Franchisee Insights: An Interview with 360clean Franchisee, Lorenzo Bates

Franchisee Insights with Michelle Rowan, Featuring Lorenzo Bates of 360clean

Recently, Michelle Rowan, president and COO of Franchise Business Review, had a chance to speak with Lorenzo Bates, a 360clean® Franchise Owner in Greenville, South Carolina, about his journey to franchise ownership and his formula for success.

“I am thrilled to be a franchise owner with 360clean,” Lorenzo said, “We are the leader in the janitorial industry. There are many janitorial service providers for you to choose from. There are very few that offer the very hygienic office cleaning service that 360clean provides.” 

“If you have a commercial office building and want to elevate your cleaning services to the next level, 360clean is the service for you,” he said,Most companies view clean based on how an area looks. At 360clean, we take it a step further. The goal at 360clean® is to provide a clean and germ- and infectious-free environment. This provides the highest level of safety not only for our clients but also for their customers and their employees.” 

Watch the video to learn more about Lorenzo’s experience as a 360clean franchisee:  

Lorenzo Bates 360clean Interview Transcript

Michelle Rowan
Hi, I’m Michelle Rowan, president and COO with Franchise Business Review, and today I get to talk with Lorenzo Bates. He is a franchisee of 360clean and has been with them since September 2017. So, some great experience with the brand. And we’re just going to learn a little bit more about Lorenzo’s journey and a little bit more about the 360clean brand. So, Lorenzo, thank you so much for jumping on and chatting with us today about your experience with franchising and 360clean specifically!

Lorenzo Bates
Thank you so much, Michelle. Thanks so much for having me. And happy New Year to you and the FBR team. So glad to be here.

Michelle Rowan
Yes! Okay, let’s do this. So, let’s start with kind of where you were in 2017. What were you doing before, and what kind of triggered you to start either looking specifically at 360clean or just franchising in general?

Lorenzo Bates
I was in the corporate sector. My last, as I call it, ‘JOB’‘just over broke’was in pharmaceuticals. I’ve always, you know, wanted to be an entrepreneur. I looked at different sectors and all, and it always came out that janitorial was the fastest growing, you know, business, you know, out there and stuff with, you know, little or no overhead. And so even before I got into franchising, and kind of dabbled a little bit, you know, as you know, only in a janitorial company, but not on the scale right here. So, when I got into the franchise, it just, it took me from zero to hero.

Michelle Rowan
That’s interesting because I feel like when we talk to the general public, they seem to just know franchising as the big McDonald’s and Burger King, and it usually tends to go to food or those kinds of more nationally established brands. So, it sounds like you were either part-time or somehow involved in a janitorial business that was not franchise-related at first. Is that correct?

Lorenzo Bates
That’s correct. Yes.

Michelle Rowan
So when you were new to the idea of a franchise, and when you started doing that research, what appealed to you about being part of a giant janitorial franchise versus doing it on your own?

Lorenzo Bates
Well, just the name recognition. I knew that the companies that I was going to, you know, going to as my own LLC, I didn’t have the name recognition out there. I could get the small companies and stuff. But if I wanted to get the bigger brands, I needed that name recognition. And so when I was first looking at, you know, different franchises, I was looking at number one, how long they’ve been in business. You know, how have they operating? The systems they had, and that’s why I chose 360clean. 360clean wasn’t brand new, but it wasn’t. It didn’t have a lot of growth. It didn’t have. Even to this day, they don’t have a lot of franchises out there. They are really selective of who they pick. It was a long process, even for me to get into, though. So, you know, when I decided to go with them, it was a match made in heaven.

Michelle Rowan
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, they have a great team. We’ve been working with them consistently since 2018. So right after you came on board, and yes, they’re very smart about their growth plan. And that’s awesome. So at that point in 2017, where you’re starting to look or come into the brand, did you have a family? Did you have anyone that was helping you go through this research process?

Lorenzo Bates
Absolutely. My wife was very instrumental, you know, in the whole process. You definitely want your partner to be 100% on board. I mean, you know, leaving pharmaceuticals and just stepping out on faith into this was, you know, it was It wasn’t something we just jumped into doing. At first, I was doing both the pharmaceutical work and, you know, my own franchise up until 2020. And, you know, after 2020, my business just grew, grew, grew. And so I had to make a decision. Okay, do I want to continue having my JOB? Or do I want to, you know, take a leap of faith and start doing this full-time? And I mean, since then, I haven’t looked back. It’s been… it’s been absolutely phenomenal.

