“Why I Left UPS for a Plumbing Career”
by Kelly Faloon
February 9, 2010
Mike Fowler
When Mike Fowler took early retirement from his management position at United Parcel Service (UPS) in 1995, he didn’t imagine that one day he would own a Benjamin Franklin Plumbing franchise.
“I’m not really a technical guy,” he noted.
But his buddy Dan King Jr. talked him into using that retirement money to buy into his family’s plumbing and heating company — Dan King Plumbing, Heating and Air in Charlotte, N.C. King Jr. had taken over the company when his father passed away.
The two ran the company together, growing the company to nearly 80 employees and $8 million in revenue by 1999 — quite a change from when Dan King Sr. founded the company in 1971 with just himself and his truck, making plumbing repairs for Charlotte homeowners. King Jr. had joined the company in 1985 with a mechanical contracting license, adding HVAC service and repair to the business. Commercial and residential new construction segments were added to the company in later years.
But in 1999, Fowler and King Jr. realized that the company’s profitability was unstable. Dan King Plumbing, Heating and Air needed to go back to its roots and focus on residential repair and replacement to become profitable again. They attended an AirTime 500 Profit Day — and joined that same afternoon. The two joined Plumbers’ Success International the following year.
“These two groups were our inspiration before the franchises,” Fowler said.
In 2007, the company reached $1 million in profit, and the plumbing part of the business became a Benjamin Franklin Plumbing franchise.
In 2003, the company began another metamorphosis. King, Fowler, and Tom Rea Jr. (a master plumber hired in 2002) became equal owners in the business, with King being an absent partner. However, the company was in serious debt. About $700,000 of debt on the books, says Fowler. And it couldn’t pay some of its bills.
“We were having trouble making payroll,” he noted, “and every vendor had cut us off.”
At that time, the three owners’ mission was to position the company so that they could exit the business. But they chose not to sell the company. Instead, the decision was made to convert the company’s HVAC business into a One Hour Air Conditioning and Heating franchise. That became reality in April 2004.
Right away, Fowler could see a difference in the business. “The company became strong because of the operations help we received,” he said.
2007 was a banner year for the company — it had reached $1 million in profit, and the plumbing side of the business became a Benjamin Franklin Plumbing franchise. That same year, the Benjamin Franklin Plumbing side of the company won Clockwork Home Service’s Franchise of the Year award, and the One Hour side won the Fastest Growing Franchise award.
CULTURE CHANGE
A reinvestment in training for HVAC techs and plumbers included a new training room, sending employees to various One Hour and Benjamin Franklin training schools and workshops, and providing Internet access for Webinars and other online training to help employees succeed.
“We were provided a code of ethics to change our culture,” he explained. “It helped us to understand that we needed to create a workplace to serve people.”
The operations practices he learned helped him keep track of the franchises’ financials, including budgets, daily management reports, and tracking all the key performance indicators of both companies. With increased profitability, Fowler was able to buy the best equipment and tools for his techs, and new computers and furniture for his office staff.
“These first-class business ethics have allowed us to staff our companies with people of great character that take on great responsibility.”
Both franchises have purchased a total of 48 new vehicles. A second building was also purchased, which includes 4,000 square feet for administrative offices. More money is being spent on marketing; about 10 percent of revenue.
Employee perks have increased: Christmas bonuses; simple IRAs for employees, where the company matches dollar for dollar (up to 3 percent), 100 percent company-paid health insurance (for the employee only), incentive trips, and quarterly company meetings celebrating employee accomplishments with awards.
This culture change has made Dan King’s One Hour and Benjamin Franklin franchises two of the premier places to work in Charlotte. Fowler says he might have more than 500 people in line for a plumbing job.
INCREASED CLOSING RATIOS
Dan King Jr.
“If a customer calls, he or she never knows that the person on the other end of the line isn’t just down the street,” he said.
HVAC techs and plumbers have PDAs they use in the field to pull up real-time data on each client from the call center’s database.
The customer service representatives are highly trained; if a caller isn’t receptive to booking a service call, CSRs will go off-script to overcome the caller’s objections.
All calls are recorded, and when a call isn’t booked, Fowler can contact the call center to find out why. The center also generates a report for every call taker — who did he or she talk to, for how long, etc.
“We had about a 70 percent closing ratio before moving to the call center,” Fowler noted. “Now we’re at 85-90 percent.”
WORK THE PLAN
Tom Rea Jr.
“Hard work and determination can change anything,” he said. “But you don’t have to reinvent the wheel, just use what Benjamin Franklin gives you — the best systems and procedures to run a plumbing business.”
Part of the plan includes knowing your company’s numbers on a day-to-day basis, Fowler said; this is not something you can put off until tomorrow, next week, or next month. Knowing and understanding your financial position will give you a real-time, accurate picture of your business.
Fowler’s company was expected to see revenues of $9.3 million to $9.5 million in 2009 and be within $40,000 of profitability from 2008 figures. The company has money in the bank (almost three-quarters of a million dollars) and a one-half million dollar line of credit.
The company is such a success that it is now a consulting center for Clockwork, which pays Fowler’s company to train other franchisees. In addition, Fowler gives back to the organization that has helped him and his company by offering free consulting services.
“Clockwork has allowed us to provide a fun and winning environment for our employees, that has also affected the bottom line,” he said.
Kelly Faloon
