Smartline Personal Mortgage Advisers has capped off its strongest 12 months of turnover and recruitment growth by again being named as Australia’s top franchise.
Topfranchise.com.au ranked Smartline number one in its latest top 10 list released Monday, September 15, following a comprehensive survey of franchisees from franchise systems across the country.
Smartline has held the number one ranking since 2009.
Smartline took out the overall award having been ranked first in six of the seven survey sub categories:
- Support: examining levels of support offered by the franchisor.
- Lifestyle: whether franchisees are satisfied with the lifestyle their franchise affords them.
- Opportunities: whether franchisees feel there are opportunities to expand their business within the system.
- Passion: the passion franchisees have for their product/service and customers. Also whether friends and family believe in the business.
- Marketing: the strength of the marketing strategy and the support provided for franchisees to undertake their own marketing activities.
- Brand: whether franchisees feel the brand is well recognised and effective in driving sales to their business.
Smartline Executive Director Joe Sirianni said winning the Topfranchise award was a great privilege.
“It’s certainly no small feat to win this award – which is very important to us as a group – against some of the very strong franchise systems that are currently operating,” he said.
“Being an established franchise system, it can sometimes be tempting to stay in your comfort zone and to keep doing what you’ve always done.
“However, I think our success has come from the fact that we’ve been able to achieve a balance in terms of being able to build on the model that has worked well for us over the past 15 years, while continuing to evolve it to meet the needs of our franchisees and our clients.”
In the 2013/14 financial year Smartline grew its franchise network by 10%, with average sales (settlements) per franchisee also increasing by 10%.
The group enjoyed record turnover, up 16% on the previous financial year.
“Having ‘new blood’ in the business in the form of new franchisees brings with it fresh ideas and experiences which only make us stronger as a business,” Mr Sirianni said.
“Bringing in the ‘right’ people using a rigorous selection process helps to ensure the business doesn’t stagnate and makes it more outward looking.
“While benefitting from this growth, we have also continued to invest heavily in our very strong culture of teamwork and sharing which we believe differentiates us from many in our industry and in business in general.”
10 THOUSAND FEET and topfranchise.com.au’s Head of Intelligence Ian Krawitz said Smartline’s consistency over the past six years has been simply outstanding.
“This year they have taken their franchisees satisfaction to another level,” he said. “Part of the rise in satisfaction is due to a really positive housing market in key states and the other part is down to their culture.
“Smartline has a culture of not getting complacent, of always looking forward and reinvesting. That has seen previous investments in new products pay dividends in the financial area, and new investments in human resources and IT pay off in the area of support.”
Over 1000 franchisees were surveyed by 10 THOUSAND FEET across the franchise Industry. Each franchisee is asked 43 questions in key areas, with the feedback used to benchmark performance in comparison to other franchise systems.