In any given industry, suppliers are a dime a dozen. Generally, so long as there’s a demand to be met, there’s bound to be a heck load of entrepreneurs who will want to cater to it. It’s no secret how cutthroat the business world can be. One way to rise above the competition is to create your own demand in a given industry. Problem is, most entrepreneurs aren’t creative enough to create the demand, and thus, they get the wrong notion of having to “scrape the bottom of the barrel” because they weren’t first to arrive at the scene… Here’s where Len Yakuber and Devin Dollar come in to brighten your day! Growing your business and achieving the success you desire DOES NOT REQUIRE you to be “First”. Sometimes, it’s all about injecting sophistication into a commonly unsophisticated product/service/industry. Len is the COO of Corporate Cleaning Group Franchise Systems and is the founder of Corporate Cleaning Group. After seeing an opportunity to bring sophistication to the cleaning industry, Len started One Source Cleaning Inc in 1993, which evolved into Corporate Cleaning Group. Devin is the CEO of Corporate Cleaning Group Franchise Systems, LLC. He currently oversees sales and marketing, as well as franchise development. Joining forces with Len in 2003, CCG opened its 2nd location in Lenexa, KS. Devin reached his goal of being the largest cleaning service contract provider for churches in Kansas, and to this day still holds the cleaning contract for the largest church in North America. Together, Len and Devin lead the company with the focus on “Custom” in Customer Service. In a densely populated industry, Corporate Cleaning Group has become the customers’ “go-to” because they heard the customers, and now, they provide EXACTLY what customers NEED. Frills are nice to have (only on the side)…BUT Corporate Cleaning Group's Unique Selling Proposition has always been the sophistication that precision, accuracy, and being “deliberate” provides! Not up to the task of re/creating a demand? Why not invest in (and learn from) an already successful brand through franchising! Let's set you up with the perfect fit franchise so you can start your journey towards entrepreneurial success, TODAY! Tune in to our Podcast to learn more about everything you WANT and NEED on franchising, investment, financing processes and options. This is Eye On Franchising, where we share our vision for your franchise future. https://www.facebook.com/lance.graulich https://ionfranchising.com/ https://eyeonfranchising.com
In any given industry, suppliers are a dime a dozen.
Generally, so long as there’s a demand to be met, there’s bound to be a heck load of entrepreneurs who will want to cater to it. It’s no secret how cutthroat the business world can be.
One way to rise above the competition is to create your own demand in a given industry.
Problem is, most entrepreneurs aren’t creative enough to create the demand, and thus, they get the wrong notion of having to “scrape the bottom of the barrel” because they weren’t first to arrive at the scene…
Here’s where Len Yakuber and Devin Dollar come in to brighten your day!
Growing your business and achieving the success you desire DOES NOT REQUIRE you to be “First”.
Sometimes, it’s all about injecting sophistication into a commonly unsophisticated product/service/industry.
Len is the COO of Corporate Cleaning Group Franchise Systems and is the founder of Corporate Cleaning Group. After seeing an opportunity to bring sophistication to the cleaning industry, Len started One Source Cleaning Inc in 1993, which evolved into Corporate Cleaning Group.
Devin is the CEO of Corporate Cleaning Group Franchise Systems, LLC. He currently oversees sales and marketing, as well as franchise development. Joining forces with Len in 2003, CCG opened its 2nd location in Lenexa, KS. Devin reached his goal of being the largest cleaning service contract provider for churches in Kansas, and to this day still holds the cleaning contract for the largest church in North America.
Together, Len and Devin lead the company with the focus on “Custom” in Customer Service. In a densely populated industry, Corporate Cleaning Group has become the customers’ “go-to” because they heard the customers, and now, they provide EXACTLY what customers NEED.
Frills are nice to have (only on the side)…BUT Corporate Cleaning Group's Unique Selling Proposition has always been the sophistication that precision, accuracy, and being “deliberate” provides!
Not up to the task of re/creating a demand? Why not invest in (and learn from) an already successful brand through franchising!
Let's set you up with the perfect fit franchise so you can start your journey towards entrepreneurial success, TODAY!
Tune in to our Podcast to learn more about everything you WANT and NEED on franchising, investment, financing processes and options.
