July 12, 2024 • 40 mins
Welcome back to another exciting episode of The TradeMarke! This week, we are thrilled to host Jill Villejoin, a marketing expert with a rich background in the trades and home service industry.
Join us as Jill shares her journey from growing up in a family-owned electrical company to her current role in franchise marketing. Learn about her innovative strategies for launching new franchise locations, the importance of community engagement, and how her team integrates AI and automation to streamline operations.
We also dive into the challenges and rewards of running a franchise business, the significance of maintaining brand consistency, and the critical role of ongoing education and support for franchisees.
Whether you're a trade professional, a marketing expert, or someone interested in the franchise business, this episode is packed with valuable insights and practical tips.
Don't miss out on this engaging conversation that bridges the worlds of trades and marketing. Tune in now!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
What is going on, everyone? Welcome back to another episode of The Trademark.
We have got an awesome, awesome, awesome guest with us this week.
We've got Jill Villaguan.
Did I get that right? Close enough.
It is. It's called Jill. So everybody has trouble with it.
Well, we're super excited to dig in today. She's got a just tremendous background
(00:24):
in marketing, especially in the trades and the home service industry.
So this should be a really good episode and we are super excited.
So let's go ahead and dive in. Step into The Trademark, your go-to podcast for
everything marketing and the trades.
Hosted by award-winning industry marketing experts, Sarah Gerardo from Remarketable
and Eric Thomas from Rival Digital.
(00:45):
Together, we're here to unite the worlds of trades and marketing,
bringing you insights, stories, and strategies from the heart of the industry.
Whether you're a trade professional, a marketing expert, or somewhere in between,
this is the place for you.
So it is may 17th i'm sure by the time this airs we'll be getting kind of close to one of my,
(01:08):
personal favorite holidays and that is memorial day weekend and
i like memorial day weekend so much because it's kind of like the unofficial
kickoff to summer especially if you're in you know heating and air conditioning
it's kind of like that's when everyone kind of battens down the hatches and
gets ready to go like crazy for a few months so with that said our little
(01:30):
icebreaker question for today in honor of memorial day weekend is hot dog a sandwich.
Yeah it's anything between two pieces so i'd say yes and the tacos were actually
just officially labeled sandwiches too so really the things you i don't know
(01:51):
and i just learn but it makes sense but,
So would you throw taco meat in between two pieces of bread?
It would be a sloppy joe, I believe.
There you go, Jill. You're on it. So yeah, like taco meat with ketchup. That's a sloppy joe.
(02:11):
Well, I am from South Louisiana and food is my hobby.
Yeah, she was telling us all about the good food to go to in New Orleans.
And we were like, oh, okay. Okay.
So really great. So Jill, tell us a little bit about your background and how
you came about being a marketer in the trades.
(02:33):
Well, so I actually grew up in the trade industry. My dad owns his own electrical company.
And so the youngest of four daughters, and he, instead of teaching us the electrical
side, even though I do know how to install lights and fans, he taught us the business side.
And so grew up with home service in my home.
(02:58):
And for my career, I got my start in marketing with Curves Fitness franchises.
So my background is franchise marketing.
I started out my first job in life ever was at a Curves location,
was trained well, solid process, and ended up working for the corporate office at 19 years old.
While I was still in college, traveling around North America,
(03:20):
teaching people how to market fitness.
And so eventually that transformed into finding a franchisor in my backyard
here in South Louisiana.
So System Forward and fitness and home service are very, very similar industries.
And home service has always been near and dear to my heart because of my dad. So it's a perfect fit.
(03:45):
That's awesome. And so System Forward, tell us a little bit more about System
Forward and the franchise that you're working with right now. Sure.
So System Forward America was created about 30 years ago.
And the first franchise brand is Pop-A-Luck Locksmiths. And there's about 250
location owners throughout North America.
(04:06):
It's our oldest brand. We're known for locksmithing and saving kids in locked
cars. So very, very, that is our oldest veteran brand.
And then Temperature Pro was created several years back. Temperature Pro is our HVAC brand.
And we have currently about 35 locations nationwide growing rapidly and getting
(04:30):
all of them up on Service Titan and integrated and using it as much as possible.
Nice. And so what kind of revenue size are you seeing with the 35 different brands?
I know there's a big revenue number that you're hitting, but what are you looking
for when you go after, I guess, purchasing or wanting to have them be a part
(04:54):
of the franchise? Right.
So all of our locations, our model is a little different. We actually approach
it from a business expertise standpoint.
And so find people that can run the business and actually have no home service background.
Typically, they're more business focused or marketing focused.
(05:15):
And we teach them recruitment and how to hire the best of the best skilled tradespeople. people.
And so all of our locations are greenfield locations, brand new, start from scratch.
We like to do things the difficult way, evidently.
We enter a market with absolutely zero existence and grow it from there.
(05:36):
And so typically a majority of our locations are anywhere from three to five
million because we're relatively new, but like growing quickly.
So we get them scaled up pretty, pretty fast.
Yeah. And so what does a marketing plan really look like when you go in and
enter a new market, brand new?
(05:57):
Like what's, what does that look like? And who implements it?
Yeah, great question. So we actually, we have several strategies.
But the first thing we do is we work with the new franchisees to help develop
their strategic marketing plan,
because we have it built out about 80% of the way, but whenever a new location
(06:18):
comes in, we want to customize it for their location and really focus in on,
we get even down to the neighborhoods and the zip codes that we're going to be targeting.
And so for, and to put it very simplistically, step one, they just have to exist.
So onboarding, existing on Google and social media is, is, is quite important.
(06:42):
And then we start working on the different programs to get them chosen.
So reputation management is a huge one to get, let's get as many reviews as
we can start getting right away.
And then after that, we mainly with social media, a local community engagement
program utilizing social media to get the word out with advertising.
(07:07):
We would love to do TV and radio and all that, but a lot of our locations just
don't have the budget whenever they come in.
So we utilize really Facebook to target specifically specific neighborhoods,
you know, and overlap that with the community engagement and sponsorship efforts.
So that's the whole, you know, and then of course, email marketing,
(07:28):
direct mail, things like that, the automated campaigns to start or like we try
and start them with that day one.
So that's awesome and then like right
out of the gate how do you increase their
branding or because I know you had developed a mascot last year
and so how how do you incorporate that into their branding and create a branding
(07:50):
strategy for each new location is it different or how does that how does that
work in the franchise locations great question so it's our coffee cares community
program and coffee, our beloved Husky.
So yes, so he's always existed, but we really wanted to focus on and get our
(08:11):
franchisees to start using him as the brand ambassador that he is. And so.
Part of what we do is we leave it up to each franchisee to design it for what they care about.
So, Confi cares about community engagement. So, we work with each different
owner to find out what their passion is and what they care about and what their community care about.
(08:38):
Because what we care about here in South Louisiana, it's a little different
than Kalamazoo, Michigan.
So, you know, so we want to tailor it. But even though we're a franchise brand,
it's critical for us that each franchisee stays locally owned and operated and
the community knows that they're locally owned and operated.
(08:59):
Even though they're part of a franchise system, we're just here for support
to make sure they can provide the best expertise on a local level.
Yeah, you mentioned that it's like what they care about in Louisiana might be
different than Michigan.
