News: iSold It Draws Hundreds Interested in Franchises
November 17th, 2005 by Laurie BarakSource: The Wall Street Journal
When Rick and Elise Wetzel opened their eBay dropoff store, iSold It, they had no idea they would be overwhelmed with hundreds of phone calls every week of people asking them if they could open an iSold It franchise. They sold and opened one franchise, but desperately needed help to sort the influx of interest in their company.
The Wetzels got some assistance from Ken Sully, a former VP of development for Mail Boxes, Etc. Sully soon became the first CEO of iSold It. Together the Wretzels and Sully created an online system to collect information from all of the people interested in becoming franchisees. After conference calls with potential franchise owners, Sully would tour the proposed sites and decide whether or not to sell a franchise store.
To keep pace with the desired store openings, Mr. Sully struck a deal with Total Resource Group of Chicago. Together they designed a “store-in-a-box” concept. TRG manufactures the store components — counters, fixtures, shelving — which can be installed quickly in existing strip-mall space after a lease is signed. “Once the truck arrives,” says Mr. Sully, “we can open within 48 hours.”
iSold it went from four employees to 36 and the company has sold the rights to over 600 franchises. By the end of 2006 iSold It expects to have 400 franchise stores open across the US.
Rick and Elise Wetzel are also the owners of the pretzel chain Wetzels Pretzels. And yes, they sell Wetzel’s Pretzels franchises, too.
