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| Interview of James Abrams, President - CEO of One Hour Air Conditioning
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Interviewer: Franchise Times
Interviewees: James Abrams (President/CEO)
One Hour Air Conditioning is a subsidiary of Clockwork Home Services, which is a division of VenVest Inc. Clockwork has both the One Hour brand franchise under its umbrella, as well as Benjamin Franklin Plumbing, another concept that made the Fast 55 this year. According to the company, contractors who wish to keep their own business identity can join Clockwork’s Affinity Group—which, according to President and CEO James Abrams, is a school that offers the same technical and business process training franchisees have access to. In addition to plumbing and HVAC, the school offers training for electricians and roofing contractors. VenVest was founded in 1998; Benjamin Franklin and One Hour began franchising in 2001 and 2003, respectively.
If you offer them the the same training as franchisees, why should an independent sign on as a franchisee?
There is a fragmented world of HVAC and plumbing—the consumer doesn’t know who to call. The franchise offers a brand…We also have a proprietary software, which gets the serviceperson to the appointment on time. Our business model is that we’ll be there on time; if we’re not the service is free. There’s no waiting around for hours for a serviceperson to arrive.
How do you decide whether or not one of your Affinty Group students can make it as a franchisee?
We’re very selective. They have to be in the business already, and have a solid business plan, a solid balance sheet. They have to illustrate they have good business knowledge. Our model is that no franchisee will fail. Most of these franchisees come out of our Affinity Group training.
How many people have gone through the Affinity training?
JA: We’ve had 1,200 clients go through the four schools, representing $3.5 billion in sales in their respective industries. How have you ramped up franchisee support over time?
Our support team is growing rapidly. When we started we had two people in franchise support; today we have 42. We are adamant that if we take their money, the franchisee won’t fail on our part. We’ve made it easy for them; we even give them a disk that tells them exactly what to do each day, such as when to update their sales staff training.
How have you changed your franchise agreement over time?
We haven’t changed the model since inception.
What are your thoughts on being a smaller franchise?
It is one of our biggest challenges. We are in the interim period before we begin national advertising. We need to become a $1 billion company before we can do that. As the franchise grows rapidly, the franchisees could wonder what they are paying for. But we continue to offer services and other forms of brand awareness. New plans on the horizon?
We plan to launch Mr. Sparky, the electrician franchise later this year. We have about 50 potential franchisees in the pipeline for this concept. |