Three plumbing companies share marketing, call center expenses

BY LON CASSEL,

contributing writer

Mike Brewer’s company was already flourishing five years ago in the hot, new-construction market of Phoenix when he decided to add a service division. Today, Brewer owns four Phoenix-area territories for the Benjamin Franklin Plumbing national franchise brand. His goal for the next five years: grow revenues to $6 million as he cooperates on strategy and marketing with two other Benjamin Franklin franchises in the metro area.

“Choosing the Benjamin Franklin franchise was a no-brainer decision,” Brewer said. “Why reinvent the wheel when someone can supply a blueprint for the business, and then help support your growth? The co-op we developed with two other franchisees in the market has helped fuel our success.”

With residential construction slowing nationwide in the past year, Brewer’s timing turned out to be serendipitous. He formed his new construction business 18 years ago and estimates current annual revenues for that operation at $12.5 million. He had one truck and crew providing warranty service for homes where his business had performed the original installation, but all service calls were referred to other companies. When he decided to create a service division, he attended a meeting held by Clockwork Home Services, the parent company for Benjamin Franklin Plumbing Franchise, along with other contractors who had been invited to learn about the opportunity.

“I was blown away by what Benjamin Franklin Plumbing Franchise had to offer,” Brewer said. “Most importantly, they shared my core values about how customers deserve to be treated — we put the customer first. They offered all the business management and operations support, but essentially, I liked and trusted the people whose system I was buying into.”

Five-year plan to build $30-million plumbing repair service

After five years owning the franchise, Brewer has five trucks and crews and expects to add two more field units this year. Brewer shares marketing and advertising expenses with two other Benjamin Franklin Plumbing franchises owned by Roger Anderson and Linda Stanfield with her husband Chris. The three meet monthly and communicate frequently to discuss plans and challenges. Stanfield says they also share a call center to route customer inquiries.

“Sharing mutual expenses for marketing and the call center makes good business sense,” said Stanfield, who switched her independent brand of 22 years to Benjamin Franklin Plumbing three years ago. “It’s important that we provide consistency of the brand experience and provide quality service beginning with that first phone call. We can do that for Benjamin Franklin Plumbing across the entire Phoenix metro area because we are working together.

“Valley-wide, we expect to be at $30 million in revenues in five years between the three of us,” she said, admitting that she initially wasn’t sure about giving up her independent brand. “The Benjamin Franklin Plumbing brand was better thought out; the trucks were more noticeable, and the jingle was more memorable. Our [independent] name and our brand weren’t as powerful as we thought.

How will you exit your business?

“The experience of franchisees joining forces to share costs and grow their businesses demonstrates the outside-the-box thinking that makes a plumbing contracting business soar,” said Tab Hunter, president for the franchise division of Clockwork Home Services, which franchises the Benjamin Franklin Plumbing brand and two other brands in the home services industry: One Hour Heating & Air Conditioning and Mister Sparky, America’s On Time Electrician, specializing in residential electrical service. Hunter, a former contractor who owned both a Benjamin Franklin Plumbing franchise and One Hour Heating & Air Conditioning franchise before joining the Clockwork executive team, encourages contractors to explore franchise opportunities carefully.

“There are all kinds of opportunities, so it’s important not only to talk in-depth with the franchisor, but to interview contractors who have invested in the brand,” Hunter said. “Find out how the franchisor supports franchisees.”

The benefits of owning a franchise, instead of an independent brand, include support for establishing world-class operations, hands-on expert training, massive purchasing power, tested and proven marketing materials and strategies, industry-leading research and development and the opportunity to collaborate with hundreds of other plumbing companies to build the brand and your business every day, Hunter said. Most importantly, he said, is the value of displaying a national brand with a powerful message that has proven itself with consumers all over the country.

“You also really need to think “exit strategy,” Hunter said. “Consider how you are going to sell your business when the day finally comes to retire. Do you want to leave your name on a business when you have no control over how it will be operated? What value will the company have once you are not there to stand behind the brand, especially if it is the name on your driver’s license?”

Research shows that national brands are cutting into territory previously held by independent contractors. Data from the Indianapolis market, analyzed by Clockwork Home Services, showed that independent contractors there lost 49% of their residential home service business to national brands between 1996 and 2006.

“Even though the dollar value of the residential home service business increased 65%, the independents’ share was actually $9 million less than in 1996,” Hunter said. The three Benjamin Franklin Plumbing franchises in Phoenix may be pioneering how plumbing contractors will successfully compete with “big box” home repair stores and others.

“We band together to brand together to prevent losing our most valuable asset -- our customers,” said Roger Anderson.

According to Stanfield of Benjamin Franklin Plumbing in Phoenix, “Joining a franchise is a big decision, but if you don’t have big dreams you’re not able to meet big goals.”

Lon Cassel is vice president of business development for Clockwork Home Services. Info: www.thankyoubenjaminfranklin.com.