Interview with Scott Rendall 1/23/08

Scott

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Richard Chavez said:
Seriously Val Pak's?

At the last SFS class I attended Bill Yeadon was definitely not a fan of that type of marketing.

Would you agree with him, or are there some market's where Val Pak's are still a viable avenue to take?

I've never done Valpak, Richard, but have had some excellent success with a local "valpak-like" magazine over the years. We advertise a very small discount, but it is more for brand alignment and awareness. If it didn't make money for us, though, we wouldn't' do it. It's not our most profitable piece of marketing but it works pretty well.

I'm not trying to weasel out of your question, it's just that I don't have first hand experience with Valpak so I can't offer first hand advice. Surprisingly enough, out of 22 mentees I've worked with to date, none are doing Valpak, although several have tried before we worked together.
 

diamond brian

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I've gotta hand it to you Scott, you're much smarter than you look.

With that in mind, why do continue to operate as a corp rather than an LLC? I know CEO sounds better than Managing Member, but there must be other reasons.
 

Larry Cobb

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Scott;

I do understand the constraints of time available.

I do have a marketing question...

Seeing all the different marketing systems of my customers, I notice that some cleaners continuously try new & different marketing systems. They eventually narrow their approach down somewhat, but they are always trying new concepts.

Do you think trying a lot of different marketing approaches is a good idea for the typical cleaner?

Larry
 

Scott

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Fred Boyle said:
Scott, I read somewhere that you are building your company for the eventual day that you sell ( as all of us should I suppose :roll: )

If that were to be within say, 5 years or so, do you plan on remaining active within the industry? and in what capacity?

I think so, Fred, but to be completely honest the technical portion of any industry doesn't do anything for me. It's the individual business itself that I'm interested in, whether it's the cleaning/restoration business, media marketing business, or even ski resort business. I'm fascinated by the mechanics of how business grows and why. It's that entrepreneurial spirit that I grew up with, I guess. In high school I worked in the bicycle business as a mechanic for my dad. But I was more fascinated with growing it and I couldn't do that as a bike mechanic. I remember my dad, while he was working on a budget or adjusting his business plan would often say "get back to work, you have bikes to fix!" and I'd mope out there and do it because...well...he was bigger than me. LOL

But seriously, that's why God created T, and Lisa/Greenie, the Judson crew, Larry Cobb, and yes - even Nick! (ok, here comes the Tomato!) These fine people are wired differently, which is awesome. I wouldn't last a day with them.
 

Scott

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Askal said:
The Farsi one was pretty funny.
What is the number one way to get the most bang for your buck to raise your "toma" (top of the mind awareness) in your market?

Heya Al! Great to see ya and thanks for stopping by. (sorry, I'm typing as fast as I can!)

#1 way is simple to say, but extremely difficult to do: Create an aligned brand with such a compelling reason for the customer to call that they would feel like absolute nincompoops if they didn't.

Then become the area's worst kept secret.

How's that?
 

Scott

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JB said:
So, who thus far is your biggest success story in your program?

Due to client privacy, I cannot divulge names. I have a signed agreement with my mentees stating that I will not say a word about their business to anyone, including who they are. If they choose to come forward, that's up to them. I do not and will not ever compromise their privacy, though.

Having said that there's a fella on the boards stating he grew about 287% last year due in part to the Mentor program. What he says is true, and on a pure % growth rate he has been my #1. Most are anywhere from 25%+, some are way more, some are a little less, and some don't even care about growth because they need to get their "house in order" before they will see a profit, and they know that going in.

I will say every single one of them has grown in many ways more valuable than the cost of the program. At least that's what they tell me. :)
 

Scott

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Richard Chavez said:
I've read some of your comments on that other board..ummm what's it called...Isc..Csi..Cis...ICS that's it.
:twisted:
Where you are pretty much advising cleaners to sell themselves out and embrace the SOA program so they can reap the benefits, despite what personal feels they may have about how poorly the program was thrown together.

Is that how you see those that oppose the SOA, a bunch of whiny babies that are too ignorant to see the benefits they are passing up. Or am I reading too much into it? :?:

I understand your point about cutting off your nose, but I truly feel without this board and some of it's members the SOA program would have been shoved down the cleaners throat as was first introduced, instead of them talking a look at some of the flaws and trying to correct it. 8)

Heya Richard -

I'm glad there are folks involved with changing it. It does have problems, indeed, and I trust good guys and gals here and elsewhere are working on making it better.

I think you'll agree that some people are whining about it not for changes but for removal of the program entirely. The program actually helps my business, so of course I'm for it. I wouldn't mind changes because there are parts that are broken. But I do see lemonade in the lemons, and seize the opportunity as I would and have other opportunities that aren't necessarily popular.

One last point to consider. The carpet mills make the stuff we clean. If they want the damn program and I tell them to go take a hike, what do you think the carpet mills will say or do? I'd like to hear your answer, if I may.
 

