Multi-Unit Franchise Owner Shares What He’s Learned

Tristan is a top performing Modern PURAIR® Franchise Owner with ownership in multiple Modern PURAIR Franchises.  Tristan is co-owner and General Manager of Modern PURAIR Kelowna.  Tristan is also the co-owner of recently opened Modern PURAIR Sea-to-Sky, located 500km away from his initial franchise.  We connected with Tristan to find out about what he is doing in his businesses and what he has learned along the way.

What do you think has been the biggest change that you have made in how you run your business today vs. five years ago?

I stopped doing everything myself. I created systems for other people to do things as efficiently as I could. I realized that most employees can only do several things very well and I carved out roles like Operations, Sales, Admin Support, Report Support etc that specialize in several things instead of trying to duplicate myself. I have a philosophy that “Simple Scales, Fancy Fails”. Less is more in a lot of ways when looking at job roles for people.  For example, Sales should not been in Operations as these activities conflict in most ways. Ideally sales people do nothing or very little with operations as they should be out selling. Make it easy for your people to win and they will like their job.

How, if at all, have you been able to apply that to your second franchise that you recently opened, considering you currently have a much smaller team there?

I applied everything. I essentially just plugged the business into all existing systems, and it works. Small tweaks and innovations due to the geographical difference, but nothing our team has not been able to problem solve. Many hands make the load light.

Tell us a little bit about your franchise and what makes it special.

Personal development is built into the culture of our business. Everyone is always progressing towards the next thing and have a clear idea of their career path. We are often told by new hires that they were uncomfortable for the first few days at work because they had never been in such a positive, friendly work environment. They didn’t know they could be themselves at their place of work.

Everyone understands they are in sales. Even Operations team members have made sales based off of problem solving. We have a competitive environment for this. Due to that, we have technicians earning a levels of income that wouldn’t be possible in similar type roles in other companies.

What does a typical “day in the life” look like for you as a franchise owner and general manager?

• Scanning and replying to emails once a day.
• Running Revenue Reports daily to track progress.
• Checking how many quotes were sent, sales closed, and contracts closed from the day prior with the sales team.
• Communicating with Operations Team every second day or so if needed.
• Working on the business to reduce costs and increase profits and/or increase efficiency.

What are you most excited about in your business looking forward?

Improving all sales processes, creating new acquisition channels. We have aggressive but achievable growth goals for both of my franchise locations.  This means we need to sell more and faster.

What do you think is the biggest mistake that a year one franchise can make?

Not realizing that you need more people than you think you will.  If you only have one technician and that employee is sick or you have turnover… you are likely left training someone new or soaking the burden yourself. Having two technicians is like one for the same reason. Stack your bench with “A Players”. Invest in building something where you can afford to lose someone, and you are not taking on additional work as an owner. If you need one person in sales, hire two. If you need four new technicians, hire eight. Creating competition and gamifying your business for people keeps them engaged.

I also think that not selling our Modern PURAIR Preventative Maintenance Agreements to secure future revenue for your business is a mistake. They are easy to sell and are extremely valuable.

What skills do you think are most important for an owner to have to be successful in this business?

• Time Management
• Leadership ability
• Sense of Urgency when it matters
• Conscientious
• Discipline

How is your role in the business today different than it was in your early year(s) as a General Manager if at all?

I work on the business more than I work in it at this point. I have a team that hits goals, I don’t hit goals myself. I have freedom in my life in almost every way and I have peace of mind as I have multiple layers in my company built up so I will never have to work on a truck again or walk onto a job site to sell.

What are the top 3 KPIs that you are monitoring in your businesses today and why?

1. Revenue
2. Profit – It’s only cool doing more revenue if you are making more profit. If your not making more money then why are you doing it?
3. Quote Output – This is the best way to see what we will be doing in sales in the near future.  If there are no quotes for a week for both reps then its a big issue as we will run out of work. Running out of work means we are at risk to lose team members.

What do you think are the top 3 benefits of being a Modern PURAIR Franchise Partner?

1. Branding is MASSIVE.
2. Sales Center is huge. The entire booking process for residential work and the system for digital marketing is nuts. The Sales Center has really stepped up there game in the past two years too. I never thought they would be able to help us as much as they do. I save tons of money each year in administrative expenses by using our Sales Center for booking in jobs/Preventative Maintenance Agreements, etc. It’s awesome!
3. Technology. The Modern PURAIR Sprinter design, Compressor, Vacuum are top notch and once again something I could never produce. Between this and the branding there is a real moat around the business when looking at our competitors. Everyone else is doing duct cleaning.. we are Modern PURAIR. It’s like being the Kleenex of Indoor Air Quality.