How This Franchisee Complements His Pest Control Business With a Holiday Lighting Business

Though Christmas Decor, the leading holiday decorating brand with over 300 locations, absolutely experiences an uptick in business closer to the holidays, it does require some level of attention almost year-round. Bill Cowley, a Christmas Decor franchisee and Cowley’s Pest Services owner, has found a happy balance between his two businesses and built up a strong leadership team to support the operational needs of each.

“We’ve been in the pest control business since 1991, so we’ve been at it for over 30 years. That’s what we do. We just get a little slower in the wintertime,” Cowley explained. “But we are very busy in the spring, summer and fall. Once you get to November, December, January, February and even the first part of March, there’s always a period where the residential part of our business, which is a big part of our business, gets much slower.”

Of course, Christmas Decor installations are not going on in the middle of the summer, but Cowley explained that they have already begun marketing for commercial clients. The larger accounts like to plan up to six months ahead and will often start inquiring about services before fall.

Similarly, the rare residential super-planner will pop up, as well.

“So, we’re going to go out at the end of June or early July to give them a quote for Christmas,” Cowley added.

Things get much busier during the late fall and early winter as installations begin, and another substantial part of the work done in the warmer months is recruiting people to work as installers when the time comes. Cowley says you can never have too many installers.

“Although we’re not doing a lot of installing this time of the year, we are running estimates,” he said. “We’re reaching out to our customers and offering them payment plans or communicating with our repeat customers. In a few weeks, we’re going to be at a conference, and we’ll start recruiting and training in August.”

There’s always something that can be done in preparation for Christmas, even when it’s not Christmas time. Whether that is strategizing or running leads, Cowley and his team consistently pay attention to the business.

Though this may not be the case for all franchisees, Cowley has developed a strong, trustworthy leadership team for his Christmas Decor business. He may have to devote some time during the summer ramp-up period, but things get much less busy for him once installations begin.

While he’s always available to provide any support his Christmas Decor team may need, Cowley explained that, for the most part, they are self-sufficient. He can trust that the Christmas business is being handled while he goes about his days, focusing the majority of his attention on the pest control business.

About Christmas Decor 

Founded in 1986 by Blake Smith, Christmas Decor has become the leading holiday decorating brand in the U.S. and Canada. Originally created as an off-season supplement to the landscaping business, the Texas-based franchise now brings holiday cheer to over 300 communities across North America, ultimately creating jobs for 3,000-plus seasonal workers that might otherwise be unemployed. Backed by a strong business model and double-digit revenue increase year-over-year for the last 11 years, Christmas Decor is looking to grow in markets across the U.S. and Canada. For more information on Christmas Decor, please visit https://www.christmasdecor.net/franchise/.