Selling Your Spouse on a Matco Franchise Minimizing Your Risk & Knowing if a Matco Franchise is Right for You Is this a risk WORTH TAKING? You want a change. The old job is a dead-end street. Even when the economy is booming, your pay rarely goes up. Your hours aren t yours, you re missing out on your kid s weekend games, and every day feels like a slog. You re ready, but maybe your spouse isn t. She s probably got good reasons, too. Owning your own business is always risky. You ve got to invest a huge amount of money, and there s never any guarantee that you ll come out ahead. You believe that the time is right for you and your family to make the leap to being your own boss. It s time for a change that can give you more of what you want from life and less of the things you don t want. This document was created as an aide in your conversation with your wife, partner or spouse (for simplicity, we ll just refer to her (or him) as your partner from this point forward). The purpose is to help you and your partner jointly determine if a Matco franchise is a risk the family considers worth taking. If it s too big of a risk, we don t want you taking the chance. But, we ll do all we can to reduce the risk, including intensive training, ongoing support and mentoring, and an annual business review (or more often if you need it). If you re not asking the following questions, there s a very good chance that they re going through your partner s head: Can I replace my income? And, if so, how long will it take? How certain can I be that this will succeed and not fail? What do I have to do to succeed, and can I do it? What are the risks I need to manage? What do I have to do to achieve my dream?
Below we ll answer these questions as best we can. The biggest question of all is this: are you willing and able to run your own business? If you do your part, Matco will do theirs, and together we can make great things happen. Once you and your partner have read all the information supplied by Matco, including this document, and had a good conversation we suspect you know what s right for you and your family. CAN I REPLACE MY INCOME? Matco succeeds only when its franchisees succeed. The franchise must be a good fit and have a high probability of success. Matco has won awards for being the top franchise opportunity available for five of the last seven years running because we do a lot of things right. People can, and do, replace their income and achieve their dreams using a Matco franchise. The answer to the question depends on what income you are trying to replace. You can get a good idea by reading our document entitled Answers to Your Three Biggest Questions. You can get this document by going here. You ll get a glimpse of what other Matco franchise owners actually did in 2012. You can also read a document outlining the Success Formulas How a Matco Distributor Makes Money by going here. Many people can replace their income if they follow the Matco business process. If you don t do the work and follow the process, you probably won t be successful in replacing your income. If you do follow the process, you have an opportunity to be like those Matco franchisees who have replaced their income and gone on to make more than they ever dreamed possible -- all while loving their work. The bottom line is that replacing your income depends on you, how you run your business, and how hard you work. The keys to success (knowing if you can do what s required): 1. Set a schedule and stick with it. Be consistent, show up to your customer s business the same time every week, and show them how they can save time and money with better and newer tools. 2. Follow the Matco Business System. Learn and use the software. Act on the training, ideas, and suggestions we provide. Seek out and build relationships with successful distributors. This is not a good business for people who prefer to do things their own way. 3. Manage your time. You re not on the clock any longer, but time you re not in the field is time you re not selling and making money. It s hard work, but the consistency pays off. 4. Manage your money. Matco distributors handle hundreds of thousands of dollars every year. You need the self-discipline to spend only what s truly yours, after taxes and business expenses. 5. Manage your attitude. A positive attitude is everything in this business. Your customers will instantly detect a poor attitude and will go elsewhere for their tools. You ll need to be positive and confident without being pushy or cocky. This is a relationship business in which customers buy from people they know and trust.
HOW QUICKLY CAN I REPLACE MY INCOME? Many and maybe most Matco franchise owners start making sales their first few days on their route. This means that they are making money very early. Every Matco franchise owner starts with 90 days of living expenses in reserve. Some new franchise owners never touch that reserve. Some use it all, and then some. Replacing your income is not the same as making money. You ll only make money that is all yours and can go towards replacing your income after you pay your weekly and monthly expenses. You ll also have to pay off your initial inventory investment. We call this the break-even point, and it s a focus of our first two one-on-one business meetings with you after you start. How quickly you replace your income depends on four factors: 1. How much you are making today. 2. How much you sell. 3. Your net profit after sales. 4. How quickly you collect payment from your customers. 5. And, how well you manage your money. Working for yourself is a big change from working for someone else. Nobody will be telling you what to do and when to do it other than you. That is the big advantage and that is the risk. You must feel comfortable selling high-end products to mechanics and others that would use Matco tools. Sales, in a Matco franchise is nothing more than meeting with generally nice, like-minded people who happen to like tools as much as you. You re not trying to sell them something they don t want or can t use, which makes selling rather easy. It s mostly a matter of showing up, showing off your cool stuff, and keeping track of each person s likes, dislikes, and needs. In other words, to sell is simply to like people, like tools, and enjoy show and tell. Also, since nearly 70% of all customer sales are what we call Time Payment Sales, a lot of your job will be collecting money from your customers. They buy the tools on credit. You re the bank in this case, so it s your job to collect payment. If you re not OK asking for money that s owed to you, then this may not be a good career for you. Finally, as we mentioned, there will be a lot of money coming into your truck. It s not your money until you ve paid your expenses. This includes, your truck lease, re-stocking your inventory, taxes, insurance, gas, and other business expenses.
