Multi-Unit Franchisee Magazine Issue II, 2015

MULTI-BRAND 50 MANAGEMENT Business philosophy: Work hard and treat people the right way. I believe it is important to empower employees and not to micromanage. Allowing employees to make decisions makes for a more fulﬁlling career for them. It’s also important to have career goals. Sports has had a heavy inﬂuence on my life, and I have implemented a scorecard system for my team members so that we’re all on the same page in terms of our company’s goals. For instance, to reach my goal of $1.2 million in revenue for Mosquito Joe, we have a scorecard of how many people we should be servicing per day to achieve that goal. It helps us to ﬁgure out if we’re falling off pace so we can act promptly. With seasonal businesses, I don’t have 12 months to generate revenue—I only have four months, so if we are off track we have to correct the issue straightaway. Management method or style: It was hard at the beginning, but I’ve learned to delegate and empower my staff to produce better results. Greatest challenge: Finding the right employees for service-based jobs. We don’t have an inventory or food costs, so our focus is on employees. It’s a challenge to hire enough people, train them, monitor their progress, and retain them for the next season. The goal is to retain at least 40 percent of employees for the next season to alleviate the hiring challenge. To maintain that retention rate we do a lot of activities to keep our employees happy. We have an employee event at least once a month, such as going out to dinner, bowling, or barbecues. The key employees from Liberty Tax also work at Mosquito Joe, so they have a year-round job, which helps with retention. How do others describe you? I’m very competitive and stubborn, but compassionate. I am a nice guy, which is why it’s hard for me to ﬁre people. One thing I’m looking to do better: It’s in progress: investing more time in my kids and myself. As I’m getting older, I am really focusing on enjoying life more. How I give my team room to innovate and experiment: I don’t bark commands. I constantly ask my team members for their advice and input because they’re the ones in the battleﬁeld and the community. I also have contests for best ideas among staff members. For example, my Liberty Tax employees come up with great marketing ideas, such as giveaways. How close are you to operations? Very close. I’m in it every day. Even on this vacation I’ve contacted my general manager three to four times an entrepreneur since junior high, when his father (who was also his fourth-grade math teacher) opened a mutual fund for him that Comer still has today. In December 1998, he earned an MBA in professional accounting, taxation, and finance from The Eli Broad Graduate School of Management at Michigan State University, then joined the corporate tax office of Deloitte & Touche in Detroit. At the public accounting firm, one of the “Big Six” at the time, Comer got an exhaustive crash course in entrepreneurship, working with small businesses and family-owned companies. After one 20-hour charge day, where he slept at his 30 throughout the day. What are the two most important things you rely on from your franchisor? Strong leadership and a good operating system. Both Mosquito Joe and Liberty Tax have these qualities. What I need from vendors: Quality products delivered in a reasonable amount of time. Have you changed your marketing strategy in response to the economy? How? Yes, since starting Liberty Tax 13 years ago, things have changed a lot. Direct mail and Yellow Pages don’t work anymore. When the economy was bad and people were out of work, they stopped ﬁling returns, but that’s changing for the better now. We do more online marketing for Liberty Tax and we’re texting and using social media to reach our customers. The stronger economy has also meant that the housing market has improved, so there are more homeowners and more of a demand for our services with Mosquito Joe. We rely on referrals, especially through social media. The key thing is that we prove ourselves and provide a good service so that we get more referrals. How is social media affecting your business? We encourage our customers to give us positive referrals on social media. How do you hire and ﬁre? I have managers who handle this, and we provide tools for them to monitor the progress of staff members. How do you train and retain? We do a 10-week class for Liberty Tax that is low cost. We hire people based on their attitude, so if you have a good attitude and know how to deal with people, you’re the perfect ﬁt. We also help with licensing and educating our employees throughout the tax season because there are certiﬁcation levels they need to go through. With Mosquito Joe we interview for three months and have a training session before the season starts. We also assist with licensing. We hold weekly meetings with the Mosquito Joe team to keep them up to date. How do you deal with problem employees? As soon as we come across a situation. Again, with the seasonality of the business, if we don’t correct something and take action, it magniﬁes for the rest of the season. Fastest way into my doghouse: Lie, cheat, and/or steal. The goal is to retain at least 40 percent of employees for the next season to alleviate the hiring challenge. desk, he was ready to pursue his business dream. On Jan. 1, 2003, Comer walked away from a promotion and six-figure salary to open his first Liberty Tax location. He bought his carpet, computer, and office desk with money the firm partners gave him at his going-away party. “I never looked back,” he says. Comer, who opened one Liberty Tax store annually in his first five years in business, is also an area developer in northern Indiana and northern Ohio for the brand, considered the fastest-growing tax preparation business. A top Liberty Tax franchisee, he wrote the training manual for the franchise and has traveled the country to MULTI-UNIT FRANCHISEE IS S UE II, 2015 muf2_c_comer(26,28,30,32).indd 30 3/16/15 12:45 PM

Multi-Unit Franchisee Magazine Issue II, 2015 | Page 32