Lee Kantor
Well, Nick Anthony, before we get too far into things can you tell us about each of these offerings Bio-One and Best Option Restoration?
Nick-Anthony Zamucen
Sure, Bio-One Inc is the nation's most recognizable and largest crime scene, and trauma scene cleaning franchise. We have over 100 locations throughout the United States. And we do everything on the bio inside that frankly, nobody ever wants to talk about. It’s not dinner table conversation. Crime dramas and cleanup is not something for everybody. But for the right people. It's a great fit. Now Best Option Restoration, my new company, that is the more traditional restoration company when it comes to water, fire, mold, and content cleaning, so it dives into a vaster market with a lot more earning potential in the sense of everyday work Bio-One. They do very well, but they certainly have an again, it's not an everyday thing. We're there working with the police and FBI specifically on certain occasions.
Lee Kantor
Now, how do they work together here Bio-One folks the Best Option Restoration, folks? Are they separate people?
Nick-Anthony Zamucen
Separate franchises. They Yeah, they are, they don't they trust in the sense of when a Bio-One, let's talk about a quick scene. When a Bio-One franchise gets called in, let's say for a homicide, Homicide has happened and on the side of the house, they go in there and remediate all the vital matter. And what happens is the carpets get pulled up, sometimes walls get pulled out, then a best option restoration guy will come in and relay carpet dry things out if necessary, and put walls and furniture back together. So the companies work together with the tag team to restore the property and make sure that the homeowner doesn't feel any more English than they already have.
Lee Kantor
Now. So how does it work from the customer standpoint? So something terrible happens in somebody's house? And then they got crime scene stuff? Is that like, does your insurance cover that? Like, is this all out of pocket? How does the person kind of deal with this? financially?
Nick-Anthony Zamucen
Great, great question. 95% of the time insurance, homeowners’ insurance, or car insurance depending on where it's at covers what the buyer does when people do it, it's very rare that a homeowner's policy does and it's deep in the policy. Usually, on page 59 We're no one looks and covers things as far as a massive tragedy or accident in your standard homeowner's policy. So we will take care of the insurance on behalf of the homeowner they've been through enough on the bio one side. So we will call him the policy. Make sure the policy numbers are put into place talk to the adjusters explain the process. And we do everything we can to assist the homeowners to get back to normal and not have to deal with, you know, jumping through the hoops of, frankly, of an insurance company because sometimes insurance companies love to make us jump through hoops. But uh, we will handle a lot of that for the homeowners.
Lee Kantor
But what about the Best Option Restoration, there's one thing to remove all this stuff and to make it you know, functional but then it's the other is to restore it to kind of the way it was.
Nick-Anthony Zamucen
Right? And yes, that part that it's the rebuild if you will is what it's called, is normally again covered by the homeowners' insurance policy. So again, the homeowners are out of pocket. Very little. Now I'll say this, the homeowner is responsible for deductible not unlike a car accident where somebody hits you and your car will get fixed, you're still gonna have to pay a deductible, the homeowner will have to pay a deductible to somebody, whether it's the Bio-one people or the BOR people, and that's always after the fact there's never any payment at the time of service, it's just not the appropriate time in our belief to ask. So they'll probably get billed their insurance, deductible probably will be built maybe 30 to 45 days after the incident has occurred. And everything's been rectified.
Lee Kantor
Now if no bio one in the market is doing this kind of work?
Nick-Anthony Zamucen
You know, there's a lot of what I call mom and pops stores. Whether they should be doing the work or not, it's not the question. I will say there are companies and usually every market to do this again, a lot of people don't know about the bio-industry because again, it's not dinner table conversation. It's not something that you want to talk about. But I can say for you know, bio ones in almost all 50 states at this point. So most of the police agencies and sheriff's departments and certainly the FBI know who we are and that's why they call us I can the best example I can give you elation and latest recent event where it was mass strategy the Mandalay Bay shooting in Las Vegas a couple of years back, the FBI called us directly at our corporate headquarters and said how many franchisees do you have in this location? And I said we have three out there and so we've dispatched and Bio-One took care of the Mandalay Bay machine. So anything mass strategy in the sense of a bio situation, the FBI or whoever, usually on the scene will call us directly and we'll discuss papers.
