Interview With Franchisees Conor Byrne And Louise Haas

WO: Tell us about yourself?

CB: I am originally from Ireland, living in Glasgow now, via Sydney and London, with my wife Nikki and two girls, Katie and Abigail and Charlie the cat.

My work background is pretty varied, from manufacturing artificial Christmas trees (best job ever!) to IT with Microsoft to a long period working in the UK Jewellery sector both on the manufacturing side and also retail operations.

LH: Originally from Northern Ireland and actually met my husband through Conors' wife , who I worked with many years ago - we’ve been friends ever since!

I am HR-qualified and have worked across the public and private sectors in small and medium sizes industries for many years as an HR manager and operations manager.

What was it that attracted you to wanting to buy a World Options franchise?

LH & CB: A better work life balance. We both worked long hours in previous roles and had partners travelling internationally for work, so we needed to find a means to earn income whilst still having flexibility to look after our young families.

CB: On top of this after a redundancy, I was looking to take charge of my career and not be reliant on someone else. World Options has allowed us to achieve success by our own hands.

WO: What changes have you seen in both World Options and the sector in general since joining?

LH & CB: Shipping continues to become more competitive and challenging, particularly with the effects of Brexit. We must continue to be competitive in the market and offer a wide variety of services so our customers continue coming to us for help with their shipping needs and not look elsewhere.

Over the last few years, Brexit and COVID-19 have impacted our franchise in that we have lost freight shipments we previously won, and we’ve lost other customers with the suspension of TNT economy (we can’t wait to get that back!).

The biggest change within World Options we would say is the portal – it’s developed, grown and changed immensely since we started. It’s a wonderful selling tool as it’s simple and easy to use. If we can continue to negotiate excellent rates with our carriers and maintain excellent customer service levels, we will continue to prosper and grow as this is something that sets us out vs going direct to the carriers.

Our strength is in the relationships we build with our customers – they tell us regularly they trust and value the support we offer them, we’re always available to speak to and always keen to find a resolution.

WO: What can we expect to see from your franchise in 2023?

LH & CB: We had a good 2022 and the first job is to consolidate and retain the customer base which achieved this. We are also interested to see the results of the lead generation trial, as it is something we would be interested in to grow our franchise in 2023.

WO: Would you like to share any advice in terms of finding leads, managing customers and staff, hitting business targets, and dealing with setbacks?

LH & CB: Our main advice when starting out is to not let setbacks get you down. They will happen and it is easy to become discouraged. However, we learnt that what we think might be a huge issue is often not the case. Most shippers understand problems happen and value our service as long as you are upfront, honest and are visibly trying to help them.

Also, retention retention retention, we are proud that our 5 biggest accounts have been with us for years. If you think of the effort it takes to get a good shipping customer, we think as much time should be spent retaining them. Build relationships with them, know their business, and always make yourself available to them 24/7.

WO: What is your favourite holiday?

LH & CB: We both love travelling and have been fortunate enough to travel all over the world with our families, in fact Conor met his wife whilst backpacking. One of the advantages of having two of us in the franchise is being able to relax and really enjoy holidays knowing that the other is looking after our customers.

LH: Mexico with the family for me. It is an amazing place.

CB: Lots to choose from but Disneyland in Florida was amazing, also where me and my youngest discovered a love for roller-coasters.

WO: What are your hobbies?

LH: Family time is number one for me. I’m an enthusiastic home cook and love entertaining anyone and everyone at any opportunity. You’ll find me being a taxi for the kids or walking the dogs when not cooking!

CB: Travel, watching rugby and, sadly following politics would be my main interests. Also, a trip to the pub is never far off my activity list.

WO: Who is the most influential person in your life, and why?

LH: my husband said this should be him, but I think you’ll find it might be James Martin! I love cooking!

CB: There are a few to pick from depending on whether it is family or work-related. However, it has to be my dad, probably the calmest and kindest man I know. He taught me that to be successful in life, you do not have to sacrifice family or principles.