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Yep!!!!!!! This is one of the worst problems we have as state owner. Thinking back over 18 years as State Owner, I can think of 6 different franchises all ending in about the same way!!!!!!! The first thing I did was have a release form, which I wrote and had cleared by Corporate, signed by the person giving up the operation. I wanted to make sure I got territory back legally so I could sell the area again without any problems from the past owner. As for equipment, that is a real problem, We just had this discusson on board about all future people getting new equipment, what do you do with used “stuff”? I feel we should, or must buy it back because some of it is corporate proprietory and it should not get in other peoples hands except present or future Heaven’s Best operators. While talking about equipment, this is why we all need to ride with our people at least once a year, this is their storefront and we can’t be letting them use equipment that is not up to our standard, this is a very bad image they are presenting to the general public. I guess we all have different ways of solving this problem, but it would be interesting to hear from others, and maybe try and standardize with some guidelines from Corporate. Best of luck with this one Gregg.
RonNot sure if this is recommended from corporate but, Years ago someone in CA (I think) had a customer who owned a dealership that had an expensive motorhome for sale, they could not sell it because of cigarette smoke!!!!!! The story goes something like this, The operator went in the motorhome an set up a vaporizer with Fresh Sent in it. 24 Hours later the smoke smell was gone. I remember this story because a few years ago, I have a close friend in NH that has a large time share resort complex. one morning we were having coffee together when he said, he had a smoker in a NON- SMOKER timeshare unit for a week and now he can not rent it out because it smells of cigarette smoke, I told him if he buys the vaporizer I would supply the Fresh Sent. He said it worked, although like you said, it probably just “masked” the problem but, the bottom line is he rented the room with no complaints. Also I have great neighbors in NH that are trying to sell their home, they are both smokers, anytime their agent calls and tells them they are having a showing at such a time, they quickly call me and ask me to come over and spray Fresh Scent on carpet and furniture!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Rick,
I think it is a great Idea. A long time ago I had a men come up to me and ask what I was selling? I told him everything we did for cleaning services. It turns out he was VP of marketing for Sears. He said the most important signs, and first visual on your van should be what you are selling, the second most important, tele. number and third the name of your company. After reviewing this with corporate, they came up with many bullet points which are approved for our vans. I think you can find it under logo and related items, appx. 20 paragraphs down, it will be listed as bullet points. Again I have people in Florida who want Tile & Grout cleaning work, one of the best ways to get that work is advertise it on the side or back of their van. I do think that we can over do it, we do not want to many bullet points, so they can not be easily read.
RonBill & Jessica,
One of the things I learned about newspapers years ago is, If they are taking your money, that means they are working for you. All newspapers have ad executives or manager of accounts. You need to sit down, one on one and talk with them about what you are trying to acomplish with your ads. Let them know that you plan on being a steady customer but they must make the phone ring. If the phone does not ring, they should help you rewrite the ad or put it in different section of newspaper until they find what works. Now remember it’s their job (getting paid to do this) to make your phone ring, but it’s your job to close the sale. I had an account executive 20 years ago who recommended that we change the text in the ad every week, that makes people stop and read your ad because thay become aware that you are saying something different every week. ( it worked, we talked a lot about educating our readers on low moisture, black mold, deodorizers, etc. etc.) We have a local Toyota dealer who puts in sports triva every week (has nothing to do with selling Toyota’s) but I read his ad every week. (not sure though if I will buy Toyota????). The window for carpet cleaning is generaly once a year, so you must be consistent with your ad and keep running it for the long haul, one two or even three months is not long enough. you need to put together a yearly budget for newspaper advertising, If done correctly it will work!!!!!
Hope this helps.
RonI agree Brian, I did the excact same thing 20-years ago and it still works today. After feature story ran in local newspaper, I ran a 5×7 ad on Sundays (in the women’s section) it made the phone ring Monday, Tuesday, and I ran another ad (saying something different, so they had to stop and read it) on Wed. that made the phone ring Fri. Sat. Also, most all my operators in Florida have joined a local Chamber or leads group, Chamber members like doing business with other chamber members.You also can get for free or a small amount of money, a mailing list of all chamber members. Let me just say, you can not just join the group and do nothing, you must be active and go to meetings once a month.
