Questions for Steve and Billy

[Mikey P]

Let talk SFS success stories...

Tell us about the companies you feel took the most from a session (or more) and put what they learned into action.

-How long did it take for them to see tractable results?

-They went from_______ to _________ in size, profit and client base?

-Who is the ideal SFS student?

-and who is the worse?

-What "Strategies" have proven to be the most easily put into place?

-What can an Owner Op, who wants to remain an owner op hope to gain from attending?

-Do you feel you could teach Ken Snow a thing or two?

BTW, Nick and I had a nice sit down @ Vegas. He thoroughly enjoyed READING my questions from his never completed interview, obviously he refused to answer any of them on record, even after perusing the Hanks Brother's interview here.

Would you two mind taking your best shot at these great questions as well?

-I doubt you know off hand but lets get Dave Howard involved too and please tell us your top 10 best selling products?

-How successful has SFS been in establishing customer retention?

-Will SFS continue when Steve finally retires in the true sense?

-How many used truckmounts do you help sell a year (off your site)?

-Do you feel like you've been taken hostage when you pay your Connections booth invoice?

-Could you give us a hint on the cost of sending out that phone book of a catalog, and how do you figure out your return on such a campaign?

-Have you ever had a store location not pan out and have to close it?

-If Tony Lema put his 5 shops up for sale in California would you grab them?

-Would you remove Angela from her trust if she married a carpet cleaner?

-Has any cleaner ever been asked to leave a SFS seminar?

-Where would Scott Warrington fit in your company?

-Did Steve and Billy get reimbursed for the expenses incurred at infamous TMF dinner party?

-Who cleans your carpet at home?

-How big a part does Jan/San play in your earnings?

-Store front or web sales, which does better?

-How has Jon-Don handled the economic downturn?

-What accomplishment are you most proud of in life and in business?

-How bad would you like to punch that little Pemberton brat in the throat?

 

[renegade_cowboy]

I went through SFS with Becker in July and WOW what an eye opening class. The information in there can easily help someone create and maintain a 6 figure company.. setting themselves up for life. I am thinking of going again in 2013 if I can get the time off.

Besides the information in the class.. the folks at Jon Don were amazing. Papa Nic serving us food and just being a good influence in class. Bill and Steve were great to meet finally. Its a must take class. I have been a groupy of Steve's info for years, so going to the class it brought it all together.

 

[Mikey P]

Look what I found


unanswered...


cough!

 

[Steve Toburen]

You ARE persistent, Mikey. I'll give you that. Bear in mind I ONLY focus on SFS within Jon-Don. So I simply don't know the answer to many of your questions below. But lemme see what I can do...

Let talk SFS success stories...

Tell us about the companies you feel took the most from a session (or more) and put what they learned into action.

You don't need me to answer this. Why not read in their own words what actual cleaners and restorers have done since attending SFS HERE? Quite a few of these folks post (or at least lurk) here on MB. Call any of 'em up if you wish.

-Who is the ideal SFS

student?

The ideal? Someone who is "mad as hell and not going to take it any more" with the old way they have been doing business. Someone who recognizes that just maybe they don't know it all and if they don't dramatically change their view of their life and business they are going to grow old (and poor) on the wand. (Not that their is anything wrong with that.)

-and who is the worse?

A counter-culture, rebellious, ADHD Californian vegan who has his sweet wife take all his notes for him.

-What can an Owner Op, who wants to remain an owner op hope to gain from attending?

As per my comments above maybe they shouldn't. If someone is 1000% delighted with their business and their life then they don't need SFS. But I don't see too many cleaners like this. Remember at SFS we don't say you need to "get big". I preach finding the "sweet spot" in your life- where you are delighted to wake up and can't wait to start the day. And frankly if only because of our declining bodies most CC'ers eventually try hiring employees. the problem is they do it wrong, get burned and retreat back alone on the truck. We can change that if someone wishes.

-Do you feel you could teach Ken Snow a thing or two?

Very funny. Ken is definitely in the top 2% of SFS members re: business smarts and success even before he and his managers became SFS members. I'd like to think we have contributed something to an already great company and culture. (On a personal note I'd place Ken among the top ten SFS members I know for his modest humility and willingness to help others.)

Will SFS

continue when Steve finally retires in the true sense?

