Eric Anderson With The Carpet Chemist

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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 good one. Today on the show, we have Eric Anderson and he is with the carpet chemist. Welcome, Eric.

Eric Anderson: [00:00:44] How are you doing, Lee?

Lee Kantor: [00:00:45] I am doing well. I’m so excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us a little bit about the carpet chemist. How are you serving folks?

Eric Anderson: [00:00:52] So Carpet Chemist is it’s bash. It’s basically a home service. We provide quite a few services carpet cleaning, carpet repair, carpet dyeing, upholstery cleaning, cleaning, hardwood floor tile and grout. So pretty much one stop shop for for anything flooring or upholstery needs.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:10] So what was the genesis of the idea? How did the brand get started?

Eric Anderson: [00:01:14] So the brand was the brand was started a few years ago by Brandon Cerrito down in Louisville, Kentucky. And the thing that that worked out well for him is he provided a lot of services, a lot of carpet cleaning places, didn’t do so. He originally started with carpet cleaning. Then he learned how to repair carpets, sew holes from pets and things like that that you wouldn’t think would be fixed. He can fix those dying carpets, red wine stains, bleach spots, things like that, carpet stretching, which is something that you’d normally have to have and install or do. Upholstery cleaning just started doing a lot of things that that other places didn’t do. So business really took off for him. He realized that that he had something special there and it would be a good thing to franchise. So then he brought me in on the team. We expanded it, expanded the services a little bit titling, grout cleaning, hardwood, floor cleaning, air cleaning. And here we are today.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:07] So he started out just kind of a guy with a dream, and he was just doing the work and just kind of listening to his customers and just adapting and then growing organically.

Eric Anderson: [00:02:19] Right. Exactly. He he started with one of the other major carpet cleaning companies and decided he wanted to go off on his own. And what would differentiate him from the rest of the competition would be these other unique services that that he would offer that no one else was offering so he could come out, he could clean the carpets, he could repair them, he could fix bleach stains where normally people would be replacing carpets. And that’s when things really took off for him.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:43] Now, when you’re working with this business that is now a franchise, how do you kind of, you know, thread the needle in terms of keep adding services but not kind of chasing every shiny object that’s out there.

Eric Anderson: [00:03:02] So all the services kind of work together. Obviously, the carpet repair and the carpet dyeing, there’s rug cleaning as well. All that kind of goes along with the carpet cleaning services. But at the same time, you also typically have rooms in your house with hardwood flooring, rooms in your house with tile, use a lot of the same machines to do it. So from a franchisee standpoint, makes a lot of sense because you’re already out there with the equipment that you’ve already purchased. And then the air duct cleaning was kind of already it’s kind of a natural fit because you don’t want clean carpets and dirty air ducts because it’s going to blow the dust right back on your clean carpets. So everything that we’ve put together, upholstery, everything we put together kind of sinks with each other.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:45] And then by having all these services, this helps the franchisee kind of have, you know, many more revenue streams because these are all kind of add on services.

Eric Anderson: [00:03:57] Right. Well, yeah. So it produces a higher overall ticket, but also at a time when I don’t know where everyone’s located, but gas is $6 a gallon by me. Instead of running all over multiple jobs a day, driving back and forth, wasting a lot of time and gas in the van, you can go to one person’s house, perform multiple services, get a higher average ticket, and it’s good for the consumer as well because they don’t have to find three or four different places to come out and do everything that they need. So it’s it’s a lot more convenient for the end consumer as well.

Lee Kantor: [00:04:30] And then from franchisee standpoint, this is something where it’s hard to acquire customers. So if you’ve acquired one, you can sell them a bunch of complimentary services. That’s a lot better for your business and your bottom line than it is chasing six different customers for six different services.

Eric Anderson: [00:04:47] Absolutely. You already have the customer, you have the van, you have the equipment. So it just it makes sense.

Lee Kantor: [00:04:54] So now what is the profile of that ideal franchisee look like?

Eric Anderson: [00:04:59] You know, it can be someone that’s currently doing one of those one of those things on their own that would be a conversion. Or it could be someone that’s just just a go getter, someone with a good personality, someone with good customer service that’s willing to hustle and they can get into it for for a low cost. We can turn it around, get it open fairly quickly. And they don’t have to worry about anything as far as real estate because realistically their van is their workshop, it’s their office, it’s their transportation, it’s everything that they need. So I think it’s a it’s a pretty broad group of of people that that we can appeal to.

