Jon Lalanne - Porterville, California

California especially was hit hard by the recession, thanks to the double whammy of real estate losses and bank failures. Jon Lalanne at Glass Doctor of Tulare County has seen the effects of the recession firsthand, but he chose not to participate. In fact, he’s disappointed that this year is an average year for his franchise. Actually, when your business breaks even during a recession, it’s a successful year.  We talked to Jon to find out some of his secrets to success.

We know California has suffered during this recession, but so far your business has weathered the storm. How have you done it?

This year has been an average year for us. We haven’t had any layoffs, so that’s good. We’ve received more commercial jobs this year than in years past thanks to the national accounts program and the flat glass networks. So we’re running about 70% auto and 30% flat, where we used to be completely auto glass when we started with Glass Doctor.

What kinds of commercial jobs have you seen through the national accounts program?

We did a job for a Target store in Visalia, Calif., that we would not have received if we weren’t on the national accounts list. We were the second choice - we weren’t the lowest price - but the first choice fell through. This job was the glass above the main sliding glass automatic entry doors. It was a four-man job with a couple lifts, and we thought it would take all afternoon. But once we got on it, we got it done in about 30 minutes. Now sometimes there are other jobs that take longer than expected, but this one sure made up for those – it was worth $4,000.

When you became a Glass Doctor franchise owner, did you think you would have programs like national accounts and financing?

No, we were just looking to get into flat glass. Five years ago, my brother and I looked at the future of the auto glass business and we needed to make a change. I mean if you have a truck and a cell phone, you’re in the auto glass business. We’re a third-generation auto glass business, and we knew we needed to diversify to survive. We went with Glass Doctor because we had never done flat glass before, and they had the system to do it. Now all of our technicians are cross-trained. We have one mainly in flat, one mainly in auto, and one who does both. Plus our manager can do some of each, and we have a good ISR to support them.

So what was the one part of the Glass Doctor system that made the biggest positive impact on your business?

Definitely the professionalism. How we dress and how we act made a big difference. I used to work in t-shirts and shorts. Now every technician has a uniform and identification badge. The ISR, manager and I have logo shirts. We feel better as a team and that translates into how we treat our customers. My brother and I own a paint distribution business and a radiator shop, and they have their own uniforms too. It just makes an impression on our customers and sets the tone for the whole experience.

What would you tell potential Glass Doctor franchisees?

Make sure you want to follow the system. We had a specific reason for becoming a Glass Doctor franchise. Others have other reasons, but we needed a system of business. Glass Doctor shows you how to run your business, and you need to be prepared for that.

Now is time to plan for 2010. Look into your crystal ball and tell us what next year holds for Glass Doctor and the glass services industry.

For Glass Doctor I think it’s nowhere but up. We have good things in place, it just depends on the economy getting better for the consumer. If people don’t have money to spend, we can’t advertise our way out of that. There are different ways we can make money, from pet doors to Clear Choice treatments. We’ve done a few jobs of each in the short time since Reunion, and it’s spreading by word of mouth. For instance, we’ve called on vet clinics and installed some free doors for them, and they tell all of their “patients.” Then we get calls for residential work.

The glass services industry is just going to keep changing. Auto glass continues to be challenging, and now even flat glass is being affected by price cutting. Replacement windows are real competitive with remodelers and contractors getting into it. Even glass repair is getting competitive here, we’ve got cheap guys running around in trucks just like the auto glass. But our Glass Doctor brand, our professionalism and our services set us apart.

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