What started out as a typical trip to the gym for Chris Lamey, ended in a life-changing encounter. Boasting a 20-plus year career in the golf industry, Lamey took a leap of faith and bought a struggling franchise location after this conversation with a peer:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHey I know this is totally out of the blue, we\u2019ve never even talked business, but there might be a couple of franchises that may be coming for sale. Would you and your wife be interested in talking to us?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And according to his wife and co-owner Jenny, they\u2019ve never looked back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you\u2019ve ever experienced any kind of water damage in your home after a storm, you\u2019ve probably heard of SERVPRO. Whether it\u2019s fire or water damage, mold or a simple carpet cleaning, this cleanup and restoration company tackles the mess. And from what I learned in talking to Mrs. Lamey, it\u2019s a really good franchise to be a part of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So how do two people without true experience in owning and operating a business: \u201cI mean I won\u2019t lie, that first couple weeks I\u2019d get in my car and I\u2019d drive back home, thinking about how overwhelming it all was\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2026Turn a failing location into one that\u2019s about to outgrow its current space and surpass corporate standard sales goals?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Creativity, trust, and support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Though I mentioned the lack of true business ownership experience, Mr. Lamey was a sales rep for a number of years and through that, perfected the craft of establishing relationships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFor 23 years of his career he never went into an office, so he was running his territory. You\u2019re very much a part of your own success in that situation,\u201d explained Mrs. Lamey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She went on to explain their approach to business is that they are a marketing company that happens to provide cleaning and restoration services. For them, it\u2019s all about the relationships they establish with the local Alabama adjusters and insurance agents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They\u2019re able to creatively combine their marketing and customer service skills to really exceed in this new life adventure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How can you leverage your variety of skills to help run your franchise as smooth as possible? Look beyond what you think might be a practical business skill and tap into those other experiences to really make your business shine. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
After undergoing six months\u2019 worth of training that set them up with a great foundation to run the business, the Lameys were made aware of a hard-hitting reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt was very overwhelming at first as each call and each job was a new experience for us. But it was a great way to hit the ground running and learn the business by doing it and not just learning about it,\u201d Mrs. Lamey explained. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The SERVPRO franchise bases their training on a \u2018stages model.\u2019 It\u2019s been proven time and time and time again, that if you follow the stages, you will be successful. So the Lameys trusted the corporate franchise methodology and haven\u2019t had any need to stray the course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There\u2019s a good chance whatever franchise you own is in business because of the solid processes in place on the corporate level. While there is some freedom in your particular location, don\u2019t forget this idea of placing trust in your franchisor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAnother great thing about being a part of the franchise system is the support of franchises all over,\u201d said Mrs. Lamey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When disaster struck in Louisiana, surrounding \u2018storm teams\u2019 (as SERVPRO calls it) packed up equipment and headed to work on helping those people out in a time of crisis. As you can imagine, that\u2019s extremely rewarding to be able to help people get their lives back together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With support from the community, staff members and even mentoring from I would say the late owner of SERVPRO Birmingham and the Wilson Trainership, David Wilson, Mr. and Mrs. Lamey never have to tackle any challenge alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not only that, but they get support from partnering with other companies\u2026 like PrimePay. Since they cover jobs in multiple municipalities around Anniston, occupational tax filing is tricky. But by leaning on the support from their representatives here at PrimePay, the Lameys can be confident in continued success with their franchise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWorking with PrimePay has given me the peace of mind and confidence that you care about our business and will work with us as a partner to meet our needs,\u201d Mrs. Lamey said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":1725,"parent":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":true,"content-type":""},"client-type":[83],"class_list":["post-1724","client-story","type-client-story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","client-type-small"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/primepay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/client-story\/1724","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/primepay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/client-story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/primepay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/client-story"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/primepay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/primepay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"client-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/primepay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/client-type?post=1724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}