Scott

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diamond brian said:
I've gotta hand it to you Scott, you're much smarter than you look.

With that in mind, why do continue to operate as a corp rather than an LLC? I know CEO sounds better than Managing Member, but there must be other reasons.

Err umm...thanks...I think!

You'll have to ask the Canadians as that's where BRC HQ resides. I'm a Michigan guy that runs a foreign company. Kinda crazy, huh?
 
F

FB7777

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your one on one coaching seems like a far better value than another program I've seen advertised.


It seems like the difference between having a personal trainer vs just a gym membership.


Ultimately we're all responsible for our own commitment, but many individuals need a shove and especially one in the right direction
 
F

FB7777

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I wish I could ride this interview to its conclusion, but I'm east coast and I have a full day tomorrow, so its bedtime for me

Thanks for taking this time out from your schedule Scott, I look forward to reading the rest of this interview tomorrow night. Goodnight!
 

Scott

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Larry Cobb said:
Scott;

I do understand the constraints of time available.

I do have a marketing question...

Seeing all the different marketing systems of my customers, I notice that some cleaners continuously try new & different marketing systems. They eventually narrow their approach down somewhat, but they are always trying new concepts.

Do you think trying a lot of different marketing approaches is a good idea for the typical cleaner?

Larry

I think trying ANY marketing tactic without a strategy is likely to waste the company's money. There are many things to consider with a marketing program AFTER the strategy (goal) of the brand has been set. Unfortunately most small business owners don't have a brand strategy. They just go "do it", oftentimes based on what everybody else is doing. Big mistake in my opinion.
 

Scott

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Fred Boyle said:
your one on one coaching seems like a far better value than another program I've seen advertised.


It seems like the difference between having a personal trainer vs just a gym membership.


Ultimately we're all responsible for our own commitment, but many individuals need a shove and especially one in the right direction

Thanks for the fresh Tomato ("softball" - lol!) Fred. It made a world of difference for me to be personally coached by many mentors, that's for sure. I'll say this - although each have provided way more value than I paid, none of the mentors that I have hired over the years have done as much as I do, cared as much as I do, or worked as hard as I do for my mentees - and I've paid a LOT more to my mentors than I charge.

I don't think you'll find a better personal business coaching program in any industry, but then again I am biased. ;)
 

WISE

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Did you figure out a pricing schedule? Per load based on size of truck/trailer space or???

Anything of value that people wanted hauled off?

Thanks

WISE
 

harryhides

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Hey Scott thanks for doing this, I have a couple of questions for you:


Where do you see yourself 10 yrs from now?
Where do you see this industry 10 yrs from now?
Where do you see the trade Associations 10 yrs from now?
What do think about a single national association?
Do you think you'll still be in Michigan 10 yrs from now?
 

Scott

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Scott said:
WISE said:
How bout that junk removal service as an add-on service we talked about at one time?

What are your thoughts on it now?


Thanks--

WISE


PS--The reason I ask is we just finished up a job and the owner asked my painter if we could haul off some stuff as he didn't have a truck and needed to get this junk out as he was selling the house. I told the guy sure and charged him a few hundred bucks...seems to be a pretty good profit margin in that if this 1 job was an indicator!

While I'm waiting for Jeff to throw his tomato (Mikey should call this the Tomato Room) I'll answer Mike Wise's question. Before I answer, though, I want to catch readers up to speed with what Mike's asking. WARNING! (just for Jim!) THIS IS A LONG READ AND I'LL BREAK IT INTO PARTS SO AS NOT TO PUT THE READER TO SLEEP. I WILL INTERJECT WITH OTHER ANSWERS, SHOULD QUESTIONS COME FORTH. Ok, here's the setup:

Several years ago, one of my techs approached me and said, "hey Scott, I was just talking with a customer and she has all of this nice, but dated, stuff that she's trying to get rid of. Her mother died and she has a house full of 1960's '70s furniture that she just doesn't know what to do with." I thought about it for a few hours and decided to call her. She didn't want to call her Uncle Louie to pick it all up, she just wanted it gone. No sentimental value at all - to her it was just junk. So I put together a crew and sent them out to pick up her stuff, for a pre-arranged fee, and take it back to our place.

When the crew brought it back, I could NOT believe it. There was all of this very nice, but dated, furniture and knickknacks. Everything from a wooden hutch dining set, book cabinets (solid cherry) to a couple of white "bumpy cotton" sofa (I haven't seen one in years), to pewter vases and bowls.

I did some research on this "junk" and discovered it was worth somewhere in the neighborhood of $4000. Here's the beauty - to the customer, it was worthless and she paid us around $500 to pick it up. She even started crying in happiness when we told her we were going clean it up and donate it to charity.

After they brought it back, I was crying for other reasons than we were donating it to charity! LOL! Anyway, I did a test run of a concept company that I would later name "Pitch It". I've refined it much since that first pick up and it is growing, but it hasn't been a main focus for us yet. I have the brand together, including strategic and tactical plans, the Corporate ID including an excellent logo based on community recycling, biz cards, letterhead..everything. Sorry I can't give away all of the details lest some of you smart cookies steal it!

