After working in industrial automation sales in Virginia, Jeffrey DeCoste decided he wanted to return home to the Milwaukee area. With the economy’s limited job opportunities, he chose to make a career change. After moving back to Wisconsin, a family friend encouraged him to explore franchising. He also worked with a franchise consultant, who recommended several brands based on his background and goals, including The Cleaning Authority, which has 241 home-cleaning franchises under Authority Brands.
“There were a number of things I was looking for back then,” DeCoste said. “One of them was a relatively low cost of entry. I was 26 years old and didn’t have years of investment saved up. I wanted a repeat customer base, and I wanted a labor pool that I could easily train and develop.”
The Cleaning Authority had all of those characteristics. Twenty-four years later, DeCoste still owns his location in Brookfield, Wisconsin. He also serves as a franchise business coach, supporting other franchise owners in the system.
He attributes his years of success to an intense level of commitment early on. At 26 years old with no family responsibilities, he dedicated nearly all of his time to growing the business, working long hours and doing estimates at night and on weekends. As the business grew, he focused heavily on key performance metrics, including converting leads into customers, retaining customers and controlling costs.
“I really focused on those core metrics in addition to managing our costs to make sure we continued the business in the right direction,” he said. “We really didn't lose sight of those metrics ever. There are times, post-COVID, for example, when people will let their percentage of leads turning into customers drop because they didn't have room. I didn't take that approach. I have these leads, I've got to take advantage of them.”
Support from the franchisor has also been a key driver of his success. Ongoing coaching and operational guidance helped him navigate the challenges of being a new business owner.
“I've always had a dedicated business coach to help,” he said. “It took a lot of phone calls and guidance early on because I needed it. As you get more established, you might not need that sort of support as much, but it's always there.”
Now, he provides that support for other franchise owners in the Midwest. The Cleaning Authority’s leadership asked him to step into the role in November 2020, after he had already been in business for around 18 years.
“I'd seen a lot and that sort of knowledge and experience is helpful to share,” DeCoste said. “I've been that office that didn't have a great response rate to marketing. I've been that office that struggled with staffing. I've been that office that needed to hire a manager. I've done all those things. So hopefully my experience can resonate with other people and it was an honor to be asked.”
DeCoste supports around 30 franchise offices across the region. The level of support varies depending on each owner’s needs, with some franchisees operating very independently and only reaching out for occasional assistance with systems or operational tools. For others, DeCoste takes a hands-on approach by reviewing business metrics, tracking budgets and analyzing trends like customer turnover, lead conversion and appointment rates.
“Some owners get so involved in the day-to-day that they don't have time to look at the numbers,” he said. “And if I can go, ‘Hey, did you guys know you're having a really great termination rate year, but you have fewer estimates because your appointment-to-lead rate is down. Let's see what we can tweak with that.’”
During recurring support calls, he reviews business metrics and helps owners and managers stay close to day-to-day operations.
The biggest lesson DeCoste has learned as a franchise owner is not to get in his own way by limiting what the business could achieve. For example, there was a time when his manager, Jackie, set a growth goal to increase the business from 575 to 700 customers within eight months, something the company had never come close to accomplishing before. After the business quickly added 100 customers in just 24 weeks, DeCoste realized he needed to shift his mindset from thinking “we can’t do that” to asking “how do we get there?”
“It can be humbling when you get a fresh set of eyes in your business and somebody who just says, ‘Let’s do this.’ If you immediately say ‘no’ or ‘we can’t,’ then of course you can’t. You’re setting the bar for your business,” DeCoste said. “If I set my bar at ‘we can’t do this,’ then the business will never get there. It really made me wonder how much I had gotten in my own way over the years. Since then, I’ve tried to get out of the way and start thinking differently.”
Today, DeCoste continues to balance running his own business with helping other franchisees grow across the Midwest. More than two decades after joining The Cleaning Authority, his willingness to keep learning has continued to keep him successful.
To learn more about The Cleaning Authority franchise opportunity, visit https://cleaningauthorityfranchise.com/.