This is Eye On Franchising, where we share our vision for your franchise future.
https://www.facebook.com/lance.graulich
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
franchisees, business, len, people, franchise, core values, devin, cleaning, sales, franchising, locations, process, lance, day, brand, janitorial, church, talk, question, early
SPEAKERS
Lance, Devin, Len
Lance 00:02
Welcome to Eye on Franchising. Are you looking for business opportunities? Well, you are in the right place. We represent over 650 franchises and business opportunities. We will help you find your perfect franchise for free. We even have a free assessment on our website that will help us determine the best businesses for you based on your investment level, mindset, skillset, and life experiences. This is Eye on franchising, where we share our vision for your franchise’s future. I'm your host Lance Graulich. Each week, we will speak to fascinating folks from the world of franchising, franchisors and founders, franchise funders and franchisees, are you looking to find your perfect franchise? Or perhaps you are an independent business owner looking to grow and scale your business by setting up a franchise? Either way, our team can help you. Ion franchising where you will learn the A to Z's of the franchise. Hello, everybody, and welcome back to another great episode of ion franchising. I'm your host, Lance Graulich. Today, I have two special guests, you already knew I would have two special guests. And here they are. Let's go with the intro. I wrote the first gentleman at a college he was a marketing rep. And like many people, we talk often about the nature versus nurture argument. How do people get into entrepreneurship? This gentleman realized there's got to be a better way. Gotta be a better life. Entrepreneurship is probably a better path for him. What if we brought a level of sophistication to the commercial cleaning business? Well, he started one. It's one source that was originally one source. I forgot that because 1993 later became a corporate cleaning group. So I want to welcome you to the show. The founder, owner, and CEO of corporate cleaning. We have Len, I never know how to say it, but I'll try it. Len Yakuber.
Len 02:06
You got it. You're now that way to go, Lance. Appreciate it. Yeah.
Lance 02:10
Welcome to the show Len. Thank you so much for being here. Super excited to be here. And I have to say I'm a rookie, a podcast. So it's the first time out. So excited about it. It's so awesome. Having you thank you so much. And next up, boy. And this gentleman joined forces in 2003. It's a little secret about that. I'll tell you to proper way prior to that, and the corporate cleaning group opens their second location in Kansas then. And this gentleman Devin reached his goal of being the largest cleaning service contractor for churches in Kansas. And by the way, still holds the cleaning contract for the largest church in North America. He's in charge of sales and marketing and franchise development for a corporate cleaning group. He's the CEO and also an owner of a corporate cleaning group. Devin Dollar. Welcome, Devin.
Devin 03:07
Thanks, Lance. Really excited to be here.
Lance 03:09
So happy to have you both. All right, guys. So here's the secret I was gonna reveal. You guys have known each other. You've been best friends since you were 14 years old.
Devin 03:20
If you can believe it started with Matt as a freshman in high school. And what we didn't even tell you, Lance is then I think it was 15. I met his wife first. And then he met his wife next when we were 50.
Lance 03:37
So Wow. You guys are close.
Len 03:41
Yes. A horrible combination. That's a nation.
Devin 03:45
She is not impressed with us at all. We've known her for a long time.
Len 03:50
It I will say it's tough to go on business trips and say you were busy.
Lance 03:57
I love it. I love it. So tell us about the whole story. Okay, your best friend since you were 14. Len, you founded the brand way back in 1993. A different name at the time. What did you say to Devin at that point, like, Hey, I'm starting this got this itch for entrepreneurship. Give me the backstory Len. And then well, I mean, here's Evans version.
Len 04:21
Yeah, exactly. I mean, just, you know, really quickly when I was, you know, going into college, I actually had some touches real early on with the cleaning industry. But I was also going to school for business. So I had this opportunity to go with as a manufacturer rep, which I did. And things were going awesome with that company. And so well in fact, that I ended up taking a promotion to Grand Rapids, which at this point, Davin had moved to Grand Rapids. Okay, so, so we met as in this would have been like, probably 8990 And as you said, we met his 14-year-olds, which was 1984 I went to high school together, he went off to school. I stayed locally to go to school. But he ended up in Grand Rapids, which is where I was taking this position was in Grand Rapids. So, which was perfect. You have your great friend that lives there. And I'm driving. So what I ended up doing is I was commuting back and forth until I actually moved there. Gotcha. So he and I were connected, and even then I would stay the night at his house periodically as I'm working. But to get to your question, the answer is, although I was doing really well, and it had been 10 years that I had built the business, I was aware of my skill set. And I also was very much aware of his skill set. And so it really was a perfect match. Because our core values and who we are and what we believe in, and those types of things all align. But then the skill set, we each brought something to the table, and he can speak a little bit about what he was doing at the time once he actually left Grand Rapids and went back to his hometown of Kansas City. But it just, I think through discussions because mine was going wow. And because of where he was at, although things were going well, it just made sense to take a crack at it and start a second location in his hometown.
Lance 06:11
I love it. I love it. Well, we're gonna get back to your lead and pick it up from there. Devin, give me that backstory on your history since 14.