Nick Paolella is 78, comes to work every day AND has fun while doing it. Given the freedom and fun I enjoy with Jon-Don I don't see why I can't follow in Papa Nick's footsteps. So hopefully I've got another 20 good years left in me. That being said SFS is about much more than Steve Toburen. The SFS Value Added Service concepts, our over 4,000 pages of SFS systems, procedures, manuals and forms that we share for free, the Partners for Success philosophy of Jon-Don and our over 3,000 close knit SFS members will all continue with or without Steve Toburen.

My fingers are sore from all this typing, Mikey. But its been fun- thanks for your persistence.

Steve

PS There HAS to be a PS!

-Would you remove Angela from her trust if she married a carpet cleaner?

Uhhh, Mikey, Angela DID marry a carpet cleaner. Actually one of our SFS seminar attendees and it devastated many of our single SFS members. (Heck, I remember a MARRIED Topeka, KS SFS member who mourned losing Angela for years. I'm not sure he has ever recovered!)

 

[Desk Jockey]

Uhhh, Mikey, Angela DID marry a carpet cleaner. Actually one of our SFS seminar attendees and it devastated many of our single SFS members.

Does he get a discount on juice?

She's a cuttie, lucky dude!

 

[Ken Snow]

Thank you Steve for the kind words!

Mike We have attended about 6-7 sessions between myself, Brian Hanna, Dave Bidinger and 1-2 other of my management team no longer with us. We also brought Jeff Cutshall in for 2 days of VAST for about 60 employees. Myself and my managers got a lot of the program because we went into it wanting to learn and be better, as Steve said, not assuming we knew it all.

The customer focused agenda was very powerful and while we liked to think of ourselves already as customer focused it gave us more ideas and perspectives. Coupling that with the VAST training for our cleaners and a few office staff we were able to have a common language to talk about and act in regards to customer focused service. Terms like Cheerleaders, Looking at things through "the customers eyeglasses", tips to help give customers more of an illusion of control etc. all have helped our business tremendously.

Ken
Ps remember, no matter what level or price point we need our customers a heck of a lot more than they need us. Customer Service can be the difference between languishing, going out of business or making it big regardless~ of size.

 

[billyeadon]

As with Steve there are certain questions that do not fall within our job descriptions. I will answer the ones I feel qualified to answer while Steve has already done a wonderful job.
Tell us about the companies you feel tookthe most from a session (or more) and put what they learned into action.

-How long did it take for them to see tractable results?
While there are many companies that would fall in this category I will pick Tom King as many here already know him and his story. Tom has been to SFS twice accompanied by his wife Karen. This is something we stress that you should attend with your spouse. Tom & Karen would be successful whether or not they attended SFS but I think Tom, being new to our industry, used many of the SFS principles as an infrastructure which allowed him to grow quicker than if he had to do it on his own. He went from 1 used Bane Clene truck to 4 trucks in just 4 years,

-They went from_______ to _________ in size, profit and client base?

-Who is the ideal SFS

student? As Confucius said “when the student is ready the teacher will appear” An open mind and a willingness to learn not just from the instructors but also the other students in the room.

-and who is the worse? The guy who is local and keeps leaving to clean carpet and misses half the class.

-What "Strategies" have proven to be the most easily put into place? The principles of value added service. As Steve says “good people are naturally attracted to these principles.” And they are simple to learn and implement.

-What can an Owner Op, who wants to remain an owner op hope to gain fromattending? I still believe one of the most valuable parts of the week is the sharing of knowledge with other students who are also O/O. Also the O/O can really benefit from Chuck’s session on numbers.
-Do you feel you could teach Ken Snow a thing or two? Steve answered this very well. Did it ever occur to people that one of the reasons Ken has reached such success because he continues to learn? Ken does it in one of the toughest markets in the country. And once again as Steve mentioned, Ken’s humility and openness to help others is a rolemodel for all of us. As I read the book Humilitas
Ken came to mind frequently . Sorry MartyI had to get 1 book in here.


-Will SFS

continue whenSteve finally retires in the true sense?
Steve doesn’t retire for the same reason that Nick doesn’t; because he enjoys it too much.
- -Do you feel like you've been taken hostage when you pay your Connectionsbooth invoice? The Experience isstill the biggest show for our industry (outside of ISSA) and we get to seemore of our customers in 3 days than any other time during the year. I love doing the show, even though I probably don’t sell 1 thing, because I just love talking to old friends and meeting new people from the boards. And to prove that I am taller than Barry Costa.

-Could you give us a hint on the cost of sending out that phone book of acatalog, and how do you figure out your return on such a campaign? Customers look at that catalog as the bible so the ROI is enough to keep it rolling.

