Franchises that are moving ahead and embracing Snap’s transformation strategy received recognition at the New South Wales awards for the group, with movers and shakers recognised alongside the top earners.

Stephen Edwards, CEO of Snap Australia, says the nominees and winners are bucking the trend of a declining printing industry and achieving ‘great success’.

He says, “You hear a lot of doom and gloom; it is quite frustrating to be honest. Last year we sold 21 Snap centres, which is pleasing. This shows that we have a great legacy, a great history and more importantly a great opportunity.

“We are transforming because we need to stay in front of the pack. The pack moved and the industry changed, and if we do not stay ahead we will die, so we do not want to apologise for transforming, we want our owners to understand why we are doing it and would love them to come along for the journey. We are making headway and look forward to a fantastic new year.”

Snap Wynyard came out on top with both the state and national sales achievement awards, with the owners celebrating their first year with the group, having converted from Jagar Sprinting in September.

Malcolm Gaspar, co-owner of Snap Wynyard with Bruce Jacobs, says, “Our staff have always been strong, they have been with us for a long time and we would like to think that we are a good team.

“I would also like to thank Xerox, as a premier partner they have supported  us greatly and helped us to grow from a very small business.”

Raeleen Hooper, general manager of sales and marketing at Snap, says, “We are delighted to have new, young at heart, vibrant and knowledgeable franchise owners in our group. They have a great team and continue to invest in their people and business, and to provide innovative solutions.”

Snap Wollongong picked up the regional sales achievement award, and Snap Eastwood received recognition for its willingness to future-proof the business by picking up new products and services, with the non print sales award.

Gina Turner, sales representative with Snap Burwood and Shane Bertolotti, owner of Snap Toowoomba and Snap Dalby, were named joint salesperson of the year.

Hooper says, “It is not easy to be in sales, there is huge pressure to perform all the time and the competition between companies today is enormous. These people are at the top of their sales success, and they provide fantastic client service. It was a tight competition and we are pleased to see more people enter this category each year.

“With a recommendation by Burwood franchise owner Sanjay, and helping Snap Burwood grow by more than 27 per cent, we are delighted that Gina is being recognised by Snap.

“Shane, who is the owner of Snap Toowoomba and Snap Dalby, is well known for his fantastic ability to develop client relationships and build trust. In fact in one week he sold five websites.”

Rob Mahalick and the team at Homebush Bay took out the first movers and shakers award, a new honour for centres that are moving up the franchise’s leaderboard and are engaging in sales and marketing initiatives.

Hooper says, “The Homebush Bay team moved up 26 places and Rob is now on the Marketing Franchise Council.

“We recently took our CEO Dermont Bolger from Snap Ireland out to visit Rob’s store. He was so impressed he said if only we could bottle the enthusiasm of the customer service from Homebush Bay and give it to some of our new franchise owners over in Ireland to help them know what it really means to look after clients.”

Sanjay Siva and Sandeep Raikar, owners of Snap Burwood, Surry Hills and Kingsgrove, were named multi franchise owners of the year, having ramped up their growth and started the Kingsgrove centre, with plans for further investments.

Raikar says, “It is a great honour. We joined this group two years back and it has been a fantastic journey. We have an excellent team at Surry Hills; that is why we have been able to invest in Kingsgrove. Now we need to find excellent people at Kingsgrove and we will be doing it again and again.”

Hooper says, “Sanjay and Sandeep continue to grow and develop with the Snap family. Burwood grew by more than 27 per cent and Surry Hills by eight per cent, and they are now looking to bring their winning formula to the Kingsgrove centre.

“Sanjay and Sandeep are owners who are engaging in Snap and put forward ideas to help us grow their centres and evolve with the Snap transformation strategy. You can certainly see how they look after their people with the recruitment and success of Gina Turner, their sales rep.

“One of parallel agencies, King Content, which uses Surry Hills, has remarked to us on numerous occasions how much they enjoy working with the team.”

The coveted Paddy Thompson award – the equivalent of the Snap Oscar – as well as the community achievement award and Hall of Fame inductee were won by franchisees in other states and will be presented at their state ceremonies.

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