Devin 06:20
Yeah, so it's funny because and we're, I can't say this enough. We're just so blessed to not only have a successful business but like doing it and like who you do it with. And that is not we do not take that for granted by any stretch of the imagination. I think our wives think we work harder.
Lance 06:40
So but yeah, but anyway, so I moved back to Kansas City, and started a search and research firm for Fortune 500 companies, and honestly, had not ever been better. It was going incredible. And it's funny, I'll never forget this day, it was actually September 11, bout to have our first child. And I don't know, something came over me as I've never had in my life that just is what it was, it was really this is my business was incredibly successful. But you had to start over with new projects. Every time you started one, you had to start another one. And it was incredibly lucrative. But at the end of the day, I didn't really own anything. And I and obviously kept in touch with Len understood what he was doing. And I called him shortly after that. And I was just incredibly unsettled in the midst of things going well. And I said, I can't believe I'm about to tell ask you this, but can you help me start a janitorial company. And at the time we weren't joining? I started it in Kansas City. And the first thing I realized is I didn't have anything to sell. And so I started and you know, think about this, from my parent laws to people around me, I was leaving a very lucrative business in their eyes going and cleaning, cleaning toilets. I mean, basically, I was out at night. And they had all thought I was I was absolutely out of my mind. And nobody wakes up in the morning and says, I want to start a cleaning business.
Devin 08:27
Nobody does. And but the one thing I realized real quickly is I didn't I'm a sales guy really look to figure out how to differentiate between other companies. That's probably if there if I have a string that set. And so I said I gotta figure this out. And so what I decided is, that I had a little connection to the religious world. My dad was a Baptist minister of a very large church in Kansas City, not the one more than a little connection, the last political connection there. But it wasn't it wasn't about the truth coming out. No, it was he wasn't even alive at the time. It was more about just understanding the environment. And understanding the culture and understanding how important that was and being more of customer service than just cleaning. And I also understood the traffic and how it was really Community Center, not just people who come for Sunday. And so I decided really early on, I was going to own the market and that's kind of how mine kicked off and I landed
Len 09:33
Then he realized he didn't need a little help Lance.
Devin 09:37
Did that for like, hey, one thing good is the alleys need Lin. I can outsell my capabilities.
Lance 09:45
I love it. Check out and check your coverage. So Len, let's pick it up from there. I want to know and look our listeners are people that are maybe about to explore franchises. or business opportunities? What was your initial vision? Like when you knew as a marketing rep and other things you were doing? How did you really come up with it? I mean, is this just a need that you saw arise and said, I'm just doing this?
Len 10:15
Yeah, for sure. So just real quick, you know, with the company that I went to, it actually was a young company that was growing this meant, as far as Carter marketing, that was the name of the company that I was with, and lots of good energy, lots of good vibes, multistate territory, it was where you would want to be in your early 20s, just out of school. But there was something that just not at me, you know, I could see, as good as it was going. And as much as I was enjoying it, there was just immediately the sense of not doing it for myself, you know, and so because I had touches early on, when I started school, in the cleaning business, I started inquiring as I was going around to different offices, I was just simply inquiring about their services, kind of, you know, what they were about. And I just recognized right away, that it really was an unsophisticated business in my eyes. And my perception was just a lot of, I'll just say older people that have been doing it a while and just seem kind of dry and boring. And I literally said, Boy, if you could just bring some energy, some solid business principles, and really some sophistication to this industry, I think you could knock it out of the park. And so those thoughts crept in. And, quite honestly, as Devin said, when he said about it, they thought he was nuts for doing it, when I told the company I was with, that I was leaving to start a cleaning company, they thought I lost my mind, you know, they did. And so I didn't care, though, you know, I wanted to do something for myself. And I was looking at some other things at the time, you know, just thinking of entrepreneurship and what I could get into, but ultimately, because of the low cost, you know, I was young, and it's not like I had a lot of money, but the low cost and knowing there was such a need for it. I went for it.
Lance 12:08
You know, it's funny what you just said, and when consultants, franchise consultants, and brokers, like myself have the first conversation with a candidate, we find out all about what they're looking for. It's sometimes people who do have industry preferences. Most people don't initially say I want to do commercial cleaning, as we mentioned earlier, they talked about maybe a food business because it seems like a sexy business that the whole family would enjoy. And at the end of the day, it's still a ton of work and a lot of variables. But the interesting thing after the first phone call is what I've learned over the years. And it's kind of common sense. What happens when people get off that first phone call with me. They tell all of their friends, their spouses if they have one, their family, best friends, and their kids. And they say I just talked to this guy, Lance about all of these franchises, and I can be my own boss, and what do they say to them? What are you nuts? Don't have any experience, you don't have any knowledge in that. And so that is the story that I talked about all the time. So I mean, I love that you tell me that's your real story. I mean, that's really what happened. But that's what happens to virtually every entrepreneur. Somebody tells them they're absolutely nuts. Yep. So I want to get into the next most important thing, which is where did the idea of franchising come from? How did that come about? What was your experience, both of you, for that matter, with franchising? And how did that come about?
