At a time when businesses around the country are looking for ways to survive during the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting economic downturn, new TruBlue Total House Care franchisees are thriving. In fact, Matt Neelan, the owner of TruBlue House Care of Cranberry, broke the first month sales record for the franchise organization in April and then, in June, their record was broken by Daniel Elswick and Casey Martin, the owners of TruBlue of the East Lexington.
For both of these new ownership teams, the early success started with focusing on referrals, honesty and quality work – all tenants of the TruBlue franchise.
“We were active on social media and started learning the process, pricing and systems by working with family and friends. After that, the majority of the jobs we won expanded into other jobs and referrals and our reviews have been critical. As soon as we started getting 5-star reviews, the flood gate opened,” Neelan said.
Elswick agreed and added that, for them, the success started when they were honest and open with their customers.
“We were upfront with people about our schedule and when we could get a project completed and then we worked quickly to get quotes turned around. In our area it is all too common for contractors to take weeks to get quotes and then not be honest about when they can start. We wanted to be different from other contractors in our area and it’s paying off,” Elswick said.
Like many franchisees, Neelan, Elswick and Martin were all attracted to TruBlue because of the franchise’s full-service, total house care business model and support systems. Both of those are assets in an industry that struggles with dependability, support and the ability to expand revenue streams.
“I certainly attribute a great deal of our success to the fact that we are part of a bigger brand. There are so many small one man shows in our area that we by ourselves would just be white noise. What I feel like differentiates us is that we have a professional social media pages and website along with special certifications. We have access to contractor financing, which has been very well received in our area,” Martin said.
Although both of these new franchises are breaking records out the gate, they are both focused on rapid growth for the rest of 2020, despite continued closures and delays due to COVID-19.
“Our main goal is to keep the momentum going that we have had for the first several months. We also hope to keep building a good relationship with realtors to keep a strong referral base. We have had some great success so far with referrals from realtors that have led to profitable projects,” Elswick said.
“We also want to build a solid team so we can support our growth. In addition to growing our client base for the handyman market, we want to expand more in the senior safety market, build the lawncare and house cleaning business, and continue to expand the handyman business,” Neelan added.
To learn more about how you can hit the ground running with your own TruBlue franchise, visit https://trubluefranchise.com/.
