Posted by: Troy White
November 20, 2007
Issue #286

College Pro Cash Flow Secrets
That Any Entreprenuer Can Use

In this issue:

• College Pro Painters … and their formula for repeatable success …

• 6 kick-butt techniques that gave me an advantage over every single one of my competitors – in a VERY competitive market …

• The big ah-ha moment for a starving college student who needed clients in order to eat …

• And Much More!
  

Fellow business builder,

Cold Calling Mania … and my invaluable College Pro Experience

Wayyyy back in High School I started painting houses for some side income. It was easy work – and the guy I was painting for paid me quite well, for the time. Don owned around 30 properties in Calgary, where I live … and my job was to go from property to property after school and on weekends to spruce them up with a coat of paint.

At the time, it was great. Out in the sun all day … making good coin … and no one watching over me. (Don usually showed up at the start of the job then the end of it, with instructions for the next one.)

Little did I know that this little “side job” would turn into my first solid entrepreneurial experience …

… And one of the BEST sales lessons
I ever had the privilege to learn.

After painting houses for the year after graduation, and learning that being a painter wasn’t my lifetime aspiration … I decided school wasn’t all that bad.

So I squeaked in to the University of Calgary Bachelor of Commerce program with the dismal grades I had back then – I wouldn’t have a chance these days … probably would have given the admissions staff a good laugh though if I did apply with my 49% in Physics and my 52% in English. (I excelled in Mechanics though, another aspiration I had when I was young – think I had a 89% or something like that in Mechanics – about the minimum overall grade you need now to get into school.)

During my University days, in between parties, I found myself actually needing to eat (something other than barley). So off I went in search of a job – ugly jobs too.

Then I heard about this company
called College Pro Painters.

Painting – I know how to do that! Off I went to their office to see what this was all about. There I met with the general manager to see what they had to offer me.

OWN A FRANCHISE?

I wasn’t thinking along those lines at first – but my dreams of mega riches from my new franchise glittered in my eyes – so I signed up and became a College Pro Painters Franchise Owner.

It was the smartest thing I had ever done!

Fortunately, I didn’t need to learn much about painting – they even asked me to teach their new painters how to paint properly.

But I did need to learn more about management and door-to-door sales.

One of the ways we got painting contracts was door knocking. Selling $2,000+ paint jobs by knocking on people’s doors … what a new world I had opened up!

Cold calling by door knocking was definitely not an easy thing … but damn I got good at it! I could knock on enough doors on a Saturday to book myself up for a month’s worth of work. Then I found out that all the other franchise owners hated door knocking … I smelled opportunity.

They hated it – I loved it – and I was good at it.

So they paid me to go out and get them leads – and I could easily make $300 or $400 knocking on doors for a day (back then, this seemed like a small fortune!).

So one day a month, I would do my leads – another day I would do leads for them … it worked out great. Looking back, I have to wonder what amazing things I really could have done in the lead generation field using direct mail. I could have supplied the entire crew of franchise owners with leads – and not have had to knock on a single door!

That was one of many exceptional lessons I took away from owning a College Pro Franchise.

I don’t see them around as much anymore, but they had some incredible systems in place that explain why they got so big so fast.

1. They sold territory-exclusive opportunities for entrepreneurial-minded college kids. We each had an area we could sell and paint in – and no one else was allowed to cross the boundary. (I busted one other franchise owner painting in my area once – yikes did he get in some serious doo doo.)

Question for you: Is there any way you can limit who buys from you based on city, location within the city, line of work they are in, etc.? When you create a more tightly defined niche to sell to, your sales process will be easier. (Everyone wants what they can’t have … and from the buyer’s side it is much easier to make a decision when you know they are trying to sell to someone with your experience and knowledge.) What smaller markets can you focus your marketing on? (Note: watch for something along this line that I am going to be discussing in an upcoming article.)

2. They trained us to use systems in everything that we did. We used sales scripts for door knocking (which I modified to suit my style and which got me more leads). We used sales scripts for how we did the quotes. We had systems and forms we used for the actual presentation of the pricing (and a script to follow). We used picture books to show work we had done (proof). We were backed by a major corporation and told everyone that (further proof). We were taught how to pay our crews of painters (I had 8 painters in 4 crews that I managed) … how to teach them to paint … how to manage them … and how to keep them happy.

Question for you: What parts of your business should be scripted more or put into a better system? I am reorganizing much of my own lead generation system and sales system they go through right now. Have you put yours on paper? Why not? It is one of the biggest areas you can see the holes and implement immediate improvements that grow your business and profits.

