October 19, 2022 • 41 mins
In this episode, Melissa speaks with Albert Hermans of Floor Coverings International
https://futureoffranchising.com/
I’m an upbeat personality and I pride myself on facing opportunities head-on. My experience in creating multiple brands has taught me many life and professional lessons. Through these experiences, I’ve been extremely fortunate to learn about myself and create personal self-awareness around my strengths and areas of improvement. I know I can be counted upon as an outstanding relationship builder, client provider, systems creator, and leader. I have zero doubts my ability, however, I’m always looking for an opportunity to grow as an individual.
My goals in life and professionally are to always be looking ahead; to be continuously improving on my strengths and weaknesses; to help others; and to always work at exceeding expectations. I know if I keep my eyesight on those four goals, positive outcomes will always follow diligent work.
We are North America’s leading in-home designer floor coverings brand. Our company is carefully crafted on creating a discernable difference from any other floor coverings company. We specialize in residential, personalized flooring, selection, design and installation.
Floor Coverings International flooring franchise disrupts the floor industry by revolutionizing how homeowners buy new floors
Floor Coverings International flooring franchise disrupts the $48 billion residential flooring* industry for good. While the rest of the industry still makes consumers leave their homes to visit a big box store to make a personal and important decision for their homes, Floor Coverings International brings the flooring store directly to our customers’ kitchen tables. Our revolutionary model of ease and convenience has been rewarded with the highest NET Promoter Score in our industry. In today’s world, where homeowners are focused on safety and convenience for their home improvement projects, Floor Coverings International stands out as a brand that has brought a new way of servicing customers to the flooring industry.
As a franchise opportunity, Floor Coverings International also stands out. Ours is a business built on relationships to provide our customers with the very best in-home flooring experience in North America! Our proven business model has also helped hundreds of entrepreneurs thrive – in a business that is simple-to-run and easy to scale.
More... https://futureoffranchising.com/podcast/franchise-friday-podcast-ep-206-with-albert-hermans-of-floor-coverings-international/
Franchise Friday, where you can watch or listen as we explore franchising, entrepreneurship, and small business ownership, speaking with the franchise industry thought leaders and subject matter experts that shape the Future Of Franchising. #FranchiseFriday – For more about our podcast, visit our website: https://futureoffranchising.com/ Produced by Franchise Source Brands International and The Entrepreneur’s Source.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Unknown (00:14):
Hey everyone, welcome back to another episode of
franchise Friday. Glad to haveyou. And I'm excited because I'm
here with Elbert Herman's offloorcoverings. International.
So hey, Albert, welcome to theold podcast.
I couldn't be happier to be onthe podcast, this is fun
franchise Friday, it's like thebest, the absolute best
(00:35):
thank, you know, I am incomplete agreement with you.
We're on the same page aboutthat. So all right, I always
love chatting with you. So I'mlooking forward to our
conversation, who knows whereit's gonna go. But before we get
into some of the topics fortoday, let the people know where
you came from how you got towhere you are today, a little
bit of your background.
(00:56):
My goodness, sure. And yeah, whothe heck knows where this is
gonna go because I can I can getoff on a tangent. But I'll do my
best to just keep my backgroundsuccinct. So I have been with
floor coverings International.
I'll start here like where I'mat presently southern was floor
coverings international for thelast eight years. And at the
moment, I'm in charge of ourfranchise development team. So I
(01:17):
leave franchise development,we've got the best team in
franchise development, we've gotfour franchise developers, plus
our great back office team, thatmakes sure that everything that
needs to get done to properlybring folks into the
organization get it done. I'malso an equity partner here. But
my entire career has beenaccidentally entrepreneurship.
(01:39):
So when I was in college, Istarted my first small business.
And actually, this is the firstlittle sound bite that you know,
you just you just rolled withthings for I committed fraud. By
starting my first smallbusiness, I took out a Sallie
Mae loan, which is supposed tobe used for education. And I
started a business with it. AndI never thought I'd be an
entrepreneur. It just was my myfriend. And I had an idea he
(02:02):
wanted to become my businesspartner, we had an idea to take
all of the menus that you getslipped under your dorm room
door and put them on a website.
And then from that idea, wesaid, Well, shouldn't people be
able to order food from thiswebsite too. And back when I was
in college, I'm not that old.
But I'm old enough to rememberwhen I was in college, we didn't
have any cell phones. And it waslike the It wasn't even
(02:23):
BlackBerry is the flip phone.
And then like the laptops thatsounded like a jet engine with
the fan underneath. So this waspure laptop base before anything
was mobile. And I was 22. When Ilearned the power of
entrepreneurship, I didn'treally understand it when I was
started this business. Because Iwas 22 I graduated college, I
(02:45):
still had my little onlineordering platform website thing.
And the company that wound upbecoming Grub Hub reached out to
me and said, Hey, we want to buyit. And I'm believing I'm no
tech millionaire by any means.
But to be 22 years old, andreally understand the value of i
wish i was the value of equity,being able to kind of reflect
and say I, I drove that thing, Icreated that thing. I had
(03:08):
autonomy. In my hours, I workedas hard or as little as I wanted
to around my college schedule.
Like those two things clickedfor me at a young age. And
there's so many people that wework with Melissa all the time.
They're leaving their careers bythe time they realize what
entrepreneurship can do forthem. So I was lucky enough to
be dumb enough or dumb enough tobe lucky enough to start a
(03:29):
business at a really young ageand committed fraud in order to
do it. But no, Sallie Mae, Ithink would encourage it, they
should encourage moreentrepreneurship opportunities,
sorry Sallie Mae, if you'relistening, but and then I that's
how I got started to thefranchising world. So instead of
me then getting a quote unquote,corporate job, which a lot of
(03:49):
people that live where I live inNew Jersey, get on a bus or a
train to go into Manhattan everyday. And that just wasn't
appealing to me. So havinglearned this lesson about what
entrepreneurship could do forme, I started my second small
business, which was a group ledfitness business. And we grew
that so well, from the firstlocation that we said we should
(04:11):
franchise this thing. And wedidn't know the first thing my
partner about about franchising.
We read all the books, went allthe conferences, and we took
this one location and built itto roughly 65. So that's how I
got started in the world offranchising prior to floor
coverings International. So itall kind of just happened. But
certainly grateful that ithappened the way it did, because
I love what I do.
(04:32):
I did not know that about you.
So I am again, I just like lovethese conversations because it's
like, okay, you would never knowthat. That's how you got into
franchising and to your point. Ifeel like people allowed him to
just fall into franchisingbecause it's not something
that's talked about in school orin like kind of general
conversation, especially aroundcareer and like your future.
(04:54):
Which is something else we canget into like, you know, the
young or population in theyounger generation? How can they
start getting into franchisingearlier? Because to your point,
so many the people that we workwith, they're later in their
career, it's like their 2.0 isthey're like, they've already
had this whole career incorporate and now they're
(05:14):
finding out about businessownership. So, I love so you're
like the original, you're theGrubHub. Guy. That's what
I wish. I really is. But youknow, the thing is, is that
it's, if you're lucky enough tolearn what entrepreneurship
(05:35):
could do for you at any point inyour life. I think it's almost
like a bug. Because then youknow, as you're right, a lot of
people don't know about ourindustry, or, you know, for the
most part, people get intofranchises that they're in that
career. 2.0 I like that thatphrase you use, but there's
really no reason why it can't bea 1.0. Like the first thing you
(05:55):
get done your career. It's justa matter of education. So I
think the more that we can talkabout small business ownership,
the more people that canhopefully get bit by the bug,
because again, I was lucky toget bit by the bug pretty early.
And you don't leave onceyou're in, you really don't, you
really don't. And there's areason for it. Because I feel,
you know, at the entrepreneurs,we talked so much about income,
lifestyle, wealth, and equity.
(06:16):
Those are just like the fourpillars that our coaches talk
about with their clients. Andthen as the franchisor, you're
introducing those concepts ortying in those concepts to the
candidates, you speak to whatyou experienced that from a
young age, you obviously didn'tput a name to it, but income,
lifestyle, wealth and equity,you started building those. So
(06:37):
how do you work that in to yourconversations, like how does
that impact now what you'redoing in franchising, and why is
that so important?
Oh, man, I mean, I think thatthere's so many reasons why it's
so important. I think for forstarters, it really the four
(06:58):
things that you just mentioned,every particular brand, or every
particular opportunity has allof those things, but to varying
degrees, right, someopportunities, there is really
high income potential, but maybethere's less around the equity
potential, or there's moredemands around lifestyle than
others in particular businesses.
So those four things, the way Ithink of them is that every
particular business has its owngauge, you know, the earning
(07:19):
potential here on one brand, butor one opportunity, but maybe
it's not as high on the other,but maybe the lifestyle is
better or worse. And another sothe, I love to talk about all
four of those things when I'mworking with a potential
franchise match atfloorcoverings International,
because it gives you that litmustest in the beginning, because
we know where our gauges are,our bars are as it relates to
(07:40):
what can be gotten out of ourbusiness. And so to have the
conversations upfront around thelifestyle, wealth, equity
income, that automaticallystarts the process of us trying
to figure out if we have a matchwith the prospective client. And
then on the flip side, you know,for me, the way that I like to
weave in my story is just tohopefully make myself relatable.