Greg,
I forgot to ask you, On Mark’s website he promotes property management. How do we distinguish this from our cleaning business?? Just last week I had to call a franchissee and have him stop his ad. He was promoting his new property management business with Heaven’s Best in the same Ad. It looked like Heaven’s Best was now in the property Management business and I told him this was a violation of his contract with me.
RonHi Greg,
Thanks for your call, After Mark gave me that web designer’s name, you beat me to the “punch” on calling and I’m sure glad you did!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He called me yesterday and asked if I was ready for a web design? I told him yes, I have been waiting for a year and I need to move on this subject, but with all the questions he asked, I told him there are 3-4 state owners interested and Greg is the man running the show. So I got out of this. You will need to let me know what is happening with this “guy”. Everyone I’ve talked with lately says, this will be my number sales advertising. I’m not so sure of that because I have quite a few sales from trade shows (I just signed up for one in Orlando in Sept.) but I sure would like to be able to key my advertising dollars to areas I HAVE NOT sold. Eric Swilley and Jim Wilson have said to me many times how much you have helped them with their adwords campaign. Thank You for helping them because that is out of my area.
RonI think schedule “R” is a great idea, although I’m not sure we will all agree what’s in it, but that’s o.k. it’s a good start to solving a real problem. Not sure about Canada but here, 1times annual gross is a good number for resale( so this man is getting a bargain). Also you need to know all the facts about a sale before you judge any price. The man selling owns 3 territories and only works one. The man definitely wants to move to that area for many reason, one good schools for his children, he also wants a Heaven’s Best business and feels he can develop the other 2 areas and double the sales within 2-years. I say he’s getting a steal at $60,000.00 sale price!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ( His van is valued at $20,000.00).
Thank You Mark, Great looking web site. I was prepared to call tomorrow but Gregg beat me to it. Gregg has a lot more experience is this “stuff’ so I’m going to wait until he calls me, and let’s me know “what’s” up with this company. Gregg called me after making contact with them and he was pretty impressed.
Thanks Again,
Ron
PS Gregg thanks for phone call and help today. I will wait to hear from you.Hey Dennis is that Canadian or US Government you made reference too?????? 😆 (Obama has a printing press so we are o.k. in the USA!!!!!!!!)Just one thing on Schedule “A” for resale. My Franchisse makes gross $72,000.00 a year. He sells for $60,000.00, Van, equipment, customer base and training. Why does the new owner need more than one of any product on schedule “A’? He has just bought a going business and will be earning $6,000.00 a month. He needs one of everything so when he goes to training he will know what they are talking about. If you give him a 6 month or years supply of all products ,then that hurts our revenue stream for a year. I thought we give that amount of product for a new (no customer base) business.
Brett, I made ID badges in FL 20 years ago. I had HB logo with name and picture on front and copy of drivers license on back. They were lamanted and lasted for a long time. We advertised in local newspaper every week that we wear photo ID badges and if we don’t have them on when we come in your home the job is FREE. With all the scams out there today, they should work even better now!!!!!!! The older people were especially thankful of our identification process. I even had a competitor call me and said: those badges are nothing!!!!!! I can go and have them made. I said: well why don’t you???????
RonI think you are correct. At least that’s what I was told. I could not agree more with your statement about Gov. health care, but I sure would like to see us be able to go across state lines for quotes. Also they take your premiums until someone gets sick and then they don’t want you or double your costs. Something called pre existing condition. That needs to change!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I assume you are talking Health Insurance, If so, with Corporate’s approval years ago, I looked into this very subject.
What I found out was, the bottom line we are to small. All the companies told me that they could not sell across certain State Lines. Not sure if that is true, but it is what they told me. How does GE or Dupont buy Health Insurance for all of their employees around the world?
