Alan Worley With Money Pages

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Lee Kantor: [00:00:32] Lee Kantor here, another episode of Franchise Marketing Radio, and this is going to be a fun one today on the show. We have Alan Worley with money pages. Welcome, Alan.

Alan Worley: [00:00:42] Hey Lee, how are you? Thanks for having me.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:44] Well, I’m excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us about money pages. How are you serving, folks?

Alan Worley: [00:00:49] Well, primarily we’re serving folks by saving them money. But it started in two thousand and one I actually used to be in the radio business and then saw an opportunity in the city of Jacksonville, Florida, to provide an outlet for people in a controlled area to broadcast their messages and be able to reach the homes through the mailbox. And since that time, we have grown that into six states, so we’re in the business of saving readers money and helping businesses grow their business with the local community.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:26] So now was it always set out to be a print offering?

Alan Worley: [00:01:31] It was Lee. We found that this was a good way to target different parts of the city so they could have a control of where they wanted their message to to go, as well as be able to control the cost. It’s a very economic way of being able to market and advertise local businesses.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:49] And then was it always built to be a franchise or did that happen kind of organically over time?

Alan Worley: [00:01:56] That really happened organically. I always had the vision of wanting to be a media player in Jacksonville, Florida, and that worked really, really well. And then I wanted to be able to expand that out. So we started expanding outside of Jacksonville into some surrounding cities. And then we started looking at what it would take to franchise. And in 2012 we took the plunge and started our franchise business. And since that time, we’ve been able to expand into six states and growing. Right now, we’re mailing to a little bit over 13 million homes annually, and we’re really trying to double our footprint into 40 more cities by twenty twenty three.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:41] So now how was it as kind of the CEO and founder to manage that kind of business because that business is a little different than probably the money pages local in Jacksonville business?

Alan Worley: [00:02:52] It is. I have a great team that supports me. Chris Sexton is the VP of franchising, and he has been with the company for over a decade himself. He launched a franchise in Greenwood, South Carolina, which is still mailing today, and we brought him on to run the franchise company. And since then, I’ve just built a solid group of people that helped me on a day to day basis and making sure all those operations run smoothly and effectively.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:27] Now are there any lessons you can share about making that transition from a locally owned kind of mom and pop to a franchise?

Alan Worley: [00:03:35] Some of the lessons I learned is to don’t be afraid to fail. Some of my biggest. Opportunities of learning is when I’ve made mistakes, and I’m a big believer on just being confident giving 110 percent to what you do, you’re going to make mistakes. Embrace it and take the best things you can learn from it. Also, I learned from a financing perspective is to after you get your business up and running, it’s a great time to look at getting some financial resources because it’s a lot easier to get financing from banks and other areas when you don’t need it until waiting until you do.

Lee Kantor: [00:04:20] Now, when you took the plunge and decided the franchise, was it somebody that had seen it in Jacksonville that said, Hey, how come there’s not one of these over here?

Alan Worley: [00:04:31] Well, we started out with a licensing arrangement and that’s what expanded us. And Chris Sexton was really instrumental in that, too, when he went to Greenwood, South Carolina. And what we found out was licensing. We went that route. One reason was because of cost. There’s a lot you have to invest to build a franchise system before being able to to offer it as a franchise company. And it took a little bit of time and energy of seeing what would work in the growth and what wouldn’t. And so then we finally were at a position that we could afford and invest in the franchise system, and we hired the I franchise group to come in and do some consulting for us, and they brought in a team of experts that helped us build out our system. And that took, I don’t know, about two years to do. And then we were ready to hit the ground running. And the Grindle is Don and Walker Grindle were our first franchisees, and they have continued to grow with us and now own four different franchise cities and and are still having their best year ever.

Lee Kantor: [00:05:43] And and in order to kind of take that plunge, though, you felt it was necessary to hire kind of an adviser on that on that you tried it initially, I guess you were doing the licensing and trying to do it on your own. And then at some point you were like, Hey, we need experts in here.

Alan Worley: [00:05:59] Well, yes, Lee, I’m not an expert on on writing a operations manual or a training manual. And what the franchise group does is they come in and each one of the elements that it takes to build out a franchise system. They bring in those consultants to work alongside of you to bring your vision to life because I know how to run a business. But I wasn’t as familiar with how to write the manuals and all that it took to get that, and they were a great instrument to help us to get off the ground. And then once we had our system put together, then we started using the broker networks to help us spread the word.

Lee Kantor: [00:06:48] Do you feel like now you have that escape velocity that now it’s just a matter of just getting more people aware of the opportunity?

Alan Worley: [00:06:54] Oh yes, I think each year you, you learn more and more each and every year with any business, and we’re at a very good spot of where we know what we’re looking for in individuals. We have a few cities that we’re really looking forward to getting into. We’ve earmarked some in the Carolinas. So we have in Tennessee, but we’re open to moving across the United States. Our furthest franchisee is in Oakland, California, right now. And yes, I believe we’re confidently at a spot that we’re just ready to continue to tell the money pages, story across the country and see as many businesses as we can help and cities that we can provide savings to.

Lee Kantor: [00:07:35] Now, when you’re kind of identifying that ideal franchisee, is it built around kind of their skill set or is it a built around kind of the the zip codes or the areas that you serve or both?

Alan Worley: [00:07:48] Well, it starts with the interest of the party. We’re not opposed to really going to any city, but we do look for someone that has that entrepreneurial spirit that is wanting to be able to help the community and be able to partner with local businesses and be able to save readers money. It’s a very fun, warm and friendly circle to be in when it gets down to the actual logistics of picking zip codes and carrier routes. We help them along the way during the process of onboarding to really focus in on the areas that are going to best serve them in their city.