Lee Kantor: [00:05:35] Does it can you be an absentee owner or is this something you’d like them to kind of roll up their sleeves and kind of get out there?

Eric Anderson: [00:05:44] Sure. You can be an absentee owner as well. You can you can have someone trained. We do a ten day training down in Louisville, Kentucky. So if you want to be an absentee owner, you could buy into the franchise. You could get your your general manager or your person that you want on the van, send them down for the ten days of training. We would recommend coming down as well for the training. Just just so you know what, what’s supposed to be done and how we do things. But yeah, it’s either either it can be you on your own or you can have multiple vans with with multiple people and just just manage it from home.

Lee Kantor: [00:06:15] Are you at this stage looking for kind of those single units or single locations, or are you looking for the kind of the empire builder that you, you know, wants to take over a kind of bigger area?

Eric Anderson: [00:06:27] To be honest, we’re open to either we we’re ready to scale. We’ve got everything set in place. So whether it’s someone that just just wants to start with one van and get out there and do it on their own, or it’s someone that wants to come in and buy multiple vans in a territory or multiple vans throughout multiple territories. We can service either one.

Lee Kantor: [00:06:45] Now, how do you help the franchisee with their marketing or is that something they have to kind of go to the the, you know, leads, clubs, meetings and kind of press the flesh and shake hands and kiss babies locally? Or is this something you guys handle digitally or a combination?

Eric Anderson: [00:07:01] Yeah, it’s a combination of the two, actually. We we have we have a start up marketing package where we get all their advertising set up in the area and then we have additional add on packages that that they can buy into different different levels of what they want to do depending. But we also recommend that they get out in their local area. We have a we have a great brand and the van is beautifully wrapped with the carpet chemist, the all the decals and the logo and everything like that. Just being out in their van, driving it through town, they get stopped all the time and have people requesting appointments just, just by seeing the van, because it’s just a it’s just such a great look. It’s such a professional looking brand.

Lee Kantor: [00:07:41] And is there any story you can share of maybe somebody who was hadn’t considered this as their franchise choice and ended up with it and has been able to become successful?

Eric Anderson: [00:07:53] Yeah, actually, our our Chicago franchisee, he he went for the training. He flew through the training, did really well with that, learned all the services during the ten day training. You can literally go from knowing nothing about carpets to being an expert. In the ten days of training he got back. He had appointments lined up throughout the month, took care of those. He he had great reviews that led to more appointments and he’s off and running. And then in addition to the digital marketing that we do for him, he goes out and he gets business from other other local business owners and other local businesses in the flooring industry and works on partnerships. So he does probably half of his business is commercial and the other half is residential. It’s working out great so far.

Lee Kantor: [00:08:36] So so this opportunity is not just kind of solely residential. You can work in a commercial setting as well.

Eric Anderson: [00:08:43] Oh, absolutely. Gyms. Office buildings, apartment buildings, nursing homes, everything like that. So the beauty of it is, is once you’re there, it’s it’s so much more beneficial to have a larger job because you’re already there, you’re already doing something. So and it works out for the person, too, because you can give them a better break on the pricing because you you can do more at the same amount of time so you don’t have to cover your travel costs on an additional call.

Lee Kantor: [00:09:14] Now, you mentioned that conversions are a part of the mix. What percentage are conversions in? What percentage are folks that are doing this for the first time?

Eric Anderson: [00:09:23] To be honest, we actually haven’t had any conversions yet. We’ve talked to some people that are interested, but we just haven’t had anyone quite sign on yet. You know, I think the benefits of of the conversion process would be the things that they would learn from the founder as far as the carpet repairs and the dying and the different services that we provide that maybe they weren’t existing doing existing already. So I think it would be a great opportunity for them to do that. In addition to the marketing that we provide, we can just add them straight on to the marketing and do half the work for them.

Lee Kantor: [00:09:57] Now I know you don’t have any conversions yet, but that to me is so intriguing because there are so many other brands that I’ve talked to that have an opportunity to target conversions. But a lot of times when a person is their own business, they think they don’t need any help and they think they got things figured out. How do you kind of educate that conversion potential conversion candidate about the help that you can provide the community you can provide and the ways that they can make a lot more money if they kind of took the leap of being part of the team rather than just kind of being a solo operator.

