Today on Eye on Franchising we have two people discussing a great recession proof brand. The brand is Handyman Connection, which is North America’s premier business liaison connecting customers to local craftsmen in their home community. The brand services a variety of home improvement and repair needs, from carpentry, flooring and electrical work, to painting, plumbing, and remodeling. Guest number one is Jeff Wall, President & CEO of Handyman Connection. Jeff joined College Pro Painters as a franchisee in 1990 while attending the University of Illinois. After graduating from the School of Business, Jeff joined College Pro full-time in 1992 as a General Manager and moved up through the organization to become President of the US West in 2001. In 2008, Jeff joined CertaPro Painters as the Regional Vice President of the Midwest and Southeast divisions. In 2009, he added the responsibilities of the West and Central Regions. In January of 2010, Jeff became the President of Handyman Connection. After spending 23 years working in the First Service Brands family, Jeff purchased Handyman Connection from First Service Brands in 2013. Guest number two is Luke Schulte. Luke loves fostering relationships with candidates, consultants, and coaches to ensure potential franchisees discover the value of our service-based franchise, one that provides a simplicity and forcastability that is attractive to most potential owners who are looking to be in control of their owner destiny. Prior to joining Handyman Connection, Luke was Sr. Vice President of Franchise Development for Premium Service Brands, focused on vertically stacking seven brands in home services. He has also held development roles with Two Maids & A Mop and Fish Window Cleaning and worked in sales for a master franchise at Bonus Building Care. Through this episode you will learn why you would join Handyman Connection as a franchisee vs. starting your own Handyman business. Franchises operate under a predetermined business model that has already proven successful, while independent businesses make adjustments and decisions to their business model as they go. Handyman Connection has spent over 25 years building and refining our business model, As a result, investing in a Handyman Connection franchise allows you to take advantage of the years of experience of our full-time team, and the current franchisees experience. They have tried-and-true methods that will help you succeed as a franchise owner. Handyman Connection offers handyman franchise opportunities for driven individuals considering starting their own business. The home improvement and repair industry is multi-faceted and will be around as long as there are homeowners. While handyman franchise businesses can be a great investment opportunity, The Handyman Connection brand gives our franchisees an edge. Tune in to learn all about Luke, Jeff and Handyman Connection. Have you heard the news? We are officially on YouTube. Come check out a few videos have have and give me a follow! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwoAdrkPZmveJt5AQRDk8WA --- Lance Graulich Franchise Consulting Services from ION Franchising Eye On Franchising
Today on Eye on Franchising we have two people discussing a great recession proof brand. The brand is Handyman Connection, which is North America’s premier business liaison connecting customers to local craftsmen in their home community. The brand services a variety of home improvement and repair needs, from carpentry, flooring and electrical work, to painting, plumbing, and remodeling.
Guest number one is Jeff Wall, President & CEO of Handyman Connection. Jeff joined College Pro Painters as a franchisee in 1990 while attending the University of Illinois. After graduating from the School of Business, Jeff joined College Pro full-time in 1992 as a General Manager and moved up through the organization to become President of the US West in 2001. In 2008, Jeff joined CertaPro Painters as the Regional Vice President of the Midwest and Southeast divisions. In 2009, he added the responsibilities of the West and Central Regions. In January of 2010, Jeff became the President of Handyman Connection. After spending 23 years working in the First Service Brands family, Jeff purchased Handyman Connection from First Service Brands in 2013.
Guest number two is Luke Schulte. Luke loves fostering relationships with candidates, consultants, and coaches to ensure potential franchisees discover the value of our service-based franchise, one that provides a simplicity and forcastability that is attractive to most potential owners who are looking to be in control of their owner destiny. Prior to joining Handyman Connection, Luke was Sr. Vice President of Franchise Development for Premium Service Brands, focused on vertically stacking seven brands in home services. He has also held development roles with Two Maids & A Mop and Fish Window Cleaning and worked in sales for a master franchise at Bonus Building Care.
Through this episode you will learn why you would join Handyman Connection as a franchisee vs. starting your own Handyman business. Franchises operate under a predetermined business model that has already proven successful, while independent businesses make adjustments and decisions to their business model as they go.
Handyman Connection has spent over 25 years building and refining our business model, As a result, investing in a Handyman Connection franchise allows you to take advantage of the years of experience of our full-time team, and the current franchisees experience. They have tried-and-true methods that will help you succeed as a franchise owner.
Handyman Connection offers handyman franchise opportunities for driven individuals considering starting their own business. The home improvement and repair industry is multi-faceted and will be around as long as there are homeowners. While handyman franchise businesses can be a great investment opportunity, The Handyman Connection brand gives our franchisees an edge.
Tune in to learn all about Luke, Jeff and Handyman Connection.
Have you heard the news? We are officially on YouTube. Come check out a few videos have have and give me a follow!