3. We used multi-media sales tools for those who answered the door (cold calling) and for those who didn’t. You will see below one of the very friendly forms we used to leave with people. Note the flow … headline, subheads with explanation, guarantees, specific numbers (95% satisfaction), order form (with the infamous YES! copy), checkboxes with choices (from best option to worst), a form with ample room to write on, mailing instructions (self-mailer they can instantly pop in the mail to get the requested information). It does pack a lot in the little space it uses.


Question for you: Are you pulling out all the stops to make sure you stay in front of those who show immediate action, and with those who don’t? I am revamping my entire sales and marketing funnel right now – when it is taken apart and re-organized – it’s amazing how many holes you will find in the system. One of the best things you could do is draw out on paper your entire sales system from lead to sale, then from sale to repeat sale right through to what you will do when a customer hasn’t bought in XX months. This is a GREAT time of year to be doing this in planning for the new year.

4. We had the ‘branded’ look and feel. From the shirts we wore – awful bright yellow things they were(!), to the clipboards we used, to the truck I drove. (I have been trying to find some photos I had of that beauty! Imagine a BRIGHT yellow Toyota pickup with College Pro on the doors, a MONSTER room rack that could hold, and was usually stacked with 10 or 20 ladders, bottoming out on the back from all the paint in the back, and pushing some serious blue smoke everywhere I went (sorry Al Gore).) All the painters wore the t-shirts – all invoices and business cards were branded. We looked real professional – and it paid off in the number of contracts I got signed.


Question for you: Are you consistent in your look and feel? Do prospects and customers alike know who they are dealing with? Either you as the owner can be the brand you show, or your company name (if designed to tell them what you do right in the name, unless you have a multi-million dollar budget to sell people on a name that means nothing). This is another piece I am re-inventing for the new year – something too few of us marketing through the Internet pay as much attention to as we should.

5. We had FUN! From the houseboat trips all the franchise owners would take (from what I recall, there were some copious amounts of alcohol drank by all, sitting out on the lake in our houseboat), to the pizza nights with the painters, to the annual awards banquet (I won Most improved Rookie of the year my second year in the franchise). It was one of the most memorable things I have ever done – and the skills learned there have been invaluable in my future businesses (unlike the skills learned in my University Marketing classes, which are pretty much useless in the real world of small business).

Question for you: What are you doing to have fun with your clients, your prospects and your employees and partners? What could you be doing? For example, this December, I am hosting the Wild West Christmas Bash – a free nighttime event for clients and prospects to come out, network, have some fun and learn a few things about growing their business. It is my first annual – so I will let you know how it goes. The cartoons I have been using for the past year in my marketing of the Wild West Wealth Summit have been very well received and people comment on them frequently.

6. Direct sales was mandatory. We had to report in on a weekly basis how many cold call leads we had generated – basically forcing us to get off our butts and create sales – or hire someone else to do it for you. This really made us get serious – we had to be serious as we had some serious (22%) royalties to pay on sales!

Question for you: When was the last time you picked up the phone and CALLED some customers or prospects? See firsthand what they are thinking and what is holding them back from buying more and more often. Many times it takes the simple things in life for the big breakthroughs we all seek.

College Pro was a fabulous learning experience for me back then, and it still continues to teach me things as I reflect back on what happened over those summers.

THE BEST PART? The fact I could earn more in 4 or 5 months of managing my painters than many people made in an entire year! Every summer I would earn enough to pay for school, pay for rent, pay for bills, and pay for a beer … or two.

Plus, it instilled in me the true entrepreneurial spirit that we all have, and are all obsessed with.

I hope you take note and try a few of the things discussed here.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Troy White
Editor, Small Business Mastery
Supplement to THE TOTAL PACKAGE™

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A Final Note:

If you have specific subjects you would like addressed, or have any comments on what you have seen here, please submit a comment below and I will see how I can help.

"Don’t wait. The time will never be just right.”

–Napoleon Hill

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No Comments »

1. Comment by Rob Metras — November 20, 2007 @ 12:29 pm

   It is not suprising that Greig Clark\’s simple strategy made so many students money in school. Just follow the script is the same for London Life with their Life Program Strategy to sell Freedom 55. Incidentally the DU Fraternity at UWO was the birthplace of two of these succesful painting companies.Thanks for the post and rekindling of memories.

2. Comment by Christine — November 20, 2007 @ 12:30 pm

   Troy:
   Great article today. I agree that real life small business marketing is not something one learns in a college course full of \”theories\” - pounding pavement is always an eye opening experience. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.