Franchise Euphoria Overcoming Growing Pains with Chris Igou
Chris Igou is the Vice President of US Operations at Handyman Connection. Chris first got his start in the franchising industry when he was 18 and started working for College Pro Painters. It was here he found himself presented with an opportunity to become a franchise owner. He later went away from the franchising industry only to find that he missed it which led him to join Handyman Connection in 2013.
Key Takeaways:
[0:18] Today’s episode is brought to you by Franchise 5! The key to long-term success is through smart, strategic growth. To learn more about this program, head over to FranchiseEuphoria.com/Franchise5.
[1:01] Our episode today features Chris Igou, the Vice President of US Operations and Handyman Connection, a home repair company.
[2:09] Josh welcomes Chris to the show.
[2:58] Chris got his start in franchising when he was 18 years old when he worked for a company called College Pro Painters and encountered the opportunity to be a franchise owner.
[3:58] Handyman Connection is a home repair company that focuses on home maintenance repairs. They pride themselves on being a “once call, one connection” business that can handle repairs for a variety of different trades.
[6:45] Handyman Connection spans coast to coast and has over 60 franchised locations.
[7:30] There wasn’t a lot of competition at the time Handyman Connection got started. However, when the internet became more prominent, competitors were more easily accessed and began to pose a problem.
[9:00] One of their biggest challenges today is finding quality franchisees who are ready to be their own boss and ready to leave their stable day jobs.
[9:55] To secure their quality franchisee candidates, they make sure they provide them with quality information that is neither vague nor overwhelming. Then they’ll host a standard discovery day. The key is to making sure it is a favorable partnership for everybody.
[10:57] On the franchise side, they utilize social media and are partnered with various coaches and brokers that will spread their name to franchisee candidates.
[12:20] Handyman Connection has a franchise development team that vets all interested parties to make sure the basic needs are present and to be sure that they move forward with serious inquiries only.
[14:00] Once a franchisee has signed on, they are then turned over to their various teams: Operations, Launch, Development, and Growth. These teams represent the different stages in a franchised location’s first year of life and the franchisees move linearly through the various teams in their first year of being open.
[15:30] Handyman Connection went through an internal remodel when Chris joined them in 2013. Initially he took on all the roles mentioned above, but with the business demand, he decided to implement this coaching system for their franchisees so that they could move in the right direction and execute the brand properly.
[17:23] Their corporate team is structured around a coaching mentality over the typical audit mentality that comes with corporate franchising teams.
[23:05] The ideal franchisee for HC is not necessarily a “handyman” themselves. They’re looking for good business owners who is good at building their location’s team and finding the right people for specific customer needs.
[25:16] Thanks again for listening, and please, reach out to Josh anytime through email at josh@franchiseeuphoria.com. If you enjoyed this interview, please leave us a review on iTunes.
Mentioned in This Episode:
www.franchiseeuphoria.com/franchise5
www.facebook.com/HandymanConnectionCorporate