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwoAdrkPZmveJt5AQRDk8WA
---
Franchise Consulting Services from ION Franchising
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
franchisees, business, handyman, franchise, people, run, luke, jeff, big, canadian based company, connection, sit, franchise disclosure document, territories, recession, ftd, home, excited, frankly, technology
SPEAKERS
Luke, Lance Graulich, Jeff
Lance Graulich00:07
Hello everyone and welcome back to another fabulous episode at least I hope no it's going to be a fabulous one I promise. Got two great guys Eye on franchising Lance Graulich, I am the host. So today we are going to talk Home Services one of my favorite categories of the world of franchising. Two guests today the first gentleman 15 years in the world of franchising. He is the executive director of franchise development for this fabulous brand. Welcome to the show, Luke Schulte. And the brand today is Handyman Connection. Welcome, Luke.
Luke 00:41
Thanks, Lance. So excited to be here.
Lance Graulich00:44
Well, I am so excited that we have you on and even more exciting than you is the man the myth, the legend coming up next. So this guy, 32 years, he doesn't even look that old now. And 32 years in the world of franchising and home services. And, oh, he's going to tell you this wonderful story. So he's the president and CEO of handyman connection. This is Mr. Jeff Wall. So welcome, Jeff. How you doing?
Jeff 01:11
Thanks, Lance. Appreciate the end the intro there and no, Luke, I'm not more important than you.
Lance Graulich01:16
No, no, you guys are both awesome. So guys, let's, let's start with the history. How the heck did you get into franchising? What were your intentions in life? I always love to hear the story of how people get into franchising, because in some cases, it's like this lab accident gone wrong, like how Spider Man became Spider Man. So let's start off with that stuff.
Luke 01:37
Yeah, so I'll I'll mine's a little bit shorter. So it'll be more succinct here. But no, I went to art school. And so I have a degree in painting, drawing and printmaking, which means I'm qualified to ask you if you'd like that coffee in a tall grande or venti cup.
Lance Graulich01:54
Would you like fries with that?
Luke 01:55
Yeah, yeah. So after college, you know, I decided I want to move to Chicago, where Jeff's from didn't meet Jeff then. But I took the first job that would cover my living expenses. And that happened to be with a commercial cleaning franchise. And that's kind of how I got my feet wet in franchising. That was an interesting business, I got to see some good, some bad and some super ugly stuff. left the world of franchising, because it kind of left a bad taste in my mouth. And then my uncle was the one that reintroduced me to home services, specifically, you know, business to customer, you know, related businesses, and fell in love with Home Services and haven't looked back.
Lance Graulich02:41
Love it. Wonderful. And so Jeff, let's, let's hear this. This is gonna be a
Jeff 02:46
good boy. Yeah. You know, Luke, Luke. Luke was very succinct there, I'm going to bring you back. So I, I was going to school at the University of Illinois. So go go alumni, and I was a Finance and Business major. And after my freshman year of college, I had an internship at a major bank, downtown Chicago, I was going, going on the train every morning suit and tie, you know, this was, you know, with all the businessman businesswoman, getting up early going to I actually had an office or cubicle back in 1989. And I worked at this big bank. And I remember coming home after a few weeks of being at this bank, it was a paid internship to. And I looked at my mom and I'm like, Mom, I'm like, I hate this. Like, I'm screwed. She's like, What are you talking about? And I'm like, Mom, I don't like business. I don't like working at the bank. I am in trouble. And I'm a business major. He's like, Well, Jeff, that's, that's why they call it a job. Right, you know, thanks, Mom. So I continue doing this and, and again, for those of your audience 1989 was was awesome for a lot of different things. But the internet didn't exist at that point. So killing time, in 1989, or back in the old days was that was a bit more challenging. You couldn't just get lost on Tik Tok and Facebook, or Facebook or the apps. You know, there wasn't there was nothing to do and not that I thought I should be running the bank. But I was I felt that was underutilized. So I go back to school my sophomore year, still in the dorm rooms at at Illinois. And I got a flyer under my dorm room door that said earn $10,000 next summer and I was like wow, this is probably a scam but you know what I'm I'm gonna see what this is. And again, back in the back in the time I had to actually fill out a what's called a business reply card, tear it off, send it in the mail, and I waited to hear back. And this gentleman called and proceeded to tell me that I could run my own business next year. And I was like, sure I could. He's like, it's a painting business and I'm like, I don't know how to paint. No problem, we'll teach you. Okay? Love it. I'm like, Well, I don't I don't have any money. And he's like, no problem. We're gonna, you know, upfront all your costs. So I'm like, earn $10,000 I have this this job at this bank that I don't like. So I go home, and I was given a. So I was given an interview, and I was sitting in a vacant apartment building. And this gentleman is like, we're a Canadian based company. And literally, I'm sitting on the countertop, looking around going, Hey, I'm a fool like, you know, I'm the head of the area, right? He doesn't have furniture. Right? And he's trying to tell me that I can run my own business, right. And again, 1989 no internet, I can't do any research. Canadian based company, right.
Lance Graulich06:00
So you believe him?
