Contact: Sheri Rice, APR
sheri.rice@twomen.com
608-206-7419
Madison, Wis. — The year was 1993, the World Wide Web was just a few years old, and Tim Lightner decided to take a chance on a new business opportunity. It’s been 20 years since TWO MEN AND A TRUCK® opened franchise number 29 in Madison, Wisconsin, and Lightner says while much about doing business has certainly changed since then, his core business remains the same.
Lightner was working full time in the building trades and liked the idea of owning his own business. “I think that I knew from a pretty early age that I wanted to be in business for myself,” says Lightner. “When the TWO MEN AND A TRUCK® opportunity came along, it made sense to me. I think one of the things I liked about it was there was no product that I had to sell; it was a pretty straightforward exercise in managing people, and I felt that was where my skill set was strongest. One of the reasons I wanted to be in business for myself was to have an opportunity to control my own destiny, and to be my own boss. And to see how far I could push myself.”
Pencil in Hand
Business for him was done very differently than today. “We took the orders by hand in a carbonless white book,” recalls Lightner of those early days. “We had to write in it in pencil so if the move day or time changed, we could move it on the schedule. It’s funny now to think about it, when we may schedule up to 50 moves in one day. I also remember in the early 1990s, one of our big debates was ether we should get a fax machine.” (They did).
Communication with the trucks was also more difficult. “The first summer, the movers would stop at a pay phone and call back to the office if they needed anything,” recalls Lightner. “Today, of course we have all kinds of instant technology with the drivers.”
Marketing and promotion were grass roots efforts, out of necessity. “We would drive the huge white moving truck with the TWO MEN AND A TRUCK® logo as a huge moving billboard, driving it everywhere from picking up groceries to shopping at the malls,” he recalled. With no advertising budget, driving the big truck around and wearing logoed clothing like T-shirts and jackets was all that they could afford. But Lightner soon realized that word of mouth would be their biggest means of promotion.
His ambitions were comparatively modest. Lightner told himself that if they could grow from one to three trucks, he thought they would have arrived. “That would have been real success for me,” he recalls. “In my original business plan, I thought it would take about three years to get to three – and I ended up doing that in about 14 months.”
While much has changed in 20 years, much has stayed the same. “The important part has stayed the same, which is making sure we’re taking care of people,” says Lightner. “We are very customer-focused. That part of the business hasn’t changed since the very beginning. And it’s the part that still drives us every single day.”
A Helping Hand
Lightner will tell you his business isn’t moving, it’s helping people. “We talk a lot about how moving is one of the most stressful things in a person’s life,” he says. “Moving is listed right up there with death, divorce and job change – really stressful things with a lot of emotion attached to them. If we can come in and make the move one less thing you have to worry about when you are feeling that stress, we feel like we’ve done our job.”
One of the core values of TWO MEN AND A TRUCK® is what they call “The Grandma Rule,” which simply reminds everyone to treat each customer as you would your own grandmother. “It might sound corny,” says Lightner, “but it’s effective. It really resonates with our staff.”
Their customer-centric approach has clearly paid off. From a brand loyalty perspective, you’d be hard pressed to find customers more satisfied than those of TWO MEN AND A TRUCK®. “We measure our success by whether our customers would refer us to others,” says Lightner. “Thankfully, over 96 percent of our customers say they will refer us to others, and use us again themselves. We’re extremely proud of that.”
The Secrets of His Success
Lightner credits his striving for those positive referrals as helping him get to where he is today. “It’s a real win-win,” says Lightner. “Everybody is happy. Maybe that is old-fashioned to be talking about building relationships but that is really what we’re all about.”
Lightner is quick to credit picking a service business at the right time. “I believe we came along at a time when there was a real need in the market for this service. As much as I would love to take all kinds of credit for being super smart,” says Lightner, “there was a real need for people who specialize in getting your stuff across town. I think that played a big role in our success.”
Not to downplay the very hard work it took to succeed. “There was a lot of hard work on behalf of a lot of people,” Lightner admits. “Those first couple years, 80-90 hour weeks were the norm. But as we started to grow we were able to reinvest in the company and grow. And it paid off.”
Today, TWO MEN AND A TRUCK® has 23 trucks and does in-state and interstate residential and commercial moves. TWO MEN AND A TRUCK® provides packing services, loading, and unloading services. They are insured and bonded and move people and businesses six days a week. The company employees nearly 100 full and part time employees. The Madison franchise has experienced double-digit increases in sales nearly every year it has been operational, and in 2012 the moving service did more than $3 million in business. Lightner purchased a second franchise in Racine, Wisconsin, in 2011, which is showing solid growth. In fact, the Racine franchise has gone from being ranked 176 in the system (of 200 franchises) to first in recent weeks.
What’s next?
Lightner says he would like to continue to grow by purchasing existing franchises. “Ultimately I’d like to keep doing what I’m doing here but acquire two or three additional franchises.”
He credits his Madison success as the key to doing that. “Our team has learned a lot over the past 20 years and we want to take that experience and knowledge and continue to expand it into other markets and use the same kinds of techniques and relationship – building in other markets. We’re seeing success in Racine and we think this will work in other places.”
Lightner hasn’t forgotten the “Two Men” part of the equation. “I want to grow,” he says, “And I’d very much like to find ways to improve the customer experience but, just as importantly, I want to find ways to improve the lives of our employees for another 20 years.”
TWO MEN AND A TRUCK® can be reached by calling 608-278-0800.
Fast Facts:
Franchise purchased in May 1993
3717 Kipp Street in Madison
Madison franchise serves Dane and Rock counties
Today Lightner owns two franchises: Madison and Racine/Kenosha
Nearly 100 full- and part-time staff between two offices
73,699 moves completed since 1993 (which equates to 15,015 24-hour days of moving services)
Lightner has donated up to $50,000 worth of services annually – for a total of about $750,000 over the years to the Madison community