Lee Kantor
Now, how has the media in terms of Hollywood media impacted this like with shows like CSI, or the movie sunshine cleaning? Like how has that impacted your business?
Nick-Anthony Zamucen
Well, I'll say that the media has brought awareness so I guess that's a good thing. The downside of that is you do have movies like The sunshine cleaning up made, where it's more of a parody of what's done it was made there were some funny moments in the movie I certainly saw that I did find humorous. There were but it's far from the reality of what happened on a Biosci every mistake that can be made was certainly made in that movie and anybody in the industry kind of chuckles and says well it's certainly one way of doing it or one way of getting yourself in trouble so while it's brought awareness that hey companies like ours exist because I can tell you we've been very clandestine industry we've been very quiet for about 20 years. Hollywood certainly has said hey, some companies do this it is you know people do like to talk about it now a little more than used to it is more of a novelty to them that Lau How do you get into this so when a movie comes out or a mass email, unfortunately, a mass shooting happens which happens all too often lately that there we get a lot of interest and a lot of people saying they want to join our franchise as employees or work for our franchises. Which again, who doesn't want to hire somebody that's just calling him saying hey, I want to do this. We're looking for business owners to own franchises to show people how to do this correctly.
Lee Kantor
And what is the kind of the psychographic demographic makeup of a franchisee or potential franchisee is it? Are they kind of I have no idea what their background would be to be a good fit for you.
Nick-Anthony Zamucen
Yeah, you know, we have franchises literally from all over. We have between the two companies 130 plus franchises, and they are all over the board. The majority of them are at bio one because obviously, that company has been around for 10 years, board has been around for three but bio one has franchises. Gosh, I mean, probably 20% of our franchises are made up of law, former law enforcement, or fire environment, but our professionals, the other, probably 80% were corporate people that were downsized that said I never want to be downsized again. I don't want the rug to be pulled out from under me. I need to be able to feed my family. So I want to build a unique business that not everybody does, but has great margins and on top of it. I think the biggest common denominators are Bio-One and BOR for that instance, I would say BOR for Best Option Restoration, but the common denominator is wanting to help people. Because when a Bio-one wants to avoid the person gets the call, normally to buy one, it's not the call of Hey, everything's great. It's the call Hello? Oh, no, I'm having the worst day of my life. Somebody helped me. And so we're looking for empathy. We're looking for strong ethics, and we're looking for people that want to run a successful business and, and be embedded in their community.
Lee Kantor
Now, does the franchisee have to be the one doing the cleaning? Or is this something that they are doing you know, people part, and then they hire people that do the cleaning part.
Nick-Anthony Zamucen
They don't have to do the cleaning. That's for certain, most of our franchises and we have a training class going on right now in the other room, most of our new franchisees are new owners start on seeing themselves, they are not required to but most of them do. So when they are training their folks in their hometown river, they're going back to t they can talk to them about what they see. Talk to them about what they're going to encounter on the scene with the surviving victims or the families. So while this can be run passively, most of our owners for about the first year are doing the work side by side with other technicians. And then they will, we call it getting out of the suit, we're going to make them, we're going to press them into being really real entrepreneurs, real business owners and getting away from the business and getting out there and marketing the business and growing it, not just working inside it.
Lee Kantor
Now when you started this, can you talk about the evolution of the training? Like when you were I would imagine it started by you or somebody you know, doing the work. And then at some point, you're like, we can teach other people how to do this and maybe franchise it? How did that kind of progress from being the person who knows everything to now transferring that knowledge to people who aren't familiar with this really at all?
Nick-Anthony Zamucen
Sure, yeah. when I built the company and started it. When I first got into the business, the training I received was from a small town restoration firm that was saying that they did bioremediation or crime scene cleanup. So I called the man and asked him, can I come work for you, he was on the other side of the country. So there was no conflict of interest there. I said, let me come work for you for two or three weeks if you'll show me how to do this. The training turned out to be the equivalent of you see that pile of blood, don't stick your finger in it sticking out, you know, sticking your eye. So the training was about as remedial as you get. And, so all my training, everything that I developed was on the scene, and I had hired microbiologists to teach me and to teach franchises. How to, you know how chemicals do what and how things kill and dwell times. And so throughout the last process of the last 10 years, well, I guess since we've been franchising, we've developed a training platform that we've compressed into a six-day platform, which doesn't seem like a lot, but these guys are here 12 to 14 hours a day. And we're cramming information and knowledge about not only marketing sales and how to run a business, but actually how to stay safe OSHA regulations and compliance. And general you know, general, what I, I call it a touchy-feely during the training class, but it's we have psychologists come in and walk them through the grief process, what they expect, what they're going to feel after a scene or what could happen to them what their employees could do. So, the training has evolved from don't stick your finger and blood and put yourself in the eye to a folding, all-encompassing 55 hour a week, very long week, if you will, of how not only the human body and brain respond to tragedy, but how to help somebody through a situation and clean a scene without getting yourself or anyone else hurt.
