Mr. Rooter, Ace Hardware partner on installed sales

Ace and The Dwyer Group, which owns Mr. Rooter and Mr. Electric, are operating a pilot program in the Chicago area with the possibility to take it nationwide in the future.

The pilot program is being tested at two Ace stores. Installed sales will be offered to Ace customers when they purchase such products as water heaters, faucets, sump pumps, garbage disposals, ceiling fans, bathroom exhaust fans and other products requiring general plumbing and electrical services.

Ace and The Dwyer Group developed the promotional slogan "Trust Ace To Put It In Place" for the installed sales effort. Promotional banners and materials will be placed both outside and inside Ace stores. Marketing plans include placing stickers on products that include the "Trust Ace To Put It In Place" slogan. This program marks the first time Ace has partnered with another company on installed sales.

"We’ve been taking our time with this on purpose," said Dave Sonnen, retail marketing manager for Ace, headquartered here. "We have thought about it for a long time. It was a question of wanting a fit with our culture from a one-stop-shopping point of view. We wanted to partner with a company that put the same emphasis on the customer as we do, and the Dwyer Group’s service culture is one focused on taking care of the individual customer."

The Chicago area was chosen to launch the program partly because Ace is headquartered in a nearby suburb. Sonnen said he anticipates expanding the program into Seattle corporate Ace Hardware stores by the end of this year or early 2000 and possibly moving into Atlanta.

Ace was motivated to offer installed sales because the hardware store chain had been researching female and married customers who do not have time install plumbing and electrical products.

"We felt that we were not fulfilling the ‘helpful hardware place’ motto because our answer to our customers would have to be ‘sorry, we can’t do it,’ when they wanted products installed," Sonnen explained.

The Dwyer Group became interested in forming a partnership like this a few years ago when a particular buzzword was floating around corporate offices, said Dina Dwyer-Owens, ceo of The Dwyer Group.

"The buzzword a few years ago was ‘co-branding,’" Dwyer-Owens said. "Gas stations were doing it with fast-food restaurants, ice cream companies were co-branding with fast-food stores, so we thought, ‘How could we do something like that with service companies?’" Ace Hardware was at the top of our minds immediately and from the first phone call to Ace we knew that we were on the right track. We were both looking to pursue a program like this.

"The partnership with Ace is very different than anything we’ve been doing in the past," she said. "Each Mr. Rooter business is independently operated so we don’t control who they partner with. But on a broad level we’ve been working on this for 20 months and we both feel very good about the program’s potential."

"The Dwyer Group has seven business concepts and when we’re done with this pilot program and we take it national, we may decide to go national with Ace on the other five concepts we have."

The group’s franchise concepts include: Rainbow International Carpet Care and Restoration Specialists, Mr. Appliance, Glass Doctor, Aire Serv Heating & Air Conditioning and an associate company, DreamMaker Bath & Kitchen.

Ace is not the first home-improvement store to offer installed sales, of course, Sonnen acknowledged. "We obviously are aware of everything that Home Depot and Lowe’s are doing in the installed-sales market," he said. "But we’ve heard from customers that the person who installs the product is a mystery because store employees cannot specify exactly who will arrive at their homes.

"The contractor who arrives may or may not be licensed, bonded or insured. We, on the other hand, know that the installing contractors with the Dwyer Group are all of those things, and we can tell our customers exactly who will be coming to their home. We can even show them a picture of the truck and the uniform the technician will wear. The people that Ace will recommend can be trusted and definitely will be bonded and insured," Sonnen said.

Ace Hardware is a cooperative, wholly owned by its 5,100 independent hardware, home center, lumber and building materials retailers in 62 countries worldwide.

Mr. Rooter is a full-service plumbing franchiser supporting more than 200 franchises in the United States and nearly 100 franchises in seven other countries.

Mr. Electric is the world’s largest franchise system offering residential and commercial electrical service and repair.

The Dwyer Group supports more than 900 franchisees in the United States and nearly 400 franchisees in 23 countries.

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Dwyer Group expands pilot program with Ace