Again so i you know i worked in in franchising
for a little while doing marketing it was more like the digital
(09:20):
side and it was always a challenge you know for any of the tactics or any strategies
or anything to make sure that it's you know unique and relevant to that local
area are there any strategies or any particular like campaigns or tactics that you all have run that
consistently do well, regardless of what market it's in?
(09:43):
Let's see. Great question. I would say anything revolving the community engagement
aspect, because we create seasonal campaigns for our franchisees.
And again, we build it out about 90% of the way where we give them the framework
of, so for instance, this past January, one of the campaigns we did was cool
(10:06):
comforts, warm beginnings.
Let's do a blanket drive or a coat drive. So it was basically a coat drive.
Well, some locations they care about.
One is partnered with the Animal Rescue Ranch.
They modified it to collect blankets and bedding for the rescue shelters.
Another one focuses on habitat for humanity. So they collected collected new
(10:27):
linens and goods for the new homes.
Instead, someone's focuses on sponsorships for kids.
So they did a coach for kids. So each franchise can modify what we do to fit
specifically within their community.
And we have a lot of technology and AI to help them customize it quite quickly
and easily so they can insert their local essence into it.
(10:51):
But honestly, Honestly, Comfy is universal. And so everybody loves our brand ambassador.
So pretty much anything we use with Comfy, everybody pretty much relates to him.
People love dogs. They love them. Dogs and babies. Dogs and babies.
Dogs and babies. That's what sells. So that works in all 50 states.
(11:14):
Probably internationally too. They're like, oh, a dog. Yeah.
And even Ohio, even Ohio loves dogs.
Yeah, most definitely. So running, you know, a Lopsmith and then running an
HVAC, I'm sure you're encountering different challenges.
And as we go into the summer, we in HVAC have unique challenges.
(11:37):
And so what are you finding as you grow the franchises when it comes into,
you know, the summer challenges and in all marketing efforts like recruiting,
retention, churn, membership, all these things?
Acquiring new members. Tell me about Summer and how it's planned out.
Yeah, our biggest issue I see with our locations is that Summer gets so busy for the owners.
(12:05):
They are so busy working in the business, they stop working on the business.
So that is one of our biggest critical factors that we're constantly trying to remind them to do.
No, you still got to go to the events, you still got to, you can't just not
do anything for three months, because it will hurt you six months from now.
(12:29):
So, so really, that is the biggest.
What we see in the marketing side of just them being being able to keep implementing
the, the marketing programs, because we have a large variety of.
And so again, what we do is if they can't afford to hire in-house.
(12:51):
We've actually partnered with another marketing agency to, they work as basically
a fractional chief marketing officer.
And there's levels of packaging so they can take whatever.
Thing that they're not getting to and outsource it to make sure it's still getting done.
And we've set it up to where it's not a contract basis. It's month to month
(13:13):
so they can use it as they need it, which works really well with HVAC.
Yeah, it works really well. And I'm sure that you're also working with recruiting
marketing because if they're three to five, summer hits, all of a sudden they
have all this demand, right?
You're like, okay, recruiting is a huge part. So So how do you go after recruiting
technicians to work at a franchise location?
(13:36):
So we have a great recruitment partner. We are partnered with a company called Jazz HR.
And so they've been a partner of ours for quite a while and work very closely with them.
And then we, you know, it's a lot of referral marketing and just grassroots
and getting to know the community and, and knowing, and also knowing and partnering
(14:01):
with different HVAC companies.
So not everybody is a competitor and it's, it's stronger when you work together
because this company may have overflow and, you know, they may experience a
lull and don't want to lose a good employee.
So it's, it's really, you know, working within a home service,
you know, community and working together instead of looking at it as this competition.
(14:26):
So, and then of course, finding talent, trade schools, recruitment.
We have some of our locations that care about trade schools and,
and for, and, and investing in high schools and, and training and education.
So it's, recruitment is one of our toughest issues across the board.
(14:48):
Some locations are absolutely painful just because the lack of labor.
So it's a huge industry problem, which we're all working against.
I think it's always been a huge industry problem, right? Absolutely.
It's like you have to create a bench and then you have to, what we found was
(15:08):
you had to create a university.
And so those people in the university would be training for,
at that time it was six weeks.
We, I think they changed it to four weeks, but it was like, those were our bench
because we always knew that there would be churn,
especially in, in, you know, technicians or in the call center,
(15:29):
those have the heaviest churn, especially during the summer when they realize
what they're doing. Right.
They're like it's how hot up here like what is
happening and that's a little tough so like
our more established locations are moving into that model because they are able
to but our newer locations it's it's it's quite a challenge because you know
(15:51):
they're they're they're growing they don't have the resources yet to to establish
their bench and so that's why partnering with other their locations.
And, and, again, just networking and being a good part of the community is, yeah, it's huge.
So huge. And learning from others, you know, like, you've been to a marketing event with me.
(16:16):
And the first thing I say is there is no competition.
Right. And I mean that because there is no competition, like we need to have
these open discussions. And we need to help each other because we're better together.
But at the same time, like, I don't want to be in a sinking ship alone. Right. Right.
Right. And we'll take all the help we can get. And we constantly give as much
(16:39):
help as we get constantly. So.
And I love that you have summits of your own, right? You bring your community together.
And I think, you know, that's a great part about being a franchise,
but how do you continue that monthly?
Do they have special calls that they meet with each other? Tell me more about your conferences.
(17:00):
Sure. So we have an annual conference every year.
We usually piggyback off of Pantheon. So we usually have it right before or right after.
So to encourage like, hey, go around all these other experts too.
So we have that once a year. And then we also have weekly franchise calls, like coaching calls.
So that's once a week where they talk about operations, sales, CSR.
(17:26):
Then they also have every single franchisee has a weekly operations call or
a weekly marketing call.
So hence my voice. I've been on prepping for summer. I've been on about 60 hours
of Zoom calls in the last three weeks. It's only two weeks.
So it, so they, so we're not a traditional franchise in the sense that, that we provide,
(17:52):
we provide a lot of extraordinary support because I know when I worked for Curves,
it was impossible to get anyone from anyone on the phone.
A lot of times you had to pay extra to have a direct support system.
And so for us, they have access to the entire support team's Calendly links,
(18:12):
my cell phone number, and they have direct access to any part of any member
of our team at any point in time.
So in addition to weekly calls, they can get us as much as they want us.
And then we also work with a lot of different vendors.
Several of them are partnered with Service Titan, but we work with a lot of
(18:32):
different vendors that also have
webinars and weekly calls. So continuing education is so important for us.
And then we also have an RSS feed system.
We communicate via message boards constantly with all of our franchisees.
So we're trying to get them as much information as we possibly can as often as we can get it.
(18:57):
And, you know, as a system, we can always see what people are needing the most
because we monitor their KPIs for them. And so we can see where it's falling under benchmark.
And so that's how we know what to train on and what to help with.
And how important are the numbers when running a franchise kind of business?
(19:17):
And then how do you be proactive but also react?
Because you have to pivot quickly.
How does that happen in a franchise?
Slowly, unfortunately. Unfortunately, it's much harder to turn the whole ship
all at once than just a single location.
So something that we've actually developed and that everyone is so proud of
(19:40):
here is that we've seen one of the biggest critical flaws in the model.