(08:03):
I feel like a lot of times whenyou were working with a client
that the entrepreneur storesputs in front of floor coverings
International. by no fault ofanybody's, it's just the nature
of our business, the clientcomes to us, and there's
immediately this kind of a guardup because they met a TDS.
Coach, they developed a greatrelationship with a TDS coach,
and the T S coach says, Trustme, I've done my research, here
(08:25):
are a handful of brands that Ithink might fit some of the
characteristics you're lookingfor. Right? Then they come to
us. And I'm the stranger. So byme getting an opportunity to
talk a little bit about whatI've experienced as it relates
to small business ownership,which I know are the things that
they might be looking for, Ithink it automatically puts us
on a kind of an even level wherewe can speak to each other in
(08:48):
more of a relatable way. Andthat way, at the beginning, we
could start to you know, breakdown that invisible, invisible
barrier that exists just becausethere are two strangers sitting
across from a zoom screen.
Yeah, so much to take from thatwhere and I think you kind of
mentioned it being like, wow,there's actually so much around
(09:09):
those kinds of four pieces ofincome, lifestyle, wealth and
equity, even referred to as likesomeone's why in a way and just
kind of breaks it down a bitmore into what someone's y could
look like. But it kind ofpermeates really everything like
to be able to connect tosomeone's income, lifestyle,
wealth and equity goals is howyou're going to be able to like
(09:32):
yes, they might love what it isthat your brand does, which we
can get into what is floorcoverings international little
bit, but for sure at the end ofthe day, they truly are going to
connect their goals to how yourbrand floor coverings
international can help themachieve those goals. So it's
like that kind of must have beat the foundation and then build
on that and you kind of put inthe details as needed. But
(09:56):
that's like the base of it. Andso you can speak to that if you
You want and then also just fillus in a little bit on floor
coverings International, some ofyour brand differentiators. What
resonates with candidates whenthey do speak with you about
your brand?
Sure, well, I'll start just tomake a comment on what you just
said, I think I love the analogythat my job when I'm speaking to
(10:18):
a prospective franchise owner isto be the front porch of the
franchise organization. And bywhat I mean by that, or like the
bouncer on the front porch,right, because it's not that we
don't want we want to beexclusive and not, you know, not
let anybody in in that fashion.
But if we let somebody into ourclub, or our house, if you will
be, it's going to be becausethey're the right fit. And not
(10:38):
every brand is the right fit fornot every individual because
every individual is different,and every brand is different.
And so from the get go, Ibelieve, personally, a good
entrepreneur source, butfranchisor, whether it's floor
coverings International, or anyfranchise or relationship starts
with the franchisor, the guy inmy position standing or gal
(11:00):
standing on the front porch,being really clear about what it
is that the brand can offer aprospective candidate and
communicating it to the coaches,but then with the clients as
well coming to get tocommunicating it to them as
well. Because if it does come toa point where we let them in, or
they want to come into thehouse, into the club, and be
part of the franchiseorganization, it's done so in a
(11:23):
way that there's mutualalignment. And the franchisor
says, Here are our values, hereare the things that we're able
to offer for all the fourfactors that we've been talking
about. And then the candidatesays, Yep, I identify with them.
And it winds up being a greatrelationship. So I just, I love
that the entrepreneur sourcesets that up from the beginning,
and really starts to dig intothe why of the client and of the
(11:44):
candidate. Because then whenthey get to that first
conversation with somebody in myposition, there were already we
have a leg up in ourdiscussions, because a lot of
that discovery has alreadyhappened about why we're
speaking in the first place,which is just awesome. But um,
you had asked about floorcoverings International. And so
(12:04):
I'll tell you something, listen,you know, it's interesting, give
a little bit of my backgroundfloorcoverings International was
my first job. Having ever, youknow, started my own businesses
like my first real job job. AndI knew I wanted a job when I
before I came here. And thereason why was because when
you're an entrepreneur, and Iconsider myself to be an
(12:27):
entrepreneur, entrepreneur,meaning come up with an idea, go
build it and execute it. In thatsense. It's pretty lonely.
That's one of the reasons why Ilike franchising is because it's
not lonely at all. You're anentrepreneur, you have content,
entire curl, control anddirection. But you've got a
network of many, many othersthat are running the business
alongside of you, plus thecorporate support as well. Love
(12:48):
franchising for that. I had adifferent experience in the
sense that I had started first,my first two businesses, and it
was just constantly iteratingfiguring out iterating figuring
out, you never felt like youreally knew what you were doing
as much success or not success,your habit having entrepreneurs
in general that aren't part offranchise organizations, they
have no real way of knowingknowing if it's good or not good
(13:09):
because it's really hard tobenchmark your performance.
Anyway. So before I came here, Iwas looking for two things. For
my next stop. I was looking foran opportunity to learn from
some people that had been thereand done that.
I explained why a second ago,but the other thing I was
looking for was just this hockeystick growth opportunity. You
(13:30):
know, being younger, I know thatI'm younger, and I wanted to
play so I can continue to growand sometimes those two things
we have a really experiencedteam. You might not find a brand
that is younger, if you will,right. I was lucky enough to
find floor coveringsInternational. I never would
have thought that I'd be in thehome improvement or flooring
industry. I don't think anybodywakes up and says they want to
(13:51):
be in the flooring industry. Butwhen I learned about this, it's
like firefighter professionalathlete at least for boys,
right? That's what we want todo. And not a flooring business
owner. But when I'm when Ilearned about the team here, so
floor coverings International,owned by a publicly traded
entity, a company called firstservice that started the very
(14:15):
largest painting franchise inNorth America, which is CertaPro
Painters owns California closetswhich created an industry that
they were the first ones. PaulDavis restoration, Florida post
home inspectors. They boughtfloor coverings International in
2005. So Tom Wood is our CEO isa co founder at CertaPro
(14:36):
painter. So I was like okay,there are some really smart
people that have built someamazing brands here. Number one
is there. Then number two withfloor coverings international
being the youngest brand in theportfolio, and we are truly
growing it just following thegameplan of the other brands
that the team has built. I saidthis is just something that's
too good for me to pass up onand so on Those were the things
(15:00):
that I was looking for. And thenwhen I still had this little bit
of a, okay, I've got a reallyexperienced, awesome team that I
can learn from. And I've got agreat growth opportunity. But I
still had this little bit ofhesitation to say it's a
flooring, flooring really. Butthen once you start to peel back
(15:21):
the layers of the onion, it'sjust super interesting what this
brand does and what we theposition we have in the
marketplace. So the flooringindustry is the largest interior
remodeling industry that thereis. So more people spend money
on their floors, and they doanything else. And there's this
misnomer that you know, theflooring business is like the
dusty old carpet salesman withripped jeans. But I don't know
(15:41):
about you, the last time I putcarpet in my house was I don't
even know Probably never.
Because right now when you redothe floors in your house, it's
these nice big long plankhardwoods. And when you get
flooring done in your home, it'smore like HGTV than it is dusty
carpet sales. So that was onething that really impressed me.
And then the other thing thatreally impressed so huge
industry really fragmented,there isn't a dominant player.
(16:05):
People say, Well, how do youcompete with Home Depot? Home
Depot only makes up 4% of themarketplace. So we don't have to
compete with Home Depot becausethey're not really that big of a
player. Because nobody wants toDIY their floors. Right? So. So
there's no big player. And thenthe last thing that I found,
there's just a click with me,which is going to lead to how
we're really different in theindustry is that the flooring
(16:26):
industry is female dominated. Ithink it logically makes sense.
Right? Like, like, if we'regoing to do the floors, my
house, my wife got it. I'm notNo, you're right, you're not?
No. No, clearly, I could barelydress myself in the morning. So
that it's a female dominantindustry, but like the look that
(16:49):
you just had on your face wherelike it took a second to
register, because initially thisperception of construction
flooring, ripping things upputting new things in how the
industry is male dominated. Butthere's a female consumer. So
first service is known theparent company is known for
dissecting who the customer is,and then building the core
(17:13):
differentiators around it. Andso we do a couple of really
unique things in the maledominated industry to cater to
the model more to who's thefemale homeowner. So
specifically, number one, theflooring industry traditionally
is retail, like you have to goback and forth to a store the
fluorescent lighting, we takeour mobile flooring showroom
(17:34):
with over 3000 product SK use tocreate a shop at home experience
for this really large purchase.
Because for me, as a male, I go,Okay, that looks fine, put it
down. But I know my wife isgonna look at it. And she's
gonna say, Okay, does that matchwith the color of the walls, the
drapes, that was furniture, thiswill go will not go like she's
(17:56):
got much more of an opinion. Andfor her to be able to shop in
the lighting of her own home,next to her furniture, next to
the wall colorings and then beable to talk to somebody in her
home because, you know, shedoesn't want to listen to me
when it comes to that stuff.