Jeff 06:04
And he gives me you know, what, back in the day was called a UFO see a uniform franchise offering circular? The you? Yep. Exact Exactly. Now we refer to it more, you know, better terms in FTD. Franchise Disclosure Document. And so I'm at home over the winter break holidays, and and I'm telling my mom and my dad, I'm like, Hey, look at this big legal document. I have. I'm thinking of running a painting franchise next year. And my mom's like, No, you're not. And I was like, I kind of think I my dad looks at me, and he's like, Look, you you don't like it at the bank. You have always said you want to run your own business. Worst case scenario, this is a scam. It's a scam. What's going to happen you're gonna lose all your money. You're gonna probably have to drop out of school. On the plus side. You're not married, you have no kids. It'll be good learning lesson. And my mom looks at him and my mom is now crying like kids. My dad is like, no way
Lance Graulich07:09
my son's going to jail.
Jeff 07:12
What are you encouraging my son to do? Right? And, and I'm like, Okay, I'm gonna do this. I'm gonna do this. So I signed a franchise agreement in in December of 1989, to run up a painting franchise. And it turned out it was a legitimate company called College pro painters, which was a Canadian based company. They had actually really had moved down from from the East Coast and Canada into the Midwest for the first year. And I ran a painting franchise in the summer of 1990. And I worked my tail off, I did everything wrong, I hired my friends. And I ran a $47,000 business in the course of summer and I made about eight grand, and I all loved it. I was given this freedom, this responsibility at a young age. And, and that's how I got involved with franchising. I ran a franchise for two years in college, joined the company full time after I graduated from Villanova finances marketing degree, and have been full time in franchising. With college pro painters, I spent a but 15 years with that company moving up the ranks, moved over to a sister company CertaPro Painters for a couple years, and then moved over to handyman connection in January of 2010. And have been with handyman connection ever since. So there's my my short version. I love it.
Lance Graulich08:42
This is all good stuff.
Luke 08:43
There's a lesson to be learned here. If you go to art school, you set the bar so low that your parents are never disappointed with anything that you do after that.
Jeff 08:53
Hey, Mom and Dad were excited that I was gonna go run an exterior painting business.
Luke 08:57
No, but I'm saying they were disappointed because you were going to business school. And
Lance Graulich09:02
so I, you know, for the listeners, I have to sort of call out something you said, Jeff, that is so important. Because we all know us three know that. Typically when somebody engages with us and has a conversation about franchise opportunities, even though that individual ends up being excited, like you were Jeff, oftentimes, like 99% of the time they get off the phone with us, and they're excited. And they immediately have a conversation with their mother, father, sister, brother, spouse, best friends and what are they all tell them? What are you nuts? What are you doing? You don't know anything about that you don't have any money you have no business experience. And that's typically how it how it starts, which is funny. But of course everybody's got a fear of the unknown. So let's get back to the important the really important stuff now Jeff so when you were with handyman connection, at some point, you got hired there, and then you became the owner. So talking about that, talk about that transition.
Jeff 10:09
The, when I was with all of those companies I mentioned before college pro painters, CertaPro Painters, and when I originally started with handyman connection, they were all owned by a great company out there called first service brands, and first service brands, owns a number of franchisors in the home services, space. And at the end of during them my time with handyman connection. And at one point we were looking at, were being shocked to private equity. And so having gone through some of the experiences of understanding that one day, the company that I was working for, and changing a strategy on and then I was a minority shareholder in at the time that I could wake up one day with a new boss, kind of hit me hard. And so two things once, once I went through the private equity experience, who kind of going wait, I could wake up with a new owner who has a different direction, that that hit me. And the second thing is, is part of our strategy statement is technology leadership. And I, my boss, who right now are my old boss, right now is the chair of the IFA, I would go to him annually. And I would say, hey, I need X amount of money for technology. And, you know, eventually he looked at me and he said, you know, you asked for the most money out of all of the brands, and you are by far not the biggest brand. He's like, I can't continue to keep funding your technology requests. So for me, in order to be able to push forward on our strategy on technology, and for you know what the safety and kind of going in order to be able execute on our strategy in the marketplace and not have the fear of somebody else walking in and being the majority owner, I ended up purchasing handyman connection out from for service brands at the end of 2013.
Lance Graulich12:15
Love it. Love it, love it. That's awesome. So talk about what is handyman connection. So people buy now or thinking, okay, great. It's a handyman service. So talk about what that is exactly. What do you do?
12:31
Sure. So I'll jump in on this one, I like to summarize it pretty basically, the reason we're called handyman connection, is because the way we like to position ourselves or at least position the franchisees in the space is your the business liaison between the craftsman and the customer. We're used to going up against people that I you know, we'll call them a dude with a pickup truck and a toolbox, that's that's who our main competitors are out Dan with the van. Yeah, same guy, Chuck, with Chuck in a truck, you know, same guy there. But what we're looking at though, is the unique spot that we're in is a lot of the times the people that we think we're competing against are actually the people that we're looking to partner with. So we're looking to be that business liaison, we want to take on the heavy lifting of the side of the business that typical trades people are not in love with doing, you know, we want to look at the marketing spend, we want to look at the p&l, we want to look at the car, the coaching and how we can maximize schedules and efficiencies. So what we're looking for is we're looking for somebody with a business pedigree, you know, even to the point to when a candidate comes to me and they say, Hey, I love swinging a hammer, I love turning a wrench, I get a little pit in the bottom of my stomach. And I say, this may not be the right fit for you. Because what I'm looking for is I'm looking for somebody to champion the business side of it. And it frankly exists in a very fragmented and broken space. So that's kind of the gist of what we do.
