Q&A With Weed Man’s CEO
It’s no secret that the global vehicle shortage issue is affecting all of us. As a Weed Man franchise owner, you may be worried about whether you’ll be able to get the vehicles you need for next year—especially since our huge growth as a company means you’ll need even more of them than ever before!
In this article, we’re sharing our conversation with Weed Man’s CEO, Jennifer Lemcke, on how the vehicle shortage is impacting our franchisees, and how our partnership with Foss National Leasing is helping many of us mitigate these challenges so we can keep operating strong.
How has the recent vehicle shortage affected Weed Man franchisees? Do you anticipate they will be affected by it for the foreseeable future?
Jennifer: Yes, it has absolutely affected them. And it’s not just about the vehicle shortage, but our growth as a company. We’re looking at huge growth, with back-to-back growth years. It's putting pressure on the franchisees that need trucks now and are having to scramble to get them, and also as we anticipate their future needs.
For us, the count of trucks is really aligned with how many customers a franchisee can service. Lack of trucks can impede our growth. So it's having a huge impact on us actually. Right now we're scrambling and finding alternatives, such as taking a service vehicle and then flipping it into a production vehicle. Some franchisees are helping each other out in some instances. But by and large, there's been a lack of trucks in the system.
Have those franchise owners who work with Foss been less affected by the vehicle shortage?
Jennifer: With the folks that are using Foss, we were brought abreast of the vehicle shortage issue all along the way. Alan (our Foss representative) did such a great job by helping us see this coming. Until now, we've never really had pressure in regards to vehicle shortages, but with COVID and some of the other situations, all of a sudden we have a truck shortage.
So Alan has been excellent at just really helping us by saying, “You gotta be aware of this”, and then coming into 2022, really aligning us and giving us different opportunities to do an early order program and payment plans. So we’re able to capitalize on bulk deals because we're going to be purchasing so many trucks. It’s just about really understanding the challenges—and the opportunities that come with being prepared.
What role has Foss played in helping Weed Man franchise owners acquire their vehicles over the years?
Jennifer: We began a national program in 2019 with Alan. He came in, put a program in place for us, gave us an opportunity to have a national program for our franchisees, and then he just started making it easy for people to order their vehicles. So I think from the inception of the relationship with us, it's really been the ease of how things are going. Alan really became a partner of ours, which we didn't really have in the vehicle leasing space before then.
How have you experienced Foss' response times to your requests and requirements?
Jennifer: Excellent. Above and beyond, and proactive. That's what we love about a supplier—when they're proactive. Certainly with all the things that are going on, he's been very proactive. But even before that, he came to us with the program and showed us how it can help the franchisees.
Then fast forward to now, where we need to be reactive like, “Holy smokes, there's no trucks out there. What can we do?” And he would just identify places where there were trucks and he was able to pull them in for us. So there’s been excellent communication, both on a proactive and reactive level.
I don't know where we sit on the scale of account size for Foss, but I feel like I am a top client with the treatment that we get.
How has Foss' understanding of the Weed Man company culture benefited you?
Jennifer: Excellent. They've been amazing. We're very much a franchisee first customer of Foss’—being head office, our franchisees are our customers. So we're very honed in on whatever they need, and Foss fit right into that. We're all about the easy button and Foss has created an easy button to order trucks, set up financing, or to otherwise figure out what they need, whatever the case may be.
What is your advice for franchise owners who are concerned about, or at risk for not getting their 2022 vehicles?
Jennifer: Call Alan, call Foss! I have a lot of faith that they're going to do whatever they possibly can to help you get the vehicle. They work with so many different clients and they're aware that if one client doesn't need all their vehicles that they had asked for, they can shift things around to different accounts. So they have more available vehicles than what a local dealer can give you. Maybe another client doesn't need a Ford F-250—well Foss knows that and can move it over to you. So it just kind of gives you a bigger universe of solutions to help with your issue.