Right? Till it talks to me shecould trust a true consultant in
the process is a hugedifferentiator, number one.
Number two, the next hugedifferentiator that I find my
(18:18):
favorite part of this brand, thething I'm most proud of?
We're the number one ratedflooring company in North
America by customer servicestandards. And that's not just
because I say so it's measuredby net promoter score, which I'm
sure you're familiar with. Andso it's scientifically we are
the very best flooring companyin North America. You might
(18:42):
think, Okay, well, what's that?
That's a big deal.
Huge deal, right? Like, we'rethe best like real, we are the
Ritz Carlton of the flooringindustry, like the best of the
best. And there's a couple ofdifferent reasons why I'm going
to tell you that it starts withjust the fundamentals of us
being a decentralized franchisemodel, we've got local ownership
for all of our outlets that aregoing to bump into their
(19:04):
customers at the supermarket. Sothat's kind of like the first
like just just by virtue of usbeing a franchise organization.
But more than that, ourfranchise owners we bring into
the organization identify withthe idea that the bar is set so
low in the home remodelingindustry. People have terrible
(19:25):
connotations and thoughts whenit comes to a contractor coming
to their house. Like in general,it's cringe worthy. But it's not
hard to be not cringe worthy. Sowhat I mean is just by showing
up dressed professionally,answering your phone saying yes,
(19:45):
no, please thank you treatingsomebody else's home with
respect, active communication,active listening, following up
on the project or the projectprogress as the installation
goes throughout. Finishing theproject with a, you know, a
thank you a handshake and afolder or maybe a gift. Like,
these are all things that highcustomer service businesses do.
(20:09):
But in the home servicesindustry, it is completely
unexpected. And so we identifywith franchise owners, we bring
franchise owners into thisbusiness that identify that,
hey, by us bringing soft skillsto a dirty industry, we can
really stand out. And so that'show we become the best flooring
(20:31):
company in North America. Andthen the last thing I'll just
mention that's pretty uniqueabout the brand is a we buy our
materials directly from themanufacturers. So, you know,
everybody's concerned when theyget into businesses, okay, well,
I be competitive in mymarketplace. And for whatever
reason, I think people thinkthat doing business with a
(20:51):
franchise is more expensive. Butbecause of the strategic
relationships we have withproduct vendors, our franchise
owners, thanks to theserelationships, purchase their
materials in the same level andbuying tear as Home Depot and
Lowe's. So it's this combinationof of the buying experience at
(21:12):
the front end, the delivery, anddelivering and following through
on promises, and tying togetherthat buying to the installation,
plus the strategic relationshipswe have with all of the major
flooring manufacturers in NorthAmerica. At the moment, we're
the fastest growing flooringcompany in North America. So
yeah, hopefully, well,hopefully, I just took what
maybe sounded not sexy, theflooring company and made it
(21:34):
kind of exciting, I hope.
Yeah, I'm like, All right,Where's where's my floor
coverings international here?
Because no, I love all thosedifferent things. Because
exactly to your point, like, asyou're talking, I'm thinking,
Alright, these what you'retalking about, there's like
myths and misconceptions aroundthem, whether it's just the
industry, but also franchisingin general, like when you're
(21:55):
able to break it down into,okay, the customer service
piece, the thought that goesinto the just setting up the
whole process and the thoughtand like, the systems in place
and the structure that's there,you would never know that and
also the fact where you're like,Okay, people think franchising
(22:16):
is like more franchises are moreexpensive to work with and
things like that. These are alljust misconceptions and myths
that I'm sure like yourcandidates have not just your
consumers and your customers,but also your candidates. And so
just and this is where I getreally excited, because I'm
like, you get to talk to peoplewho have these misconceptions
(22:38):
would never have thought Ishould go into a flooring
business. This is something Ireally want to do. But then once
they actually get to talk toyou, and listen and hear what it
is that you guys do. All of asudden, their whole mindset
shifts, and they're like, whoa,whoa, like, I am so excited to
do this. Like, what's the nextstep? How do I get there? And
(22:59):
like, that's key and I don'tthink a lot of franchisors, No,
I shouldn't say I don't think alot of franchisors, but I think
sometimes maybe that's themissing piece where people get
so explicit caught up on likethe features and benefits, like
this is the type of ourflooring. And this is the brands
that we use, people don'tactually care about that they
want to connect to that wholecustomer service, I want to be
(23:21):
part of my community. I lovelike giving back, that kind of
thing. Like that's what peopleconnect to. And I think
sometimes that gets lost orpeople just don't like
franchisors don't educate aboutthat. They're maybe focused on
some of the wrong, not the wrongthings. But the things that
maybe don't matter so much tothe candidate.
I think this goes exactly backto the conversation, we had to
(23:42):
start where we were talkingabout the four factors that you
know, people determine what agood franchise matches for them.
At the end of the day, use theword why it boils down to the
why. So for us to be really goodat this matchmaking process,
we've got to really stronglyunderstand the why of our
candidate or our client. Butthen I think what I was just
explained to you was the why ofour brands, like the what is the
(24:05):
flooring like the what is thatwe're a franchise, but the why
we exist to be the very best incustomer service inside of this
dirty industry. And then we alsoexisted I mentioned this other
thing, we exist to build scaledlarge franchise businesses so
that our individual franchiseowners can build the lifestyle
freedom equity that comes withhaving a large scale business as
(24:29):
opposed to more of a solopreneurtype business which there's
nothing wrong with sometimesthat business is right for
certain individuals, right. Sothat's our y ry ry is to build
large scale businesses and bethe very best in customer
service. And so when a brand ingeneral is really clear about
why they exist, and then theycould really help a candidate
identify or dig into their whyit makes that matchmaking
(24:52):
process like so easy like I'lltell you for the most part
Melissa. In the by the secondconversation I have with a
candidate you It's very apparentto me whether we've got an
opportunity to make therelationship happen or not. And
it's just because at least thefirst two conversations, there's
somewhat involved. But the firstconversation is mostly around
the wire the candidate, and thesecond conversation is mostly
(25:15):
around the why of the brand. Andthen after that second call,
it's like, okay, we know ifwe've got some magic here if we
don't, and if we don't havemagic, it's okay. It's better
off for both parties. Right?
Well, that'sone of the say two. And I
actually love that where you'relike, Okay, you talk about the
clients want the candidates,why, then you talk about the
brands, why? And at that point,you should see, you know, is
there something here, but ifyou're only leading with, if you
(25:39):
never get to the why of eitherside, or you're getting to it,
like too late, or just likenever comes up, then it's gonna
be really difficult to find likethe right people that you want
to work with. I guess at the endof the day, you might find some
great people, but they might notbe that right. The right fit for
your brand. At the end?
(26:03):
Yeah, for any round. Right. Iyeah, I think that that's not
only just advice I need toremind myself of because we all
fall into patterns of behavior,like, oh, I need to I need to do
a better job of digging intothis individuals. Why are
explaining what we do? I thinkjust in general, myself, and
everybody who does what we do.
What's really the motivatingfactor behind the individual?
The Why, what's really themotivating factor behind the
(26:24):
brand? Why does the brand exist?
And then those other pieces likeyou said, they'll either they'll
figure themselves out,yeah. And I like to where you're
like, Hey, it's okay. If it'snot the right, it's okay. If
it's not the right fit, youknow, that's going to happen.
And that's totally fine. Like,and I know to like when I work
with the coaches, we do so muchabout education, which is why I
(26:45):
love working with you and theteam and floor coverings because
it's very much about theeducation piece. And that whole
discovery for the candidate,like they're learning about what
floor coverings does, and thewhy and how it fits in with
their why and all that greatstuff.
Yeah, add a comment because thisis just so like, I love what
(27:09):
we're talking about. Because atthe end of the day, like you
brought up, it's okay, that'ssometimes part ways or it's okay
that the y's don't align. It'sso true, because I think, in my
position, where I'm, you know,recruiting individuals into a
franchise organization, anybodywho does what I do, and then
anybody who does what a coachdoes, in developing rapport,
(27:30):
helping an individual discovertheir strengths, their wise,
exposing them to the benefits ofbusiness ownership, and then
helping them match withprospective franchise brands. We
both and this actually, I'm notgoing to take credit for this.
This is a Charlie Chase was thepresident of the IFA, or the
chair of the IFA, he, he's thepresident of our parent company.
And he recently said, I love thefact that you just work, we both
(27:54):
have a fiduciary relationship,which a fiduciary if you Google
it, or you want to know what thedefinition of involving trusts,
especially with regard to therelationship between the trustee
and the beneficiary, that was myGoogle definition, there wasn't
a top my head. I know, I don'thave that memorized. But I know
what fiduciary means I justwanted the textbook for our
(28:14):
conversation. But anyhow, weboth need to act on the best
interest of the candidate. Andsometimes the best interest is
to not pursue a particularbrand. Or maybe business
ownership isn't right for themnow, wherever. And if that's in
their best interest, we're allgoing to be able to sleep at
night, and we're all going to beable to see success in the
(28:35):
people that wind up jumping intoa particular franchise.
