From Struggle to Solution: How Steven Hudspeth and Eric Gesinski are Relieving the Pain of Starting a New Business
Even if everything goes well, starting a new franchise business is hard. Yes, every franchise comes with support and training, but there is always a learning curve. “Most people are changing industries, learning new products, figuring out how to market locally, and navigating through the process of hiring and training people in a business they are just learning themselves,” says TMO Turbo CEO and founder Steven Hudspeth.
Hudspeth understands the plight of the new franchise owner firsthand because he was one just a few years ago. As a new franchisee for a leading painting brand, he was super frustrated. “It’s really hard to run a new business and be able to do it all. There’s only a certain amount of hours in each day and I was finding that things like following up on leads were falling through the cracks. You get beat down,” he says. So Hudspeth enlisted his longtime friend and software engineer Eric Gesinski to develop a solution, and TMO Turbo was born.
Relieving the Pain of Starting a New Business
Simply put, TMO Turbo makes franchisees’ lives easier. It basically functions as a supercharged CRM system that becomes an extension of a sales, customer service and marketing team by following up on and nurturing leads, scheduling appointments and sending out marketing materials. “It can do everything a CRM system can do, plus so much more,” Gesinski says. “It can even close deals.” Hudspeth and Gesinski work with franchisors to customize the software to the brand’s needs and then ensure every franchisee throughout the system has the same exact functionality. “It’s basically a cut-and-paste situation for every new franchisee.”
Hudspeth and Gesinski say that the possibilities are endless for what the system can do. Franchisors can set it up however they like. For example, they can see each location’s appointments and billing. The franchisee’s team can share notes about running jobs and more.
Service-Based Franchises
Most of TMO Turbo’s clients are service-based franchise brands or any business that sets appointments. The software offers a multitude of features to set customer expectations and improve the overall service experience. For example, it can send customized messages with before and after photos of previous jobs. “These messages help reduce no-shows and keep the franchise top of mind,” says Hudspeth. “Both customers and franchisees love it.” The system sends out reminders before appointments telling customers the technician is on the way and what to expect.
Since Hudspeth has implemented TMO Turbo in his own painting franchise, he has gotten precious time back. “Now I am running two businesses. I would never have been able to do that without TMO Turbo.”
For more information about TMO Turbo, visit https://tmoturbo.com/.
TMO Turbo’s CRM System
This built-in calendar is part of TMO Turbo’s social media planner. These posts were set up inside the CRM, so the user doesn’t have to log in to social media.
TMO Turbo’s conversations page shows all conversations with each contact in the CRM. It includes SMS messages, emails and phone calls (which can be recorded). What’s showing here is someone asking the AI bot questions, and the bot instantly responding.
The opportunities page is a pipeline that can be set upon each account, and each account can use multiple pipelines. In this example, it shows all leads and when initial contact was made, as well as how the lead was contacted.
