Top left: PACK & SEND
Sumner store; Top right:
PACK & SEND Toowoomba;
Bottom left: PACK & SEND
Toowoomba during the
2010/11 Queensland floods.
“Darren gave away what
remaining dry boxes we had to
charity organisations that were
collating donations,” she said.
“He ripped up all the carpet
straight away and opened up
the shop just two days later to
trade again, and he diverted all
the quotes and phone calls to me here in Sumner
(once I could get back!). That meant he just had to
handle walk-ins and cleanup.”
After a few days of cleaning out mud and repairing
electrics, Darren began organising hundreds of supplier
quotes to replace missing and damaged equipment and
stock.
that we have to grow as people and learn to be better in
our own personal growth.
“Recently we’ve started passing books on business
and personal growth to our staff. Our idea is that it
takes people who are great with customers to make a
business like this successful. The more people in the
business who are great with customers, the better the
business should go. Plus it makes our staff happier and
improves other aspects of their lives, relationships and
thinking patterns. Hopefully they become better people
and achieve more in their lives too,” said Aarjaun.
After all their achievements, Darren continues to find it
difficult to come to grips with their win.
“It is hard to fathom what would make our stores stand
Although the 2011 January flood was very challenging, the Johnsons see
it as a growth experience and their recovery as a great indicator of the
strength of the PACK & SEND network.
“He was amazing and did a fantastic job of getting the
store back on its feet so fast,” said Aarjaun. “Here in
Sumner we felt the affect through loss of business. In
an effort to help our affected customers we gave all our
flood-affected business customers a huge discount for
the first two months afterward – every little bit helped,
I hope. Unfortunately, many of our customers were so
badly hit that they have since closed their doors.”
Darren and Aarjaun, who have always appreciated
PACK & SEND’s No Limits’ philosophy on customer
service and ‘going the extra mile’, have, over the last 18
months, taken the philosophy to new heights.
“We’ve worked harder to give our remaining customers
extraordinary service and focussed on keeping as many
customers as possible, adding to our list of business
customers by proving to them how much extra value we
can add to their products or business,” said Aarjaun.
14 | Connect
“We’re very much focussed on the idea that it’s about
adding value and providing extraordinary service; also
out in such a strong team, but maybe that’s what it
means to us, that we are recognised as being team
players and recognising the value of the whole team of
franchisees and franchisor and trying to contribute where
possible.”
Says Aarjaun: “It still seems a bit surreal. We really
appreciate the honour, and the award has pride of place
on our front counter. It is pretty special to be recognised
by our peers and head office. Really, though, I mostly
love how much our customers appreciate the extra level
of service we try to provide. Feedback from customers
keeps us going on a daily basis.”
And, where to from here? “We’ve re-set our targets for
this financial year,” says Aarjaun. “Now it’s just a matter
of making them happen. It’s not a matter of if they will
happen,” she says, “It’s how to make them happen!”
It takes more than a mere flood to stop these two.
Congratulations Darren and Aarjaun!