Lance Graulich13:58
It's so funny that you you said that the person that actually knows how to swing a hammer is not the person that you want. And of course, the common question or comment that I get all the time from people when I show them any brand. They go, but I don't know how to do that. Perfect. And that's what I say. And I say perfect. And if we're on Zoom, they look at me and go, huh? What do you mean perfect.
Luke 14:30
I've seen in my space in franchising, you know, I've been with window cleaning companies. I've been with residential cleaning company, fix garages did painting, you know, in a competing painting business to the one Jeff had been a part of, you know, it was always something that there was this nasty cycle that the person that wanted to go out there and get on the truck and do it themselves, handcuffed themselves. So you can only grow you know, you can only be in so many places and I'd frankly rather you spend that De looking for somebody else to execute that work for you then going out and doing the work yourself.
Lance Graulich15:04
So diving a step deeper on that, and this is a serious question. That the reason you don't want the person that's comfortable swinging a hammer and doing this stuff is because they will more than likely stunt their growth and literally be will be chuck in the truck staying in the van and the guy or gal that buys the job.
Jeff 15:29
Absolutely, absolutely. And that's, that's your
Luke 15:33
a coach, you know, the best person that I can look for us, I want somebody to build a team. And these craftsmen are all members of the team and you're the guy on the sidelines is pulling the strings. Yeah. And if you're out on the field, you know, like, I guess what Pete Rose was the last player coach that I ever saw. And look at what trouble he got into. So
Jeff 15:55
we are now not Pete Rose for this.
Lance Graulich15:59
Disclaimer Pete Rose was not hurt and has nothing to do with this podcast, and he has nothing to do with handyman connection.
Jeff 16:06
I'm a Cardinals fan. Who cares?
Lance Graulich16:09
So let's talk about the investment. What is the investment for a handyman connection? How big are the territories, all that good stuff.
Luke 16:20
So typically, our investment is going to range from where and round numbers speaking here, we can go into the minute dollars and cents here. But round numbers, somewhere between 100 to 150 would be your total investment. That would include you know, operating capital, the franchise fees, all that wonderful stuff. You know, in pretty healthy territories, what we're looking at is we're looking at 100,000 households within a given area. And that's just the sort of key demographic area that you'll be focusing on. Obviously, there's there's opportunities for expansion with additional territories later on or additional regions as your business progresses.
Lance Graulich17:04
Got it? And who are you looking for? We know you're not looking for the people swinging a hammer. So who is it you're looking for? Ideally, if you want to throw out some personality or character traits, or whatever it might be, who are you really looking for?
Luke 17:20
I'll give Jeff the first crack on this one.
17:22
I was gonna I was gonna joke around, say art students because apparently, you know. Look, look, it's been it's such a great picture. Yeah, yeah, you know, I would say our target market and this is more Luke's area of specialty. We're looking for probably a mid level type executive, right, who has a little bit of money. You know, typically, we're not looking for somebody who you know who has $100 million in the bank. That's, that's not who we're looking for. But generally has either some some working capital or some access to working capital through the SBA, small businesses or administration. Somebody who understands or wants to invest in themselves, somebody who understands is not looking for a boss, per se not looking for, you know, us to tell you everything to do. Obviously, franchising is very decentralized. You know, Luke works with these people more and on a day to day basis. So I'll turn it over to Luke, because I'm sure, you know, outside of the art students, Luke probably has a few more specific things.
18:32
So the phrase that I've stolen, but I've heard it before, and I love this phrase, I want somebody to be heads on, not hands on. So somebody that thinks about the business, somebody that wants to exist in that space. So like we described earlier, I think another thing that that we're looking for is somebody that has had entrepreneurial mindset that wants to take the business and run with it. But I think there's also some value in somebody that that sees this system. You know, we've had great success with people that, you know, have military backgrounds as somebody that's been a veteran or somebody that, you know, sees that, with what we do, I think there's one important component that we have, that a lot of franchises don't is one, we're very open to people that are maybe, you know, engineer minded, you know, we don't necessarily need a high driving salesperson. This is not a sales role. You know, this is something where again, you're as long as you have that coaches mentality, this is something that you could build to be much larger, larger than than what you would expect. The other thing I will say is somebody that's tied up in what we do, probably not a good fit. I don't know about any of you guys, but I never knew anybody that woke up in the morning that said, Man, if I could only be a handyman connection bursts Yes, my life will be complete, you know, so you can't be it's not one of those things. is where you got a and wonderful businesses, but we're not a lash salon. We're not the hot new gym when I
Lance Graulich20:07
Luke, I'll say it. There's nothing sexy about home services
Luke 20:11
unless you spell sexy MONEY.
Lance Graulich20:16
That is exact you hit it. That was perfect. That's exactly right. Money is sexy.
Jeff 20:21
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, the art students can spell too. Yeah. Six letter word. Yep.