Michelle Rowan
So, what do you think that whole timeframe was that you did your research specifically on the franchise of going into the franchise system?

Lorenzo Bates
Well, I would say it took me about nine months to just look at different companies, researching different companies… a lot of companies. I mean, I’m not going to name any names, but they offer you a lot of stuff. But, you know, I will say this, like, it was one particular franchise. I looked at that, and everything looked good, but it just had so many franchises in this territory. In the territory, I was going to be in. And I didn’t think that I could really make my mark or even make a lot of money. Knowing that there were, you know, 20 to 50 franchises and stuff… That’s why I chose 363clean. At that time, they only had, I think, four franchises, four or five franchises in my territory. And they haven’t grown, you know, even after, after five years, they haven’t grown that much in the territory, maybe a couple more franchises in my territory, but they’re like I said, they’re really selective of who they bring in, and whether it’s going to be a good fit for them. So, you know, as they were interviewing me, I was also interviewing the company to make sure it’s the right fit for me.

Michelle Rowan
That’s great. And so Lorenzo, you said you were able to hold down your existing job while you started the franchise up for about three years? What was your time commitment to the franchise while you were working a full-time job,

Lorenzo Bates
That’s the thing about it. You know, being in the industry, they kind of give you a lot of leeway on how far you can grow. You can grow to the stage you want now, or, you know, you can grow less. They didn’t really give me, you know, any particulars like, ‘you’ve got to be at this point by this time,’ and they kind of just left it, you know, left it up to me. It was really on mewhere I wanted to be. Where I said I saw myself in five years. And this is pretty much where I saw myself in five years. I knew that, at that point where I was still working my JOB, I wanted a franchise. I knew at some point I was going to have to make a decision about what I wanted to do. And that’s why I just chose to go ahead and walk away from the JOB and do this full-time.

Michelle Rowan
Lorenzo, what do you think were some of the important questions that you asked during your research? What are steps that you took to kind of whittle it down to 360clean, or just make yourself feel that you’ve done the homework and that you’re picking the right brand for you?

Lorenzo Bates
Well, number one, I wanted to know the processes they had in place. You know, janitorial cleaning is not, is not even about cleaning. I came in just thinking it’s all about just cleaning toilets, and mopping floors and, and all that. But it’s not at all the focus. This franchise has taught me so much. The business model that, you know, we have is… Of course, we have a JanPro System that’s pretty much about the way we cleanthe chemicals we use, the applications we use, and all that. But it’s not so much about that as actually being a resource for your clients and taking the, you know, the pain away from your clients, if you will. What I mean by that is, let’s say you own a business, or you’re working for a business, and you hire me as a contractor to clean that building. You don’t have time to babysit me and what I’m doing. You have your own things to do. So it’s my job to take that pain away from you, and to make sure that everything on my end is covered. That’s pretty much what we do.

Michelle Rowan
Got it. Got it. And so, what do you think are some of the most important skill sets for a person that’s coming in to run a 360clean franchise to have? Because you’re not the person that’s actually doing the cleaning, what are those skills that help your business be really successful that you think they should have to come into the business?

Lorenzo Bates
Obviously, the first thing is relationships. You’ve got to have a great relationships with both your internal customers and your external customers. Your internal customers, being your employees, people that report to you, because if they’re not happy, your external customers are not going to be happy. And so, that’s one of the things that I would say would separate a good leader from a bad leader. If you have that relationship with both internal and external customers.

Michelle Rowan
That’s good. Lorenzo, what are most of your days like? What does it look like? What are you doing most of the time that you’re spending on the business?

Lorenzo Bates
Today, I’m in my office as you see, but it’s not really so much it’s been in an office, I could be at home in the morning time, you know, reading emails, you know, sand If there were any issues the night before, and just planning, you know, planning the day, every day is not the same. I have over 60 accounts. I have supervisors and managers, they help manage the processes too. So I’m not really in the day-to-day weeds of managing it, but you have to make sure that you dot your i’s and cross your t’s. Like I said before, the relationship is what it’s all about. I want to make sure if a customer is emailing me directly, I want to make sure I answer them in a timely manner.

Michelle Rowan
And what do you think is the biggest challenge that you have as a business owner? As a franchise owner? What are… what keeps you up at night? Or what do you have to work really hard at?