Lee Kantor
And then on top of that, you have to teach them how to get business which is a different side of their brain altogether.
Nick-Anthony Zamucen
Exactly. Well that's where I come in, I come in. I always handle the sales and marketing side. I spend about two and a half days or that's all I talk about is the psychology of the sale, how to explain the businesses to other people. How do you know, it's one thing most people in life try to stay away from the police as much as they do, I'm telling them just the opposite. Hey guys, you need to walk into a police station and explain to them the value and the service that we're going to provide the community and we need to team up with That. And that's not always a that's not always an easy pitch to give to somebody, or tell someone to do it when they when we've done everything in our lives to stay away from, please. So you know, it's a, it's a paradigm shift for the mind to, to bend around doing something that you've always been trained to stay away from. And I will say, thankfully, I've been pretty darn successful in the last 10 years teaching it.
Lee Kantor
And what has been the most rewarding part, I mean, I know you're going on to scenes that are terrible for the people that have survived that. And there must be some kind of reward in there that you are truly helping and making an impact and making their life better, you know, from that point forward. But then what about from the business standpoint, you know, as you said, it's over 100, you know, families that you're impacting, by letting them in on this and allowing them to be part of your kind of Bio-Ones and Best Option Restoration family.
Nick-Anthony Zamucen
The best I'll say on the scene, I mean, that I tell people in a training class that the money is great, and you can do very well, and a very few people can charge them or will make, you know, $10,000 for three or four hours. So the money is very nice. And that's great, we all need it, we all need the money we certainly had to provide for our families and whatnot. But the bigger benefit you get out of it is spiritual if you will, and I'm not talking in a godly sense. I mean, just the fact of you doing something for somebody else, that in which they should never have seen or never shouldn't see the after-effects of a homicide or suicide or decompose a loved one. The fact that we can go out and when we're finished with this traumatic scene, the families look at you and say, we don't know what we would have done without you. And they give you hugs and the cards that we get sent to corporate saying how fabulous our franchises are. And you know, without sounding too touchy-feely about it. And I don't want to say bio one is changing the world, but I'll tell you this, we're doing everything we can to make it a better place.
Lee Kantor
If you're just now joining us, you're listening to franchise marketing radio. Our guest today is Nick Anthony Zamucen. He's the founder of Bio-One Inc and Best Option Restoration, Nick Anthony stone here in terms of getting the word out about the franchise opportunity with either bio one and BOR (best option restoration). What are you finding is the best approach method vehicles to do that effectively and consistently?
Nick-Anthony Zamucen
I think having a strong media plan put together for us on the bio on one side, I can tell you to get the word out there. We rely heavily on local media and marketing also, and that could be TV, radio, print ads. But I think what people underestimate is lately has been the need for a strong website, home pages, landing pages. You know, I want enough, as I was listening to the intro, you one of the sponsors of the show, as restoration is a company that we use on both sides of the company, I can tell you, they're a pretty fun company and they do what you ask him to do. So, I want to make sure that it's understood that without a strong Media Presence, and whether that be print or TV, radio, and a strong internet presence, it's going to be tough.
Lee Kantor
Now, what advice would you give that young franchisor that maybe doesn't have the finances to pull off a strong media package to help them get the word out? Are there things they can be doing early on to get it going?