Anyway, the first 6 months we did about $12K in "Pitch It" jobs and it's grown as much as we've pushed it ever since. It's on pace to equal our 3rd largest revenue stream, which currently is commercial carpet care, within 2 yrs. unless we make a run with it.

Ok, to answer your question, Mike:

It has grown as much as we've pushed it so far, which has been only been a blurb in our Teeny Tiny Newsletter in 3 issues so far. There is a market for this but it MUST be branded differently than the other "junk" services, especially 800-GOT-JUNK which owns the industry now. They are extremely vulnerable, though, from my research.
 

Scott

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WISE said:
Did you figure out a pricing schedule? Per load based on size of truck/trailer space or???

Anything of value that people wanted hauled off?

Thanks

WISE

$485 / trailer load, which - not surprisingly, is about what 800-GOT-JUNK charges here. Our differences, as you know Mike, reside in strategic positioning.
 

Scott

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harryhides said:
Hey Scott thanks for doing this, I have a couple of questions for you:


1) Where do you see yourself 10 yrs from now?
2) Where do you see this industry 10 yrs from now?
3) Where do you see the trade Associations 10 yrs from now?
4) What do think about a single national association?
5) Do you think you'll still be in Michigan 10 yrs from now?

HARRY! Where have you been hiding? What? No Tomatoes?

I hope you don't mind that I took the liberty to number your questions so I don't have to restate them.

1) I will be involved in ownership of a ski resort. I don't ski much, but I fell in love with ski resorts since I was a kid and some of my fondest memories were near the fireplace with seasoned skiers sitting around telling stories, sipping wine, and spending a LOT of money. (At an early age I noticed when people drink they spend more - go figure!)

2) I really do think "The Feds Are Coming". It's just a matter of time until an opportunistic politician sees our industry as dangerous. Frankly, I'm surprised we aren't regulated yet. The hair salon industry is regulated and they don't deal with feces, urine, vomit, blood (well, the careless ones do) and dangerous chems that kids might crawl around on. The harshest chem the salon industry uses is 30 vol. peroxide. Hmmm...

3) Tough call. Depends on #2. Most Trade Associations are failing because of lack of participation, which falls back to lack of purpose. Cleaners have become complacent with changes. It might take something like SOA to re-energize them, as Ed York did in his day with Stanley Steemer and Stainmaster. Ed was the ultimate marketer in my book. He saw a problem, poured salt in it, and created a solution. The solution was associations and for a couple of decades they flourished. When he exited, it's not surprising that Trade Association membership waned. They didn't have Ed's vision, and his wasn't easily transferable.

4) No sir, I don't like it.

5) I have a couple of things going now that will mean we'll be multi-state/country-based. We're working on a deal to acquire a home in Korea and we have ears open for a place in Colorado and FL. Most of my family moved out of MI a couple of years ago. In fact, besides my brother and my own family, we're the only Michiganders left. It's not an easy state to break away from, despite all of the negative press. We have so much opportunity around us that it's hard to overlook.
 

Desk Jockey

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Thanks Scott,
You handled yourself as a true professional I appreciate your answers as well as the time spent with all of us.



My answer to your mills question:
I'm not stupid, although many here may debate that. I am just stubborn enough to fight for what's right, before giving in, even if it cost me a few dollars along the way.

Once beaten I may give in and sign up.....or maybe not, I'm not sure? :twisted:
 

harryhides

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Thanks Scott, it's getting late for you and since Fred bailed out, I'm going to call this interview officially closed.
If anyone else has some more questions, I'm sure Scott can get to them tomorrow.

Good job and good night.
 

Scott

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Richard Chavez said:
Thanks Scott,
You handled yourself as a true professional I appreciate your answers as well as the time spent with all of us.



My answer to your mills question:
I'm not stupid, although many here may debate that. I am just stubborn enough to fight for what's right, before giving in, even if it cost me a few dollars along the way.

Once beaten I may give in and sign up.....or maybe not, I'm not sure? :twisted:

You're very bright, Richard, despite what Luddy says! I think you know where I was going with my somewhat rhetorical question.

Ok gang, if you have anything else please contact me via email: scott@cleaningmentor.com or via phone: 877-549-7715. Yes, I answer my own phones! (when I can) I love talking with people about business plans, dreams, and interests. Thanks to all for participating and I'm still awaiting Jeff's Rotten Tomato!

Scott
 

bob vawter

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OK desert....Scoot.....

When i ripped you off for that blasting cabinet.....did i seem as weird to YOU......as you did to ME?
 

Scott

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bob vawter said:
OK desert....Scoot.....

When i ripped you off for that blasting cabinet.....did i seem as weird to YOU......as you did to ME?

I hate to ruin your reputation but you seemed somewhat normal.

It's probably the country mouse / city mouse difference.

Scott
 

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