Roadmap to Success: Paula Ashcraft's Growth and Sale of Her Business

• February 10, 2009
• by ServeNow Staff
• Business Tips

Paula Ashcraft wasn’t always a process serving giant with ProVest. In 1989, Ashcraft was working at an outside sales job in the computer hardware industry when she needed some supplemental income. She began working part-time for a small process serving business in Dayton, Ohio, which segued into running the small Dayton business. After working in Dayton, she moved to Cincinnati to break ground on her own process serving company.

Ashcraft started Legal Ease of Ohio in 1996, working on her own for the first few years to build up the business. She took advantage of many networking avenues, such as joining the Cincinnati Bar Association. At the time, there weren’t many female process servers and she gained traction as a leading woman in the industry. “A lot of folks wouldn’t go the extra mile to get a case served,” said Ashcraft. “I did, which helped to get my name out there.”

Ashcraft created a brochure with her picture in it so people could put a face with her name and began marketing her business. She used software to track when her direct mailer went out, who it went out to and then she would call to follow up two weeks after the flier was sent. Because of her sales background, Ashcraft knew that being persistent was the key. She would start each conversation with, “Hello, I know you only have a minute, but did you get my brochure and is it a service you need?”

Cold calling gave Ashcraft the research and knowledge she needed to succeed. When she repeatedly heard from multiple contacts that they already had a process server named Bob Schlinkert, she knew she had to contact Bob. As luck would have it, Schlinkert was leaving the process serving industry and so he tested Ashcraft to see how she did on papers that even he could not get served. When she was successful, she had convinced him that she was, in fact, a diligent process server. As clients continued to call Schlinkert, he referred them to Ashcraft.

Besides networking, Ashcraft built up her business early on by asking those who were pleased with her work for referrals. She would ask the questions, Are you pleased with my work? Would you mind writing me a quick letter? She even added a feedback form to her website. She built her business up through hard work but didn’t stop there.

Ashcraft began advertising on ServeNow.com, and in the first couple of years, she noticed that she was receiving hits from all over the United States. “ServeNow.com was the highest return on the dollar from the advertising I was doing,” said Ashcraft. There was a law firm that had thought about starting their own process serving company, but then decided not to reinvent the wheel and they were looking for someone to service the entire state. When the firm did a google search, they immediately found ServeNow.com because of the website’s high search engine rank, which led them to Ashcraft – and four other servers in her area.

“The client e-mailed all of us, but I had a BlackBerry and responded to him within a few minutes,” said Ashcraft. “I found out later from the client that some of the other companies never even responded.”

For Ashcraft, her success has been partially due to exposure. She landed large-volume clients, which afforded her the opportunity to have offices throughout the state. “When I would find servers where I had papers that needed to be served, I couldn’t control the quality of work,” she said. “Now, my business has coverage in all 88 counties in Ohio.” Having excellent coverage and attending conferences for the National Association of Professional Process Servers, and the Mortgage Bankers Association set her company up for success. “When you attend those events, your name gets on a list of attendees and companies who are scouting for acquisitions refer to those lists.”

In September of 2006, ProVest acquired Legal Ease of Ohio. Ashcraft now serves as Executive Vice President of ProVest. Ashcraft manages the four Ohio offices and will be expanding to Indiana in June. The below Five Questions With Paula Ashcraft details some of Ashcraft’s savvy business advice.

Five Questions With Paula Ashcraft

1. How did you know it was time to build up your business and sell it?

I recognized that the industry was turning toward technology and I felt like a smaller company would have a great disadvantage to keep up with the resources that the larger companies had. I attended a NAPPS conference seminar on how to market and position your process serving business for sale and realized that it’s almost a testament to success to be able to sell a startup.

2. How has your role in the business changed with the acquisition?

It’s much different but in a positive manner. I can still run my business, but I have an enormous amount of resources with regards to technology and human resources. I served a few papers last year on a special request, but I give a lot more direction and am very involved in training our process servers. I have definitely developed my leadership skills with the company’s growth. I went from managing a small company to tripling in growth.

3. What advice would you give to other process servers who are looking to sell their businesses?

I would keep really accurate financial records, maintain a great work ethic, offer a great service, develop a strong network of process servers, and have some history behind your sales volume that would promote a successful sale.

4. What business practices put your company ahead of the rest?

It’s definitely our customer service. We are top notch and always have been. It has always been a very strong selling feature. We have a state of the art phone system so we never seemed like a mom and pop operation. We have always had a very professional image. When people used to think of process servers they had a lot of stereotypes. I set out to change a lot of that and I think I was successful. We have maintained a great integrity with the courthouse. Out of the thousands of papers we’ve served, I have never been called into court.

5. With the state of the economy are there any markets you are staying focused on?

The state of affairs with the current economy has positioned ProVest in the forefront as the industry leader for Loss Mitigation Delivery. With the rise of foreclosure filings across the United States just about every servicer is looking at offering solutions to saving the borrowers home. ProVest’s network of servers throughout the United States has enabled us to Deliver Loss Mitigation Letters in conjunction with the Service of Process, in a fast and efficient manner.

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