We work with a large variety of small businesses that have a variety of business models that we become very intimate with; the VALPAK FRANCHISE Model is head and shoulders above ANY other small business model we have ever worked with.
Variety: working with small business owners from Septic Tank Pumpers to Cosmetic Surgeons Fast Pace: Small business owners are rapid decision makers .. . no committees or bureaucracies. Work ANY where there is Internet connection and work when and how I want Little overhead and no equipment or product inventory. Profitability: Each month you sale enough to cover postage and mailing expenses; all additional sales are 47% profit. Residual Income: 90% of our clients sign a 12 month commitment contract. Income is VERY predictable and growing it is easy. Loyalty: 80% of our clientel have been with us 10 years or more. We have 4 clients that have been with us for 33 years. Franchise model: The Franchisor does not 'tax' us on a percentage of revenue. They are our printer and production and charge us only for paper and those services according to how much we sell. So, the relation ship is more like we are their customer instead of we are a necessary evil. The more we sell the more corp makes. They support SALES not a corporate bureaucracy
Sales Management: To truly realize the potential in a Valpak franchise you must be willing to hire and lead a sales team. You CAN operate with just yourself and some data entry help and make a really good living. But if you want to get RICH, you gotta understand Sales LEADERSHIP. Which is different than MANAGEMENT. Sales rep's deal with a lot of temporary rejection daily. They have to work a contact formula to do enough volume to build their book. We have owned our franchise for 33 years and 20 of those years we had a successful Sales Team. We made an incredible amount of money. HOWEVER, I HATED the sales leadership. I could find them, hire them, train them. but the DAILY COACHING was like Chinese Water Torture. Finally we let them all go and took on doing all the client sales and maintenance. MUCH HAPPIER! . . not as much money but MUCH Happier.
The biggest complaint I get from customers and our readership is that the WELL KNOWN BRAND of the VALPAK blue envelope (since 1968) is being ruined by placing advertising for National Brands al over the outside of the envelope. It ruins the "gift in the mail box" effect and hurts our reputation for being a LOCAL business media. Corporate needs to go back to the clean blue branded envelope.