Devin 13:38
Oh, you take that, to begin with, one?
Len 13:41
Well, for me, quite honestly, is because you know, I had success early on. And then Devin and I, as we team up, decide to obviously start that second location. And because we were then successful there as well, I think for me, that's what started us down the road of hey, why not duplicate this? You know, I think I think early on when we did decide to franchise, we learned very quickly, although it's the same industry, it is a whole nother business. It's not the same as your corporate locations, obviously. But for me, and I will say this one other element Lance is one of the things I've really enjoyed about being in business for myself is seeing others being developed and reaching their goals. You know, whether it's our corporate locations, people that started out at a certain position, and they were able to advance. There's a lot of value for me personally, that I see in that happening. And there was an element in the franchising world to be able to do the same thing. You know, those people that come into it, where they were told they're nuts. I love to see them succeed, right. I mean, it's there is a part of that that you enjoy.
Lance 14:48
And Len, obviously, you knew at that point and Devin that you can teach these folks a lot better. I mean, you've already made the mistakes, whatever those mistakes make work. Sure you've made those mistakes, you know what equipment you need, you know what equipment you don't need, you know, how to sell it, how to build that relationship, and most importantly, how to nurture and keep that relationship obviously right?
Devin 15:12
Now, there's no question about it. And part of what we realized when we went to two locations, is we were together but still apart, meaning I was running a location, he was running a location. And we really didn't have the magic of us together yet, because it was really about me running an entire location with my skill sets. And his with his, which, as you have already realized, are very different and very distinct. I think by franchising, we could really come together and really help franchisees to take both our skill sets and put them together.
Lance 15:52
Yeah, one mission and one vision. And one thing that we didn't bring up yet, specifically, and let's see who's going to take this one, let's talk about what is and who is corporate cleaning group. I mean, you have a very specific niche. So that's done well for you over the years. So let's talk about that.
Devin 16:12
Yeah, so I think there are some very distinct differences. Number one, to be honest, and probably the thing that I think both of us are proud of is just our culture. We have a gotcher, bat culture. And we treat our franchisees like family, we talk about joining our family from day one, and it is carried out, we are so dedicated to nurturing, nurturing our culture, from our franchisees to employees, we have people that most their job is either franchisee engagement or employee engagement. We do contests, people win trips, just real we have in a couple of weeks a virtual happy hour, where we're all getting together.
Lance 17:00
So number one, what you send bottles to people in advance for the happier
Devin 17:04
We do, actually, we send huge baskets, we actually do send Happy Hour baskets. And, and I think it really we don't like there to be any excuses as to why they can't be on a call, we give them everything they need. That's right,
Lance 17:20
We'll send you a bottle you better participate.
Devin 17:22
That's right. But really the key seems kind of fun and silly and so on. But the bottom line is, that Len and I are dedicated to growing business to do it, right to do it the right way. But I'll tell you one thing, the minute that we aren't having fun, we're both out, we just are we just, you know, we're at the point that we're going to have fun doing it, or we aren't going to do it. And so number one, it's our culture. Number two, I would say is the support we have in and it really goes back to our skill sets. We have dedicated teams, one that he runs one that I run in sales and marketing, he runs operations. And I just can't explain or articulate the fact that it's not just yeah, we support if you have a question, you know, let us know, we are intricately involved with everybody's businesses, we have a whole sales team that is driving leads to them that is doing emails, calls, LinkedIn, postcards, we know their numbers where we're supposed to their goals, their KPIs, and we literally my team is willing them to get each year to their numbers. And then Len is on the other side with his team supporting them and all the and I'll let him speak to that but the technology and the staffing and all the stuff now know that he doesn't have a job unless I'm unless my team is doing you know our part we remember that like it's sales.
Len 19:01
The first thing I rely on. Yeah.
Lance 19:03
Len, I like that. I like that sort of notice. See throughout there
Len 19:09
We go as we have a little banter back and forth. Do you know how it is Lance? All the sales guys usually get the glory
Lance 19:18
That's the easy part. And you have a great model like you guys do. So tell me, Len. So, Choo, choo is an acronym. It is. So what does that mean to you?
