Expanding with franchise partners
When Smash My Trash moved to a franchise ownership model three years ago, the executive team knew they would need to provide franchise partners with flexible, easy-to-use sales and marketing tools to succeed.
At the time, the Smash My Trash corporate office was already using the HubSpot CRM Platform, including Sales Hub Enterprise and Marketing Hub Professional. But so far, it had hardly scratched the surface of the platform’s capabilities.
Opportunities for automation
At the top of the priority list was implementing automation to make sales and marketing processes more consistent and efficient for the corporate office as well as franchisees.
That’s when Smash My Trash hired James Yount, Marketing Manager.
“I was part of the push to more fully utilize the HubSpot CRM platform,” says James. “I’ve used HubSpot many times in different jobs, and advocating for it here has been fun and excellent.”
Workflows for contracts and leads
James and his team identified the customer contracting process as an area that could be improved. As it stood, every franchise partner had its own method of managing customer contracts, most of which were highly manual.
The lead management process was another area ripe for optimization. James and his marketing team worked hard to generate marketing leads, and they wanted to ensure those leads were passed to the right franchise partners and nurtured as thoroughly and efficiently as possible.
Requiring built-in flexibility
At the same time, James would need to build flexibility into the HubSpot CRM Platform because every franchise partner operated slightly differently.
“We use the HubSpot CRM Platform in a lot of different ways,” says James. “But at the end of the day, we want to make sure our franchise partners get what they need so they can provide the best possible service to their customers.”
Need for performance insights
Another issue was lack of insights into the performance of franchise holders. The corporate team couldn’t assess which franchise partners were performing well and which were struggling—which limited their ability to provide guidance and support.
At the same time, franchise partners needed those insights to drive their own success.
“If you can’t see movement through your sales funnel, you can’t understand how your business is doing or what you need to do to improve it,” says James.
Introducing a new business unit
Adding to the urgency for a deeper HubSpot CRM implementation, Smash My Trash planned to launch a complementary business in the near future and also wanted that business on the HubSpot CRM Platform.
“We’re going to have two business units running through HubSpot next year,” says James, “and probably more coming down the pipes. So it makes sense to make the most of HubSpot’s many capabilities now.”
With these opportunities and requirements in front of him, James began taking HubSpot to the next level—using it to empower both the Smash My Trash corporate office and its franchise partners.
Extend the HubSpot CRM Platform to franchise partners
Although James was already a HubSpot expert user, he was still happy to have the support of Casey, a HubSpot customer service manager.
“Casey has done so much for us,” says James. “Every time I have a problem, he helps me with a solution. I’ve put a lot on him and he’s always been very responsive and helpful.”
Provide support for franchise partners
James also has good things to say about HubSpot CRM’s chat support function. When franchise partners have questions, they need answers right away—which is where chat support excels.
“I use the chat help function a lot, and they’re always very responsive,” says James. “If it’s something they can’t figure out on the spot, they’ll go away, figure it out, and get back to me with an answer.”
Automate franchise partner processes
Today, James has successfully implemented automated workflows for quoting, customer contracting, and lead management.
“We’re using HubSpot to send customer contracts for e-signature,” says James. “A lot of our franchise partners are using it and really like it.”
Signed contracts are automatically attached to deals and customers, making it easy for anyone with permission to access and reference it.
Workflows are also used to send website leads to the appropriate franchise partner, ensuring that none of them are lost or overlooked.
This high level of customer support has been essential to Smash My Trash’s rapid growth.
“We’re growing gangbusters,” says James. “So the franchise partners and I need that level of support.”
Insights into franchise partner performance
James has also implemented HubSpot CRM capabilities to give the corporate office insights into franchise partner performance.
“We can see all franchise partner activities and how deals are moving through stages,” says James. “And we can report on how much activity is happening at a salesperson or territory level.”
With these data insights, the corporate team can then identify opportunities for improvement and lend their support to help make franchise partners as successful as possible.
Empowering franchise partners
James also sees how having the HubSpot CRM Platform as a single source of truth is empowering franchise partners to build relationships with leads and customers.
“The contact area alone can have over a thousand properties if you want, which is a lot of data points,” says James. “On top of that, sales reps can put in notes and see emails, phone calls, and tasks. That's a lot of information they can use to build relationships.”
Having lead and customer information in one place also helps ensure consistency when a salesperson leaves or franchise ownership is transferred.
“If you lose a salesperson or sell your franchise, the new salesperson or owner can go in and see the conversations you were having with your customers,” says James. “It makes your business more valuable.”
288% revenue growth
Since fully implementing the HubSpot CRM Platform, Smash My Trash has increased revenue 288% and leads 95% in just 12 months.
It’s also created 9,000 new deals and closed 2,900 of them so far.
Most strikingly, Smash My Trash has grown from 12 locations to about 165 locations—a 1,275% increase.
Given this tremendous rate of success, it’s no wonder that Entrepreneur listed Smash My Trash as one of the fastest-growing franchises in the U.S in 2021 and 2022 and recently included the company in its exclusive Franchise 500 ranking.
“HubSpot is a valuable tool that our franchise partners are using to build customer relationships and grow their businesses,” says James. “I believe in it and really enjoy working with it.”
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