Business View Magazine September 2018

208 209 MILLICARE Call 1-800-966-8003 and put our sales force to work for your business! Visit us online at www. wind river marketing .net Need More Business? We set the meeting, you close the deal Powerful strategy of cold calling, email and SEO No contracts, simple month to month service Let us be your inside sales team. Professional B2B lead generation ethics, and we take care of our franchisees.” Willis: “Another major draw is that because the majority of our work is contracted, our franchises can project future revenues. Since most of our work is contracted for a two to three year period, this allows our franchisees to strategically prepare future budgets, capital expenditures and staffing needs for the next few years. This is something that many other franchises don’t experience. BVM: Is having a contract like that an ad- vantage for the customer, as well? Willis: It is. And very important to a customer who wants to budget their flooring mainte- nance needs and maintain its investment in their flooring.We’re not just a carpet cleaning company; we put a custom plan together to maintain their flooring for its entire lifecycle. So, it’s something they don’t have to worry about.We use a dry-cleaning, low-moisture carpet cleaning process, so we don’t disrupt their business. There’s not six to eight hours of drying time, so if it’s a 24-hour call center, or a casino, whatever the case may be, we can go in and maintain their carpets on a regular basis without displacing employees or impact- ing their operation. BVM: How do you go about vetting potential franchisees? What qualities do you look for? Helton: “We look for candidates who have the ability to build relationships; that’s the most important thing in our industry.We have to go out and build relationships with facility manag- ers and building owners to earn their trust so we can properly service their account. So we look for someone who is a relationship builder; someone who is friendly–people prefer to do business with people they like. “We also want someone who is well-capitalized. Our objective is not just to put another flag on the map for milliCare.We want to bring in some- one who is able to build the business, able to hire the right people, and able to run it efficiently. A background in business and management is very valuable. They don’t necessarily have to have a background in floor maintenance; although that’s great, it’s not a requirement for us.” “It’s also important to mention that milliCare has not really made an aggressive attempt to grow the network in a decade. Many of our fran- chisees came from within the Milliken family – they were Milliken dealers or somehow as- sociated with Milliken.We are now being much more aggressive in recruiting new franchisees that don’t have a prior connection to Milliken or to the industry.We’re looking for entrepreneurs who want to own a business that is very scalable. We’re not just looking for employees or people who are already familiar with our company.We’re going out and we’re advertising on the franchise portals; we’re on the internet all over the place, looking for entrepreneurs who would be interest- ed in a solid business opportunity.” Willis: “For the last several years, Milliken has