Lance Graulich20:28
So, so overall, let's talk about, you mentioned technology earlier, Jeff. So let's talk about sort of the secret sauce, if you will, because one of the biggest things that we hear on a regular basis? Well, I don't need a franchise, I can do it myself. Sure can. So yeah, is so special. What do you get as a franchisee?
20:53
So you know, look, we've obviously all been in franchising for a number of years. And if you could sit there and answer that question as to, you know, I could, I can cook a burger, right, I could create my own burger place, you know, you may or may not know how to run a, you know, a handyman business are a painting business or a lash business or whatever. The franchising world, what we're bringing to the table, is you're looking at somebody who, on day one, we're going to, you know, teach you how to run a business. And week number one, you are starting work, and we are going to help you scale a business. So there is no doubt that you could probably go out there and put a couple of flyers in some, you know, some people's, you know, mailboxes or, you know, throw a few Google ads out there and get some work. We're trying to coach and teach you how to run and scale a business. And I think that's probably the the thing about franchising is the scalability. And you mentioned technology. So if you were to ask me, what what, you know, what do I do on a day to day basis? So yesterday, I was looking at, I spent time looking at a technology platform and asking this question, what is what is our world going to look like in 2030? What agreement do I want to have in place with this technology company in 2030? How would that impact our franchisees in 2030? It's 2022. Right? We're about to turn into 2023. And so our role and our job, depending on you know, who you're speaking to, is to look out into the future and go, What are we doing to help pave the way for our franchisees to continue to scale those businesses, and to allow our franchisees to grow those businesses get a return on capital? When they decide to move on or sell those businesses? What does that business look like? And I think that if you're just sitting there running your own handyman business or lash business, you're sitting there thinking about how am I swinging the hammer? Or where am I going today,
Lance Graulich23:14
you surviving the day?
Jeff 23:15
You got it? So you know, our role is to try to help coach teach, prepare you for what's down the line? And that's part of what we're doing as a franchisor.
Lance Graulich23:26
Yeah, yeah. And that's, and that's the thing people forget about. It's not just the training. It's not just the marketing. It's not just the purchasing and the technology. It's the collaboration with successful franchisees. So let's talk about let's talk about the process. So of course, I'm a franchise broker, and there's others, you're gonna get a lead, you're gonna get somebody introduced to you, Luke, describe that process of, you know, how do you know you have the right person? And, you know, how long does this process typically take?
23:59
Well, and you don't, you don't know if you have the right person. So the key phrasing that I like to put with this is it's a mutual evaluation. So what my goal is my goal is not to get you to say yes to handyman connection. Sorry, Jeff. I'm not trying to make everybody anyway, connection prayers. I want you to say yes or no, I frankly, don't care whether you say yes or no, because what we're going to do is we'll go through, you know, we've got it down to about a 40 day decision process. In those 40 days, we're gonna go through, we're going to have one on one conversations where we learn more about each other as human beings. We're going to have two webinars in the two webinars, we're going to talk about customer acquisition, how do we build a book of business because that's what frankly, everybody's worried about, when in reality, we should be talking probably more about the second webinar, which is how do we find our talent? How do we run the business? What technologies are involved? How can we make it so that you have we can coach you When you can coach your people, so that's covered through two webinars. After that, then we will get into a franchise disclosure discussion to where we will run you through that wonderful cure for insomnia that our wonderful lawyers have created.
Lance Graulich25:17
Well, and let me just inject that some a little disclaimer, but a Franchise Disclosure Document for those of you listeners, all franchise brands present that to you after the first call after the second call. There's 23 items in there within that as the item number 19, is the earnings claim that everybody gets excited about seeing and other items that show the investment level and the range and all the detail. And so franchising is regulated by the federal government. So maybe that's a good thing. Maybe it's not I don't know, but it is what it is and makes some people feel safe.
Luke 25:51
Yeah. So we'll go through all of that. And, you know, we talked about, you know, the cool thing about the Franchise Disclosure Document there is will show everything, you know, this is what your startup costs are, this is how much operating capital we want. You know, kudos to Jeff Jeff has put together an item 19 that, frankly, I think, discloses more information than you everybody could possibly need. But
Lance Graulich26:14
so you mean, you can make money in this business, too? It's not just fun.
Luke 26:18
Yeah. Well, I mean, come on, it's a sexy business. But we'll look at that, you know, I think most people are just dumbfounded by the size and scale of the businesses that we have. So we'll walk them through that. We'll show him what that document looks like. And then go through a process where we introduce them to our franchisees, because we want them to hear from the people that have made the same decisions they're looking to make. And then the last step is I get to introduce them to Jeff and all the other members of our high powered team. And at the end of that, then that's just really again, yes or no, is this the right fit? If it's the right fit? We'll put together some some documents for you. If not, it's been so wonderful meeting you. You know, that's that's the process?
Lance Graulich27:03
Do you do a face to face discovery day or meet the team day type thing?
Luke 27:08
We're all over the place, we will meet the candidates wherever they need to go. We're excited. It looks like we're going to have a live one here coming up in January. We've been doing them virtually.