I'm like, let's just take amoment of silence and let that
sink in. Because, again, whenyou look at franchising,
sometimes it gets into maybe abit of like a frantic mindset
where you're like, Okay, I needto grow, I need more franchisees
(28:57):
even on the coach side, youknow, okay, I need to get my
client into a business I'm, Ineed them to, like, be awarded
this territory and like, youkind of get into this. And I
guess it's maybe like a bit of ascarcity mindset, but almost
kind of panics, like frantic.
And that's not the place thatyou want to come from. Exactly.
To your point, maybe businessownership is not right for that
(29:18):
person. Now, maybe not ever, butyou have a person who's talked
to you, they know about yourbrand, and if they have this
great experience with you,they'll be a raving fan, whether
they become a franchisee or not.
And it just like, pays itselfforward and builds momentum. And
I think that's the place thatyou want to come from, as
(29:38):
opposed to like, Oh, I just thisMay this isn't like the perfect
match. But you know what, I gota quota. So gotta go. You know,
at the end of the day, it hurtsthe brand and it hurts the
individual. Right? I mean,again, like that word fiduciary
relationship, you know, we havea fiduciary responsibility,
because for most of the folksthat we work with, again, the T
(29:59):
s co Just in the people infranchise development, we're
leading individuals to takesometimes all or, or a good
portion of their life savingsand invest it. And if we do so
under the wrong pretenses that'sa that's not good. Let's put it
that way. I could say a lot ofthings. I'm just gonna leave it
(30:19):
with. That's not good. Like acaveman might say that not good.
Not good.
Exactly, exactly. And, andfranchising can be so
empowering. I know, it's a veryoverused word, but franchising,
get elite changes people'slives, you know, it changed your
life, it's changed my life. Andit changes the lives of these
(30:41):
franchisees who. And it's sofunny because we talk about it
all the time. But it's actuallytrue. Like, these aren't just
words that I say a lot, youactually hear stories of, and
you can share some of these aswell. And your side, I'm sure
where you have franchisees whocame in, you know, coaches told
me the client was like, wildlyfrustrated, or they were just
(31:05):
done. They're like, Okay, I'malmost at the end of my career,
there's not a lot left, I'velost the spark, I like don't
have joy in this anymore. Theyfigure out what franchising can
do for them, they fall in lovewith the brand. And it like,
completely changed thetrajectory of their course of
life. It changes their family,like the next generation. It's
(31:26):
wild. And that's what I loveabout franchising. So thanks for
coming to my TED Talk. And onthat note, so you can kind of
comment on that however youwant. And then as we wrap up
here, I would love to get yourthoughts on. I mean, you and I
could talk for hours. So we'llcontinue the conversation, but
(31:49):
you can comment on what I justtalked about. And then also,
just to wrap up, I would love toget your thoughts on future
franchising. So whether thatrelates to your brand
floorcoverings internationalfranchising in general, what you
see from your perspective, like,what do you see happening in the
industry, all that good stuff?
(32:10):
Well, I think, just just, youknow, talking about franchising,
being a life changer, I thinkthat one of the one of my
favorite success stories isfranchise owner that we have
here. floorcoveringsinternational actually have two
great success stories. But I'llstart with the franchise that we
have here at floorcoveringsInternational, who was looking
for ways to leave Venezueladidn't know what a franchise
(32:36):
was. Gentlemen, just didn't justneed to get his family out of an
oppressive situation in anoppressive country and stumbled
upon the opportunity for an Etwo visa, then stumbled upon a
franchise coach. And today, he'sgot his family living in the
(32:59):
United States. He runs amultimillion dollar business,
his daughters are growing up ina beautiful home in a beautiful
neighborhood. Whereas, rewindseven or eight years, this
particular gentleman was scaredto drive to the grocery store.
And it's the kind of the thingthat gives you goosebumps. I
remember I was eating lunch withhim. And he said something weird
(33:21):
just happened. He looked at meit was something weird just
happened. What do you mean? He'slike, I just realized that we've
been here at this restaurant forlike, an hour. Like, yeah, he's
like, I haven't felt nervous thewhole time. Like it would you
like it. Like when I I'll neverforget that right? Because the
guy was so conditioned. Hecouldn't even be in public
without having fear for his lifein the country that he left. And
(33:43):
then he took a months and monthsto finally adjust to the fact
that living here in the UnitedStates. You could sit at a
restaurant and feel comfortable.
Like, it's like, it's insane.
It's absolutely insane. So, yes,franchising absolutely changes
lives. And without this, thisparticular franchise owner, you
(34:03):
know, would not have ever knownthe ins and outs of opening a
business in this. So he, hetheoretically could have started
a business but he would havenever known the ins and outs of
opening a business marketing toconsumers. I mean, all that
stuff that a franchise orcoaches and all because of the
franchisor franchiseerelationship, you know, his kids
are living in an environmentthat they can grow up and be
(34:25):
safe. That's just, that's justmy absolute favorite thing in
the world.
i It's only there's almost nowords because, first of all,
like from, you know, I canbarely imagine like, it's very
hard to imagine even coming froma place like that. And then
through through franchising, howyou know, the steps that how
(34:47):
that got there? Yeah, he isliving a completely different
life and the life that he camefrom before he was like, scared
for his life. Like that's justcrazy.
That Merida is just wild. Yes.
It completely, completelyinsane. So I think, Melissa, the
future of franchising is thatit's everything we've been
(35:09):
talking about. I think that I'ma believer in that the the good
intent people will alwaysprevail, even though in the
short term, sometimes they feellike, maybe they're not at
times. So like, I'll give you anexample. You know, in my
approach that I take was tryingto find a match sometimes, or
people that aren't a match. Andso I might lose out on an
(35:31):
opportunity to bring somebodyinto the organization. But I
know long term, I'm going tobring in great fits to the
organization and they're goingto perform really well. I think
in franchising our industry, ingeneral, what we're going to
start to see happen is that thebrands that bring people in
under the right pretenses andthat actually invest to help
(35:52):
support their franchise ownerslaunch their business and
identify success within themodel. Those are going to be the
brands that are the identifiedor identifiable franchise brands
long term. And if you're lookingat, just look at any of the
brands that are franchising,that are household names,
(36:13):
McDonald's subway, those areeasy AMCO that's, that's a
household name, you drive bythem all the time and that but
just think about the brands thatare household names and
franchising. The ones thatbecome household names are
rooted in the franchiseesuccess, and the franchisee
success is, thanks to the fifthfinding what we do, and thanks
to the support. So ultimately, Ithink it's inevitable that the
(36:36):
future of franchising is thatthe people who have the the
proper intentions are the onesthat will succeed. And that's, I
mean, I don't think that's not aprediction, I just think that
that's a fact that's just anultimately what will happen.
Now, I love that it's take care,like, take the time to set it up
(36:58):
properly, right from the start.
And we talked about this too,like yet look long term, if
you're just looking short term,that's, you know, not the recipe
for success and for becoming ahousehold name, and for being
this long lasting brand withgreat franchisees. So it's the
at the end of the day to that'sit's not just about the brand
(37:19):
and the brand name, it's like,these are individuals that you
are gonna changing their lives,and they're gonna stay with you
for years. And like, that's,that's what you want to see. So
and that's when I, you know,we'd love to any emerging
brands, any new franchises whoare like coming into the space
looking to grow just startinglike that, exactly what you just
(37:41):
said is what I would want themto hear, you know, do it right,
find the right people, it's okayto say no, if it's not the right
fit, it's like, you will be fineif you do it the right
way. And the really cool thingthat happens outside of
everything that we justmentioned, like the brand builds
and people perform well. Mostpeople when they get into a
(38:04):
franchise business don't realizethis particular benefit, but the
particular benefit I'm about tolabel doesn't exist unless you
do everything right up front.
And that's the franchisee tofranchisee camaraderie and
culture and support. I think alot of times when somebody is
searching for a franchise brand,they're like, What is the
(38:25):
franchisor do for me? Whatsystems do they have? What
training do they have? Whatmarketing do they provide? Which
that's all the responsibility ofa good franchisor? Don't get me
wrong here. But one of the blindspots people have in searching
for franchising or franchiseopportunities is what's the
culture of the organization?
Like what's my neighboringfranchisee going to do to help
(38:48):
me? Or is he going to be anadversary or not. And that
culture is developed by startingwith identifying the right
people, and then showing themsuccess. And a good franchise
organization will have this alsoamazing peer to peer culture.
And I'll argue that that is waymore valuable to a potential
(39:11):
franchise owner than even thesupport that the corporate
office gives. So that's theagain, that's the hidden thing
that develops over time. That'sprobably the thing I'm most
proud of about floor coveringsInternational, is our franchise
owners peer to peer are likefamily to each other. And
because of that we seebusinesses grow faster and learn
(39:33):
faster, because instead of themjust relying on what the
corporate people say, they alsoget an opportunity to have
somebody in their corner that'sdoing what they do cheer them
on, or, you know, giving themthe healthy nudge to say Come
on, you know, you shouldn't bedoing that or you know what the
right way to do things come on.
