Death, Life, & Celebration

My favorite, and most exhausting week of the year at Neighborly, is Reunion week. 14 U.S. brands get together, with sister brands from Europe, for a week of sharing, learning and celebration. The highlight is the announcement of the Franchisee of the Year for each of the brands. This year the celebration was in San Antonio – where it was 100 degrees even on the cool days.

As the past President of Glass Doctor it was great to see so many friends from the past nine years. At the same I was spending time with Window Genie and Real Property Management franchisees and putting faces with the people I’ve met in the past six months in my new role.

Our keynote was John DiJulius, who started John Robert’s Spa in Cleveland. Started in 1993, the Spa is now one of the Top 20 salons in America with multiple locations and over 150 employees. John, who also started The DiJulius Group is recognized as one of the authorities on world-class customer service. I love any speaker who can back up what they teach with the services they actually provide!

My favorite story regaled the time a competitor down the street put up a sign in their window that read, “$10 Haircuts”. John countered with his own sign, “We fix $10 haircuts”. He showed his team that it is all about customer service – not having the cheapest price!

How often do our employees tell us that “our price is too high???” Employees never tell us that “our service is just too good!”

The magic of franchising is exemplified all week as franchisees teach othe franchisees their best practices. Over the years I continue to use the example of the Filet-O-Fish, Big Mac and Egg McMuffin. All three sandwiches, now American staples, were invented by franchisees, not by the franchisor. I can cite hundreds of times I’ve witnessed this over my past 35 years in franchising.

One of the coolest things I was involved with was working on a “grand finale” for the Window Genie meeting portion of the Reunion. On the last day every franchisee who was there had a chance to roll six dice for $100,000. It is similar to the hole-in-one contests for golf outings. We bought an insurance package that would cover this if someone rolled all genies. (A picture of a Genie replaced the number 1 on all of the dice). Someone did roll 4 genies but that is as close as we got. Great excitement, however.

This was MK’s first Reunion as President of Molly Maid. While this was happening her father was near death. She did make it back to see him a couple days before he died. Her mom died 7 months, to the day, before him.

Both were in their early 90s so both enjoyed an amazing life. Dad had this ability to make each one of his five daughters, and one son, believe they were his favorite. What a gift. Mom had this sense of humor I cherished. Definitely shared had my type.

I loved them both so much. They treated me like their own son – what more can a son-in-law ask for.

Dad had one request at the end. He wanted all six of his kids together with him. Less than two weeks before he died all six kids were together with him. Each of them had special time with dad. MK said how wonderful, yet how sad, it was.

Dad and mom met in the Navy. She was a Navy nurse and he was the Commander of a ship. I wish I would have known them when they were in their 40’s. I could then share in their kid’s fond memories.

This week would have been their 68th Anniversary. As children we learn more of what our parents do – that what our parents say. A lesson in leadership that we need to all embrace.