Hello all. Today I have the unique pleasure of interviewing Mike Merrick
of Fish Window Cleaning
1. Would I be correct to say that you are the driving force that started what is now Fish Window Cleaning?
I purchased Mark’s Window Cleaning Business in 1978 after being fired from Farm & Home Savings & Loan.
At the time Mark cleaned the windows at Farm & Home and was doing a total of about $13,000 in cleaning.
So, Yes, I was not only the driving force, I was the window cleaner, sales person etc.
2. How long has Fish been around?
I was in the business for 20 years before I started franchising. We have been franchising for 10 years.
3. I see by your website that you have quite a staff at your headquarters. How many Fish Franchises are out now?
We have 25 full time employees and about 5 part time employees who work at the home office to support 165 franchisees.
4. What does a Franchisee go through to become a Fish Franchise?
To become a franchisee- we have a 4 week pre-training process. Two weeks of hands on training in St. Louis, 3 follow up trips to the
franchisee’s location over the next year and then on going site visits at the frachisee’s locations as well as monthly calls
Many times we talk to franchisees daily.
Then we have annual meetings that are equal to the IWCA in size and scope.
Not to brag, but in franchising our ratio of support staff to franchisee is just about unmatched.
5. Is Fish the largest Window Cleaning Franchise out there?
To my knowledge Fish is the largest window cleaning franchise.
6. What types are costs are involved in becoming a Franchise? I expect there is an upfront cost, is there a royalty charge also?
The total investment to become a franchisee ranges from $54,000 to $127,000 depending upon the package and size of the territory.
The royalty fee is 8%
7. How does a local Franchise solicit new work and what does the Fish Company do to help their Franchise owners?
As I mentioned above, when I bought out Mark’s Window Cleaning - all I actually bought was his accounts and some used equipment.
He had no systems- no pricing structure- no marketing- nothing.
Over the next 20 years I developed the systems, and the structure that goes with a business, this is what the franchisees pay for
when they buy a Fish franchise, just like when you buy a McDonalds. Anyone can flip burgers. It is the system that makes it a business.
Example: It took me 10 years to go from $13,000 to $100,000 in production.
Today we have a franchisee going from $0 to well over
$100,000 in glass cleaned in less than a year by following the system that I spent 20 years developing.
8. In some areas Fish has a reputation for undercutting the competition. Is that what they teach at the Fish Headquarters or it
this just a local phenomenon unique to the Fish price cutter in any given area?
No, we do not teach franchisees to undercut the competition. In fact we tell franchisees that if a customer is only interested
in price, there will always be someone cheaper. We teach franchisees to tell customers that if they are happy with their cleaner,
then we are happy. There is more glass out there than all of us will ever get to. We, just like everyone else, lose customers to
the guy that likes to work for nothing.
Mike Merrick
Fish Window Cleaning
www.fishwindowcleaning.com
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