It was falling off was a conversion, CSR conversion.
They were, again, so busy working in the business. business,
they weren't answering the phone or it was going to voicemail.
And that is the quickest way to just burn marketing spend is not following up on leads.
(20:04):
And so we now have an internal call center.
They actually across the hall from me. And so we work very closely with our
shared services department and,
And so they provide the CSR. So we have, to my true now, we handle all the calls
for franchisees and it has made a difference.
(20:27):
So, so yeah, so that was one of the, one of the major KPIs that we've seen that
we're like, okay, we need to do something because we were providing all the
necessary training and that, but again, with CSR turnover with,
you know, they, they were so they're so new and small business ownership is hard.
I mean, it is hard. And so we're trying to provide as much as we can for them.
(20:53):
So that's kind of the direction that we're going.
How does the shared services model work in a franchise business?
Like a shared services model for like a CSR department, do the
franchisees contribute to the cost
or like they have to pay a monthly amount amount
for the shared services or is that like covered by corporate yeah
(21:15):
so so with us they they
pay a monthly fee for it and again it's no contract it's
not the month and so but it is a fourth of the cost of hiring a person and they
don't have to manage or or delegate that person or train that person and so
we we see to all of it and it's much easier on us it's much easier easier on the franchisee.
(21:41):
And, and really, we don't use the, the, we don't really use it as even as a profit center.
So we try and cost as low as we possibly can, just because we,
we, we have royalties for that.
So that's another thing with our franchise system is that there's no hidden fees.
It's, it's royalties and that's it. There's no extra, extra fees for anything.
(22:04):
So, so for, for, for, If there is an extra fee like this, then we don't make profits on it.
We keep it as brass close to break-even as we can.
Yeah, because in the end, it's going to hit the bottom line the right way, right?
So that's what that's, yeah, that's why, you know, we look at it like we're
(22:30):
partners, because home service is so personal, you're going into people's homes.
So we want to treat our franchisees the same way we want relationships with
our franchisees, not transactional.
And so we try and practice with what we preach, you know, they need to offer
the best, the most excellent customer experience possible.
(22:50):
And so we try and make sure we do the same thing at the franchisor level for our franchisees.
So, and so that's, and that's how we work with all of our vendors too.
So the first thing is that, you know, we live by three rules.
It's, is it good for the franchisee? Is it good for the vendor?
Is it good for system forward?
And if it answers yes to all three, then we have a winning combination.
(23:13):
So everybody wins yeah i
love that going always going back to what are
the three foundational questions that we always ask ourselves when
we partner and and that just keeps
the culture aligned right like the mission the north star that you're all reaching
for is to serve others and you have to be aligned with serving each other before
(23:36):
you can serve others so correct yeah it It also prevents the franchisees from getting a little rowdy.
Well, there's always the one.
One or two or three. You love them all, but there's always the one.
What's your rowdy experience, Eric and Jill? Tell me about it.
(23:59):
Well, when I was at Mosquito Joe, the franchisees strongly disliked the direct
mail program that we had put together at the franchise or level.
And they would get pretty rowdy about it every year.
I think that it's over with now. I don't know.
But for a while, I remember there was a gaggle of franchisees that were getting
(24:24):
pretty rowdy about it, not very happy about it.
Well, what was the rowdy part? Was it because it was expensive or because they got returned mail back?
Yeah, it was expensive. They could get it cheaper probably through a third party.
And so they would get rowdy and go rogue.
And the reason we didn't want them to go rogue is because they would go rogue
(24:44):
and then they would go off brand. And that's when it would be bad.
But yeah, it's probably just because it was a cost thing.
Right. and yeah so going off brand it's it's man what i've seen them do to logos.
And so everybody thinks i'm the brand police so
(25:05):
here because i'm just like for the love of god stop using pixelated imagery
yeah we just took a screenshot and then we posted it and it's totally fine i'm
like yeah and it's like and also like fonts really matter people like seriously,
(25:27):
they do but yeah no like oh my team just won the super bowl let's go make our
logo you know purple and gold go tigers oh you can't do that yeah and you have
specific brand guidelines Like you created a brand book, right?
And you launched it last year, I remember.
(25:49):
We have, so that, the one you've seen, Sarah, was just the mascot brand guide.
Our real brand guide is about 40 pages long and it's very specific,
but, and it's very specific.
But, and also it's, it has a lot of flexibility for localization as well.
So it's, but it's whenever they, you know, saying, just say no to Comic Sans people, you know? Yeah.
(26:20):
Fonts. Yeah. Fonts. What we see here.
Yes. And I have a question, like what advice would you give someone that's looking
to go into marketing in the franchise business?
Great question. and the scalability. To know how to market for scalability is unique.
(26:46):
It is extremely unique. So, because again, we have franchisees that implement
a lot of wonderful genius marketing things.
And whenever we see something that works, to be able to scale it to where it
works nationwide and...
In a format that can work for everyone's skill set and level.
(27:11):
And so because, you know, somebody that's just starting that maybe you'll get
a million in revenue in year one versus somebody that's been operating for a
few years and is at 5 million in revenue, they have different skill sets and resources.
So to be able to scale any type of
marketing or program to fit all
of our franchisees needs is that that's the
(27:34):
the biggest skill and so it's very process
oriented and and implementation so
you can't just something you have to explain how to do it so or of so it's almost
it's not it's different from an agency whereas agencies just are they go do
all the fun marketing but for us it's we're mainly teaching not only doing it
(27:59):
and implementing it but also
having to convince and teach and, and show and then help implement.
And so franchising, it's definitely a challenge.
That's why whenever, but I fell in love with it, entrepreneurship.
Seeing how somebody can take a recipe and make it their own and,
and be successful and rinse and repeat. So.
(28:22):
Yeah. Yeah. That's great advice. Everything needs a process, a system.
It needs It's to be scalable and it needs to be repeatable and actionable, right?
It's like smart goals, but like aligned with processes and systems as well.
Like everything, I need to measure it. I need to take action on it.
And it definitely, and I even tell people at Service Titan, they're like,
(28:45):
well, why are you documenting this? And I'm like, because it needs to be repeatable.
And if I'm not there or someone else is not there, then who can implement,
right? And so it's not just the trades that have that. It's technology. It's every company.
You need to be as automated and efficient, and that's the business growth. And so that's what I...
(29:08):
The pain points that I just see in general in business. Yeah.
I'm a second. I'm a third with franchising.
Yeah. I'm like times like 5,000. You're like, okay. Like, and then are they
competing with one another?
Like, how do you, you know, how did the smaller ones compete with the larger ones?
(29:28):
And do they feel because feelings and emotions, like we're in the people and
experiences business, right?
So they're there, but like, how do they, they work with one another when one
is big and one might be small?
Great question. We have several advisory committees and mentorship committees with franchisees.
(29:50):
So we have like our core group of franchisees that have seen tremendous success,
whether it's with operations or marketing,
they, and kudos to those franchisees, and that or volunteer their time to mentor and coach our new ones.
But we also have awards that we give every year.
And at the annual meeting, we give awards to try and get them to like.
(30:15):
Hey, do you want to win this award next year?
And who's the best of the best? And it gets really interesting because all of
our franchisees or they are all competitive.
They wouldn't be in the position that they're in and opening their own business
if they weren't competitive.