Len 19:31
Yeah, so as we always say, you know, we really have a niche market strategy. You know, where we focus on a few markets, certainly one being the churches, and then also healthcare and education. And then we also have, you know, just the general work environment, you know, of warehouses and distribution Yeah, and things like that. So it's just an acronym for really our niche markets. But you know, at the end of the day with those what it is As they all have special needs, you know, they all have different kinds of needs. And so we have built our services and each of those niches around those needs. So not only are we able to sell that but then deliver, you know, a really good end product.
Lance 20:15
Isn't it funny that as you do, let's say, churches, I am sure when you're getting a new account, or a franchisee is getting an account for a church or any other religious institution if you will, or place of worship, they're inevitably going to ask, Well, do you do other places like this? Isn't it funny, that everybody always wants to know that you can handle their specific building? I always find that funny. So clearly, you're dominating in those niches.
Devin 20:44
Yeah, you brought up the largest church in North America and East always say to me, it's like, you know, any kind of ribs me, you know, we've been dealing with each other for 20 plus years. And I don't know if you guys are really clean that much better. And he jokes around, you know, which he knows we do. But he does say, you know, the thing that makes you so different is you understand the lingo, you understand the traffic, you know, the ins and outs, you know, our business. And he says, I get calls all the time of people that just say, Hey, can I stop by and, you know, shoot your bed. And, you know, this is a 400,000 square foot building, you don't just stop by and give a bid. And literally, it's funny, he every three years or so he'd say, I just need to do a bid to keep everybody honest, you know, and he'd come back and say, Oh, you're so frustrating, I can't even get somebody to give me a bid. Because it's so complicated. Like, that's perfect. But literally, it's people think something like a church. They come on Sunday, you know, it's seven days a week from seven in the morning till midnight, those buildings for us. And so one of the things that are key back to you know, one of our strong suits is customization. We don't treat a surgery center like a church like we do a school like we do a manufacturing facility, we really come in and build a program that puts the right people in the right place at the right time doing the right thing. And you won't find a lot of companies do that do it the same. They may do churches, and they may Clean schools, schools, they may clean surgery centers, but the thing is they approach it all the same way. And from the time they talked to us from their marketing material to the bid to the service is customized for the flow of traffic in their facility.
Lance 22:43
So how many franchisees Do you have these days?
Len 22:46
Currently? So we have 10 locations 10 franchise locations, and then two corporate offices.
Lance 22:52
All right, and what would we're about to talk about the process? That's my next question, if Devin, you can describe the franchise process, and I love talking about validation, the opportunity for a candidate to have conversations with existing franchisees to ask questions like, hey, Lenin, Devin seems unreal. I mean, it seems like this picture that they paint, everything is just amazing. So tell us the real truth. And obviously, you have some amazing franchisees that think you have just an outstanding brand, obviously, and they're making money. So let's talk about the process. Let's talk about validation. Let's talk about the fact that they have the ability to make some nice money too.
Devin 23:38
Yeah, for sure. I'll start with the process and then go to Lynn. As you know, Francesco helps in the development process with us so they take several steps of the process, from just intro calls to then going to an FTD call with education and an overview. Obviously, there's paperwork in there and getting their DD and so on to the Franchise
Lance 24:05
Disclosure Document for those listening that are like what the heck is required by franchise law by the Federal Trade Commission. Okay,
Devin 24:14
got it. Thank you. And then we boy, we get to validation pretty quick. And we want to because that is our strength, we can talk till we're blue in the face, and about our brand, but we want them to hear from our franchisees and we have tremendous validation. And then we go to a financial call and some people don't have this call. And it's important to us because we want them to understand what it takes to run a business and what it takes financially to run a business. And then we have somebody just go through the whole process with them. Talk about what it takes for financing and so on what they have and just working through that whole process with them just puts them at ease, and honestly puts us at an ease of you know, and they're in the right spot, or what they need to do to get there. So that's an important call for us.
Lance 25:12
And it's a very low-cost investment guys. So generally for a Territories, how much all in including some working capital and the franchise fee.
Len 25:24
So our franchise fee is 49,000. And then really, you know, the capital that's needed, which I love about our industry, or this business is really the, for the most part, the payroll that's needed, as you start to have, as you start to take on accounts, you need to bankroll, obviously, your payroll, there's some, you know, the equipment that we that's needed, it's not all that costly. So, you know, somewhere really around another 25 to 35,000, and working capital, you know, be on my franchise fee.
Lance 25:56
So all in all you can get started potentially, including some working capital for $80,000. Is, it somewhere in that neighborhood. Sure, yeah.
