THE Ezegroup’s slogan is “making life easy”. For the company’s rapidly expanding Eftpos and business client base, the slogan is the reality. But for company founders and brothers, Chad and Todd Zani, while the past six months’ growth has been spectacular, it has been anything but easy. Stumbling blocks have come and gone as the company’s flagship Eftpos broking business, Ezepos, signed a new deal with the giant Commonwealth Bank, sales jumped 700 per cent, staff quadrupled to 12 full timers and the business moved into larger premises. Ezepos has come a long way since 31-year-old Chad Zani was introduced to Eftpos reselling by a business client in 1999. Straight into retail sales from high school, then finance and debt restructure, Mr Zani told WA Business News he loved the product, but it was badly marketed. In 2001, he and brother Todd, a chartered accountant previously with Arthur Anderson, established Ezegroup and entered the Eftpos broking business, first with one bank, then another. The deal was simple. Ezepos found the clients – typically retailers or anyone selling direct to the public using Eftpos – on the guarantee that the client’s merchant fees and costs would be lower than they were already paying, and the bank supplied and maintained the Eftpos equipment. For this, Ezepos was paid a fee. It was a steep learning curve for both sides, which ultimately foundered on a lack of perceived commitment from the banks. “We were telling our clients they would be installed and operational within five to 10 days and it was taking more than 20 days. Some were falling through the cracks and that just wasn’t good enough,” Chad Zani recalled. After an early 2005 approach from the Commonwealth Bank, which has the biggest Eftpos network in Australia, the pair signed an agreement that effectively relaunched Ezepos in September with a mandate to secure 70 clients a month. The following month Ezepos signed 180 clients, has since taken the total to 2,500 and is currently signing them up at the rate of nearly 500 a month. Current projections are for next year’s Ezepos turnover to reach $3 million and to increase further with the target of 1,000 new clients per month during the year. The operation has expanded to include agencies in Sydney, two in Queensland, one in Victoria and more planned, including New Zealand. “We’ve worked hard to prove ourselves as a partner, but it also required some change on the bank’s side,” Chad Zani said. “Nothing much has changed in the Eftpos business since I got involved. The difference is that some banks, like the Common-wealth, are actually trying to grow their Eftpos business by offering better deals and service, and have opted for the broker path to do that.” Merchant fees on card usage average from 2 per cent upwards to 9 per cent and Ezepos claims average transaction savings of $1,000 a year. Examples include a lunch bar that put $8,000 a year through Eftpos at nearly 6 per cent, saving $570 a year, and a well-known restaurant processing $1.6 million a year at 1.51 per cent, saving $11,750 a year. Mr Zani said Ezepos’ business was a face-to-face one. “We want a good ongoing relationship with our clients to provide a range of services that help them and their businesses,” he said. The group was investigating licensing or franchising the business Australasia wide, using the Perth operation as the model for a good cash flow business with the backing of a strong partner. The concept has the Commonwealth’s support. However, Mr Zani admits to shortfalls in his own abilities in this area. “I’m a good salesman, but I need some help getting my head around this licensing/franchise concept and taking the business to the next level.” A first step has been contact with the Small Business Devel-opment Corporation, which has a well established mentoring program.