Of and and and go-getters and so it's
fun watching them compete and and
(30:36):
hit milestones and and try and outdo
each other so it's it's impressive to
watch because i'm in awe of all of
our franchisees that like our franchisees they
are just such a good group of people and so being
surrounded by such smart people all the time it's
it's fun very fun yeah most
(31:00):
definitely jill is there
anything that we haven't covered yet that you were hoping to chat about tell
me about ai how are you implementing that so yeah we that's been an interesting
project because our first our first thing is integrations because we're,
(31:22):
we don't, it's not just one website to one tenant.
We have, you know, 35 franchisees utilizing one website and going to,
you know, price hub on, on all the separate tenants and, and all the direction,
like to just set up all that. And then.
Just getting as most efficient as we possibly can with
(31:42):
all that and then with ai so so cool
the last heartling summit that we went to after that
we built a temperature robot and so now
our temperature robot is so cool
all we use ai like all of
our zoom calls are ai transcript generated and now it feeds directly into our
(32:02):
temperature robot so and so we're the next phase of this is trying to figure
out like how to duplicate it and give it to the franchisees so they can implement
their local information into the bot. But we want to make sure it stays updated.
So we're trying to figure out how to duplicate that at the local level.
So again, we always have to take it a step further. Like anytime we pilot something,
(32:24):
anytime we find something new, we find a location to pilot it at,
we make sure it works here.
And then normal businesses just, you know, start using it and implement.
Whereas us, we have to figure out how to scale it and how to implement it across 40 locations.
So, so it makes life interesting.
Yeah, most definitely. Have you guys thought about when you integrate working
(32:47):
with a company that does like automation and task for you?
So I know Titan Pro Technologies, like they're an easy one that will help you
with service excitement that all that at best yeah and so that's our phase two.
And these companies just come about right they're like oh we love zapier and
(33:10):
i'm like oh my gosh if i could zap away my life i totally would right yeah it's
like a big dark hole like it's well like you you get into it and then you keep
digging and and you uncover the next thing and then I cover the next thing.
And then it's five hours later and you're like, I have all these things that I need to do.
And so, yeah. And we have like, our list grows every day.
(33:34):
I'm like, oh my God, we can do this. So as soon as we do that,
we're like, oh my God, so now we can do this.
And so it's just a never ending. How do we build? How do we build? How do we grow?
How, like, how do we give them the next thing? So podcasting and TikToking is next.
We provide a bunch of content support for Facebook.
So that's the next thing that we're adding. The franchisees don't even know
(33:56):
it yet. So I hope they don't watch this till after September.
So, but we're, we're adding in TikTok and podcasting support.
So we're currently building that here at the corporate level.
So Eric, I'm going to hit you up. Eventually you're on my to contact for that. Awesome. Yeah.
Yeah. Podcasting is so many contractors I think I think are missing out right
(34:19):
now by not doing, especially like we had Jim on a couple of weeks ago,
Jim Clouk, and he was sharing some of the stuff they're doing for podcasting too.
And I'm like, it's just such easy, low hanging fruit, like content marketing.
Yeah, it is. And so now we're trying to figure out,
okay, how do we create a podcast at the national level that would be relevant
(34:43):
for local marketing that would get it work in their local market and benefit
them from an SEO perspective in their local market.
So that's what we're developing now. so it's nice yeah uh yeah yeah so like
we get to work on so many cool projects here and our ceo is absolutely fantastic
because he just gives me a green light for whatever he's like go do your thing.
(35:05):
So it's it's fun that's the best kind of marketing job to have where you have
a budget you have a budget and approval and it's like oh boy that's dangerous
yeah my heart's never big enough though No, ever.
No, but I think it's important for marketers to have full autonomy to do their jobs.
(35:26):
You know what I mean? And that's so appreciative because I've been in companies
where, you know, it might not have been like it's very micro and detailed,
but at the same time, like from my perspective, when I work with my employees,
I'm just like, yeah, no, you have autonomy to do your job, but then you still
have to hold them accountable to that.
Yeah, absolutely. And so for us, the franchisees are the ones that hold us accountable.
(35:51):
So, you know, in franchising, if the franchisees are not happy, then no one's happy.
Yep. And as a marketer, how do you manage your mental health?
Oh, let's see.
That's crazy. That's too personal. Well, I'm just trying to keep it G-rated.
(36:16):
My kiddo, Ian, with my daughter, she's about to be 10.
And we're a huge Disney family. We love Disney. So watching Disney videos and
we actually, we leave in five days for a Mommy Me trip.
So that's going to be fun. and then and then a lot of family time cooking and
(36:37):
and wine a lot of wine and caffeine,
yeah you're not alone we all understand luckily
i have a very awesome support group and family so my mom and dad we still go
to their house every sunday for dinner you know you know you can't you would
(36:57):
do not miss you should not So all the sisters with cousins and then and then
also my in-laws, we go there once a week for dinner still.
And so we family is just very, very important. We have such good friends and family in my network.
So that's that's what keeps me grounded and sane.
I love that. And what's one of the most rewarding aspects of your role?
(37:22):
When franchisees are successful, you know, whenever we see them,
you know, We just opened a location the other day and his very first week,
he got $50,000 in revenue.
And just to see that, or we had one location that after years,
we finally got him to do his, like we went and actually did it for him,
(37:46):
his open estimate campaign.
And they sold a $10,000 system off of a quote that they had two years prior.
You know, and so seeing those little marketing wins with our franchisees and, you know,
One of the best ones was the other day, one of our locations,
she's like, oh my gosh, she said, we're popular.
She's like, I'm finally starting to see it turn around and we're so booked.
(38:11):
We're booked three weeks out.
How did this happen? When did this happen? And I'm like, it's all you.
You spent the last two years implementing all these best practices and she's
finally seeing the rewards of it.
And that is, is rewarding enough for me as, you know, when, when you can see
so many other people successful,
(38:32):
that makes my heart happy because I'm, I'm like the mama grizzly there over
here that, you know, make sure her, all her, her people are taken care of.
You know, I want to see them win. I love that.
That's givers gain model, right? And we always want to see others win.
I love that. Yeah. And so I guess we'll wrap up this podcast.
(38:55):
And I've loved chatting with you. It's, you know, I love seeing you.
But if others want to connect with you, how would they reach you?
And how would they connect and learn more about System Forward America?
The best way you can email me directly at jill at systemforward.com.
And yeah, drop the last name on that one. So they can email me directly or they
(39:19):
can go to systemforward.com and to learn more about all of our brands.
Awesome. Awesome. Well, Jill, this has been an awesome episode.
Thank you for taking some time out of your busy schedule to chat with us.
Oh, it's my pleasure. And let's have a very hot, record-breaking temperature hot summer. Yes.
(39:44):
Let's go for it. Let's go H5. Let's go.
Yeah. And for those listening, if you could please leave a review you or leave
us comments on our podcast.
We would love if you just gave us feedback. We're always open and ready to listen.
So thank you so much for listening to The Trademark and we will see you next time.
And that wraps up another episode of The Trademark, where we bridge the worlds
(40:07):
of the trades and marketing one story at a time.
We can't wait to see you next time. Thank you to The Trades for giving back
big, loving big, and taking massive action.
Don't forget to join us next time for more engaging conversations and innovative ideas.