The Cleaning Authority
SPONSORED
After returning home to Wisconsin during a difficult economy, Jeffrey DeCoste built a successful residential home-cleaning franchise and now supports other owners across the Midwest.
After working in industrial automation sales in Virginia, Jeffrey DeCoste decided he wanted to return home to the Milwaukee area. With the economy’s limited job opportunities, he chose to make a career change. After moving back to Wisconsin, a family friend encouraged him to explore franchising. He also worked with a franchise consultant, who recommended several brands based on his background and goals, including The Cleaning Authority, which has 241 home-cleaning franchises under Authority Brands.
“There were a number of things I was looking for back then,” DeCoste said. “One of them was a relatively low cost of entry. I was 26 years old and didn’t have years of investment saved up. I wanted a repeat customer base, and I wanted a labor pool that I could easily train and develop.”
The Cleaning Authority had all of those characteristics. Twenty-four years later, DeCoste still owns his location in Brookfield, Wisconsin. He also serves as a franchise business coach, supporting other franchise owners in the system.
He attributes his years of success to an intense level of commitment early on. At 26 years old with no family responsibilities, he dedicated nearly all of his time to growing the business, working long hours and doing estimates at night and on weekends. As the business grew, he focused heavily on key performance metrics, including converting leads into customers, retaining customers and controlling costs.
“I really focused on those core metrics in addition to managing our costs to make sure we continued the business in the right direction,” he said. “We really didn't lose sight of those metrics ever. There are times, post-COVID, for example, when people will let their percentage of leads turning into customers drop because they didn't have room. I didn't take that approach. I have these leads, I've got to take advantage of them.”
Support from the franchisor has also been a key driver of his success. Ongoing coaching and operational guidance helped him navigate the challenges of being a new business owner.
“I've always had a dedicated business coach to help,” he said. “It took a lot of phone calls and guidance early on because I needed it. As you get more established, you might not need that sort of support as much, but it's always there.”
Now, he provides that support for other franchise owners in the Midwest. The Cleaning Authority’s leadership asked him to step into the role in November 2020, after he had already been in business for around 18 years.
“I'd seen a lot and that sort of knowledge and experience is helpful to share,” DeCoste said. “I've been that office that didn't have a great response rate to marketing. I've been that office that struggled with staffing. I've been that office that needed to hire a manager. I've done all those things. So hopefully my experience can resonate with other people and it was an honor to be asked.”
DeCoste supports around 30 franchise offices across the region. The level of support varies depending on each owner’s needs, with some franchisees operating very independently and only reaching out for occasional assistance with systems or operational tools. For others, DeCoste takes a hands-on approach by reviewing business metrics, tracking budgets and analyzing trends like customer turnover, lead conversion and appointment rates.
“Some owners get so involved in the day-to-day that they don't have time to look at the numbers,” he said. “And if I can go, ‘Hey, did you guys know you're having a really great termination rate year, but you have fewer estimates because your appointment-to-lead rate is down. Let's see what we can tweak with that.’”
During recurring support calls, he reviews business metrics and helps owners and managers stay close to day-to-day operations.
The biggest lesson DeCoste has learned as a franchise owner is not to get in his own way by limiting what the business could achieve. For example, there was a time when his manager, Jackie, set a growth goal to increase the business from 575 to 700 customers within eight months, something the company had never come close to accomplishing before. After the business quickly added 100 customers in just 24 weeks, DeCoste realized he needed to shift his mindset from thinking “we can’t do that” to asking “how do we get there?”
“It can be humbling when you get a fresh set of eyes in your business and somebody who just says, ‘Let’s do this.’ If you immediately say ‘no’ or ‘we can’t,’ then of course you can’t. You’re setting the bar for your business,” DeCoste said. “If I set my bar at ‘we can’t do this,’ then the business will never get there. It really made me wonder how much I had gotten in my own way over the years. Since then, I’ve tried to get out of the way and start thinking differently.”
Today, DeCoste continues to balance running his own business with helping other franchisees grow across the Midwest. More than two decades after joining The Cleaning Authority, his willingness to keep learning has continued to keep him successful.
To learn more about The Cleaning Authority franchise opportunity, visit https://cleaningauthorityfranchise.com/.
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