And again, that to me, that'sthe that is the hidden thing
that most people don't look for,or identify with in franchise
(39:55):
brands. But it's probably themost powerful
See that? Thank you for bringingthat up because I don't think we
like we didn't really even touchon that. And that's a massive
part of it. Again, little thingabout franchising, not a little
thing, but something aboutfranchising that probably people
don't even think about are themisconceptions. It's all about,
oh, it's like this big, youknow, the big brother
(40:18):
franchisor, whatever it is, andyou don't even think about,
okay, what's the actualcommunity like, not just the
culture of the head office, andthen that but like, the people
that I get to be with for thenext, you know, 10 years more,
whatever it is. That's anexcellent point. So thank you,
elver Herman's for joining us.
This is not a fun right. Well,thank you very much. I
(40:42):
thoroughly enjoyed ourconversation.
I did to Melissa anytime youneed a sound bite, I'm here for
you. So you got meperfect. And now we know you've
committed fraudIt's okay. The loans paid back
at this point. I think it's pastit's it's opportunity
Hey everyone, welcome back to another episode of
franchise Friday. Glad to haveyou. And I'm excited because I'm
here with Elbert Herman's offloorcoverings. International.
So hey, Albert, welcome to theold podcast.
I couldn't be happier to be onthe podcast, this is fun
franchise Friday, it's like thebest, the absolute best
(00:35):
thank, you know, I am incomplete agreement with you.
We're on the same page aboutthat. So all right, I always
love chatting with you. So I'mlooking forward to our
conversation, who knows whereit's gonna go. But before we get
into some of the topics fortoday, let the people know where
you came from how you got towhere you are today, a little
bit of your background.
(00:56):
My goodness, sure. And yeah, whothe heck knows where this is
gonna go because I can I can getoff on a tangent. But I'll do my
best to just keep my backgroundsuccinct. So I have been with
floor coverings International.
I'll start here like where I'mat presently southern was floor
coverings international for thelast eight years. And at the
moment, I'm in charge of ourfranchise development team. So I
(01:17):
leave franchise development,we've got the best team in
franchise development, we've gotfour franchise developers, plus
our great back office team, thatmakes sure that everything that
needs to get done to properlybring folks into the
organization get it done. I'malso an equity partner here. But
my entire career has beenaccidentally entrepreneurship.
(01:39):
So when I was in college, Istarted my first small business.
And actually, this is the firstlittle sound bite that you know,
you just you just rolled withthings for I committed fraud. By
starting my first smallbusiness, I took out a Sallie
Mae loan, which is supposed tobe used for education. And I
started a business with it. AndI never thought I'd be an
entrepreneur. It just was my myfriend. And I had an idea he
(02:02):
wanted to become my businesspartner, we had an idea to take
all of the menus that you getslipped under your dorm room
door and put them on a website.
And then from that idea, wesaid, Well, shouldn't people be
able to order food from thiswebsite too. And back when I was
in college, I'm not that old.
But I'm old enough to rememberwhen I was in college, we didn't
have any cell phones. And it waslike the It wasn't even
(02:23):
BlackBerry is the flip phone.
And then like the laptops thatsounded like a jet engine with
the fan underneath. So this waspure laptop base before anything
was mobile. And I was 22. When Ilearned the power of
entrepreneurship, I didn'treally understand it when I was
started this business. Because Iwas 22 I graduated college, I
(02:45):
still had my little onlineordering platform website thing.
And the company that wound upbecoming Grub Hub reached out to
me and said, Hey, we want to buyit. And I'm believing I'm no
tech millionaire by any means.
But to be 22 years old, andreally understand the value of i
wish i was the value of equity,being able to kind of reflect
and say I, I drove that thing, Icreated that thing. I had
(03:08):
autonomy. In my hours, I workedas hard or as little as I wanted
to around my college schedule.
Like those two things clickedfor me at a young age. And
there's so many people that wework with Melissa all the time.
They're leaving their careers bythe time they realize what
entrepreneurship can do forthem. So I was lucky enough to
be dumb enough or dumb enough tobe lucky enough to start a
(03:29):
business at a really young ageand committed fraud in order to
do it. But no, Sallie Mae, Ithink would encourage it, they
should encourage moreentrepreneurship opportunities,
sorry Sallie Mae, if you'relistening, but and then I that's
how I got started to thefranchising world. So instead of
me then getting a quote unquote,corporate job, which a lot of
(03:49):
people that live where I live inNew Jersey, get on a bus or a
train to go into Manhattan everyday. And that just wasn't
appealing to me. So havinglearned this lesson about what
entrepreneurship could do forme, I started my second small
business, which was a group ledfitness business. And we grew
that so well, from the firstlocation that we said we should
(04:11):
franchise this thing. And wedidn't know the first thing my
partner about about franchising.
We read all the books, went allthe conferences, and we took
this one location and built itto roughly 65. So that's how I
got started in the world offranchising prior to floor
coverings International. So itall kind of just happened. But
certainly grateful that ithappened the way it did, because
I love what I do.
(04:32):
I did not know that about you.
So I am again, I just like lovethese conversations because it's
like, okay, you would never knowthat. That's how you got into
franchising and to your point. Ifeel like people allowed him to
just fall into franchisingbecause it's not something
that's talked about in school orin like kind of general
conversation, especially aroundcareer and like your future.
(04:54):
Which is something else we canget into like, you know, the
young or population in theyounger generation? How can they
start getting into franchisingearlier? Because to your point,
so many the people that we workwith, they're later in their
career, it's like their 2.0 isthey're like, they've already
had this whole career incorporate and now they're
(05:14):
finding out about businessownership. So, I love so you're
like the original, you're theGrubHub. Guy. That's what
I wish. I really is. But youknow, the thing is, is that
it's, if you're lucky enough tolearn what entrepreneurship
(05:35):
could do for you at any point inyour life. I think it's almost
like a bug. Because then youknow, as you're right, a lot of
people don't know about ourindustry, or, you know, for the
most part, people get intofranchises that they're in that
career. 2.0 I like that thatphrase you use, but there's
really no reason why it can't bea 1.0. Like the first thing you
(05:55):
get done your career. It's justa matter of education. So I
think the more that we can talkabout small business ownership,
the more people that canhopefully get bit by the bug,
because again, I was lucky toget bit by the bug pretty early.
And you don't leave onceyou're in, you really don't, you
really don't. And there's areason for it. Because I feel,
you know, at the entrepreneurs,we talked so much about income,
lifestyle, wealth, and equity.
(06:16):
Those are just like the fourpillars that our coaches talk
about with their clients. Andthen as the franchisor, you're
introducing those concepts ortying in those concepts to the
candidates, you speak to whatyou experienced that from a
young age, you obviously didn'tput a name to it, but income,
lifestyle, wealth and equity,you started building those. So
(06:37):
how do you work that in to yourconversations, like how does
that impact now what you'redoing in franchising, and why is
that so important?
Oh, man, I mean, I think thatthere's so many reasons why it's
so important. I think for forstarters, it really the four
(06:58):
things that you just mentioned,every particular brand, or every
particular opportunity has allof those things, but to varying
degrees, right, someopportunities, there is really
high income potential, but maybethere's less around the equity
potential, or there's moredemands around lifestyle than
others in particular businesses.
So those four things, the way Ithink of them is that every
particular business has its owngauge, you know, the earning
(07:19):
potential here on one brand, butor one opportunity, but maybe
it's not as high on the other,but maybe the lifestyle is
better or worse. And another sothe, I love to talk about all
four of those things when I'mworking with a potential
franchise match atfloorcoverings International,
because it gives you that litmustest in the beginning, because
we know where our gauges are,our bars are as it relates to
(07:40):
what can be gotten out of ourbusiness. And so to have the
conversations upfront around thelifestyle, wealth, equity
income, that automaticallystarts the process of us trying
to figure out if we have a matchwith the prospective client. And
then on the flip side, you know,for me, the way that I like to
weave in my story is just tohopefully make myself relatable.
(08:03):
I feel like a lot of times whenyou were working with a client
that the entrepreneur storesputs in front of floor coverings
International. by no fault ofanybody's, it's just the nature
of our business, the clientcomes to us, and there's
immediately this kind of a guardup because they met a TDS.
Coach, they developed a greatrelationship with a TDS coach,
and the T S coach says, Trustme, I've done my research, here
(08:25):
are a handful of brands that Ithink might fit some of the
characteristics you're lookingfor. Right? Then they come to
us. And I'm the stranger. So byme getting an opportunity to
talk a little bit about whatI've experienced as it relates
to small business ownership,which I know are the things that
they might be looking for, Ithink it automatically puts us
on a kind of an even level wherewe can speak to each other in
(08:48):
more of a relatable way. Andthat way, at the beginning, we
could start to you know, breakdown that invisible, invisible
barrier that exists just becausethere are two strangers sitting
across from a zoom screen.
