Business View Magazine featured MaidPro in a recent edition as part of its focus on the best practices of franchise companies. For the article, the magazine interviewed founder and CEO, Mark Kushinsky, on the aspects of the company’s model that give it a competitive edge over others in the industry.
In the lengthy article, Kushinsky revealed why he and co-founder, Richard Sparacio, founded the company, and how they decided to franchise it after learning that their company had better, “software, marketing, and systems” in place than other companies that were already franchising. Since Kushinsky and Sparacio founded MaidPro in 1991, it has grown from a single company to 255 locations across the U.S. and Canada.
One of the main factors behind the company’s success is a methodology that allows franchisees to have a great deal of flexibility, Kushinsky told the magazine: “We allow our franchisees a lot of flexibility to be entrepreneurial. We don’t lock them into one way or method. We provide a lot of our services based on what the consumer wants. Some want one person – a very personalized service in their home. Other consumers might want two people for a little faster clean…we don’t have a lot of other rules that many other franchisors do, like requiring a certain minimum marketing spend. We’re a friendlier franchisor.”
Kushinsky explained how MaidPro selects candidates and devotes a lot of time to extensive training and support of each new franchisee. He also touched on the company’s peer performance groups that are both regional and revenue-based and supported through software that gives Key Performance Indicators at a glance to promote growth.
Company culture is another characteristic that’s made MaidPro so successful, Kushinsky said. From group events to trips to other countries, the company holds many activities that revolve around giving something back to society.
The article begins with the funny story of how Kushinsky’s entrepreneurial spirit first surfaced in the early 1990s, while working in retail after he hired a housecleaner for his apartment. He ended up with a mess after his cat was locked in the bathroom. “That sort of triggered me to say, ‘Hey, maybe I can do this a little bit better than the type of service that I got,” he was quoted in the magazine.
Not only did Kushinsky discover that he could do the work better, but he learned that while the housecleaning business may not be all that “sexy,” it does provide for a very flexible lifestyle. This is another of MaidPro’s biggest draws for potential franchisees, he pointed out: “…when they sit back and think about the personal lifestyle they want; if they want to have nights and weekends off; if they want to have lower stress by having things like recurring revenue and people paying at the time of service…if they don’t have to worry about building out restaurants or retail locations…I think we’re definitely something to look at.”
Business View Magazine is a digital media news source in North America for executives, entrepreneurs, small business owners, franchisees, and anyone else interested in current industry trends and best practices. Every month, the digital platform covers the latest developments in manufacturing, construction, infrastructure, supply chain and logistics, health care, food and beverage, and energy.