Mosquito Squad multi-unit franchisee experiences unique path to grow

Everybody knows the business world can be a cutthroat place, where one person’s loss is another’s gain, but it’s not like that all of the time—not by a long shot.

That was the experience of one Mosquito Squad multi-unit franchisee in Hartford-Springfield. He and his family have four territories that connect to each other along the Connecticut and Massachusetts border, and they’re all served from their office in Agawam, Massachusetts.

“We opened in 2017 in the spring, and we’ve been rolling ever since,” says Joe Clark, director of operations for the multi-unit company. “We had one territory open the first year. The next year, we opened two territories, and the third year, we opened the fourth territory.”

Before signing on the dotted line and locking down all four territories, the Clark family’s Mosquito Squad treated residential and commercial clients’ property for fleas and ticks in areas outside of their established territory. There was a slight risk that someone else could swoop in and claim those territories, but it was a managed risk.

“We worked a deal out with the franchisor, knowing we were going to buy those consecutively and knowing how we were going to do it,” Clark says. “We were able to treat in all of those other locations because people called us. We just didn’t advertise in those other territories until we started paying royalties and franchise fees.”

In addition to having an understanding with Mosquito Squad, Clark and his family members were in touch with other Mosquito Squad franchisees that had territories to the south and east. “They were able to answer a lot of questions that we didn’t know we had,” he says. “They’ve been very helpful to us as we navigate the challenges.”

Flexibility on the part of the franchisor and help from other franchisees gave Clark’s business the chance to build capacity, which has made all the difference. “It definitely worked out well for us. It was a controlled and steady growth,” Clark says. “If we opened four in year one and threw out all of that marketing, we’d have a lot of catching up to do. This gave us a chance to learn a little bit. We got a chance to figure it out on a smaller scale before we were fully operating in four territories.”