Yeah, so much to take from thatwhere and I think you kind of
mentioned it being like, wow,there's actually so much around
(09:09):
those kinds of four pieces ofincome, lifestyle, wealth and
equity, even referred to as likesomeone's why in a way and just
kind of breaks it down a bitmore into what someone's y could
look like. But it kind ofpermeates really everything like
to be able to connect tosomeone's income, lifestyle,
wealth and equity goals is howyou're going to be able to like
(09:32):
yes, they might love what it isthat your brand does, which we
can get into what is floorcoverings international little
bit, but for sure at the end ofthe day, they truly are going to
connect their goals to how yourbrand floor coverings
international can help themachieve those goals. So it's
like that kind of must have beat the foundation and then build
on that and you kind of put inthe details as needed. But
(09:56):
that's like the base of it. Andso you can speak to that if you
You want and then also just fillus in a little bit on floor
coverings International, some ofyour brand differentiators. What
resonates with candidates whenthey do speak with you about
your brand?
Sure, well, I'll start just tomake a comment on what you just
said, I think I love the analogythat my job when I'm speaking to
(10:18):
a prospective franchise owner isto be the front porch of the
franchise organization. And bywhat I mean by that, or like the
bouncer on the front porch,right, because it's not that we
don't want we want to beexclusive and not, you know, not
let anybody in in that fashion.
But if we let somebody into ourclub, or our house, if you will
be, it's going to be becausethey're the right fit. And not
(10:38):
every brand is the right fit fornot every individual because
every individual is different,and every brand is different.
And so from the get go, Ibelieve, personally, a good
entrepreneur source, butfranchisor, whether it's floor
coverings International, or anyfranchise or relationship starts
with the franchisor, the guy inmy position standing or gal
(11:00):
standing on the front porch,being really clear about what it
is that the brand can offer aprospective candidate and
communicating it to the coaches,but then with the clients as
well coming to get tocommunicating it to them as
well. Because if it does come toa point where we let them in, or
they want to come into thehouse, into the club, and be
part of the franchiseorganization, it's done so in a
(11:23):
way that there's mutualalignment. And the franchisor
says, Here are our values, hereare the things that we're able
to offer for all the fourfactors that we've been talking
about. And then the candidatesays, Yep, I identify with them.
And it winds up being a greatrelationship. So I just, I love
that the entrepreneur sourcesets that up from the beginning,
and really starts to dig intothe why of the client and of the
(11:44):
candidate. Because then whenthey get to that first
conversation with somebody in myposition, there were already we
have a leg up in ourdiscussions, because a lot of
that discovery has alreadyhappened about why we're
speaking in the first place,which is just awesome. But um,
you had asked about floorcoverings International. And so
(12:04):
I'll tell you something, listen,you know, it's interesting, give
a little bit of my backgroundfloorcoverings International was
my first job. Having ever, youknow, started my own businesses
like my first real job job. AndI knew I wanted a job when I
before I came here. And thereason why was because when
you're an entrepreneur, and Iconsider myself to be an
(12:27):
entrepreneur, entrepreneur,meaning come up with an idea, go
build it and execute it. In thatsense. It's pretty lonely.
That's one of the reasons why Ilike franchising is because it's
not lonely at all. You're anentrepreneur, you have content,
entire curl, control anddirection. But you've got a
network of many, many othersthat are running the business
alongside of you, plus thecorporate support as well. Love
(12:48):
franchising for that. I had adifferent experience in the
sense that I had started first,my first two businesses, and it
was just constantly iteratingfiguring out iterating figuring
out, you never felt like youreally knew what you were doing
as much success or not success,your habit having entrepreneurs
in general that aren't part offranchise organizations, they
have no real way of knowingknowing if it's good or not good
(13:09):
because it's really hard tobenchmark your performance.
Anyway. So before I came here, Iwas looking for two things. For
my next stop. I was looking foran opportunity to learn from
some people that had been thereand done that.
I explained why a second ago,but the other thing I was
looking for was just this hockeystick growth opportunity. You
(13:30):
know, being younger, I know thatI'm younger, and I wanted to
play so I can continue to growand sometimes those two things
we have a really experiencedteam. You might not find a brand
that is younger, if you will,right. I was lucky enough to
find floor coveringsInternational. I never would
have thought that I'd be in thehome improvement or flooring
industry. I don't think anybodywakes up and says they want to
(13:51):
be in the flooring industry. Butwhen I learned about this, it's
like firefighter professionalathlete at least for boys,
right? That's what we want todo. And not a flooring business
owner. But when I'm when Ilearned about the team here, so
floor coverings International,owned by a publicly traded
entity, a company called firstservice that started the very
(14:15):
largest painting franchise inNorth America, which is CertaPro
Painters owns California closetswhich created an industry that
they were the first ones. PaulDavis restoration, Florida post
home inspectors. They boughtfloor coverings International in
2005. So Tom Wood is our CEO isa co founder at CertaPro
(14:36):
painter. So I was like okay,there are some really smart
people that have built someamazing brands here. Number one
is there. Then number two withfloor coverings international
being the youngest brand in theportfolio, and we are truly
growing it just following thegameplan of the other brands
that the team has built. I saidthis is just something that's
too good for me to pass up onand so on Those were the things
(15:00):
that I was looking for. And thenwhen I still had this little bit
of a, okay, I've got a reallyexperienced, awesome team that I
can learn from. And I've got agreat growth opportunity. But I
still had this little bit ofhesitation to say it's a
flooring, flooring really. Butthen once you start to peel back
(15:21):
the layers of the onion, it'sjust super interesting what this
brand does and what we theposition we have in the
marketplace. So the flooringindustry is the largest interior
remodeling industry that thereis. So more people spend money
on their floors, and they doanything else. And there's this
misnomer that you know, theflooring business is like the
dusty old carpet salesman withripped jeans. But I don't know
(15:41):
about you, the last time I putcarpet in my house was I don't
even know Probably never.
Because right now when you redothe floors in your house, it's
these nice big long plankhardwoods. And when you get
flooring done in your home, it'smore like HGTV than it is dusty
carpet sales. So that was onething that really impressed me.
And then the other thing thatreally impressed so huge
industry really fragmented,there isn't a dominant player.
(16:05):
People say, Well, how do youcompete with Home Depot? Home
Depot only makes up 4% of themarketplace. So we don't have to
compete with Home Depot becausethey're not really that big of a
player. Because nobody wants toDIY their floors. Right? So. So
there's no big player. And thenthe last thing that I found,
there's just a click with me,which is going to lead to how
we're really different in theindustry is that the flooring
(16:26):
industry is female dominated. Ithink it logically makes sense.
Right? Like, like, if we'regoing to do the floors, my
house, my wife got it. I'm notNo, you're right, you're not?
No. No, clearly, I could barelydress myself in the morning. So
that it's a female dominantindustry, but like the look that
(16:49):
you just had on your face wherelike it took a second to
register, because initially thisperception of construction
flooring, ripping things upputting new things in how the
industry is male dominated. Butthere's a female consumer. So
first service is known theparent company is known for
dissecting who the customer is,and then building the core
(17:13):
differentiators around it. Andso we do a couple of really
unique things in the maledominated industry to cater to
the model more to who's thefemale homeowner. So
specifically, number one, theflooring industry traditionally
is retail, like you have to goback and forth to a store the
fluorescent lighting, we takeour mobile flooring showroom
(17:34):
with over 3000 product SK use tocreate a shop at home experience
for this really large purchase.
Because for me, as a male, I go,Okay, that looks fine, put it
down. But I know my wife isgonna look at it. And she's
gonna say, Okay, does that matchwith the color of the walls, the
drapes, that was furniture, thiswill go will not go like she's
(17:56):
got much more of an opinion. Andfor her to be able to shop in
the lighting of her own home,next to her furniture, next to
the wall colorings and then beable to talk to somebody in her
home because, you know, shedoesn't want to listen to me
when it comes to that stuff.
Right? Till it talks to me shecould trust a true consultant in
the process is a hugedifferentiator, number one.
Number two, the next hugedifferentiator that I find my
(18:18):
favorite part of this brand, thething I'm most proud of?
We're the number one ratedflooring company in North
America by customer servicestandards. And that's not just
because I say so it's measuredby net promoter score, which I'm
sure you're familiar with. Andso it's scientifically we are
the very best flooring companyin North America. You might
(18:42):
think, Okay, well, what's that?
That's a big deal.
Huge deal, right? Like, we'rethe best like real, we are the
Ritz Carlton of the flooringindustry, like the best of the
best. And there's a couple ofdifferent reasons why I'm going
to tell you that it starts withjust the fundamentals of us
being a decentralized franchisemodel, we've got local ownership
for all of our outlets that aregoing to bump into their
(19:04):
customers at the supermarket. Sothat's kind of like the first
like just just by virtue of usbeing a franchise organization.