Devin 26:04
That range. And remember, you know, everybody gets caught up on the people side of the equipment side or, but remember, you can really organically grow because you don't have to hire anybody or buy equipment or buy supplies till you land account and then right, you hire for that account. And then when you land another one, you grow more, so it's a great way to organically grow.
Lance 26:29
Yeah, I love it now. That's fantastic. So validation, we know is fantastic. And, and obviously, in the Franchise Disclosure Document there is every Franchise Disclosure Document, there are 23 items, item 19 Is the earnings claim. And you have one that's rather robust, who wants to house?
Len 26:50
I'll just speak to Yeah, you know, as you know, and for those of you out there, you know, we're limited to what we can say by that item 19. But we're really, you know, proud of it and super excited about it. Because when we average our locations together, the gross revenue was 1.7 million that they're doing, you know, with a lot of cleaners, ya know, for sure. And the average gross margin is 830,000. So, you know, we're really proud of that. And, yeah, excited to share that anytime we can.
Lance 27:19
Yeah, absolutely. And during validation, that's when I always suggest you asked questions to franchisees, would you do this again? When did you start cash flow? And when did you make your money back? What kind of money? Do you pay yourself? What's leftover at the end of the year? All the questions that everybody's thinking, but at the end of the day, the beauty of franchising is that this is a hot brand that people really enjoy. And I love the culture you built. I mean, it's obviously a fantastic thing. So what's next? What are the hot territories you're looking to fill at this point?
Devin 27:54
Yeah, so I think that's the great thing about our business. And, and we I To be perfectly honest, owning our own corporate locations, probably at some point was a blessing and a curse. The blessing is that there's no franchisor more connected to our franchisees than us because we're in the business. But I think because of that, very intentionally did not go out and aggressively develop. That's nothing against our brand. It's just a choice we made because you know, we have 400 Something employees, between the two of us we have tons of moving parts, tons of revenue coming in. So we didn't have to sell franchises like, like gadgets. But now that we've joined with Fran def code, they take over that whole process for us was in a position where we really want to hit it running. So really, what's great is we are an established brand with tons and tons of territories open. So let the combination.
Lance 28:59
So when you guys think of your top four franchises, what are the traits that they have all have in common?
Len 29:11
Yeah, so I'll take that one. For me. I use the word likable. They're all very likable, like you guys. But it really does. That's one of the very first things that come to mind. And we always talk about, you know, ideal candidates. And when we look at them, you know, they they're just personable people that have good people skills, because there are, you know, different conversations that need to be had, whether it's with who's on your staff at different levels, whether it's customers, potentially vendors and you have to as we always say you have to meet these people where they're at right and so it takes a skill set to do that. So they people skills. You know, I will also say as I'm thinking it through, it's ironic or maybe it's not it's it Interesting how your most successful franchisees foul the process and follow your system, what I would say is, you know, we're big in core values, we have six of them, but I'm just going to tie it into to a couple when I think of them, the most successful and I'll say the very most successful franchise that we have happens to be our first is buys into everything that we're doing. So in our core values, you know, we talked about, which is really big everyone, and everything matters. I mean, he lives that he believes everyone, and everything matters from the big picture down to the smallest detail. You know, we talked about even evolving and adapting as part of our core values. It's so interesting because our top performers and they're the ones that are ready to evolve and adapt. You know, they're not the ones that are saying, Hey, we've been doing it this way we've been successful. They're the ones that are the readiest to evolve and adapt. So it's, so when you asked me, I would just say, you know, personable, certainly the people skills, just being a well rounded, solid individual that has a few people or management skills, maybe a little bit on the sales side, but just really well rounded.
Lance 31:17
And the follow-up to that for both of you is and Devin, if we missed anything in the first question, please jump in as well. The follow-up is when you look at, again, your top franchisees or all of them for that matter what? Fraud some careers, what did they do beforehand? I would imagine some of them did have some management or leadership skills, some of them might have been in sales. But what did they do before joining you as a franchisee?
