I would be on our way to London with the boys in February, when this changed I eagerly joined a great bunch of guys on one of the most dangerous ocean races in the world.  Given my sailing experience was limited to racing "Lasers" as a kid, a few corporate sailing events and a couple of bareboat charters, I am not ashamed to say that I was more than a little anxious.  Tash was incredibly supportive of my decision to partake in the race and this made it a lot easier as I had someone to talk to about what I had agreed to do. 

Telcoinabox continues its global expansion with the establishment of an office in Wellington, New Zealand and has appointed Shannon Fisher as CEO. 

Managing director of Telcoinabox, Damian Kay writes about his speaking appointment at the Franchise Council of Australia's national convention in Sydney.

5 February 2009 - BRW Copyright 2009 Media Monitors Australia Pty Ltd. All Rights Reserved

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We all know that it costs infinitely more to acquire a new customer than to retain a customer.  If this is the case, why is the Telecommunications industry so crap at account management.  It forms the corner stone of any business that has high value customers (or for that matter any customers).  Businesses can be made or lost on the quality of their account management. 

The National Broadband Network (NBN) presents an interesting situation for players in the $40 billion telecommunications industry and to some degree it will level the playing field between network operators and resellers.  

Finally the Doom and Gloom of the global economic crisis has got to me. There is no doubt that there are issues with the financial framework and the actions of some greedy bastards in the financial sector have been the catalyst for the current situation but really!!! It is a self fulfilling prophecy. If we stop buying our lunch from the food court at work then the guys that own the food outlet cannot buy the Holden car they were going to buy and then the Holden company need to lay off workers and so on. The key here is to keep spending. I take a "cautious aggressive" view to recession. Like any chaos within business, and a recession is definitely a chaotic situation for business, it creates opportunity. While my competition clams up like a hetro guy at a rave party, we have employed more sales staff and more resources to handle that growth. from July 1 alone our wages bill increased by $500K. Bring it on I say.  

As the Managing Director of one of the most successful franchise systems in Australia I was recently invited to speak at the Franchise Council Of Australia (FCA) national convention here in Sydney. I was asked to speak about the success of Telcoinabox including what and how we did it. One of the guidelines provided by the organizers was the question, what would I not do again?. I addressed this is true Damian Kay style, bluntly!  

After arriving into the UK in early March and being given one of its only free things, the world’s worst flu, TIAB’s first international office didn’t exactly get off to a flying start.  

Financial markets are in turmoil around the world, bank lending has been cut, consumer and business spending will fall, businesses will fail due to bad debt and poor cash flows. Most of the western world will experience varying levels of recession. The length and severity of this is difficult to predict as is the likely impact on Australia. As a country we are better placed compared to many of our western trading partners due to a strong mining and resources sector and just as importantly a strong banking/finance sector.  

Such was the question posed at a recent seminar delivered by Ovum, one of the world’s largest telecoms and IT research companies, attended by Telcoinabox and a host of other companies involved in the wholesale telecommunications market. Luckily for us the picture painted by Ovum was a fairly positive one.  

Wireless broadband is one of the hottest topics in telecommunications right now as consumers demand faster internet speeds and accessibility whenever and wherever they want it. For the last few years there has been much debate over which wireless broadband technology (Wimax or 3G) would win through. As it currently stands 3G wireless broadband services definitely have the upper hand. All 4 of the major mobile carriers now have a compelling wireless broadband offer and are seeing great take up rates across the board.  

In April 2008, Telcoinabox changed the franchisee recruitment process by working with the Franchise Relationship Institute (FRI) to introduce a scientific franchisee selection process called the “Nathan Profiler”. FRI developed the Nathan Profiler to assist franchisors in reducing the cost and indirect negative impact of poor selection on their franchise businesses.