But more than that, ourfranchise owners we bring into
the organization identify withthe idea that the bar is set so
low in the home remodelingindustry. People have terrible
(19:25):
connotations and thoughts whenit comes to a contractor coming
to their house. Like in general,it's cringe worthy. But it's not
hard to be not cringe worthy. Sowhat I mean is just by showing
up dressed professionally,answering your phone saying yes,
(19:45):
no, please thank you treatingsomebody else's home with
respect, active communication,active listening, following up
on the project or the projectprogress as the installation
goes throughout. Finishing theproject with a, you know, a
thank you a handshake and afolder or maybe a gift. Like,
these are all things that highcustomer service businesses do.
(20:09):
But in the home servicesindustry, it is completely
unexpected. And so we identifywith franchise owners, we bring
franchise owners into thisbusiness that identify that,
hey, by us bringing soft skillsto a dirty industry, we can
really stand out. And so that'show we become the best flooring
(20:31):
company in North America. Andthen the last thing I'll just
mention that's pretty uniqueabout the brand is a we buy our
materials directly from themanufacturers. So, you know,
everybody's concerned when theyget into businesses, okay, well,
I be competitive in mymarketplace. And for whatever
reason, I think people thinkthat doing business with a
(20:51):
franchise is more expensive. Butbecause of the strategic
relationships we have withproduct vendors, our franchise
owners, thanks to theserelationships, purchase their
materials in the same level andbuying tear as Home Depot and
Lowe's. So it's this combinationof of the buying experience at
(21:12):
the front end, the delivery, anddelivering and following through
on promises, and tying togetherthat buying to the installation,
plus the strategic relationshipswe have with all of the major
flooring manufacturers in NorthAmerica. At the moment, we're
the fastest growing flooringcompany in North America. So
yeah, hopefully, well,hopefully, I just took what
maybe sounded not sexy, theflooring company and made it
(21:34):
kind of exciting, I hope.
Yeah, I'm like, All right,Where's where's my floor
coverings international here?
Because no, I love all thosedifferent things. Because
exactly to your point, like, asyou're talking, I'm thinking,
Alright, these what you'retalking about, there's like
myths and misconceptions aroundthem, whether it's just the
industry, but also franchisingin general, like when you're
(21:55):
able to break it down into,okay, the customer service
piece, the thought that goesinto the just setting up the
whole process and the thoughtand like, the systems in place
and the structure that's there,you would never know that and
also the fact where you're like,Okay, people think franchising
(22:16):
is like more franchises are moreexpensive to work with and
things like that. These are alljust misconceptions and myths
that I'm sure like yourcandidates have not just your
consumers and your customers,but also your candidates. And so
just and this is where I getreally excited, because I'm
like, you get to talk to peoplewho have these misconceptions
(22:38):
would never have thought Ishould go into a flooring
business. This is something Ireally want to do. But then once
they actually get to talk toyou, and listen and hear what it
is that you guys do. All of asudden, their whole mindset
shifts, and they're like, whoa,whoa, like, I am so excited to
do this. Like, what's the nextstep? How do I get there? And
(22:59):
like, that's key and I don'tthink a lot of franchisors, No,
I shouldn't say I don't think alot of franchisors, but I think
sometimes maybe that's themissing piece where people get
so explicit caught up on likethe features and benefits, like
this is the type of ourflooring. And this is the brands
that we use, people don'tactually care about that they
want to connect to that wholecustomer service, I want to be
(23:21):
part of my community. I lovelike giving back, that kind of
thing. Like that's what peopleconnect to. And I think
sometimes that gets lost orpeople just don't like
franchisors don't educate aboutthat. They're maybe focused on
some of the wrong, not the wrongthings. But the things that
maybe don't matter so much tothe candidate.
I think this goes exactly backto the conversation, we had to
(23:42):
start where we were talkingabout the four factors that you
know, people determine what agood franchise matches for them.
At the end of the day, use theword why it boils down to the
why. So for us to be really goodat this matchmaking process,
we've got to really stronglyunderstand the why of our
candidate or our client. Butthen I think what I was just
explained to you was the why ofour brands, like the what is the
(24:05):
flooring like the what is thatwe're a franchise, but the why
we exist to be the very best incustomer service inside of this
dirty industry. And then we alsoexisted I mentioned this other
thing, we exist to build scaledlarge franchise businesses so
that our individual franchiseowners can build the lifestyle
freedom equity that comes withhaving a large scale business as
(24:29):
opposed to more of a solopreneurtype business which there's
nothing wrong with sometimesthat business is right for
certain individuals, right. Sothat's our y ry ry is to build
large scale businesses and bethe very best in customer
service. And so when a brand ingeneral is really clear about
why they exist, and then theycould really help a candidate
identify or dig into their whyit makes that matchmaking
(24:52):
process like so easy like I'lltell you for the most part
Melissa. In the by the secondconversation I have with a
candidate you It's very apparentto me whether we've got an
opportunity to make therelationship happen or not. And
it's just because at least thefirst two conversations, there's
somewhat involved. But the firstconversation is mostly around
the wire the candidate, and thesecond conversation is mostly
(25:15):
around the why of the brand. Andthen after that second call,
it's like, okay, we know ifwe've got some magic here if we
don't, and if we don't havemagic, it's okay. It's better
off for both parties. Right?
Well, that'sone of the say two. And I
actually love that where you'relike, Okay, you talk about the
clients want the candidates,why, then you talk about the
brands, why? And at that point,you should see, you know, is
there something here, but ifyou're only leading with, if you
(25:39):
never get to the why of eitherside, or you're getting to it,
like too late, or just likenever comes up, then it's gonna
be really difficult to find likethe right people that you want
to work with. I guess at the endof the day, you might find some
great people, but they might notbe that right. The right fit for
your brand. At the end?
(26:03):
Yeah, for any round. Right. Iyeah, I think that that's not
only just advice I need toremind myself of because we all
fall into patterns of behavior,like, oh, I need to I need to do
a better job of digging intothis individuals. Why are
explaining what we do? I thinkjust in general, myself, and
everybody who does what we do.
What's really the motivatingfactor behind the individual?
The Why, what's really themotivating factor behind the
(26:24):
brand? Why does the brand exist?
And then those other pieces likeyou said, they'll either they'll
figure themselves out,yeah. And I like to where you're
like, Hey, it's okay. If it'snot the right, it's okay. If
it's not the right fit, youknow, that's going to happen.
And that's totally fine. Like,and I know to like when I work
with the coaches, we do so muchabout education, which is why I
(26:45):
love working with you and theteam and floor coverings because
it's very much about theeducation piece. And that whole
discovery for the candidate,like they're learning about what
floor coverings does, and thewhy and how it fits in with
their why and all that greatstuff.
Yeah, add a comment because thisis just so like, I love what
(27:09):
we're talking about. Because atthe end of the day, like you
brought up, it's okay, that'ssometimes part ways or it's okay
that the y's don't align. It'sso true, because I think, in my
position, where I'm, you know,recruiting individuals into a
franchise organization, anybodywho does what I do, and then
anybody who does what a coachdoes, in developing rapport,
(27:30):
helping an individual discovertheir strengths, their wise,
exposing them to the benefits ofbusiness ownership, and then
helping them match withprospective franchise brands. We
both and this actually, I'm notgoing to take credit for this.
This is a Charlie Chase was thepresident of the IFA, or the
chair of the IFA, he, he's thepresident of our parent company.
And he recently said, I love thefact that you just work, we both
(27:54):
have a fiduciary relationship,which a fiduciary if you Google
it, or you want to know what thedefinition of involving trusts,
especially with regard to therelationship between the trustee
and the beneficiary, that was myGoogle definition, there wasn't
a top my head. I know, I don'thave that memorized. But I know
what fiduciary means I justwanted the textbook for our
(28:14):
conversation. But anyhow, weboth need to act on the best
interest of the candidate. Andsometimes the best interest is
to not pursue a particularbrand. Or maybe business
ownership isn't right for themnow, wherever. And if that's in
their best interest, we're allgoing to be able to sleep at
night, and we're all going to beable to see success in the
(28:35):
people that wind up jumping intoa particular franchise.
I'm like, let's just take amoment of silence and let that
sink in. Because, again, whenyou look at franchising,
sometimes it gets into maybe abit of like a frantic mindset
where you're like, Okay, I needto grow, I need more franchisees
(28:57):
even on the coach side, youknow, okay, I need to get my
client into a business I'm, Ineed them to, like, be awarded
this territory and like, youkind of get into this. And I
guess it's maybe like a bit of ascarcity mindset, but almost
kind of panics, like frantic.
And that's not the place thatyou want to come from. Exactly.
To your point, maybe businessownership is not right for that
(29:18):
person. Now, maybe not ever, butyou have a person who's talked
to you, they know about yourbrand, and if they have this
great experience with you,they'll be a raving fan, whether
they become a franchisee or not.