Eric Anderson: [00:10:34] You know, I think where we saw that being a possibility is Brandon, the founder. He gets a lot of messages from other people in that industry asking him how to perform some of the things that he does as far as the repairs, as far as the dyeing, the different things that they’re not currently doing. So there’s a lot of interest from other people in the services that we already provide that they just don’t have any idea how to do yet.

Lee Kantor: [00:11:03] So like, intellectually they understand, look, there’s stuff I don’t know and I need the education, but they are just hesitant to kind of take the leap to to become part of the family and join the team.

Eric Anderson: [00:11:16] Right. And, you know, but I think what intrigues people is, again, I’m going to say it and I didn’t obviously I didn’t invent the brand, but it’s just a great brand. It’s such a professional looking brand. From from the logo to the colors to to how they show up in the uniform and how they present themselves on the in front of the home, how they park the van, how they stand on the stoop when they when the person answers the door. There’s just so many things that Brandon has perfected over the course of the years that most people don’t do and don’t even realize that they should be doing. I think people realize once they once they talk to him that there’s a lot more that they actually don’t do or maybe don’t know.

Lee Kantor: [00:11:58] Yeah, and it’s so funny. People are so hesitant to partner when there’s just so much more opportunity when you’re part of a community and a network that you’re learning from others all over the place. I mean, there’s there’s so much upside to considering this.

Eric Anderson: [00:12:17] Absolutely. From the from the training that we can provide to even the the carpet chemist branded chemicals that we specifically picked and used to the to the deals that they can get on vans and equipment that they’re going to use just just by being able to be a part of the volume pricing. Even that alone can can cover any, any costs associated with with transferring over.

Lee Kantor: [00:12:42] Yeah. Yeah. I wish more people would just open their mind to the possibilities and not think that just because you’ve done it this way for the last ten years, you have to continue doing it this way. There’s a lot more opportunity there if you can kind of get your mind around it.

Eric Anderson: [00:12:56] Right. And and that’s what we’re looking for realistically. I mean, granted, yes, they’re called franchisees, but we’re really looking for four partners. So obviously we need them. They need us. So we’re looking to form partnerships with people to to get more carpet chemist locations out there.

Lee Kantor: [00:13:13] So now what areas are you looking to grow in? You say you’re I guess, starting in Louisville. Is that are you going kind of Louisville outward or or is kind of the world your oyster now? And it really doesn’t matter where they come from.

Eric Anderson: [00:13:26] Well, we can go anywhere. The direct focus now, just where we can provide the absolute most support, but also we already have the brand recognition is areas in and around the Chicagoland area and surrounding states and in and around the Louisville area and surrounding states of Kentucky. So in the Chicagoland area, we’ve we’ve done people outside of the area. Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan, Brandon has done different. And down in Louisville, he’s done he’s gone into Ohio. In Indiana, he’s gone across the state. In Kentucky, he’s gone even further than that. So I think that there’s already brand recognitions in those in those areas. So it’s it’s a natural fit because people are already looking for our services in those areas.

Lee Kantor: [00:14:17] Right. And it’s just a matter of just finding the right partners, like you said.

Eric Anderson: [00:14:22] Right, exactly. Yeah. We’ve got a couple in the pipeline right now that that that should be signing up fairly soon in each area. So from that point, it’s it’s just going to grow from there. But we can go anywhere from California to New York. So it doesn’t doesn’t mean that we wouldn’t happily welcome someone from California or New York and provide them with the best support that they can possibly get as well.

Lee Kantor: [00:14:46] So if somebody wants to learn more, have a more substantive conversation with you or somebody on the team, what’s the website or the best coordinates.

Eric Anderson: [00:14:54] So they can check out the carpet chemist dot com or the carpet chemist franchise dot com. So if they want to just see the brand and kind of see what we offer and what we do, that would be the carpet chemist dot com and then carpet chemist franchise dot com or B carpet chemist franchise dot com is going to tell you all about our franchising. There’s a contact us form on there that they can fill out and someone usually will get back to them if not immediately, within 24 hours at the absolute latest. But normally they would receive a call within hours just to answer any initial questions that they might have, since obviously they’re clearly interested at that moment.

Lee Kantor: [00:15:28] Well, Eric, congratulations on all the success and the momentum. You’re doing important work. We appreciate you.

Eric Anderson: [00:15:35] Yeah, thanks for having me, Leigh. I really appreciate it. It’s great talking to you.

Lee Kantor: [00:15:38] All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you next time on franchise marketing radio.