From the red to Franchise of the Year: a franchise turnaround
The situation
In 2011, after 15 years running a retail hardware business, I bought a B2B franchise in North Sydney. It was in the red. It had just lost its number one client, and with that client went half of its turnover.
Buying a business in that position is a decision you make with nobody to check it against. The numbers said the business was in trouble. The question was whether the trouble was the market, or the way the business was being run.
What I did
- →Restructured the business so its costs and roles fitted the revenue it actually had, not the revenue it used to have.
- →Rebuilt the product range and service offering around what clients needed and would pay for.
- →Put sales at the centre of everything, so growth came from a steady pipeline rather than one large account.
The result
- →Named Franchise of the Year in 2016, within four years of taking over
- →Multiple Highest Sales Growth awards across the national group
- →Operated successfully for 15 years, from 2011 to 2026
The turnaround was reported independently in the printing industry press: Print21, “Kwik Kopy North Sydney wins best franchise”.
What owners can take from it
- →Concentration is the hidden risk. One client carrying half the turnover feels like success until it leaves.
- →Structure follows revenue. Fit the business to what is true now, then grow it.
- →Sales is a system, not a person. Growth that depends on the owner chasing it stops when the owner does.
- →Recognition follows rhythm. Awards came from years of steady, measured improvement, not one big move.
How this shapes my coaching
Every phase of the Strategy Within Framework is a step I had to take in that business: getting honest about where it was, finding the real bottlenecks, designing the route, executing it and leading the team through it. If you are a franchisee, see coaching for franchise owners.