Devin 31:45
Well, I think that's what's so great is, are they're so well-rounded in their backgrounds. And that's what we like about it. It really goes back to what Len just said, those are the skill sets we're looking for. And what I would say is the number one is they are business people that got into janitorial, not janitorial people that got into the business. Yeah. And that is I think that's the biggest, biggest misconception about our business. Because most of the models out there, frankly, are the opposite of us. They are people that got into janitorial and said I want to do this myself get in. And so what it creates is there's a need for these people that are in janitorial that don't want to work for somebody else. And they Smart Start small little businesses and the franchisor gets business for them. And they do the work. And there's a need for that. But that's not our model. Our model is taking business people and bringing sophistication into a really unsophisticated arena. And where people might use that as a negative. Oh, gosh, janitorial is not very sophisticated. We embrace it because it allows us to shine. And so to your original question, we have an individual that was an actually just sold and followed his plan completely to retirement and worked for the top floor at Hallmark cards and was the top executives, we have somebody that was a sales in he was in purchasing, and his smallest contract was $10 million. So really sophisticated people we have one of our newer franchisees, but we just absolutely loved him was a director of sales for a staffing company. And that was a great combination of sales. And we obviously have a staffing component to it. So you can just go on and on about different backgrounds. It's really not so much the background is just well rounded, business-oriented, sophisticated people, and I'll jump on one other thing that Len said that embraces our core values. You know, one thing that kind of took off, it's kind of a funny story. But we were revamped, we revamped our core values and repackage them and also present them to Meet the Team, which is our discovery day. And when I talk about core values, I talk about seeing them through everything through the lenses of our core values and really trying on glasses because if they don't fit for you, it's not going to work and so we were prepping for Meet the Team and something came across my desk of these glasses. And so our franchise ops person I sent him over I'm like, this is about the cheesiest idea I've ever come up with but to make the point and so just to show you so we came up with those but what
Lance 34:58
Wait, wait for those that aren't watching the video and only listen to the audio Devon just put on some really goofy glasses.
Devin 35:07
But they have our core values on them. And you know, is really just a fun kind of cheesy type deal. But to lens point, all of a sudden, it's just taken all this momentum, and now everybody's putting core values on their walls, and they're gonna take pictures of their employees in the field, and we're doing contests with our values. And it's just really embracing what the company is about,
Lance 35:32
you know, it's, it's so important to have fun, as you guys already said. And, you know, I had a gentleman that I, he's a CPA and smart guy owns some real estate, and he wanted to buy a franchise to put one of his shopping centers. And to be honest, he was just an ass. And I put him in touch with a couple of brands that he found very interesting. And he got kicked out of the process in the first brand, I even got him a second chance. And we explained to him that, you know, you have to be willing to follow the process, you have to be willing, you know, it's like dating, you know, it's a two-way street, you have to like each other, and people aren't liking you. So you might want to just consider not doing a franchise.
Devin 36:15
Well, to that point, you had asked about the process. The last part of the process is meeting the team. And we bring in our whole team and have a day and a half. And what's really funny about that is that first day, we do go-karts, and we bring everybody out and do go-karts and go to dinner. And one of the things that we talk about at that dinner is that might have seemed like a waste of time, that might have seemed cheesy that might seem, this is the most important time for us. Because we want you out of the office, we want you and we want to make sure we like you, honestly. Because that's what we care about the example you gave, I'm sorry, we aren't signing up and asking, we just have no interest.
Lance 37:04
Well, everybody has to get along. I mean, the franchise franchises that I've been part of, it's like a big, it's like a big family. Not only do you have the corporate office, and all the mentors there, but you also have the best practices of the top-performing franchisees that you're going to pick the brains of throughout the process of you being a partner in this brand, so to speak.
Devin 37:28
So, you know the last thing I'll say here is I think part of it has to do with the fact that Len and I worked so well together and have such a good relationship. I think because that's the foundation of what we have, we have no interest to bring in somebody into our family that we don't feel that way.
Lance 37:48
Well, I could certainly say the obvious is exactly what you just said the leadership that you guys, you know, the work that you've put in, and the leadership that you exhibit and, and do daily is obviously a huge contributing factor in the success of the brand. Let's talk a little bit about marketing. We talked about it earlier, a lot of people look at franchises. The beauty of a franchise we know is everything is covered everything is thought of. And on the marketing side customer acquisition a lot of people stress over, how are we going to find customers? How quickly are we going to be able to ramp up? So what do you do to kind of fast-track a new franchisee on the marketing side to get the business?
Devin 38:29
Yeah, so we do a lot of really cool things. So the thing that we earn, learned early on in franchising really was an eye-opener for me because I am a salesperson at heart. You know,
Lance 38:42
You know a lot of that.
Devin 38:46
You know, lens, a perfect example is he's tremendous in front of customers, and true Mendes and being one on one with a customer, but he would never call himself a salesperson. And the difference is that and what we learned early on, is there's a lot of people that can be in front of customers and follow our model. There are very few hunters. And that's what we learned very early on in the process we were going to take the hunting from the franchisee and drive that. And so we start literally from day one, we develop a boost program for them where we instantly do their prospect development for them figure out exactly what their prospects are in the area. And we turn on all faucets inside sales, emails, postcards, and LinkedIn, they all work together. We're making a phone call inside sales and then saying hey, by the way, I just sent you an email that covers what I just said on the voicemail and they're all linked together. And we literally start from day one. There is I find a sales coach that literally from day one is talking to them about their KPIs, what we're trying to hit, and three months, six months a year, up to four years, we're building a plan and we know exactly where they need to be. In six months, a year to four years, we have a goal in mind from the day one that coaches literally willing them to get there helping them on-site with meetings to begin with, with beds, the whole nine yards till they get up to speed, but then we are continually and never stopped driving leads to them.