If you enjoyed today's episode, please leave us a review and share it with your
(40:27):
colleagues and friends in the trades and marketing.
Your support means the world to us.
Stay connected with us off the air by following us on social media.
We'd love to hear your thoughts and get your feedback.
Until next time, keep making your mark in the trades.
Thank you for listening to The Trademark. Goodbye for now. And remember,
Remember, we're with the trades, for the trades.
What is going on, everyone? Welcome back to another episode of The Trademark.
We have got an awesome, awesome, awesome guest with us this week.
We've got Jill Villaguan.
Did I get that right? Close enough.
It is. It's called Jill. So everybody has trouble with it.
Well, we're super excited to dig in today. She's got a just tremendous background
(00:24):
in marketing, especially in the trades and the home service industry.
So this should be a really good episode and we are super excited.
So let's go ahead and dive in. Step into The Trademark, your go-to podcast for
everything marketing and the trades.
Hosted by award-winning industry marketing experts, Sarah Gerardo from Remarketable
and Eric Thomas from Rival Digital.
(00:45):
Together, we're here to unite the worlds of trades and marketing,
bringing you insights, stories, and strategies from the heart of the industry.
Whether you're a trade professional, a marketing expert, or somewhere in between,
this is the place for you.
So it is may 17th i'm sure by the time this airs we'll be getting kind of close to one of my,
(01:08):
personal favorite holidays and that is memorial day weekend and
i like memorial day weekend so much because it's kind of like the unofficial
kickoff to summer especially if you're in you know heating and air conditioning
it's kind of like that's when everyone kind of battens down the hatches and
gets ready to go like crazy for a few months so with that said our little
(01:30):
icebreaker question for today in honor of memorial day weekend is hot dog a sandwich.
Yeah it's anything between two pieces so i'd say yes and the tacos were actually
just officially labeled sandwiches too so really the things you i don't know
(01:51):
and i just learn but it makes sense but,
So would you throw taco meat in between two pieces of bread?
It would be a sloppy joe, I believe.
There you go, Jill. You're on it. So yeah, like taco meat with ketchup. That's a sloppy joe.
(02:11):
Well, I am from South Louisiana and food is my hobby.
Yeah, she was telling us all about the good food to go to in New Orleans.
And we were like, oh, okay. Okay.
So really great. So Jill, tell us a little bit about your background and how
you came about being a marketer in the trades.
(02:33):
Well, so I actually grew up in the trade industry. My dad owns his own electrical company.
And so the youngest of four daughters, and he, instead of teaching us the electrical
side, even though I do know how to install lights and fans, he taught us the business side.
And so grew up with home service in my home.
(02:58):
And for my career, I got my start in marketing with Curves Fitness franchises.
So my background is franchise marketing.
I started out my first job in life ever was at a Curves location,
was trained well, solid process, and ended up working for the corporate office at 19 years old.
While I was still in college, traveling around North America,
(03:20):
teaching people how to market fitness.
And so eventually that transformed into finding a franchisor in my backyard
here in South Louisiana.
So System Forward and fitness and home service are very, very similar industries.
And home service has always been near and dear to my heart because of my dad. So it's a perfect fit.
(03:45):
That's awesome. And so System Forward, tell us a little bit more about System
Forward and the franchise that you're working with right now. Sure.
So System Forward America was created about 30 years ago.
And the first franchise brand is Pop-A-Luck Locksmiths. And there's about 250
location owners throughout North America.
(04:06):
It's our oldest brand. We're known for locksmithing and saving kids in locked
cars. So very, very, that is our oldest veteran brand.
And then Temperature Pro was created several years back. Temperature Pro is our HVAC brand.
And we have currently about 35 locations nationwide growing rapidly and getting
(04:30):
all of them up on Service Titan and integrated and using it as much as possible.
Nice. And so what kind of revenue size are you seeing with the 35 different brands?
I know there's a big revenue number that you're hitting, but what are you looking
for when you go after, I guess, purchasing or wanting to have them be a part
(04:54):
of the franchise? Right.
So all of our locations, our model is a little different. We actually approach
it from a business expertise standpoint.
And so find people that can run the business and actually have no home service background.
Typically, they're more business focused or marketing focused.
(05:15):
And we teach them recruitment and how to hire the best of the best skilled tradespeople. people.
And so all of our locations are greenfield locations, brand new, start from scratch.
We like to do things the difficult way, evidently.
We enter a market with absolutely zero existence and grow it from there.
(05:36):
And so typically a majority of our locations are anywhere from three to five
million because we're relatively new, but like growing quickly.
So we get them scaled up pretty, pretty fast.
Yeah. And so what does a marketing plan really look like when you go in and
enter a new market, brand new?
(05:57):
Like what's, what does that look like? And who implements it?
Yeah, great question. So we actually, we have several strategies.
But the first thing we do is we work with the new franchisees to help develop
their strategic marketing plan,
because we have it built out about 80% of the way, but whenever a new location
(06:18):
comes in, we want to customize it for their location and really focus in on,
we get even down to the neighborhoods and the zip codes that we're going to be targeting.
And so for, and to put it very simplistically, step one, they just have to exist.
So onboarding, existing on Google and social media is, is, is quite important.
(06:42):
And then we start working on the different programs to get them chosen.
So reputation management is a huge one to get, let's get as many reviews as
we can start getting right away.
And then after that, we mainly with social media, a local community engagement
program utilizing social media to get the word out with advertising.
(07:07):
We would love to do TV and radio and all that, but a lot of our locations just
don't have the budget whenever they come in.
So we utilize really Facebook to target specifically specific neighborhoods,
you know, and overlap that with the community engagement and sponsorship efforts.
So that's the whole, you know, and then of course, email marketing,
(07:28):
direct mail, things like that, the automated campaigns to start or like we try
and start them with that day one.
So that's awesome and then like right
out of the gate how do you increase their
branding or because I know you had developed a mascot last year
and so how how do you incorporate that into their branding and create a branding
(07:50):
strategy for each new location is it different or how does that how does that
work in the franchise locations great question so it's our coffee cares community
program and coffee, our beloved Husky.
So yes, so he's always existed, but we really wanted to focus on and get our
(08:11):
franchisees to start using him as the brand ambassador that he is. And so.
Part of what we do is we leave it up to each franchisee to design it for what they care about.
So, Confi cares about community engagement. So, we work with each different
owner to find out what their passion is and what they care about and what their community care about.
(08:38):
Because what we care about here in South Louisiana, it's a little different
than Kalamazoo, Michigan.
So, you know, so we want to tailor it. But even though we're a franchise brand,
it's critical for us that each franchisee stays locally owned and operated and
the community knows that they're locally owned and operated.
(08:59):
Even though they're part of a franchise system, we're just here for support
to make sure they can provide the best expertise on a local level.
Yeah, you mentioned that it's like what they care about in Louisiana might be
different than Michigan.
Again so i you know i worked in in franchising
for a little while doing marketing it was more like the digital
(09:20):
side and it was always a challenge you know for any of the tactics or any strategies
or anything to make sure that it's you know unique and relevant to that local
area are there any strategies or any particular like campaigns or tactics that you all have run that
consistently do well, regardless of what market it's in?
(09:43):
Let's see. Great question. I would say anything revolving the community engagement
aspect, because we create seasonal campaigns for our franchisees.