Lance Graulich27:20
And where do you have them? I'm sorry,
Luke 27:22
where do you have the discovery days? Normally, we're having them in franchise locations. The one that's coming up is actually going to be running in conjunction with the the franchisee conference that we're going to have. So the big national conference that we shouldn't say we're International, I guess, technically, but the North American account. Yeah, Canada, that count, I love it. So we'll have that in conjunction with that. You know, but we love doing it at the locations, as opposed to sitting them in and one of our, you know, a boardroom of our office or whatever. Let's show him. Let's show him what a real office living and breathing office looks like. Yeah.
Lance Graulich28:01
So what? How many locations? We didn't discuss this yet, how many franchisees? Or how many territories are open and operating? And what are your What are your future plans for that? You said, you're already International, you're in Canada.
Jeff 28:16
So Canada counts, we have 60, current franchisee locations 60 franchises open. So that's, that's always it. For those in the franchising industry. It's like not only how many, how many do you have, how many are open to have 60 franchisees open at this point, we we have a fair amount of open territory across the US and and Canada. And we're excited about that.
Lance Graulich28:41
Love it. You know, when we were talking a little bit about possibilities and numbers and all this, you know, a typical individual that decides on their own to start a handyman business because they're handy. That's naturally how people come up with things. You know how to make a burger, you attempt a burger restaurant, because that's what you know. So I can't imagine an average handyman. That's not a franchise is doing more than $250,000 a year in revenue. So I would imagine your revenue is far higher, because this is this is essentially for empire builders, for business folks. So how do you you know, how do you tell people that what are they finding out in the validation process and the item 19? What are they what are they hearing? Every brand has some pretty top franchisees? For sure.
Luke 29:37
Sure. I think what's exciting about us is we're, as far as I can find we're tops in the industry when it comes to our median franchise locations. You know, we're well north of $700,000 in our median. You know, we're excited about what's coming out in the new FTD come and see us in March. But we're also excited about What our top line revenue single unit locations are doing, you know, we're north of the $2 million mark and a single
Lance Graulich30:06
$2 million in a handyman business.
Luke 30:08
Well, here's what it is, this is what you got to tap into. And this is to the point to where I want to even have this emblazoned on the backs of our handy men's shirt. But the big question of what else? You know, the pandemic was wonderful for this, the more time my wife spent looking at the same walls of our house, the more that crack and the drywall that never seen to bother before is now driving her absolutely crazy. So it's your Jeff does this this wonderful thing at at Meet the Team day, every time where we'll sit down with the with the prospective candidate, and we say what do you need around the house and they say, Oh, I got a leak in the sink, and I gotta loose deck board and whatever. And then the spouse walks in. And we say, well, what do you think needs to be done, and this list is, you know, a mile and a half long. So it's about tapping into that honey do list. If you can tap into that honey do list not only are we talking about, you know, one of the big numbers is our average job ticket is, you know, north of $700. We're pushing the $800 mark, you know, we're seeing our customers frequently throughout the year. So it's really a reoccurring revenue stream model that most people don't think about.
Lance Graulich31:19
So because you have trust, and your franchise has trust and credibility and people feel safe calling you anytime they need something
Luke 31:28
well, and we we've OOB arised. And Amazon is to make up a couple of terms, the handyman business. So you know, think about who's making the decision. Again, it's none of the three people on this call. Normally, it's that college educated, married or engaged female between the ages of 27 to 65.
Lance Graulich31:47
That's my wife's downstairs, getting all kinds of stuff done now, because she's retired, she's spent in plenty of time fixing things right now.
31:55
For her. So it's tapping into that and catering to that decision maker, you know, that's all it is. So having an online presence having the ease of accessing us, and then you know, re engaging with that customer every every 30 days. You know, that's that's the secret to success. So and
Jeff 32:17
just to just I'm sorry, just just to clarify. So our average shop size and our FTD is at $933. And our average median, but average franchisee in our disclosure, FTD. Item 19. Is $715,675 great numbers off the top of my head.
Lance Graulich32:38
Sure. You know, a lot of people these days are talking about, well, what happens to XYZ franchise in the event of a recession? Oh, beautiful part of what you guys do, I would imagine is you're probably in a good spot.
33:00
We are. The cool thing about our business is and you know, we didn't know this three years ago. But our business is fairly recession proof. Fairly riot proof, we didn't have to get closed down or we don't have storefronts like you know, if there's civil unrest going on. We are pandemic proof. We were deemed an essential business across the US. And when a recession happens when your toilet breaks, you tend to get that thing fixed. Yes, regardless of a recession going on, or not. You may trade down and kind of go I'm not going to do a massive kitchen remodel or bathroom remodel, but you tend to still get things fixed. And the good thing for us and we're seeing it a bit out there again. You know, you see how the housing starts slowing down a bit, which is actually for our industry pretty good. Because a lot of that labor force then comes back into our marketplace. Yes. So we're seeing more handyman more craftsmen, more and more carpenters electricians fall back into our marketplace. And because again, our average job size this past year was $933. People are still getting that work done. And we're not a fad. We're not something that you sit there and go, You know what, that's a trend. So we you know, I don't want to say that, you know, we're good in a recession. As long as we don't go into a to a depression. We've we've seen our business picking up during, you know, tougher times because we have an increased labor force. And unfortunately or fortunately for us, things continue to break in people's homes. So
Luke 34:56
we say that as my six year old and 11 year old comes store I mean, through the house like a herd of elephants, there you go.