And it just like, pays itselfforward and builds momentum. And
I think that's the place thatyou want to come from, as
(29:38):
opposed to like, Oh, I just thisMay this isn't like the perfect
match. But you know what, I gota quota. So gotta go. You know,
at the end of the day, it hurtsthe brand and it hurts the
individual. Right? I mean,again, like that word fiduciary
relationship, you know, we havea fiduciary responsibility,
because for most of the folksthat we work with, again, the T
(29:59):
s co Just in the people infranchise development, we're
leading individuals to takesometimes all or, or a good
portion of their life savingsand invest it. And if we do so
under the wrong pretenses that'sa that's not good. Let's put it
that way. I could say a lot ofthings. I'm just gonna leave it
(30:19):
with. That's not good. Like acaveman might say that not good.
Not good.
Exactly, exactly. And, andfranchising can be so
empowering. I know, it's a veryoverused word, but franchising,
get elite changes people'slives, you know, it changed your
life, it's changed my life. Andit changes the lives of these
(30:41):
franchisees who. And it's sofunny because we talk about it
all the time. But it's actuallytrue. Like, these aren't just
words that I say a lot, youactually hear stories of, and
you can share some of these aswell. And your side, I'm sure
where you have franchisees whocame in, you know, coaches told
me the client was like, wildlyfrustrated, or they were just
(31:05):
done. They're like, Okay, I'malmost at the end of my career,
there's not a lot left, I'velost the spark, I like don't
have joy in this anymore. Theyfigure out what franchising can
do for them, they fall in lovewith the brand. And it like,
completely changed thetrajectory of their course of
life. It changes their family,like the next generation. It's
(31:26):
wild. And that's what I loveabout franchising. So thanks for
coming to my TED Talk. And onthat note, so you can kind of
comment on that however youwant. And then as we wrap up
here, I would love to get yourthoughts on. I mean, you and I
could talk for hours. So we'llcontinue the conversation, but
(31:49):
you can comment on what I justtalked about. And then also,
just to wrap up, I would love toget your thoughts on future
franchising. So whether thatrelates to your brand
floorcoverings internationalfranchising in general, what you
see from your perspective, like,what do you see happening in the
industry, all that good stuff?
(32:10):
Well, I think, just just, youknow, talking about franchising,
being a life changer, I thinkthat one of the one of my
favorite success stories isfranchise owner that we have
here. floorcoveringsinternational actually have two
great success stories. But I'llstart with the franchise that we
have here at floorcoveringsInternational, who was looking
for ways to leave Venezueladidn't know what a franchise
(32:36):
was. Gentlemen, just didn't justneed to get his family out of an
oppressive situation in anoppressive country and stumbled
upon the opportunity for an Etwo visa, then stumbled upon a
franchise coach. And today, he'sgot his family living in the
(32:59):
United States. He runs amultimillion dollar business,
his daughters are growing up ina beautiful home in a beautiful
neighborhood. Whereas, rewindseven or eight years, this
particular gentleman was scaredto drive to the grocery store.
And it's the kind of the thingthat gives you goosebumps. I
remember I was eating lunch withhim. And he said something weird
(33:21):
just happened. He looked at meit was something weird just
happened. What do you mean? He'slike, I just realized that we've
been here at this restaurant forlike, an hour. Like, yeah, he's
like, I haven't felt nervous thewhole time. Like it would you
like it. Like when I I'll neverforget that right? Because the
guy was so conditioned. Hecouldn't even be in public
without having fear for his lifein the country that he left. And
(33:43):
then he took a months and monthsto finally adjust to the fact
that living here in the UnitedStates. You could sit at a
restaurant and feel comfortable.
Like, it's like, it's insane.
It's absolutely insane. So, yes,franchising absolutely changes
lives. And without this, thisparticular franchise owner, you
(34:03):
know, would not have ever knownthe ins and outs of opening a
business in this. So he, hetheoretically could have started
a business but he would havenever known the ins and outs of
opening a business marketing toconsumers. I mean, all that
stuff that a franchise orcoaches and all because of the
franchisor franchiseerelationship, you know, his kids
are living in an environmentthat they can grow up and be
(34:25):
safe. That's just, that's justmy absolute favorite thing in
the world.
i It's only there's almost nowords because, first of all,
like from, you know, I canbarely imagine like, it's very
hard to imagine even coming froma place like that. And then
through through franchising, howyou know, the steps that how
(34:47):
that got there? Yeah, he isliving a completely different
life and the life that he camefrom before he was like, scared
for his life. Like that's justcrazy.
That Merida is just wild. Yes.
It completely, completelyinsane. So I think, Melissa, the
future of franchising is thatit's everything we've been
(35:09):
talking about. I think that I'ma believer in that the the good
intent people will alwaysprevail, even though in the
short term, sometimes they feellike, maybe they're not at
times. So like, I'll give you anexample. You know, in my
approach that I take was tryingto find a match sometimes, or
people that aren't a match. Andso I might lose out on an
(35:31):
opportunity to bring somebodyinto the organization. But I
know long term, I'm going tobring in great fits to the
organization and they're goingto perform really well. I think
in franchising our industry, ingeneral, what we're going to
start to see happen is that thebrands that bring people in
under the right pretenses andthat actually invest to help
(35:52):
support their franchise ownerslaunch their business and
identify success within themodel. Those are going to be the
brands that are the identifiedor identifiable franchise brands
long term. And if you're lookingat, just look at any of the
brands that are franchising,that are household names,
(36:13):
McDonald's subway, those areeasy AMCO that's, that's a
household name, you drive bythem all the time and that but
just think about the brands thatare household names and
franchising. The ones thatbecome household names are
rooted in the franchiseesuccess, and the franchisee
success is, thanks to the fifthfinding what we do, and thanks
to the support. So ultimately, Ithink it's inevitable that the
(36:36):
future of franchising is thatthe people who have the the
proper intentions are the onesthat will succeed. And that's, I
mean, I don't think that's not aprediction, I just think that
that's a fact that's just anultimately what will happen.
Now, I love that it's take care,like, take the time to set it up
(36:58):
properly, right from the start.
And we talked about this too,like yet look long term, if
you're just looking short term,that's, you know, not the recipe
for success and for becoming ahousehold name, and for being
this long lasting brand withgreat franchisees. So it's the
at the end of the day to that'sit's not just about the brand
(37:19):
and the brand name, it's like,these are individuals that you
are gonna changing their lives,and they're gonna stay with you
for years. And like, that's,that's what you want to see. So
and that's when I, you know,we'd love to any emerging
brands, any new franchises whoare like coming into the space
looking to grow just startinglike that, exactly what you just
(37:41):
said is what I would want themto hear, you know, do it right,
find the right people, it's okayto say no, if it's not the right
fit, it's like, you will be fineif you do it the right
way. And the really cool thingthat happens outside of
everything that we justmentioned, like the brand builds
and people perform well. Mostpeople when they get into a
(38:04):
franchise business don't realizethis particular benefit, but the
particular benefit I'm about tolabel doesn't exist unless you
do everything right up front.
And that's the franchisee tofranchisee camaraderie and
culture and support. I think alot of times when somebody is
searching for a franchise brand,they're like, What is the
(38:25):
franchisor do for me? Whatsystems do they have? What
training do they have? Whatmarketing do they provide? Which
that's all the responsibility ofa good franchisor? Don't get me
wrong here. But one of the blindspots people have in searching
for franchising or franchiseopportunities is what's the
culture of the organization?
Like what's my neighboringfranchisee going to do to help
(38:48):
me? Or is he going to be anadversary or not. And that
culture is developed by startingwith identifying the right
people, and then showing themsuccess. And a good franchise
organization will have this alsoamazing peer to peer culture.
And I'll argue that that is waymore valuable to a potential
(39:11):
franchise owner than even thesupport that the corporate
office gives. So that's theagain, that's the hidden thing
that develops over time. That'sprobably the thing I'm most
proud of about floor coveringsInternational, is our franchise
owners peer to peer are likefamily to each other. And
because of that we seebusinesses grow faster and learn
(39:33):
faster, because instead of themjust relying on what the
corporate people say, they alsoget an opportunity to have
somebody in their corner that'sdoing what they do cheer them
on, or, you know, giving themthe healthy nudge to say Come
on, you know, you shouldn't bedoing that or you know what the
right way to do things come on.
And again, that to me, that'sthe that is the hidden thing
that most people don't look for,or identify with in franchise
(39:55):
brands. But it's probably themost powerful
See that? Thank you for bringingthat up because I don't think we
like we didn't really even touchon that. And that's a massive
part of it. Again, little thingabout franchising, not a little
thing, but something aboutfranchising that probably people
don't even think about are themisconceptions. It's all about,
oh, it's like this big, youknow, the big brother
(40:18):
franchisor, whatever it is, andyou don't even think about,
okay, what's the actualcommunity like, not just the
culture of the head office, andthen that but like, the people
that I get to be with for thenext, you know, 10 years more,
whatever it is. That's anexcellent point. So thank you,
elver Herman's for joining us.
This is not a fun right. Well,thank you very much. I
(40:42):
thoroughly enjoyed ourconversation.
I did to Melissa anytime youneed a sound bite, I'm here for
you. So you got meperfect. And now we know you've
committed fraudIt's okay. The loans paid back
at this point. I think it's pastit's it's opportunity
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