Len 40:39
Can I just make one comment? You know, because he referenced me and that being sales in it is interesting, just that piece of hunting. So when I started, I mean, it was me forcing myself out the door, forcing myself psyching myself up to make a phone call. I mean, it literally was I had to like talk myself up, you know, in order to do it because it just wasn't my comfort level. But for somebody to call me and say, Hey, you have a meeting tomorrow at 9 am With this, you know, a prospective customer. I'll do it all day long, like go in knowing they're ready for me and to just have a conversation, you know, is nothing for me, I enjoy that piece. So taking that hunting out of the equation, I think for a lot of people is huge.
Lance 41:27
Yeah, no, that's awesome that you guys are handling all that. Devin, we're gonna add anything else to that? Yes, I was just gonna ask both of you guys for your final thoughts. This was amazing.
Devin 41:36
Yeah, I'll just finish up with not only do we handle that we have a CRM that they instantly are a part of that they can put their information in customer relationship management. Correct. Thank you, sorry, I'm using acronyms. Okay. And then also even a cloud-based proposal, software that everything is on there, they literally only have to make five or six changes to the proposal. It's paperless to the prospective customer, they can see when they're actually going through the proposal, just everything we do is really sophisticated, very professional, and just a piece that franchisees love.
Lance 42:18
I love it. And they'll hear that and validate. I know that for sure. Yep. Awesome. Len, the final word for the day.
Len 42:26
Can I get more than one word now before ours? Because I think, you know, the cleaning industry gets just a bad rap at times, you know, and I think of, you know, us talking about these executives, and maybe leaving a role that they're in and going to start their own business. And the truth is saying you're going to open a cleaning business isn't all that glamorous, or sexy? You know, it just it isn't. And I dealt with that, you know, saying, Hey, what'd you do? You know, and got a business? Yeah, what is it? You know, and, you know, I'm in the cleaning business, you know, not super exciting, but at the end of the day, it's a phenomenal business. It has been from day one where, you know, there really hasn't been anything in the economy that's affected us whether it was the recession, you know, back in 2009 or so COVID, there has been really no blips in the road as far as just sustaining your business. The other aspect that I'll say two things real quick is because of what Devin alluded to earlier, the residual aspect, you know, where you're in there, and you're not reselling these customers every day or every week, it's residual business, and those checks flow in on a monthly basis, which is huge, huge. And then the last aspect is because you're getting multiple accounts to service and also with our niche strategy you're diversifying. So as you build your business, if something goes wrong in one area, it really doesn't affect you all that much. So it's a really good business. It's a solid business, you know, and Ken can make an average of 1.7, potentially right on our item 19. Yeah, I'll just say that and I'll leave it at that.
Lance 44:05
No, I love that you brought that information up and the residual income because that's true. When You're hunting, as you guys said earlier, in your vernacular, you know, it's your account to lose at that point, if you service the heck out of it, just like he gave the example of the very large church. And look, you know, franchising. There are a lot of people that talk about support. They talk about marketing with franchising, and brand awareness in the old how to and in the support. I mean, look what happened during the pandemic, when every independent business owner in America is trying to figure out what the heck of PPP loan is. And tell us a little bit about that piece. You know, you guys figure that out and you help your
Len 44:47
I mean, I will say, we ended up assisting most if not all, most of the locations you know, so we have what we believe is a phenomenal finance director and Andrea Lilly and she very Watches from day one dove into it and was, you know, waiting for things to pop, you know, understanding what the flow was and what you're looking for and had been in contact with all locations and assisted you to know, and I know, it was a big help to them. Great value in that.
Lance 45:17
Yeah, that's amazing. Just another added value piece from being with a corporate cleaning group and being in a franchise system. Gentlemen, you have been fantastic. It was wonderful hosting both of you. And I look forward to seeing you guys again very soon.
Len 45:34
Thank you very much. It was great.
Devin 45:35
Yeah. Thanks so much, Lance.
Lance 45:37
Thank you, guys. Thank you very much for listening today. Please like follow and subscribe so you don't miss anything here at eye on franchising? Visit our website at Ion franchising.com e y e o n franchising.com and complete our free assessments so we can assist you in finding your perfect franchise. This is Lance Graulich. Until next time