Lance Graulich35:03
So, so if you are going to look at your top 10% of high performing franchisees, or let's just say at a 60, franchisees, you know, the top 10 period, what what did they all do before? Obviously, they didn't swing a hammer for a living, as we discussed for the most part, but what do they do? You have a teacher, you have a lawyer, you have an engineer, I mean, they literally from
Jeff 35:30
every walk of life, yes. Would it be easier answer is, as you know, as I, as I roll my eyes, which looks great on camera, to sit there and think through some of the franchisees as far as their backgrounds, but, you know, I am fortunate enough to be in a position where I get to hear family stories, like Luke will have them, you know, before they're awarded a franchise, I get the opportunity to sit down and hear their stories. And it's so interesting, you know, to go, what's your story, like, what is brought you here today, and you hear the stories from I was a teacher, or I will, I used to do marketing for this large company, or I used to run, I was speaking to somebody yesterday, who they ran HR for a very large company. And she was telling me how she had her best month ever. And, you know, we have had, you know, the head of HR for a fortune 500 company, run a franchise, we've had people that have been the ex banker, or the I don't know how many lawyers we have, I don't know if we have any lawyers, but we certainly, you know, we'd see people from a variety of industries, and you hear their stories. And you know, sometimes it's, you know, I was, you know, you sit there you go, why are you looking and part of them goes, well, I was told I no longer have my job. So I have to figure out something, right. So there's not one specific background or industry that, you know, we would sit there and say, you know, we're seeing people you know more from and look, you you speak to more people than I do. So I don't know, if you would
Luke 37:24
know, I think you're spot on. It's, it's what I love about what, what we do here is because it's not necessarily sales driven, you know, from the perspective that we need the franchisee to be a salesperson, there's a lot more opportunities, you know, like one of our top performers are young, our young guns that will if we want to call him that one of our new franchisees, that's less than a year, yesterday, I was on the phone with him. And he was showing me pictures from when he was part of the logistics team that moved around that giant wrestling apparatus for the WWE, and, you know, did other things with sports. So we got cool stories like that. And then we've got, you know, I was, I was just, you know, I was running a family. And I got I decided I wanted to run a business, you know, the range is huge. It's it's, again, the the coaching mentality who wants to, you can manage your family, you can manage our business, you know, who wants to run? Who wants to run this? And are you comfortable? That I think the hardest question is, do you feel comfortable talking with people that are that are blue collared employees? You know, that's, that's the biggest jump, I think, for me, is somebody that was a, you know, type a executive running other type A executives, there's a little bit of disconnect, and a little bit of culture shock, from going there to what we do here,
Lance Graulich38:46
but that's naturally going to be part of the training process to show them and, you know, half the battle is knowing what you don't know. And you guys obviously include that into the training curriculum.
Luke 38:58
Well, and I would say one of our big advantages that we have over most franchises, is frankly, the way that we look at recruiting, you know, if we look at our operations team, and what they do, they all come from recruiting backgrounds, we have people that that exclusively work with franchisees and talent acquisition. And you know, that's the that's the biggest hurdle for any business. If you're a if you're a sandwich shop, or you're a gym, everybody's got help wanted signs up. And I think the way that we're dealing with talent acquisition, and frankly the value that it adds to the people that are joining our ranks as franchisees but also the way that it the value added to the people that are coming on as as handyman or craftsmen as we like to call them. You know, that's that's a that's a different way of of coming to the marketplace. Yeah, yeah.
Lance Graulich39:49
Let's talk about marketing. So, all right, you join you join handyman connection. How do I talk about customer acquisition and how do you how do you blow somebody's territory up, in a good way that is,
Luke 40:01
yeah, well, we start small, you mark it with a laser, you don't mark it with a shotgun, go after that key demographic group, let's focus on those zip codes and let's not spread ourselves too thin. You know, that's, that's the simplest form of it. But, you know, again, it's about digital methods, it's about still using a little bit of direct mail. But for us, the big thing is the reengagement we look at the, you know, high percentage of repeat and referred customers that we have, it's about establishing that trust and putting less and less money towards a deep marketing campaign. But let's reinvest into the business and frankly, put some money in your pocket.
40:39
And you know why, because I was just looking down, Luke just mentioned it a repeat and referral are average. And this, again, is listed in our item 19, our average number of repeat and referral leads for for a franchisee, and last year was 862. Wow. In other words, we're seeing, you know, our franchisees have continuing people come back to them annually. And so a big part of our marketing is because, look, the great thing about our business is, and Luke referred to this earlier, you may get us, you know, have us come out to your home to do something, right, fix that plank in the door, fix the screen door, hanger picture, inevitably, something else needs to be done in your home, or something else will break in the next couple of months. So we are easy to be top of mind every 2,3,4 months, and we'll see people use us oftentimes three, four times a year. So part of our marketing is definitely on the repeat and referral side. And we do all the standard stuff as far as marketing also, and you know what, maybe maybe one of your listeners has seen or heard of us. We're on a price or price. Sorry? On the prices, right? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah, we you can win handyman connection for a day. So we are one of the, you know, one of the prizes on there. And so, you know, it's, it's interesting one day when I had my mom called me, and she's like, are you guys on the Price is Right? It's like, yes, yes, we are.