Lee Kantor: [00:08:29] Now is the franchise opportunity such that the kind of your boots on the ground or the franchisee is primarily there to network and meet people and sell as opposed to, you know, writing ads or printing or anything like that.

Alan Worley: [00:08:45] That’s a great question. The way that our system works is our franchisees primarily are the face of the company, and they have the ability to go out and build relationships and maintain that and and be the voice in their local area. All of the back office support comes from corporate. We have a team of people, so from day one. Our franchisees have an amazing support system that allows them the freedom and flexibility to to grow those relationships and corporate does all of the artwork, all of the layout, all of the mailing, we even do all of the invoicing on their behalf.

Lee Kantor: [00:09:25] So literally all they have to do is just kind of meet people and make friends that easy.

Alan Worley: [00:09:33] Once you meet people, you definitely want to have the passion to want to help them and showcase how you can do that with with money pages and the areas that they’re mailing to. But yes, they have the ability, the ability to hit the ground running and not have to worry about hiring a team of people. It’s low overhead. They don’t have to worry about getting into an office or buying a bunch of equipment. We have all of that. So really their job is to go out and grow their business if they want to hire account managers alongside of them. We encourage that. It’s not a requirement, but like anything else, strength or in numbers. And any time you can hire a salesperson alongside of you just replicates what you do on a daily basis.

Lee Kantor: [00:10:21] Now, how did you guys handle the pandemic? Because I would imagine there was some obviously negative implications regarding so much kind of chaos from the retail level, but there might have been a lot of opportunity. Also, because your offering doesn’t require an office or kind of face to face meetings, really, you can do everything virtually and keep serving the people that are still thriving in that environment.

Alan Worley: [00:10:46] I was thankful that we had made some adjustments to our technology, we were able to pivot pretty quickly. So when the markets closed down one, we were in a central business because of what we do and how we do it. But we found ourselves really in the opportunity of helping, especially restaurants, be able to tell their stories of their closures and how to get curbside service and also updates to their menu real time. So we saw an uptick in that. And then we also saw the home improvement business because of people being at home so much. It went through the roof. I mean, we had probably upwards of twenty five to 30 percent increase in call volume last year in our home services clients.

Lee Kantor: [00:11:36] And then for you, how have you handled kind of this transition from this kind of owner operator of one to now kind of this whole empire you’re building? Is that more rewarding this kind of because now for you, a sale in a market is a win as opposed to, you know, getting that salon to sign up for you in Jacksonville.

Alan Worley: [00:11:59] Yeah, I think both are important to me. I have a heart to help people, and that’s one of the main reasons I wanted to do franchising is to give other people an opportunity to see some of the success that we’ve had in Jacksonville and show them a roadmap to do it in their markets. But I I still, from time to time, help with larger clients not only in Jacksonville, but some of our franchise markets. I still go into markets and help them with larger meetings, but it is rewarding. It’s I never thought I would be sitting in the seat where we would have the circulation that we have, and I feel very humbled and honored to be able to represent so many people and so many businesses on a monthly basis.

Lee Kantor: [00:12:49] And then as you are kind of imagining a future, is it always in the mailbox money pages or are you kind of also open to other kinds of money pages, channels?

Alan Worley: [00:13:03] Lee A lot of people ask that question to us. And as long as we have a mailbox and it’s constitutionally possible to be able to mail things, I think that is going to be our magic sauce. We also not only have the mailbox, but we do have an app that we have. So if people would prefer to utilize technology in that way and all of our markets, you can download the Money Pages app and use it in any city across the country that we’re in, which we’ve really enjoyed seeing some of the usage of that go up, but still primarily with phone volume, coupon redemption and usage. I still feel like the heavy lifting is going to be left to the magazine in the mailbox, and that’s the key. The USPS is probably a key to this.

Lee Kantor: [00:13:57] And then when the local franchisee, how did they kind of serve the whole business community? What are some of the things they’re doing in addition to, you know, kind of selling ads in the magazine?

Alan Worley: [00:14:10] Well, we encourage community involvement in many ways. We’re a part of multiple nonprofit organizations. We encourage that through our franchisees, so we see them doing the same things in their markets. We see them getting involved in the community chambers, in BMI groups. So it’s not just about them. We’re all really big on helping other individuals, helping our communities, helping our schools. It’s been very rewarding in that way. And when you have a magazine and you have real estate and a vehicle to get information out. That’s a pretty rewarding space to be in, especially when you want to help a nonprofit or a school or a local event that is happening, so that’s primarily where we’ve given back to the community. And I know just in Jacksonville alone, dreams come true. The Tim Tebow Foundation are two of our larger philanthropic efforts.

Lee Kantor: [00:15:16] And then do you typically have a national effort and then it’s drilled down locally? Or do can some of the franchisee locally have their own initiatives locally or both?

Alan Worley: [00:15:25] We encourage locally, really, because. Everything we do is about the local community, which again, is why I wanted to go the franchise route instead of corporately owning all of these markets. We want there to be an owner operated local presence that they can give back to their community, and we support them from corporate. We support some of their local initiatives, but primarily we leave it up to them to get back into their local community and cities.

Lee Kantor: [00:15:59] Well, congratulations on all the success. If there’s somebody out there that wants to learn more about the opportunity or just kind of check out the money pages, is there a website?

Alan Worley: [00:16:07] Yes, it’s money pages franchising. You can also look at our site at money pages, but we would love for you to check out our franchise system and love to look at a city near you.

Lee Kantor: [00:16:20] Good stuff. Well, thank you so much for sharing your story today, Alan. You’re doing important work and we appreciate you.

Alan Worley: [00:16:25] I appreciate it, Lee. Thank you so much for having me on.

Lee Kantor: [00:16:27] All right, this is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you next time on Franchise Marketing Radio.