-Have you ever had a store location not pan out and have to close it? No.

-If Tony Lema put his 5 shops up for sale in California would you grab them? One of the reasons Jon-Don opens stores very slowly is because we are very careful to staff the stores with the right people. Trying to handle 5 stores of new (to Jon-Don) would be very difficult.

-Would you remove Angela from her trust if she married a carpet cleaner? She already did but he immediately sold the business and went into a new business.

-Has any cleaner ever been asked to leave a SFS

seminar? Not that I am aware of.

-Where would Scott Warrington fit in your company? Scott does a greatjob and has a Wikipedia knowledge of our industry. He would probably be our technical director and I would work under him (or I may see an early retirement so let’s not push that idea.)

-Did Steve and Billy get reimbursed for the expenses incurred at infamous TMFdinner party? I probably paid for Steves.

-Who cleans your carpet at home? I usually test products on my own carpet and fabrics.

-What accomplishment are you most proud of in life and in business? In life the fact that I have managed to convince my wife to first marry me and second keep me around for 40 years. And the fact that I have 2 very happy daughters and 1 granddaughter. In business the privilege of being able to work and make friends with so many people in this industry.

-How bad would you like to punch that little Pemberton brat in the throat? If I had the choice of only having 1 person in this industry to join Jon-Don it would be Jim. I think the people on MB would agree with me. Let’s face it he certainly was blessed with extraordinary genes. Thank you for allowing Steve and I to participate.

 

[Shane Deubell]

I just want to know who these members are better then Tom or Ken?

Understand the internet is just a small sampling of contractors around the country but them guys are pretty dam good.

 

[Desk Jockey]

-How bad would you like to punch that little Pemberton brat in the throat? If I had the choice of only having 1person in this industry to join jon-don

it would be Jim. I think the people onMB would agree with me. Let’s face it he certainly was blessed withextraordinary genes. Thank you for allowing Steve and I to participate.

+2

 

[Ken Snow]

+3 Jim would be a tremendous asset to most any business in any industry.

 

[hogjowl]

sniff

 

[Steve Toburen]

+3 Jim would be a tremendous asset to most any business in any industry.

X4

Steve

PS My guess is Jim is in "the sweet spot". A respected and profitable business that he feels comfortable running. Why would he leave?

 

[Mikey P]

Nice job Bill and Steve.

Great reads.

Billy would you mind telling us what "your" day during the week consist of now?
When I went to SFS the Yellow Pages was still the number one topic, which is really strange feeling since it feels like it was just last year or so..

 

[Ken Snow]

Really Mike? I went both times way before you and I don't recall up being the big thing.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

 

[billyeadon]

Nice job Bill and Steve.

Great reads.

Billy would you mind telling us what "your" day during the week consist of now?
When I went to SFS the Yellow Pages was still the number one topic, which is really strange feeling since it feels like it was just last year or so..

Well Mikey some things have not changed such as the principles Target, message, media, retention. The reason I still address these is due to the fact that some of the students are brand new and need the basics. This is difficult as people such as yourself need something at a much higher level. Yes there is no mention of YP, VP or even Groupon other than to say don't do it. We do spend time on Social Media and of course websites. But in an hour or less what are you really going to teach someone about a website, They need to hire a professional to develop their site and optimize it. I try to stress today that writing a regular blog post is going to do the most good for them once they have decent optimization. I truly believe the blogging is something that they can do themselves at minimal cost. Part of the issue is we are trying to focus on the 3 legged stool. What works in residential cleaning, may be ineffective in commercial and totally invalid in restoration but the principles remain the same. Because of this all three of us are trying to focus more on sales. Unfortunately everyone wants the magic postcard or flyer but there is no such thing. People forget that the best thing an established company can do is continue to mail thank you cards, reminders, and offers of new services to their existing database. This isn't sexy or revolutionary it is just good basic business practices. Hiring a commercial salesperson that understands the way to sell in todays world is one of the items we discuss now.
Since you attended I have added hub marketing, developing a marketing plan and creating a marketing calendar along with a budget. I still try to explain how to write a decent headline and copy but most people just want the predesigned postcard. But if you want that you should buy a franchise so your ad can look like the other 5 franchises that are in your town. And yes for Marty's sake I will still talk about what is the most current information that I pull from the latest marketing books and blogs. But my real purpose is to try and act as a facilitator for all the students in the room to find out what is working in the real world. In other words a Mikeys Board that is live and in person. Hope to see you soon.