Lorenzo Bates
Right now, I think I would say the biggest thing is employees. Because of how everything is now. Everything’s just changed. You know, when I first started out, let’s say, five years ago, the standard rate was like $12 an hour for janitorial cleaners. That’s gone from $12 to $15 an hour, and you still have to offer something else. Now. I always say my external customers and my internal customers have a favorite radio station. That’s called WIFM. And that means, ‘what’s in it for me?’ You gotta give them something other than just a paycheck. You know? Whether it’s health benefits or time off. Things like that. So yes, the biggest thing right now, it’s just employee turnover. That’s one of the biggest things. 

Michelle Rowan
Yes, we hear that from most franchise brands. And are you able to connect with other franchise owners within 360clean? Or is corporate able to help you with any ideas around those challenges with hiring and retention?

Lorenzo Bates
Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. That’s one of the good things about this. And that’s, that’s another thing I want to add to when I, you know, when I looked at this franchise, our hashtag, their hashtag, is ‘360fam.’ They’re all about family and connection. So we all always network together. We’re getting ready to have a franchise reunion next month in Charleston. This is the 15th year that 360clean has been in operation. So we’ll meet, we’ll see our other franchisees, and get to collaborate with them, discuss our best practices with them… and also see what  hurdles they have to deal with. I regularly have meetings with different franchisors just to see what and how they’re doing things. It may be different from me or from the way I’m doing things. And that’s just the way you get to best practices.

Michelle Rowan
Yeah, I think that’s a great part of being in a franchise system is that you have access to people that are doing the same business as you. So it’s a great opportunity. How about Lorenzo, do you have any advice for anyone that is just starting that research process for potentially buying a franchise?

Lorenzo Bates
I would say just take your time, and do your due diligence. Look at the leadership of the company, of the organization. Look and see if, you know, if it’s a leadership team that’s kind of standoffish, or you can’t talk to them. I don’t know how that looks, because I’m not in that kind of leadership, or that kind of organization. Our owners, I talk with them on a regular basis. They will just shoot me a text message or an email or even just call me to say, ‘hey, just thinking about you.’ So we have a great leadership team, a great support team, and great staff. But I would just tell people just to do your due diligence and to read the FDD, you know, the Franchise Disclosure Document. Read all that stuff. And just take your time, you know? It’s very important if you’re going get to the level that you want. It’s very important that you do that. 

Michelle Rowan
Yes, I love that. And Lorenzo, I also liked that it’s just as important for you to figure out if they’re fit for you as they are trying to figure out if you’re a fit for them. It’s I think, the best way to kind of go into that relationship because there will be times that they make you happy and times that they frustrate you. But I think that overall whole relationship and fit will pull you through all of that. So I liked that they said that. Absolutely. And anything else that you want to say as we wrap up? Again, I appreciate your time, and just kind of talking it through with us. 

Oh, one question I would ask too, which I think is really hard, and we get this a lot: How do you figure out how much money I can make? There’s, you know, there are restrictions around franchising. And so how did you go about trying to figure out having the option to stay in your current job as you built the business and scaled that up? That, I think, probably helped you project, but how did you go into it, trying to figure out that number of what it was really gonna take to break even?

Lorenzo Bates
Yeah, I think that’s a question that, you know, I get quite often. Even new franchisees come in and ask me that because, you know, I’m one of the top performers in the organization. You know, it’s different for everybody. For me, the lifestyle that I live or whatever may be different from everyone else. I think you would just have to see what you need to live off of. For me, it was… I think that’s why it took me three years… because I kept on saying, ‘okay, once I hit this level, then this level,’ you know? We call it MCV, monthly current volume… Once I hit this MCV I can quit my job. But then I was thinking, ‘well, no, I don’t want to yet…’ So I kept going and just kept raising it. But I mean, in five years, I went from $12,000 MCV to over, you know, over $60,000. $60,000 MCV in less than a year! And this was after COVID. Of course, that’s when I knew, wait a minute; I’ve got something good. Something good is going on here. Now, you know, you can look at it and say, well, maybe it’s just a COVID thing, and it’s probably not gonna last. But no, these were customers that definitely have a need, and we have the solution to help them out. It’s been great.

Michelle Rowan
Yeah, that’s awesome. Well, thank you so much for your time today, Lorenzo!. We appreciate it. We’re gonna let you get back to business.

Lorenzo Bates
Thank you so much, Michelle. It’s been great talking to you too.

Click here to learn more about the 360clean franchise opportunity.