And again, we build it out about 90% of the way where we give them the framework
of, so for instance, this past January, one of the campaigns we did was cool
(10:06):
comforts, warm beginnings.
Let's do a blanket drive or a coat drive. So it was basically a coat drive.
Well, some locations they care about.
One is partnered with the Animal Rescue Ranch.
They modified it to collect blankets and bedding for the rescue shelters.
Another one focuses on habitat for humanity. So they collected collected new
(10:27):
linens and goods for the new homes.
Instead, someone's focuses on sponsorships for kids.
So they did a coach for kids. So each franchise can modify what we do to fit
specifically within their community.
And we have a lot of technology and AI to help them customize it quite quickly
and easily so they can insert their local essence into it.
(10:51):
But honestly, Honestly, Comfy is universal. And so everybody loves our brand ambassador.
So pretty much anything we use with Comfy, everybody pretty much relates to him.
People love dogs. They love them. Dogs and babies. Dogs and babies.
Dogs and babies. That's what sells. So that works in all 50 states.
(11:14):
Probably internationally too. They're like, oh, a dog. Yeah.
And even Ohio, even Ohio loves dogs.
Yeah, most definitely. So running, you know, a Lopsmith and then running an
HVAC, I'm sure you're encountering different challenges.
And as we go into the summer, we in HVAC have unique challenges.
(11:37):
And so what are you finding as you grow the franchises when it comes into,
you know, the summer challenges and in all marketing efforts like recruiting,
retention, churn, membership, all these things?
Acquiring new members. Tell me about Summer and how it's planned out.
Yeah, our biggest issue I see with our locations is that Summer gets so busy for the owners.
(12:05):
They are so busy working in the business, they stop working on the business.
So that is one of our biggest critical factors that we're constantly trying to remind them to do.
No, you still got to go to the events, you still got to, you can't just not
do anything for three months, because it will hurt you six months from now.
(12:29):
So, so really, that is the biggest.
What we see in the marketing side of just them being being able to keep implementing
the, the marketing programs, because we have a large variety of.
And so again, what we do is if they can't afford to hire in-house.
(12:51):
We've actually partnered with another marketing agency to, they work as basically
a fractional chief marketing officer.
And there's levels of packaging so they can take whatever.
Thing that they're not getting to and outsource it to make sure it's still getting done.
And we've set it up to where it's not a contract basis. It's month to month
(13:13):
so they can use it as they need it, which works really well with HVAC.
Yeah, it works really well. And I'm sure that you're also working with recruiting
marketing because if they're three to five, summer hits, all of a sudden they
have all this demand, right?
You're like, okay, recruiting is a huge part. So So how do you go after recruiting
technicians to work at a franchise location?
(13:36):
So we have a great recruitment partner. We are partnered with a company called Jazz HR.
And so they've been a partner of ours for quite a while and work very closely with them.
And then we, you know, it's a lot of referral marketing and just grassroots
and getting to know the community and, and knowing, and also knowing and partnering
(14:01):
with different HVAC companies.
So not everybody is a competitor and it's, it's stronger when you work together
because this company may have overflow and, you know, they may experience a
lull and don't want to lose a good employee.
So it's, it's really, you know, working within a home service,
you know, community and working together instead of looking at it as this competition.
(14:26):
So, and then of course, finding talent, trade schools, recruitment.
We have some of our locations that care about trade schools and,
and for, and, and investing in high schools and, and training and education.
So it's, recruitment is one of our toughest issues across the board.
(14:48):
Some locations are absolutely painful just because the lack of labor.
So it's a huge industry problem, which we're all working against.
I think it's always been a huge industry problem, right? Absolutely.
It's like you have to create a bench and then you have to, what we found was
(15:08):
you had to create a university.
And so those people in the university would be training for,
at that time it was six weeks.
We, I think they changed it to four weeks, but it was like, those were our bench
because we always knew that there would be churn,
especially in, in, you know, technicians or in the call center,
(15:29):
those have the heaviest churn, especially during the summer when they realize
what they're doing. Right.
They're like it's how hot up here like what is
happening and that's a little tough so like
our more established locations are moving into that model because they are able
to but our newer locations it's it's it's quite a challenge because you know
(15:51):
they're they're they're growing they don't have the resources yet to to establish
their bench and so that's why partnering with other their locations.
And, and, again, just networking and being a good part of the community is, yeah, it's huge.
So huge. And learning from others, you know, like, you've been to a marketing event with me.
(16:16):
And the first thing I say is there is no competition.
Right. And I mean that because there is no competition, like we need to have
these open discussions. And we need to help each other because we're better together.
But at the same time, like, I don't want to be in a sinking ship alone. Right. Right.
Right. And we'll take all the help we can get. And we constantly give as much
(16:39):
help as we get constantly. So.
And I love that you have summits of your own, right? You bring your community together.
And I think, you know, that's a great part about being a franchise,
but how do you continue that monthly?
Do they have special calls that they meet with each other? Tell me more about your conferences.
(17:00):
Sure. So we have an annual conference every year.
We usually piggyback off of Pantheon. So we usually have it right before or right after.
So to encourage like, hey, go around all these other experts too.
So we have that once a year. And then we also have weekly franchise calls, like coaching calls.
So that's once a week where they talk about operations, sales, CSR.
(17:26):
Then they also have every single franchisee has a weekly operations call or
a weekly marketing call.
So hence my voice. I've been on prepping for summer. I've been on about 60 hours
of Zoom calls in the last three weeks. It's only two weeks.
So it, so they, so we're not a traditional franchise in the sense that, that we provide,
(17:52):
we provide a lot of extraordinary support because I know when I worked for Curves,
it was impossible to get anyone from anyone on the phone.
A lot of times you had to pay extra to have a direct support system.
And so for us, they have access to the entire support team's Calendly links,
(18:12):
my cell phone number, and they have direct access to any part of any member
of our team at any point in time.
So in addition to weekly calls, they can get us as much as they want us.
And then we also work with a lot of different vendors.
Several of them are partnered with Service Titan, but we work with a lot of
(18:32):
different vendors that also have
webinars and weekly calls. So continuing education is so important for us.
And then we also have an RSS feed system.
We communicate via message boards constantly with all of our franchisees.
So we're trying to get them as much information as we possibly can as often as we can get it.
(18:57):
And, you know, as a system, we can always see what people are needing the most
because we monitor their KPIs for them. And so we can see where it's falling under benchmark.
And so that's how we know what to train on and what to help with.
And how important are the numbers when running a franchise kind of business?
(19:17):
And then how do you be proactive but also react?
Because you have to pivot quickly.
How does that happen in a franchise?
Slowly, unfortunately. Unfortunately, it's much harder to turn the whole ship
all at once than just a single location.
So something that we've actually developed and that everyone is so proud of
(19:40):
here is that we've seen one of the biggest critical flaws in the model.
It was falling off was a conversion, CSR conversion.
They were, again, so busy working in the business. business,
they weren't answering the phone or it was going to voicemail.
And that is the quickest way to just burn marketing spend is not following up on leads.
(20:04):
And so we now have an internal call center.
They actually across the hall from me. And so we work very closely with our
shared services department and,
And so they provide the CSR. So we have, to my true now, we handle all the calls
for franchisees and it has made a difference.
