Episode#27

From marketing with McDonald’s to cinemas, the car rental, print and travel industries, and ultimately on to a key focus in the parcel and logistics industry as the CEO of CouriersPlease, you’d never know Richard Thame started business life as an Accountant!

In Episode#27 - A common thread through much of Richard’s career has been around the franchise sector with most roles directly related. A quick realisation that accounting wasn’t for him, Richard started at McDonald’s in accounting and as able to cross disciplines into marketing for the brand.

Exposure to industries undergoing significant change has been typical with cinemas at the time of his role there battling video stores for relevance, and his time in the car rental industry with transitioning rapidly to booking cars online and not over the counter.

Seeing online retail as the future in 2008, as at the time, CEO of Fastway Couriers, Richard and his team set about positioning the business for that future.

Enticed back to parcel and logistics with CouriersPlease, Richard is very focused on the franchisor / franchisee relationship and making that the best it can be to enable the growth of the business, building on a sustainable point of difference, and embracing technology at the same time.

All the while playing the role of husband and a father to 4 boys with everything that having a 3,6,20, and 22 year old children age spread brings with it!

0:22 Welcome and Introduction

1:44 A big believer in the franchise business model

2:50 Diverse path from an Accountant out of uni and the realisation that accounting wasn’t form him.

4:25 An opportunity from an accounting role with McDonald’s to a marketing role in that brand.

5:20 Loved about product marketing at McDonald’s - the broad exposure within the business.

6:59 Moving to the film industry with Greater Union that was going through enormous change competing with video stores at the time.

9:00 Back into franchising in the car rental industry with Thrifty and key learnings in industries where they are commoditised.

11:45 A further shift to a role in another travel industry related business of technology handling millions of bookings with technology platforms for agency groups - retaining a franchise connection as a supplier to the franchise industry.

14:00 First foray into the parcel and logistics industry was with Fastway Couriers, and saw a lot of the changes that had happened in the travel industry prior, were happening in the courier companies as well.

15:40 Concept of focusing on online retail into the future from as early as 2008.

17:50 The beauty of franchise model in logistics that differentiates from a postal network.

19:23 Noticed that over the years in franchising that many businesses are becoming far more expensive to get into which is a key reason why he loves this type of opportunity using it as a springboard for life and wealth creation. 

21:33 Exposure to other franchise roles and companies after 10 years at Fastway, and moved into one of Australia’s oldest companies, Snap Printing as CEO.

24:42 Franchising networks standing out during covid challenges.

26:50 Why transition to CouriersPlease and back into parcel and logistics.

28:21 Securing large retail contracts for franchise partners while also providing systems and tools to help find their own customers.

29:04 Changes in business to consumer deliveries, and parcel lockers not growing as much as pick-up and drop-off points. Addressing pain points for customers.

31:08 Using the enormous database of customers to address pain points while keeping privacy front and centre, as well machine learning and technology investment.

32:12 Sustainability, working with customers for more eco-friendly packaging and initiatives toward electric vehicles over time.

33:30 Passion for franchising and involvement with the Franchise Council of Australia and a focus on franchise education.

36:43 Family life and balancing career with age gaps of a 3 year old and 6 year old kids along with 20 and 22 year old boys, and how this plays out.

39:18 Crystal ball for the future with Richard’s role as he sees it to identify gaps and opportunities in the business to improve relationships between franchisor and franchisee, providing a real point of difference, and how they embrace technology.

Podcast Produced by: magnetic business media

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