Each franchise operation is typically comprised of a 2,000 to 3,000 square foot warehouse stocked with approximately 1,500 radiators. You and your staff of 2 to 3 people will make field sales calls, take phone orders, manage inventory, dispatch drivers and deliver products within 3 hours of orders being taken or if you are located in a rural market, a package shipped next day keeps you competitive. You will typically be open 9 hours per day, 5 1/2 days per week. Your ability to call on new prospective customers and service them to high levels will be the key to your success.
Customers love our service – in addition to our fast delivery, our radiators come with a lifetime guarantee and are sold at a competitive price. This extremely effective business model has enabled 1-800-Radiator to become the largest independent direct distributor in the country and the only franchise distributor. We also expanded our product line in 2007 to include the HVAC air parts line.
1. No Automotive Experience Required A big part of the 1-800-Radiator marketing effort is the training. The franchisee will spend up to three weeks learning how the radiator market works. You will also learn about the 1-800-Radiator lifetime guaranty. 1-800-Radiator will train you how to use the computer systems to maximize your time spent marketing to customers and minimize time spent in the warehouse. Franchisees will be taught how to grow their territories quickly and efficiently.
2. No "Bad" Locations The only location requirement for a 1-800-Radiator franchise is that the warehouse be reasonably close to the center of the territory. There is no such thing as a "bad" location as there often is with a bad food franchise location. The 1-800-Radiator franchisee, not being confined to the "store", is free to travel all day seeing customers. The more customers he or she sees, the more chance of success they have. The food franchisee has no choice but to wait at that location day after day hoping enough customers will come by.
3. Fewer Employees Necessary The 1-800-Radiator franchisee has just three employees -- two delivery drivers and a warehouse manager-order taker. A food franchise often has upwards of 15 employees, usually teenagers who require lots of management and supervision. The 1-800-Radiator franchise is open just 5 1/2 days per week versus all 7 days for the food franchise. The 1-800-Radiator location is open 9 hours per day Monday thru Friday and 4 hours on Saturday. The food franchise is open often 19 hours per day, 7 days per week. A 1-800-Radiator franchisee works very hard, but time is spent much more in market planning and in contacts with customers, as opposed to constant recruiting, training and disciplining of young workers.
4. No heavy investment in an expensive building or build-out A 1-800-Radiator warehouse is a simple, low-cost 2,500 square foot space located in primarily industrial parks, stocking approximately 2,000 radiators to enable delivery within two hours. The total cost to set up a warehouse is $13,000, which includes racking, computers and office equipment. The inventory requirement is $100,000.
5. State-of-the-Art Marketing System Our computer systems have been designed to allow the franchisee-owner maximum time for marketing. We created our own proprietary web-based point of sale system that helps manage inventory, accounting and CRM data to help you more effectively market to your repeat-buyer wholesale customers. Many franchisees carry a Blackberry linked to the company's computer order system to maximize time spent marketing to customers because he or she knows they will be automatically paged by "the system" whenever a new order comes in.
6. Existing Customer Base 1-800-Radiator has been marketing nationwide for years and has great recognition in North America. In the first weeks of operation, 1-800-Radiator sends in two of its Franchise Coordinators to call on each and every one of these customers and to introduce the new franchisee. These customers will learn that 1-800-Radiator now has a location right in their own backyard which will be able to give much better service than they have been getting before. Many customers will happily find out that they will now get their radiators in 2 hours instead of 24 hours. In areas where a location already exists, the customers will learn that they now have a closer location run by an owner-operator who cares about them and is easily accessible.
The new franchisee will also be pleasantly surprised at the flow of retail business (do-it-yourselfers) which is constantly coming in. This is a result of yellow page ads which have been operating in the territory for years. 1-800-Radiator also is the dominant marketer of radiators on the Internet. These orders also will be constantly coming in. The franchisee does not have to worry about generating these sales --- they just happen automatically and provide an immediate and welcome cushion of cash flow. This business is fairly predictable and 1-800-Radiator will provide the prospective franchisee with its historical records by week, month, and year, showing how much of this business has occurred in the past.
7. Recession Resistant In the United States, there were approximately six million radiator replacements last year. 1-800-Radiator is dominating this market, making it fast and easy to get a brand new radiator in the box delivered to your door. At an average price of $134, 1-800-Radiator sells its radiators to automotive repair shops and do-it-yourselfers - it does not install the radiators or perform any repair work. Radiators are a must have item and as new car sales drop and people elect to hold onto their cars longer, there is and will continue to be an increased demand on part replacement.
8. Limited Number of Franchises Available To ensure that each franchise has its own protected territory, 1-800-Radiator is limiting the number of franchises available in the United States and Canada to only 245. With 245 open and only 5 territories remaining in Canada, we are well on our way!