In response to the comment from the last posting, a large portion of the 1-800-Radiator customer base is auto repair shops. In the old days mechanics and radiator shops used to be able to fix the brass and copper radiators that had leaking tanks or clogged fins. Now it is more cost effective to buy and install a new radiator, especially one that comes with a lifetime warranty, than to repair an old one. The key to supplying radiators to repair shops is getting parts their quickly and making sure it is the correct application and fit. It doesn’t hurt that our radiators come with candy as well.

I recently flew into Birmingham Alabama last week to meet our newest franchisee. He will take over a strong 1-800-Radiator start-up territory. I’ve been to Birmingham before on a short visit to see potential franchise candidates but that was about the extent of my travels into the state. After having a nice dinner with our new owner and his wife, I headed up to Gadsden Alabama, a smaller city about 60 miles Northeast of Birmingham. I wanted to meet some very strong candidates who were interested in opening up a 1-800-Radiator distribution franchise in the Gadsden/Anniston area. I never thought of myself as a “Yankee” until I got into rural Alabama. I was immediately struck by the beauty of the area as I headed up Interstate 59. There was a full moon that silhouetted the pine trees along the way and the beginning of rolling hills that would eventually lead to Lookout Mountain. I met our Gadsden candidates at a restaurant in the downtown area called “The Fish Market.” We showed up 45 minutes before they closed and were persona non grata as we stayed well past their restaurant closing but the staff was friendly and I got a good sense for what kind of owners these people would make.

At the heart of a 1-800-Radiator franchise, we look for owners who will be good at establishing relationships with our wholesale customer base and be very service focused. When a radiator goes in a car, the part needs to be replaced right away and the car will not run without a functioning radiator. Part managers and owners of auto and collision repair shops look to buy radiators and other cooling components from someone who can get them a good quality part quickly and at a competitive price. Their customers hold them to a standard for quality and service and we communicate the integral role our franchise play in that process. It’s all about earning the business by earning trust. Gadsden is a friendly town and a great market for automotive cooling products; hot, humid summers and a former industrial center (Good Year, Republic Steel). Prior to meeting my people the following day to tour a potential warehouse location, I had breakfast at a place off of Highway 280 called “Jacks.” Clearly the place had it’s regulars and as I came in and set up my computer, I realized how much I stuck out. Lamenting the lack of healthy choices on the menu, I decided to indulge in hash browns and sausage, eggs and gravy. If you’re going to be a bear, you may as well be a Grizzly. It struck me thinking about the strong Southern accents our new potential owners had and their insistence that we have a nice dinner before discussing business the night before that the key to the success of our franchise model was having locals run their own markets.

Let me tell you something about my truck. I love it.

Now before all of you hybrid car driving environmentalists show up on my doorstep with pitchforks and torches, allow me to clarify. I’m one of the few pickup truck drivers that actually use the vehicle for functional purposes. I tow things. I lift things. I move things. I truck, dammit.

Now, I’ve been through all brands of trucks. I’ve had a Ford truck, Chevy truck and a Dodge truck. And no matter how dependable those commercials on television (Y’know, the ones with the cowboys and John Cougar Mellencamp songs) say that their truck is, there is one part that invariably goes out every time. The radiator.

Truck radiators are magnets for destruction, I kid you not. Whether you’re towing a trailer, carrying a load of dirt, or simply strapping a giant elephant into the bed of the truck (Which I do every Wednesday. Don’t ask.) you should know that your truck radiator is eventually going to blow. There’s only so much cooling a radiator can do on an overstressed engine and, trust me on this one, radiator repair will only get you so far. A repaired radiator will at best cool to 80% capacity as a new radiator will because even if they flushed it, it’s still full of buildup that is now somehow physically part of the radiator. I’m not even sure how it gets that bad. Clearly, I should have watched more Mr. Wizard as a kid.

So needless to say, with all of the truckery (I just made that word up) that I do, I find myself buying a new truck radiator at least once every 4-5 years or so. It’s not like the radiators I buy are defective; in fact they’re some of the highest quality parts I’ve ever seen, it’s that I put that much strain on my trucks. Still, it doesn’t hurt to do some research to ensure that one gets a discounted truck radiator. Personally, I know I’ll get as much mileage out of it as I would an OEM Ford, Chevy, or Dodge truck radiator, so why would I throw away up to 200 extra dollars that can be better spent on can after can of alphabet soup? God I love alphabet soup. I’m eating a bowl right now. I spilled a “Q” in my keyboard. It’s wedged in the little space between the “N” key and the “M” key which ironically isn’t anywhere near the “Q” key.

That’s all for now.

- Geno

Good morning entrepreneurs, radiator repair and car part enthusiasts. As I write this dispatch from the 1-800-Radiator Franchise seat, we are on the verge of opening our 195^th franchise territory in the United States and talking to some very sharp Canadian candidates in key provinces. I talk to a lot of people interested in learning about our franchise model. The most commonly asked question is ‘do people really need new radiators that often?’ As we continue to grow we’re seeing Radiator Repair shops that used to fix leaking side tanks and re-core radiators either fall out of the market as newer radiators became the more cost-effective way of keeping engines cool. The ones that stuck around will stock some new radiators or contact a distributor like 1-800-Radiator if their customer’s Honda Accord has a leaking plastic side tank and repair is not an option. The discount radiator market has become a huge niche over the last 20 years or so and 1-800-Radiator has seized upon the opportunity by doing a few things very well.

Our size provides tremendous leverage with cooling part manufacturers who offer us the most competitive pricing on radiators. We’ve also utilized technology to create a robust, streamlined web-based point of sale system for looking up parts, managing customer buying data and running effective sales warehouses. We were also one of the first to jump into the online auto parts market by purchasing several doming names that consistently rank high for retail customers or do it yourself guys that don’t go to shops. Handmade radiators and used radiators are no longer marketable even in the most frugal markets when a brand new radiator can be purchased on one of our web sites and shipped at no cost. Finally, allowing local owners the opportunity to grow a protected territory puts customer relationship building with our wholesale buyers in the hands of highly qualified individuals who have a lot invested in insuring optimum service, competitive pricing and quick turnaround times on customer issues.

Our old corporate distribution model had some junk in the trunk that the franchise model has gotten rid of. As we look to the immediate future, radiators will only be one of several key parts that we sell. Some key acquisitions have ushered in the addition of air parts and radiator component parts such as fan assemblies that out franchise owners will all eventually stock.

In 2003 I was teaching 6th graders in the Oakland CA Unified School District when I had an epiphany. I was cleaning a smeared Grape Jelly sandwich off of my chalkboard while admonishing a student who, while criticizing another student with a “Your Mom” joke had used a double negative, when it hit me. I really love teaching but there must be another way to make a living in California. The job hunt was on.

I am not good with cars. As a matter of fact, I’ve never changed my own oil, a tire and if truth be told, I do not even know how to program a radio station in our Volkswagen Jetta. I never saw myself in the auto parts industry, let alone working for the nation’s largest distributors of radiators, Radiator Warehouse. Yet at the end of the summer, I started learning about the difference between plastic tanks, radiator repair, when you need a new radiator and other car part components that help cool your car’s engine. Somehow I was able to parlay my experience teaching kids into a call center environment managing students of The Radiator.

I quickly came to realize how much radiators were in demand and found myself talking to friends and relatives about the difference in core measurement between a Chevy truck radiator and a Honda Civic radiator. As the company grew and eventually started franchising, I became more enthusiastic about the radiator market. Though I still miss the occasional “Your Mom” joke.