Founder and Managing Director of MailPlus, Chris Burgess, is so invested in his people that he’s innovatively started a traineeship to mentor potential franchisees.

The idea came from an overflow of work that existing franchisees didn’t have the bandwidth to service on top of their B2B clients. 

Trainees come in and essentially help build another tier of the franchise, servicing small to micro B2C customers and third party major courier companies where MailPlus acts as a ‘first mile’ network.

Chris talked about the benefit to trainees and the franchise;

“We’re looking for school leavers who want to get into a trade rather than uni. Young, energetic, ambitious people with a strong work ethic wanting to grow something of their own. 

We’ve found that people with money to invest aren’t always the right person for our business. We are giving these young people an opportunity to get some sweat equity.  

We’ll pay them well as they learn, then after 3-6 months if they are doing a great job and are the right fit for the business, we’ll finance them into their own (franchise) territory.”

Program success

In the 6 months or so MailPlus has implemented the trainee program they've seen great success. One man who has completed the traineeship is Ratu Clarke from Byron Bay. 

Now an owner-operator with MailPlus, Ratu tells us how the traineeship changed his life;

“Completing a MailPlus traineeship changed my life in that it gave me an opportunity to continue working during COVID as an essential service.

The work itself allowed me to develop new skills within the courier industry, including how to manage a growing business and build customer relationships. 

With the support from the MailPlus teams, especially sales, I’ve learnt how to confidently approach potential clients and sign new customers - something that was a little daunting at the beginning.”

The competition for good people

Chris Burgess talked about how competitive it is to find good people;

“The big carriers are all trying to vie for the same people. Franchising is very competitive. I wanted to think outside the box and create a soft start for the right person to try before they buy. We’re giving these people access to a good business for a good price.

It’s also opened up a younger demographic for us who are hungry and want to work with their hands. All they need is a smartphone and a car, then we’ll onboard, train and induct them.

We’re seeing people who are able to work flexible hours and still pursue their own passions. They develop a strong bond with regular customers and in turn, the customers are happy. It’s good for the trainee, good for the customer and good for us. A win, win, win!”

Chris is planning to go deeper into the relationship MailPlus has with third party partners, which will open up even more opportunities for ambitious trainees.

For more information on the MailPlus and their traineeship, click HERE.