Schooley Mitchell, an independent cost-reduction consulting firm with more than 310 franchises across North America, recently launched a sustainability initiative that involves planting trees around the world and pulling plastic from the oceans. By Patty Horansky
GIVING BACK
Schooley Mitchell, an independent cost-reduction consulting firm with more than 310 franchises across North America, recently launched a sustainability initiative that involves planting trees around the world and pulling plastic from the oceans.
“We only started recently but have already planted 700 trees and pulled 220 tons of carbon from the oceans,” said Dennis Schooley, founder and CEO of the Ontario-based brand.
The initiative, dubbed “Everyone Can Help,” ties environmental activities to the brand’s business transactions. The brand has even opened the program to its franchisees.
“Now, they are joining us in the effort to improve our world,” Schooley said.
Schooley Mitchell is a professional, knowledge-based B2B franchise that helps businesses of all sizes save money by identifying errors and waste in 18 cost-cutting categories, such as merchant services, small-package shipping, linens and uniforms, fuel and telecom.
Most small-business owners don’t have the time or knowledge to look for mistakes in billing, seek better pricing or spot subtle shifts in their industries. Schooley Mitchell reviews clients’ contracts and bills, helps them understand where they are losing money and then facilitates savings. Franchisees are only paid if savings are found.
“Really, everybody needs that,” said Schooley, whose 140 support staff members include researchers who continually watch for trends in business and new cost-cutting categories.
The brand provides its franchisees with numerous benefits, including the ability to work from home, low overhead, scalability, recurring revenue, territorial freedom, recession resistance and unparalleled training and support. Now, franchisees can take satisfaction in knowing the brand is helping to preserve the planet for future generations.
“For example, we plant a tree every time we receive a referral in the name of the referral sources, every time we have a second conversation with a franchise candidate in the name of the candidate, every time a new franchisee joins us in the name of the franchisee and every time we receive a new client in the name of the client,” Schooley explained.
One franchisee recently planted 50 trees for a particular group of clients. According to Schooley, another franchisee, who does a lot of cost-saving work for nonprofits, came up with the phrase “Earn good by doing good.”
“It has sort of become our mantra, and many of our people have become passionate about it,” Schooley said.
The brand launched the initiative in collaboration with Ecodrive, which was founded to help businesses scale while also preserving the environment. According to its website, “Ecodrive’s unrivaled level of transparency boosts trust, loyalty, brand reputation and, ultimately, customer conversions.”
“At first, I was a little skeptical when our staff brought the idea forward, but we turned it into a project our staff and our franchisees have now fully embraced,” Schooley said.
“We actually celebrate each week at our team meetings when we reach certain benchmarks for tree planting. We know in a couple of years into the future, we will have planted thousands of trees and pulled thousands of tons of carbon from the oceans, and that is very satisfying.”
Patty Horansky