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I am good with the 2,000 deal at least for now, however, I don’t think it will really make much difference.
I would increas the down payment to cover it.I am also good with 5,000 to a broker if I get 20,000 down and I have total say on the sale.
It is not worth it to open an area with someone who is not going to be a good operator at any price.Jim Flamm
As for the state owner websites . . .
I like what I haveIt is something I can send people directly to when I want – I have HeavensBestNC.com forwarded to it.
It is tied into the main company website and any one looking for a franchise in NC can get to it from there
It has helped in working with prospectsAs it is I can not change it – I would like that capability
I need to update the maps and new operators etc
I may want to change some of the sales pitches from time to time
I may even want to give it a different look sometimeIt could also serve well if I want to run a classified ad and give the domain to go to the sales page.
I would also like to be able to use key words for certain counties that I want to target for Franchise sales
and have the franchise sales page set up for SEO
I would like to have the home page set up for SEO for carpet cleaning and our other services in NC
I would like to be able to do google adwords for key words pertaining to sales of the areaWith EZNetTools I believe Bruce could set this up easily and at a low monthyl cost.
If those who do not have time or not want to do it themsleves Bruce could set up
a different cost model for that. I would like to have the choice of low cost and ablilty to do it myself.Thanks, Cody for all you do for each of us.
Jim Flamm
Old stuff. I do not like the idea of state owners sending letters to customers for many reasons. Most of all the thank you should come from the operator – the person they know. It means so much more than a letter from corporate who they could care less about.
__________On the getting new operators though customers of our operators.
Could be good if done right. I had the idea that it could be put on the thank you card, but the more I think about it the less I like the idea of disguising a solicitation as a real heart felt thank you.I think the place is on the evaluation card. That is where they are asked to share their thoughts and give input. Very straight forward. They either will or they won’t.
There is a part of the present evaluation card that asks for referrals. It tries to cover both referrals for customers and for operators in one swoop. We should separate them.
The place for the referral name is mostly used for comments, which are really intended to be below the line where there is no room to comment.
Perhaps the card could be changed to ask for comments first and give space for it
Then ask for suggestions to improve our service and give space for it
Then ask for referral for customer and give space for it.
Then ask for referral for someone who could benefit from owning a franchise anywhere on the continent and give space for it.
There could also be a suggestion that if they know someone in either category they give them our phone number or write their name and phone number in the space provided. They choose whatever they are comfortable with or ignore it all together.
When they give our pnone number it will likely be the number of the local operator since this is all they know. This way the operator is the one to bring us the lead. This way the operator will get the 1000 for the referral if he follows up or if the referral calls him and he does the ground work (whatever we dicide that should be). This could give a continent wide pool of referrals. I suspect most of the operator referrals will not be for new operators in our own states.I feel this approach is not threatening to anyone, the operator or the client. Many times when a client is very happy with our work they really want to do something to help us. When they are happy with our work they are not afraid to refere others. I think we just need to re-do the evaluation card so it is easier to follow and more direct in the approach whie still keeping it simple.
______Yes, I did get on the board and find all my opeartors posts from all time. It was a hassel, but interesting. I see a lot of wasted time on the board and I see a lot of very good stuff. Overall I suspect I will become converted to at least checking it more often. The good stuff out weighs the rest.
I would still like to see it set up so when any of our operaters makes a post we get an immediate email. Cody says he is looking into that.
_________As far as the conference calls go I get much more from them than the board. I think we should have it every month and if it goes two hours that is ok too. I am not so sure we even need a physical meeting. Information and handouts could be emailed before the call. It is much cheaper and perhaps just as effective as a costly meeting. Corporate could but the money saved into developing marketing materials both for clients and for opeators. We could put the money saved into advertising for operators or for our own reginal seminars with our operators.
The idea that happy operators are our best asset is true. they are our only asset. Owning the franchise is nothing without them just as owning a franchise in nothing for our opeators without clients.
Something was said about advertising owning a franchise for 300 or 500 a month with a small down payment. I have mixed feelings here. I like a certain part of it, but I remember the days when people got in cheap and all the problems I had whith many of them. I look at those who got in at a higher price and more of an outlay and I have no problems with them.
Mixed bag here.Jim Flamm – North Carolina State Owner
Cody
There are so many topics on here I don’t know which to respond to. I am going to email you to say Feb 25 at 6 PM mountain time will work for me.I thought the last conference call was good. I much prefere the conference calls to this bulletin board. I have a hard time bouncing around trying to find who thinks what through all the posts and to my way of thinking clutter of the bulletin board. Many like it. Keep it going, but give us the option of email and when you want a response give us a definate place or post to respond to. Perhaps it is more obvious to those who like to use it.
I also would like to have the board set up so that whenever my operators post something it automatically sends me an email. That way I could be on top of what they are concerned about much better. I could spend days and days trying to read through this stuff to find out what they have posted. I don’t want the bulletin board to become my life.
Maybe off the wall, but these are my thoughts.
I can do it any night. Mon preferred. Main thing is to let me know asap so I am not scrambling to make it work.
Jim Flamm
The National Seminar was very successful. I have seen my operators go home and set new goals because of the renewed confidence they got at the seminar. It opened their vision of what the business can do way beyond what they were seeing before.
As to the state owner’s seminar for 2008. Being lazy I would opt for Salt Lake. I can drive there easily. Most state owners are close to Salt Lake.
No one seems to have stated when. I would like it to stay in late Jan or no later than the first week of Feb.
Laura and I traditionally have a state (regional) meeting in North Carolina in mid February, which all neighboring states are invited to attend. It is a big advantage to have the state owners meeting before we go to the regional meeting.
One thing I would like to see, after seeing the value of a much larger gathering of operators is for us to make our regionals bigger than we have done with more states participating. Perhaps have more hands on training like the special breakouts at Vegas.
There is great value in the national seminar format. I would suggest every second or third year for national with regionals still close enough that operators can drive to for the other years.
