A Life-Changing Encounter
What started out as a typical trip to the gym for Chris Lamey, ended in a life-changing encounter. Boasting a 20-plus year career in the golf industry, Lamey took a leap of faith and bought a struggling franchise location after this conversation with a peer:
“Hey I know this is totally out of the blue, we’ve never even talked business, but there might be a couple of franchises that may be coming for sale. Would you and your wife be interested in talking to us?”
And according to his wife and co-owner Jenny, they’ve never looked back.
Success Tips for New Franchise Owners
If you’ve ever experienced any kind of water damage in your home after a storm, you’ve probably heard of SERVPRO. Whether it’s fire or water damage, mold or a simple carpet cleaning, this cleanup and restoration company tackles the mess. And from what I learned in talking to Mrs. Lamey, it’s a really good franchise to be a part of.
So how do two people without true experience in owning and operating a business: “I mean I won’t lie, that first couple weeks I’d get in my car and I’d drive back home, thinking about how overwhelming it all was…”
…Turn a failing location into one that’s about to outgrow its current space and surpass corporate standard sales goals?
Creativity, trust, and support.
Creativity
Though I mentioned the lack of true business ownership experience, Mr. Lamey was a sales rep for a number of years and through that, perfected the craft of establishing relationships.
“For 23 years of his career he never went into an office, so he was running his territory. You’re very much a part of your own success in that situation,” explained Mrs. Lamey.
She went on to explain their approach to business is that they are a marketing company that happens to provide cleaning and restoration services. For them, it’s all about the relationships they establish with the local Alabama adjusters and insurance agents.
They’re able to creatively combine their marketing and customer service skills to really exceed in this new life adventure.
How can you leverage your variety of skills to help run your franchise as smooth as possible? Look beyond what you think might be a practical business skill and tap into those other experiences to really make your business shine.
Trust
After undergoing six months’ worth of training that set them up with a great foundation to run the business, the Lameys were made aware of a hard-hitting reality.
“It was very overwhelming at first as each call and each job was a new experience for us. But it was a great way to hit the ground running and learn the business by doing it and not just learning about it,” Mrs. Lamey explained.
The SERVPRO franchise bases their training on a ‘stages model.’ It’s been proven time and time and time again, that if you follow the stages, you will be successful. So the Lameys trusted the corporate franchise methodology and haven’t had any need to stray the course.
There’s a good chance whatever franchise you own is in business because of the solid processes in place on the corporate level. While there is some freedom in your particular location, don’t forget this idea of placing trust in your franchisor.
Support
“Another great thing about being a part of the franchise system is the support of franchises all over,” said Mrs. Lamey.
When disaster struck in Louisiana, surrounding ‘storm teams’ (as SERVPRO calls it) packed up equipment and headed to work on helping those people out in a time of crisis. As you can imagine, that’s extremely rewarding to be able to help people get their lives back together.
With support from the community, staff members and even mentoring from I would say the late owner of SERVPRO Birmingham and the Wilson Trainership, David Wilson, Mr. and Mrs. Lamey never have to tackle any challenge alone.
Not only that, but they get support from partnering with other companies… like PrimePay. Since they cover jobs in multiple municipalities around Anniston, occupational tax filing is tricky. But by leaning on the support from their representatives here at PrimePay, the Lameys can be confident in continued success with their franchise.
“Working with PrimePay has given me the peace of mind and confidence that you care about our business and will work with us as a partner to meet our needs,” Mrs. Lamey said.