Matco teaches you how to use a software system that tracks everything you do your sales, sales tax, net profit margin, business expenses... the whole ball of wax. Just use the system as we ve taught you to use it, and you re set. And, don t worry if you re not computer savvy. Many of our new distributors are leery of computers, so we ll work with you one-on-one until you re a pro. Many of our distributors turn the business and accounting (money) side over to their partners, so that they can focus on bring in more sales revenue. Some new Matco franchisees completely replaced their income by the end of the first 90 days. Most get it done by the end of the first year. Some take longer. How fast YOU replace your income is up to you, and the beauty of our system is that you ll know exactly what to do from the start. The business planning session in your home will identify your financial goals and lay out a plan for you to reach those goals. HOW CERTAIN CAN I BE THAT THIS WILL SUCCEED AND NOT FAIL? A Matco franchise is a remarkably good way for many people to own a successful business while managing many of the risks that can pose a threat to success. Matco is a franchise business opportunity and franchises in general provide a business model that significantly reduces the risks in business and help you generate profit much faster than starting a business completely on your own. Unlike Matco, most franchises require you to find your own customers. These kinds of businesses fail daily. Matco is very, very different. Not all franchises are created equally. Matco carefully builds a set of no fewer than 325 and no more than 400 solid prospective customers. You can read about the rigorous process of how Matco builds a quality route by going [Here]. Your customers already know that you have great products at competitive prices. As a Matco business owner your customers generally want to see you. In fact most count on being able to see you every week at the same time. That s good because you ll visit them every week if you follow the Matco plan. It s the quality and consistency of that weekly relationship that will determine the degree of your success.
Nearly 1,500 Matco franchisees prove the model works every day. As some like to say, Matco figured out how to make the wheel round. All you have to do is keep the wheel rolling by making the calls and taking care of business. If you do your part a Matco franchise is a great business. Here are some of the ways that any business, including a Matco franchise, can fail: Don t go to work every day for the number of hours it takes to make the business work... Don t manage the money in the business... Don t control your costs. If you spend more than you make you won t be able to pay your bills or yourself... Don t keep your promises to your customers... Don t tell the truth... Don t be the kind of person others want to be around and buy from... Don t be easy to get along with... Don t stay organized... Don t pay your tool bill, truck lease and fuel bill... Don t follow the Matco plan... Don t go to the Matco meetings... Don t stay in touch with the other Matco franchise owners and learn from them... Don t keep your partner informed and involved in the business... Avoiding failure is easy if you do what is known to work. Are You Willing To... Drive the same route every week and talk to the same group of mechanics about saving time and money with Matco tools? Keep the promises you make to others? Collect the money you are owed on account every week? Act on your Matco training and use your Matco business software to manage your business every day? Make all of the calls on your route every day and every week? Manage your time and your money every day? answers to the above means that you have YES dramatically reduced the risk of failure
WHAT ARE THE RISKS I NEED TO MANAGE? Matco will cover most of the major risks that can threaten a Matco business in the Matco training. This training is not only twice as long as any other tool franchise, but it is also taught by training experts who have a long history of helping Matco franchisees be some of the most successful tool franchise owners in America. You can get more information on Matco training here. Here are some of the challenges that you will likely face: Money management. Improving your sales skill. Being disciplined enough to fully cover your route each week. Using your business management software consistently so it can help you manage your inventory, the money you are owed and your investment in tools. Keeping reserves to pay your taxes. Collecting money each week from the people who owe it to you. Being willing to ask for the sale. Being willing to remind people that they owe you money each week. Managing your personal life so that you can both work your route completely and take care of your mobile store. Knowing that you are your own boss and you can take a day off anytime you want to but also knowing you have to limit your days off to the extent that you can do your business successfully. WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO TO ACHIEVE MY DREAM? Do everything mentioned above: set goals, work with your manager and then give it a reasonable amount of time. The degree of your success is in your hands. Every year you can work smarter. Matco, your manager, and the Matco training department want to see you succeed. They will be there every step of the way to help you achieve the dreams you are committed to achieving. Perhaps the biggest thing you have to do to achieve your dreams is to be sure that you and your partner agree that you are willing and able to do the things suggested in this document. You can count on Matco to do their part. Together you and Matco can give you and your family the changes you ve wanted in your life... starting just weeks from now. (C) 2013 Matco Tools, A Division of Danaher Corp. All Rights Reserved This information is not intended as an offer to sell, or the solicitation of an offer to buy, a franchise. It is for information purposes only. An offer is made only by Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD). Currently, the following states regulate the offer and sale of franchises: California, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin. If you are a resident of, or wish to acquire a franchise for a [Matco Tools distributorship] to be located in, one of these states or a country whose laws regulate the offer and sale of franchises, we will not offer you a franchise unless and until we have complied with applicable pre-sale registration and disclosure requirements in your jurisdiction. Minnesota state franchise registration number F-2705.