(20:27):
So, so yeah, so that was one of the, one of the major KPIs that we've seen that
we're like, okay, we need to do something because we were providing all the
necessary training and that, but again, with CSR turnover with,
you know, they, they were so they're so new and small business ownership is hard.
I mean, it is hard. And so we're trying to provide as much as we can for them.
(20:53):
So that's kind of the direction that we're going.
How does the shared services model work in a franchise business?
Like a shared services model for like a CSR department, do the
franchisees contribute to the cost
or like they have to pay a monthly amount amount
for the shared services or is that like covered by corporate yeah
(21:15):
so so with us they they
pay a monthly fee for it and again it's no contract it's
not the month and so but it is a fourth of the cost of hiring a person and they
don't have to manage or or delegate that person or train that person and so
we we see to all of it and it's much easier on us it's much easier easier on the franchisee.
(21:41):
And, and really, we don't use the, the, we don't really use it as even as a profit center.
So we try and cost as low as we possibly can, just because we,
we, we have royalties for that.
So that's another thing with our franchise system is that there's no hidden fees.
It's, it's royalties and that's it. There's no extra, extra fees for anything.
(22:04):
So, so for, for, for, If there is an extra fee like this, then we don't make profits on it.
We keep it as brass close to break-even as we can.
Yeah, because in the end, it's going to hit the bottom line the right way, right?
So that's what that's, yeah, that's why, you know, we look at it like we're
(22:30):
partners, because home service is so personal, you're going into people's homes.
So we want to treat our franchisees the same way we want relationships with
our franchisees, not transactional.
And so we try and practice with what we preach, you know, they need to offer
the best, the most excellent customer experience possible.
(22:50):
And so we try and make sure we do the same thing at the franchisor level for our franchisees.
So, and so that's, and that's how we work with all of our vendors too.
So the first thing is that, you know, we live by three rules.
It's, is it good for the franchisee? Is it good for the vendor?
Is it good for system forward?
And if it answers yes to all three, then we have a winning combination.
(23:13):
So everybody wins yeah i
love that going always going back to what are
the three foundational questions that we always ask ourselves when
we partner and and that just keeps
the culture aligned right like the mission the north star that you're all reaching
for is to serve others and you have to be aligned with serving each other before
(23:36):
you can serve others so correct yeah it It also prevents the franchisees from getting a little rowdy.
Well, there's always the one.
One or two or three. You love them all, but there's always the one.
What's your rowdy experience, Eric and Jill? Tell me about it.
(23:59):
Well, when I was at Mosquito Joe, the franchisees strongly disliked the direct
mail program that we had put together at the franchise or level.
And they would get pretty rowdy about it every year.
I think that it's over with now. I don't know.
But for a while, I remember there was a gaggle of franchisees that were getting
(24:24):
pretty rowdy about it, not very happy about it.
Well, what was the rowdy part? Was it because it was expensive or because they got returned mail back?
Yeah, it was expensive. They could get it cheaper probably through a third party.
And so they would get rowdy and go rogue.
And the reason we didn't want them to go rogue is because they would go rogue
(24:44):
and then they would go off brand. And that's when it would be bad.
But yeah, it's probably just because it was a cost thing.
Right. and yeah so going off brand it's it's man what i've seen them do to logos.
And so everybody thinks i'm the brand police so
(25:05):
here because i'm just like for the love of god stop using pixelated imagery
yeah we just took a screenshot and then we posted it and it's totally fine i'm
like yeah and it's like and also like fonts really matter people like seriously,
(25:27):
they do but yeah no like oh my team just won the super bowl let's go make our
logo you know purple and gold go tigers oh you can't do that yeah and you have
specific brand guidelines Like you created a brand book, right?
And you launched it last year, I remember.
(25:49):
We have, so that, the one you've seen, Sarah, was just the mascot brand guide.
Our real brand guide is about 40 pages long and it's very specific,
but, and it's very specific.
But, and also it's, it has a lot of flexibility for localization as well.
So it's, but it's whenever they, you know, saying, just say no to Comic Sans people, you know? Yeah.
(26:20):
Fonts. Yeah. Fonts. What we see here.
Yes. And I have a question, like what advice would you give someone that's looking
to go into marketing in the franchise business?
Great question. and the scalability. To know how to market for scalability is unique.
(26:46):
It is extremely unique. So, because again, we have franchisees that implement
a lot of wonderful genius marketing things.
And whenever we see something that works, to be able to scale it to where it
works nationwide and...
In a format that can work for everyone's skill set and level.
(27:11):
And so because, you know, somebody that's just starting that maybe you'll get
a million in revenue in year one versus somebody that's been operating for a
few years and is at 5 million in revenue, they have different skill sets and resources.
So to be able to scale any type of
marketing or program to fit all
of our franchisees needs is that that's the
(27:34):
the biggest skill and so it's very process
oriented and and implementation so
you can't just something you have to explain how to do it so or of so it's almost
it's not it's different from an agency whereas agencies just are they go do
all the fun marketing but for us it's we're mainly teaching not only doing it
(27:59):
and implementing it but also
having to convince and teach and, and show and then help implement.
And so franchising, it's definitely a challenge.
That's why whenever, but I fell in love with it, entrepreneurship.
Seeing how somebody can take a recipe and make it their own and,
and be successful and rinse and repeat. So.
(28:22):
Yeah. Yeah. That's great advice. Everything needs a process, a system.
It needs It's to be scalable and it needs to be repeatable and actionable, right?
It's like smart goals, but like aligned with processes and systems as well.
Like everything, I need to measure it. I need to take action on it.
And it definitely, and I even tell people at Service Titan, they're like,
(28:45):
well, why are you documenting this? And I'm like, because it needs to be repeatable.
And if I'm not there or someone else is not there, then who can implement,
right? And so it's not just the trades that have that. It's technology. It's every company.
You need to be as automated and efficient, and that's the business growth. And so that's what I...
(29:08):
The pain points that I just see in general in business. Yeah.
I'm a second. I'm a third with franchising.
Yeah. I'm like times like 5,000. You're like, okay. Like, and then are they
competing with one another?
Like, how do you, you know, how did the smaller ones compete with the larger ones?
(29:28):
And do they feel because feelings and emotions, like we're in the people and
experiences business, right?
So they're there, but like, how do they, they work with one another when one
is big and one might be small?
Great question. We have several advisory committees and mentorship committees with franchisees.
(29:50):
So we have like our core group of franchisees that have seen tremendous success,
whether it's with operations or marketing,
they, and kudos to those franchisees, and that or volunteer their time to mentor and coach our new ones.
But we also have awards that we give every year.
And at the annual meeting, we give awards to try and get them to like.
(30:15):
Hey, do you want to win this award next year?
And who's the best of the best? And it gets really interesting because all of
our franchisees or they are all competitive.
They wouldn't be in the position that they're in and opening their own business
if they weren't competitive.
Of and and and go-getters and so it's
fun watching them compete and and
(30:36):
hit milestones and and try and outdo
each other so it's it's impressive to
watch because i'm in awe of all of
our franchisees that like our franchisees they
are just such a good group of people and so being
surrounded by such smart people all the time it's
it's fun very fun yeah most
(31:00):
definitely jill is there
anything that we haven't covered yet that you were hoping to chat about tell
me about ai how are you implementing that so yeah we that's been an interesting
project because our first our first thing is integrations because we're,
(31:22):
we don't, it's not just one website to one tenant.
