The Power of the Franchise
July 19, 2010
When
Ron Williams became owner of the seventh official Benjamin Franklin Plumbing®
franchise in 2002, he had never owned a business before. He had the desire but
the opportunities weren’t there — until Clockwork Home Services® introduced the
plumbing franchise concept.
The franchise was a small company, he said — two trucks and about $250,000 in revenues the
first year. There was no profit, no cash flow, no marketing other than a phone
book ad. The little knowledge Williams had on running a service business came
from years of working in the field and his position as the plumbing and HVAC
service manager at Calvert Mechanical Systems in Wilmington, Del.
Growth in those first few years came from two acquisitions. The first one, in
2003, was DelCampo Brothers Plumbing & Heating — buying the phone number
allowed Williams to get the first double-truck ad in the Yellow Pages®. The
second, in 2004, was William G. Robelien Plumbing, one of the oldest
residential plumbing businesses in Delaware,
since 1903.
The purchased phone numbers and customer lists increased the company’s leads,
which helped fuel its growth. But it was the Benjamin Franklin Plumbing®
franchise policies and procedures that helped him properly manage the growth
and allowed him to capitalize on those acquisitions, he explained. This
included the marketing expertise of the franchise as well as sales training for
the plumbers that he brought in from the now-defunct plumbing
companies.
By the end of 2004, the annual net sales of Williams’ Benjamin Franklin
Plumbing franchise had grown to $1 million. And 2010 should see the company
with $1.8 million in sales and double-digit profits. “The Benjamin Franklin
systems allow me to work on the business, managing it and growing it, instead
of working in it,” he explained.
Williams credits two key Benjamin Franklin Plumbing programs for keeping him on
track:
1. The budgeting program helps him set revenue and profit goals each
year.
2. The daily manager’s reporting program allows him to monitor his business and
know what the company’s profitability is every day. “This helps me motivate and
train my plumbers because now I know that if I didn’t make my goal today I have
to make the goal tomorrow plus what I missed today,” he said.
An increase in company sales and profits also mean an increase in Williams’
personal wealth — his salary plus quarterly
profits. It means his wife no longer has to work. He has more time with his
wife and kids — “I don’t have to work 80 to
90 hours a week anymore,” he said. He can leave the office early and spend some
time on the golf course, or he can take his family to the beach or on vacation
when he wants to.
FRANCHISE POWER
A smooth-running company provides Ron Williams plenty of time to perfect his short game.
The plumbing contractor down the street is not going to help you out, he added; he’s not going to teach you anything. But that’s what the franchise does — it teaches you how, step-by-step, to build a successful business.
Williams’ Benjamin Franklin Plumbing franchise covers five counties in the Delaware/Pennsylvania/Maryland area with seven plumbers and one dispatcher. Last year, a few Benjamin Franklin Plumbing franchisees in his area pooled their funds together and implemented a television marketing program.
“I was able to afford a major television buy in the Philadelphia area for a year because I had four other Ben Franklin franchises with me,” he said. “That’s about a $200,000 program that I didn’t have to pay for out of my pocket. I wouldn’t have been able to do that as a small independent.”
Another benefit of a large organization such as Benjamin Franklin Plumbing is the National Call Center in Phoenix, which Williams considers his tenth employee. With the Answer Annie software program and a script, customer service representatives at the call center answer calls 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The script allows the CSRs to answer every call the same way and guides them through the process of booking a call. Customers can talk to a real person about their particular plumbing problem and the CSRs can book the service appointment on the spot.
No answering machines or services, no automated voice mail system, no call-back numbers. Because the customer is able to call a live person, Williams said, they feel special, because their problem, whether it’s a late-night emergency or a routine call, is handled competently and efficiently — and consistently.
“When I come in first thing in the morning, I could have five calls from the previous night booked on my screen,” he said. “That’s been important for our growth lately; I’ve doubled my weekend sales because of it.”
Being able to hire the right people and provide them the best training is also part of his success, Williams said: “I consider my employees to be the best at what they do.”
To remain the best requires continuous training, networking with peers and consistent leadership. Benjamin Franklin Plumbing offers best-practice solutions to its franchisees through its operations manuals as well as time with area-specific business consultants available through Clockwork Home Services.
“Benjamin Franklin Plumbing has taken all the successes of the franchisees and put it all in the operations manuals,” Williams noted. “As a franchisee, if you just follow the operations manual, it’s a foolproof method to be successful in business.”
