Editorial

The First and Largest Franchised Local Moving Company Conducts Business with a Woman’s Touch

Two Men and A Truck <a href='http://www.bison.com' style='font-weight:normal;'>Franchise</a> Opportunities

The business TWO MEN AND A TRUCK started in the 1980s because a mom wanted to keep her two sons busy over the summer. It has now grown to a franchised company that helps with more than 250,000 moves in the U.S. every year. How did this booming business become a national mainstay? According to Melanie Bergeron, president and COO (and daughter of the founder), their approach was not to worry about rapid growth; it was all about conducting the business with integrity.

The “mom” in the business is its founder, Mary Ellen Sheets, and it was her two sons’ idea to haul junk and complete small moves for people using the family’s 1967 Ford pick-up. Eventually Mary Ellen bought a cube van for $350 and had “ TWO MEN AND A TRUCK” painted on the side, along with a logo she had sketched on a napkin. The business evolved from these humble beginnings and there are now 174 locations in 26 states.

Bergeron, who was following her own career in pharmaceutical sales, became involved in the family business when her mother convinced her to open a second location of the business in Atlanta. Bergeron became the first franchisee back in 1989. Eventually she returned to Lansing, Michigan to help run the business. As for the two “men” in the company name, Bergeron’s brothers, Brig and Jon Sorber, are still active in the business – Brig is the Director of Licensing and Vice President of Operations and Jon is Vice President of franchise Growth and Opportunities and also president of two franchises. “Working with your family could be a problem for some people,” Bergeron says, “but our skills and strengths complement one another and it has been a wonderful experience.”

According to Bergeron, “Our company is unique in this business and I’m not aware of any other moving company that is franchised. Trucking regulations are very strict and they differ from state to state. This has made our growth happen more slowly but that hasn’t been a bad thing. When you grow slowly, you can take the time to do things the right way.”

Most of the moving done by TWO MEN AND A TRUCK is local, although many franchisees will move clients from state to state. Local moving is cost effective for a franchisee because he or she can begin with a modest start-up fee. “New franchisees,” says Bergeron, “will need an office space of 1500 sq. ft., and will lease two trucks. They will need three movers per truck and one person to handle phones and do the scheduling.” The company provides complete training and the only inventories are the boxes and moving supplies the franchisee can sell.

“We chose to grow our business by being very conscious of customer service,” says Bergeron. “We make all of our decisions by analyzing what is best for the customer. After all, moving is a very stressful event and we try to be not only helpful to our clients but also nurturing. It is a policy that really works for us – our number one source of clients is referrals followed by repeat business.”

The top franchisees for TWO MEN AND A TRUCK are kind, nurturing and organized, says Bergeron. “We have franchisees whose former careers were everything from heart surgeons to Maytag repairmen. What they have in common is the desire to succeed and also that they are willing and able to follow our system. I also believe that they must trust their employees and empower them to do a great job. These people, particularly the movers, work very hard and deserve respect.”

Bergeron also finds that the franchisees in the system do a great job of helping each other. “We have both formal and informal mentoring programs,” she says, “and we also have a reporting system so that every franchisee knows what everyone is doing. This gives appropriate credibility to those who are doing very well and prevents those who do not follow the system from giving out inaccurate information.”

Typical TWO MEN AND A TRUCK customers are people between 30 and 80, although it is usually a woman who will book the moves, according to Bergeron. “People move because they are getting married, getting divorced, downsizing after children leave home, retiring, or moving to a nursing home. With more disposable income and baby boomers getting older, most people don’t want to move themselves nor do they want to owe someone a favor. People move on average seven times in their lifetime and it doesn’t stop when they are elderly. They often decide to change once or twice before they find a senior community they really like.

“The relationship between a franchisor and a franchisee is like a marriage,” continues Bergeron. “This is why we in the corporate office care so much about the company’s culture and really strive to project a positive atmosphere. It all comes from the top down and we take our core values very seriously. The result is that we have happy, successful franchisees and have helped over two million people move. My mother is a true visionary and we are very proud of what we have built together with our franchisees.”

CORE VALUES AT TWO MEN AND A TRUCK

Integrity

Care

Give Back to the Community

The Grandma Rule^® – Treat Everyone Like Your Grandma

Be Your Best, But Have Fun

Inclusion