116 Business View - August 2015
Perhaps, to some, those numbers would not seem ter-
ribly aggressive, but Helton stresses that the company
is aiming for controlled growth and has “no interest,
whatsoever, in putting a flag on the map just to say
that we have a franchise in this location.” He explains
further, “We want to make sure that our candidates
share our core values and that they are adequately
capitalized. We want them to be set up for success. If
we aren’t comfortable that we can position them for
success, we won’t award the franchise. We consider it
a partnership and we’re looking for good fits. It may be
a great opportunity but that doesn’t necessarily mean
it’s a great fit. It has to be both.”
What kind of franchisee is the team looking for? Helton
replies, “We’re looking for relationship builders. That’s
the key part of our network. People who can build rela-
tionships with insurance agents, insurance adjusters,
property managers – these are the key people who
provide us business. So the background of our owners
is varied. We’ll have some who have experience in ac-
counting or engineering and we’ll have some who are
contractors. Many of them come to us with absolutely
no experience in this industry, at all -- and that’s okay,
because we have a pretty significant training program
that they go through, earning key industry certifica-
tions. Our training program is designed to allow them
to ramp up quickly and start building their territory.”
Helton explains the training process for new franchi-
sees: “Our training truly sets us apart – two weeks
of training in-house, and then they have an option
to spend another week shadowing our corporately-
owned franchise. Following that, we go out to their lo-
cation for a week, 30 days later we’re back out there
for another week, and 30 days after that, we make a
FRANCHISE