Nick-Anthony Zamucen
Sure, I would say this if you started a business undercapitalized and you don't you haven't budgeted for, for to get the word out, you're already in trouble. But let's just say you're already in trouble and you're trying to figure out what to do. My answer is this. People don't like them very often, but they are a necessary evil in what we call the industry and that's screenshots, consultants, franchise brokers. They are they will take a large piece of the pie when somebody comes BOR when a new franchisee comes to BOR and they bring them BOR but if you don't have a strong budget, and you're already in this and you didn't, let's say capitalized correctly, for immediate push, then a consultant or a franchise broker will and can bring people to the table for you. Again, you're going to pay for it in the back end because again, they take in a large percentage When they when the franchise sells but they will bring people into the system and that will allow you to essentially grow your franchise it's expensive again on the back end, but they will allow you to grow the franchise without having that and say while you're trying to piece together the media budget
Lee Kantor
now, what about that person who has a business that's thriving in a local market and is saying you know what, I think I'm going to franchise this at what level of a business do you think it should be before they attempt it?
Nick-Anthony Zamucen
You know, it's an interesting question because we've seen businesses all over the board from guys that just you know, do maybe $150,000 to guys to do 15 million for you know, decides when they're going to franchise. I think it's less about a revenue size to me and more about when you have a model that you can easily explain, train, and aren't scared to take that leap to show someone your secrets because what franchising is zero secrets, you're showing them the secret sauce there, a franchisee is paying you to show them the secret sauce of success and success. Well while I like I've said before, and I still agree, success builds on the success and you need, you need to make sure that your company is thriving. When you franchise is a personal thing. It's almost like when you sell it's a very personal thing when you think you've done everything you can to grow your business and you want to help other people. I would say there's no magic answer to when you can when you should branch out. I will say when you decide to make sure you're the biggest thing that takes down a franchise faster than anything is one obviously under capitalism and undercapitalized. The second thing for me is very simple. People tend to franchise and do it, do it the quick route they buy some franchising package on the internet that says we're going to franchise your company and usually, you're going to get what you pay for. If you had if your legal docs aren't put together, your Franchise Disclosure documents are correct. Your registrations and states aren't correct. Those fines from the FCC can come down pretty heavy. So make sure your legal doctrine is in order before you do anything.
Lee Kantor
Now you remember when you first said, Okay, I'm going to franchise, and then you convince that first person to do this. What did it feel in terms of you having a sense of responsibility on you know, now fulfilling on the promise that you made them?
Nick-Anthony Zamucen
You know, to me, it was like having my first child, it was, hey, let's sounds like a great idea. And then someone hands you money, and trust that you know exactly what you're doing to propel them to success and help them to the next level of life financially. And like that first night with the baby, you lay in bed awake at night staring at the ceiling, saying what did I do? And I can tell you, it gets better. But there should be a sense of great responsibility that somebody is interested in their money and their livelihood with you to help them become successful. The one thing that I can tell you kept me up at night was not my system. Or not Could I teach this was the one thing that kept me up at night was will they listen? Because I'm going to ask them to do some unorthodox things. Like walk into a police station and say this and call the FBI and say this and so it was more about will they follow the system? less about? Can I teach it and that's what kept me up at night.
Lee Kantor
And does that go back to the initial beginning of the relationship where you have to choose wisely in terms of choosing the right franchisee and they have to choose wisely in terms of this at the right fit?
Nick-Anthony Zamucen
1,000% correct. That's right. If you know there are franchises out there, especially in the beginning, that will take anybody with a heartbeat and cash just because they need to sell a franchise they've invested a lot of money they'd gone the right route, they put the legal docs together. There are hundreds of 1000 of dollars into this. They're looking for recovery and they want franchises because that's how they will make money as well. We tend to jump the gun on who exactly we should bring aboard and we compromise who we think we should bring aboard for just getting people on board I can tell you short term it makes sense. At least you think it makes sense and then you realize you may have gotten into a relationship with a franchisee that you may have, you may not have you know 10 years into the process. And if you're not real diligent and sticking to your ideal franchises this could greatly cost you in the end
Lee Kantor
and if somebody wanted to learn more about Bio-One and BOR Best Option Restoration, what are the coordinates?
Nick-Anthony Zamucen
Oh, I'm just at Bio OneInc.com and we have all the information there and as far as Best Option Restoration it's just Borestoration.com to very simple websites, they'll walk you through everything, and at any time they can always talk to us directly.
Lee Kantor
Well Nick Anthony, thank you so much for sharing your story today.
Nick-Anthony Zamucen
Thank you very much, guys.
Lee Kantor
All right, this is Lee Kantor and Stone Payton. We will see you all next time on franchise marketing radio.
