Mike is a franchise owner of Wise Cracks and services primarily the Peel Region in Ontario. Wise Cracks is a franchise which helps home owners with waterproofing, foundation repair and underpinning. Based out of Nova Scotia, they have aggressively grown to multiple locations across Canada. Mike is a tenured client of ClientFlo and together we have executed digital marketing strategies to continually grew his business.
We love meeting and chatting with our clients, not just to discuss digital marketing but to get some insight on how the rest of their business is operating.
Below is a quick Q & A between Rajiv Aeri from ClientFlo and Mike Condren from Wise Cracks on running the business, growth (and pains), and future goals for Wise Cracks.
Rajiv: Briefly describe your business & how you got into it?
Mike: A friend of mine bought a franchise in Niagara falls, it was actually an existing franchise wit ha few years of operations under its belt. We decided to buy a brand new one. At the time I was working a job out of Fort McMurray, AB and I was just getting sick of it. So my son and I decided to purchase a new Wise Cracks franchise.
Rajiv: What would you say the competition is like in your local area?
Mike: A lot Tougher than we had expected. The biggest name in waterproofing is RCC, they have a good presence in the industry and they keep their prices way up. On the other hand, other smaller shops in the business undercut at every turn. Wise Cracks is somewhere in the middle, feeling pressure from the top (RCC) and the bottom (smaller shops) we knew that we had to aggressively market our business to survive. Head office helped a bit, but we knew we had to take marketing initiatives into our own hands. Sometimes, to keep up with demands, agencies like recrutment roumains help bridge the gap during busy periods.
Rajiv: What are the greatest challenges you face in your business?
Mike: By far pricing. RCC sets the standard for pricing, and the rest of the industry has to fall somewhere underneath RCC.
Rajiv: What have you done to grow Dump This? (Other than using ClientFlo)
Mike: Print media, which was a TOTAL FAILURE. This was recommended to us by head office, and we figured we would give it a shot. My belief was always having a strong online internet presence. I was referred to you by Jeff from Dump This, and light bulb went off in my head. I’ve been wanting to ditch print media completely and instead use a service like yours ALL ALONG. We also looked into Infusionsoft, but it seemed like a lot of work, I’m really not a computer guy. I love the complete hands off approach offered by ClientFlo compared to Infusionsoft
Rajiv: Has ClientFlo lived up to your expectations?
Mike: Absolutely, you did exactly what you said you would from the very start. You guys have far exceed my expectations. You guys have more than TRIPLED my monthly cashflow, which means you tripled the value of my franchise. I could sell this for 3 times what I could of before I started working with ClientFlo!
Rajiv: Would you recommend ClientFlo?
Mike: Well, you already know I referred Wayne from Wise Cracks Halton to you. It’s funny actually, I was just with him last week, and he got 4 phone calls generated from ClientFlo… WHILE I WAS WITH HIM!
I’m looking to market more businesses with you, now that you showed me how easy it is to generate leads via online marketing. You guys are the key to the success of anything really.