In the unregulated world of estate sales, it can often be a huge challenge getting a dependable company to handle the unforgiving task of assessing and selling a person’s lifetime of possessions – and Grasons is top in the industry!
Grasons Co. is the #1 Estate Sale Company of choice for estate sales services and estate sale business franchise. To date, Kelly has sold over 15 franchises to aspiring entrepreneurs throughout the United States. Kelly shares the story behind her company and why it’s valuable to franchise an estate sale business.
HBM: Please give us a little background on you and your company.
Kelly: “My name is Simone Kelly, and I’m the CEO of Grasons Co Estate Sale Services, which is the #1 Choice for estate sale services and estate sale business franchise. I’ve been a business owner for 15 years – and during this time I’ve owned a lending company, real estate franchise company, TC and escrow company. After those endeavors, I’ve truly found my calling with Grasons. Our estate sale company began in Orange County and is quickly moving across the Nation as the recognized brand for an estate sales. We started franchising our business at the end of 2014 when our initial business was too busy to sustain just one location. It was either – start divisions or franchise the business and allow others to enjoy success in performing estate sales. We chose the latter. We chose this because franchising gives this awesome opportunity to others to take advantage of owning their own business in an industry that is truly amazing. This can be ran from a home or an office.”
Q: What type of services does Grasons Co provide?
Kelly: “We are mostly recognized for our on-site estate sale services, but we also offer exclusive virtual consignment, and home staging. As a Grasons Co Estate Sale Services, we provide a complimentary initial in home interview and assessment. Once we are ready to start the process, we clean your items, stage all items in their proper places and price each and every item inside and outside the home and garage. We, also, sell larger items such as cars, boats, and items of higher value such as fine jewelry and costume jewelry. We have sold collections of rare items and not so rare items. In short – we sell it all!
Our services have grown quickly due to the excellent service and detail we provide to each client. Our customers choose us for their estate sales because of our long term experience, proven techniques, and selling items at the highest price and reputation in the industry. From estate liquidation, to downsizing, to relocation, our estate sales business will assist you with mitigating the process. When hiring an estate sale company (especially Grasons Co), our clients know we are properly insured, licensed in our cities of service and background checked. Letting a stranger in your home to sell your items is difficult so it is very important to us that we have our client’s full confidence in leaving their worries in our capable and covered hands.”
HBM: You mentioned that the business is quickly moving across the nation, what locations are you currently in and what areas are on your radar to expand in.
Kelly: “Currently, the company has presence is in Nevada, Pennsylvania, and throughout California. Within California, we have locations in Jurupa Valley, San Diego, Laguna Hills, Anaheim, Newport Beach, Huntington Beach, Whittier, Pasadena, Long Beach, Torrance, Walnut Creek, Benicia, and surrounding territories. Our main headquarters is in Huntington Beach. With Q2 vastly approaching, we have expansion plans through the states of New England. We are very excited about extending our brand to the East Coast.”
HBM: What are the advantages to franchising an estate sale business?
Kelly: “Estate Sales are an exciting, and a fast growing industry. Research and statistics shows that the last of the baby boomers will turn 65 years old by 2029. The over 65 year old population is projected to double to over 70 million by 2030 and grow to over 85 million by the year 2050. If you’ve ever considered owning your own home based business, this is the perfect opportunity and the perfect time to start. You can work from home, you do not have to build out a restaurant or office, which cuts overhead expenses. As a Grasons Co Estate Sale Franchise, you are given a road map on how to not only begin your adventure, you have a national brand name to assist in your business and continual support in order to sustain a successful business. We’ve developed a proven system based on experience as the industry leader in estate sales. The estate sale franchise opportunity is very rewarding, while the number of baby boomers reaching their retirement age continues to grow, them and their loved ones rely on caring professionals such as Grasons Co. to help them by providing estate sale services due to relocating, downsizing or to honor their loved ones’ memory.”
HBM: Are there other streams of income with this franchise aside from standard estate sales.
Kelly: “Yes, aside from estate planning. We also encourage franchises to set up different revenue avenues, such as: staging, debris removal and clean out, auctions (online and on-site), realtor referral, coordinating with senior relocation partners, liquidation services and consignment. We are constantly working to grow our services based on our client’s demands and our ability to help and bring success to all of our franchisees. I believe that the franchisee’s success is the cornerstone of our success.”
HBM: Do you accept franchisees who haven’t worked in estate sales prior to wanting to own a franchise?
Kelly: “Of course, we are open to this. But we also believe every estate sale company should be run by professional, knowledgeable and caring individuals. We are able help them with our extensive training and support. We also assist with their opening and sustaining of their business. Whether you currently own an estate sale business or just always wanted to own your own business, we make a serious effort to help each other with training, support, marketing, systems, contracts, platform, lead generation unmatched by any other estate sale company. Our exclusive training and systems to give you the ability to maximize your income potential. You will be able to grow your business with the specialized branding, exclusive training program and referral systems we have in place. We see estate sale businesses come and go so fast in our industry and a lot of the reasons is lack of training, experience, name recognition and support.”
HBM: A lot of our audience desire to open up home-based businesses, can someone be profitable with running an estate sale franchise from their own home?
Kelly: “Yes – a lot of our franchisees don’t have official offices. But HARDWORK is KEY! The estate sale business is not for everyone, but if you are a good candidate, it’s an excellent resale business to own because it is both financially, professionally and emotionally rewarding. Most people automatically assume that an estate sale business is simply earning money from selling other people’s stuff. But excellent organizational skills, combined with a deep understanding of human nature, and the responsibility of dealing with all your clients’ most prized possessions with the utmost respect and integrity is the key to success in the business of estate sales.”