We have, you know, 35 franchisees utilizing one website and going to,
you know, price hub on, on all the separate tenants and, and all the direction,
like to just set up all that. And then.
Just getting as most efficient as we possibly can with
(31:42):
all that and then with ai so so cool
the last heartling summit that we went to after that
we built a temperature robot and so now
our temperature robot is so cool
all we use ai like all of
our zoom calls are ai transcript generated and now it feeds directly into our
(32:02):
temperature robot so and so we're the next phase of this is trying to figure
out like how to duplicate it and give it to the franchisees so they can implement
their local information into the bot. But we want to make sure it stays updated.
So we're trying to figure out how to duplicate that at the local level.
So again, we always have to take it a step further. Like anytime we pilot something,
(32:24):
anytime we find something new, we find a location to pilot it at,
we make sure it works here.
And then normal businesses just, you know, start using it and implement.
Whereas us, we have to figure out how to scale it and how to implement it across 40 locations.
So, so it makes life interesting.
Yeah, most definitely. Have you guys thought about when you integrate working
(32:47):
with a company that does like automation and task for you?
So I know Titan Pro Technologies, like they're an easy one that will help you
with service excitement that all that at best yeah and so that's our phase two.
And these companies just come about right they're like oh we love zapier and
(33:10):
i'm like oh my gosh if i could zap away my life i totally would right yeah it's
like a big dark hole like it's well like you you get into it and then you keep
digging and and you uncover the next thing and then I cover the next thing.
And then it's five hours later and you're like, I have all these things that I need to do.
And so, yeah. And we have like, our list grows every day.
(33:34):
I'm like, oh my God, we can do this. So as soon as we do that,
we're like, oh my God, so now we can do this.
And so it's just a never ending. How do we build? How do we build? How do we grow?
How, like, how do we give them the next thing? So podcasting and TikToking is next.
We provide a bunch of content support for Facebook.
So that's the next thing that we're adding. The franchisees don't even know
(33:56):
it yet. So I hope they don't watch this till after September.
So, but we're, we're adding in TikTok and podcasting support.
So we're currently building that here at the corporate level.
So Eric, I'm going to hit you up. Eventually you're on my to contact for that. Awesome. Yeah.
Yeah. Podcasting is so many contractors I think I think are missing out right
(34:19):
now by not doing, especially like we had Jim on a couple of weeks ago,
Jim Clouk, and he was sharing some of the stuff they're doing for podcasting too.
And I'm like, it's just such easy, low hanging fruit, like content marketing.
Yeah, it is. And so now we're trying to figure out,
okay, how do we create a podcast at the national level that would be relevant
(34:43):
for local marketing that would get it work in their local market and benefit
them from an SEO perspective in their local market.
So that's what we're developing now. so it's nice yeah uh yeah yeah so like
we get to work on so many cool projects here and our ceo is absolutely fantastic
because he just gives me a green light for whatever he's like go do your thing.
(35:05):
So it's it's fun that's the best kind of marketing job to have where you have
a budget you have a budget and approval and it's like oh boy that's dangerous
yeah my heart's never big enough though No, ever.
No, but I think it's important for marketers to have full autonomy to do their jobs.
(35:26):
You know what I mean? And that's so appreciative because I've been in companies
where, you know, it might not have been like it's very micro and detailed,
but at the same time, like from my perspective, when I work with my employees,
I'm just like, yeah, no, you have autonomy to do your job, but then you still
have to hold them accountable to that.
Yeah, absolutely. And so for us, the franchisees are the ones that hold us accountable.
(35:51):
So, you know, in franchising, if the franchisees are not happy, then no one's happy.
Yep. And as a marketer, how do you manage your mental health?
Oh, let's see.
That's crazy. That's too personal. Well, I'm just trying to keep it G-rated.
(36:16):
My kiddo, Ian, with my daughter, she's about to be 10.
And we're a huge Disney family. We love Disney. So watching Disney videos and
we actually, we leave in five days for a Mommy Me trip.
So that's going to be fun. and then and then a lot of family time cooking and
(36:37):
and wine a lot of wine and caffeine,
yeah you're not alone we all understand luckily
i have a very awesome support group and family so my mom and dad we still go
to their house every sunday for dinner you know you know you can't you would
(36:57):
do not miss you should not So all the sisters with cousins and then and then
also my in-laws, we go there once a week for dinner still.
And so we family is just very, very important. We have such good friends and family in my network.
So that's that's what keeps me grounded and sane.
I love that. And what's one of the most rewarding aspects of your role?
(37:22):
When franchisees are successful, you know, whenever we see them,
you know, We just opened a location the other day and his very first week,
he got $50,000 in revenue.
And just to see that, or we had one location that after years,
we finally got him to do his, like we went and actually did it for him,
(37:46):
his open estimate campaign.
And they sold a $10,000 system off of a quote that they had two years prior.
You know, and so seeing those little marketing wins with our franchisees and, you know,
One of the best ones was the other day, one of our locations,
she's like, oh my gosh, she said, we're popular.
She's like, I'm finally starting to see it turn around and we're so booked.
(38:11):
We're booked three weeks out.
How did this happen? When did this happen? And I'm like, it's all you.
You spent the last two years implementing all these best practices and she's
finally seeing the rewards of it.
And that is, is rewarding enough for me as, you know, when, when you can see
so many other people successful,
(38:32):
that makes my heart happy because I'm, I'm like the mama grizzly there over
here that, you know, make sure her, all her, her people are taken care of.
You know, I want to see them win. I love that.
That's givers gain model, right? And we always want to see others win.
I love that. Yeah. And so I guess we'll wrap up this podcast.
(38:55):
And I've loved chatting with you. It's, you know, I love seeing you.
But if others want to connect with you, how would they reach you?
And how would they connect and learn more about System Forward America?
The best way you can email me directly at jill at systemforward.com.
And yeah, drop the last name on that one. So they can email me directly or they
(39:19):
can go to systemforward.com and to learn more about all of our brands.
Awesome. Awesome. Well, Jill, this has been an awesome episode.
Thank you for taking some time out of your busy schedule to chat with us.
Oh, it's my pleasure. And let's have a very hot, record-breaking temperature hot summer. Yes.
(39:44):
Let's go for it. Let's go H5. Let's go.
Yeah. And for those listening, if you could please leave a review you or leave
us comments on our podcast.
We would love if you just gave us feedback. We're always open and ready to listen.
So thank you so much for listening to The Trademark and we will see you next time.
And that wraps up another episode of The Trademark, where we bridge the worlds
(40:07):
of the trades and marketing one story at a time.
We can't wait to see you next time. Thank you to The Trades for giving back
big, loving big, and taking massive action.
Don't forget to join us next time for more engaging conversations and innovative ideas.
If you enjoyed today's episode, please leave us a review and share it with your
(40:27):
colleagues and friends in the trades and marketing.
Your support means the world to us.
Stay connected with us off the air by following us on social media.
We'd love to hear your thoughts and get your feedback.
Until next time, keep making your mark in the trades.
Thank you for listening to The Trademark. Goodbye for now. And remember,
Remember, we're with the trades, for the trades.
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