Lance Graulich42:12
I love it. You wait, do you win Jeff for the day?
Jeff 42:17
well, place a value on me. And then you would go like, you can't go lower than the dollar. Right. So that's the problem is you can't say I don't get value for Jeff. But you know, during the day, like, you know, I told you, we don't want you swinging the hammer turning around.
Lance Graulich42:36
Alright, guys, so final words of wisdom. Final thoughts for both of you. We've uneven loaded a lot of good information here for everyone. First, yeah, Jeff will get the last word.
Luke 42:49
Yeah, he always does, regardless of what would happen anyway. But, you know, it's a process, have fun with it. And be honest, you know, be honest with yourself with that whatever business venture you're coming into, there's going to be plenty of people. You know, I played a game with the candidates that I was working with over Thanksgiving. Tell me what crazy Uncle Larry is going to tell you the most outlandish reason why you shouldn't get into business. I want to have that because, you know, I want to put that in my arsenal of reasons not to do this. But, you know, there's going to be the naysayers, you know, but that's why you look to a franchise that has the dedicated team of professionals that we do. And frankly, you know, we want to grow, we want to grow aggressively. But we also want to grow with the right people, because, you know, with Jeff being the owner, CEO, and President, you know, he's gonna be with you, you know, this isn't like some conglomerate that, you know, you're just franchise number 32. You know, this is this is something that that we're very passionate about, you know, we look at our franchisees like family. So we've got a good blend of things that will go into this. So yeah, honesty is the key.
44:05
I saw it our Meet the Team day, right? I usually close it, and I refer it, I have a picture of my house. And it's kind of a weird picture. And it's this, I don't even know what it's like this, this colorful thing. And it's holding this box over its head. And it's the box that says something to the effect of, you know, all the stuff you said you wanted to do. And underneath, you know, it says that only weighs a lot. If you didn't find the time to do all the things you said you were going to do. And so I mentioned earlier, like over my career, I've had the opportunity to sit with a number of people. And it's amazing how you almost hear nine out of 10 times people tell the story of I've always wanted to run my own business. Right. It's always been I dream. And we inevitably go like what's holding you back? Right? And it's that box of stuff. And I also ask people, I'm like, Okay, imagine yourself and you know, many people have kids, and you sit there, and we call it a lemonade moment. And we call it you know, you're on your porch, front porch, nice sunny day. And your kids or people you love eventually come up to you, and you're drinking your glass of lemonade, or wine or beer, your cocktail. And they ask if you're happy, right? And all of us are gonna sit there and you're gonna go, right, like, let's assume that these are young adults, or, you know, in their 20s that are asking this question, or people, people that love you, you're gonna pause, right? Because you're gonna go, whoo, like, Am I really happy? And they're gonna go, you know, are you happy with the decisions you made? And we're all gonna have those those thoughts that go through our head, like, Am I happy with the decisions I made in life and love? And, you know, if they push you into go, you're really happy. And I always encourage people, as you sit back and go, How would you answer that question? A lot of us are in positions, and we work or work for companies, because that's what we thought we needed to do. We thought that once you graduate college, or you get your degree, you go work for somebody. And it's amazing that, again, the majority of these people I speak to have always said, I, you know, I've always wanted to run my own business. And I think there's a big fear there. And, you know, as you know, as we get older, we become a little bit more reminiscing and you kind of go like, you know, is it really the safe route to have gone and work for the corporation that may let you know, lay off at some point? Is it Are you happy? And so I always encourage people, I'm like, Look, if you've always wanted to do something, go, there's always excuses out there. Always help move them out of the way. And what advice would you give your kids would you want? Would you be happy if your kids gave you all of the reasons and excuses while they didn't chase their dreams? So pause and just kind of go like, look, you've always wanted to run your own business and have the opportunity to really go for it. Franchising is an excellent opportunity for people to work with you to coach you to help support your dreams.
Lance Graulich47:39
And go for it. Yep, absolutely. What a great place to end. Uh, Jeff, that's awesome. You know, people always talk about timing, and a lot of people complain that it's not good that the right time, well, when will be the right time.
Jeff 47:58
You know, why didn't we look back and you go, when's the right time to start a business during a pandemic? I mean, it turned out it was a great time for the home services area, a pandemic, who would have thought that or, you know, a recession, a recession, it's a pretty good time, right? You know, there's a lot of ways you can always come up with and there's going to be something else lands, we don't know what there's going to be another excuse down the line, you know, oh, so and so or something happened or, you know, blah, blah, blah.
Lance Graulich48:25
But the great news is, we are your resources, and we're here to help. Luke and Jeff, thank you so much handyman connection. And I appreciate you guys being here.
Luke 48:36
Okay. Great. Appreciate it. Thanks, Lance.
Lance Graulich48:38
I'll talk to you guys both very soon. Awesome. Thank you.