Mosquito Hunters Franchise Sees Major Growth During Ramp-Up Period Thanks to Partnerships with Franchising Consultants

Home services franchise Mosquito Hunters* enjoyed considerable growth since teaming up with well-known home services franchise Lawn Doctor* in 2018, and, more recently, working closely with Franchise Consultants, said Mosquito Hunters’ VP of Franchise Development Eric Martin.

Mosquito Hunters was started in 2014 by Andy Fuller after he sat in a meeting at his previous job and watched as his colleagues laud a new idea laid out by his boss—the very same idea that he had shared with said boss, in private, the week before. Faced with the prospect of navigating another 40-odd years of office politics, Fuller stepped out on his own. He founded Mosquito Hunters in 2014, later opening the brand to franchising in late 2016 and then partnering with home services franchise leader Lawn Doctor in 2018. Mosquito Hunters specializes in mosquito, flea, and tick control services thanks to a routine application program for both residential and commercial clients.

With such a necessary service and recurring need from the client base, Mosquito Hunters was already well-positioned for market success before teaming up with 600-unit-plus Lawn Doctor, and working with a network of Franchise Consultants has only furthered the franchise’s growth potential.

Furthermore, Mosquito Hunter’s partnering with Franchise Consultants in the interest of prospective franchisees reflects Fuller’s opposition to corporate manipulation. The Consultant-Franchisee-Franchisor relationship is a symbiotic one—consultants serve as educators and advocates for prospective Franchisees while also helping the Franchisor by ensuring that the true target candidate gets exposed to the relevant information.

“Prospective Candidates see the Lawn Doctor brand, and they know it. They say, ‘I want that track record, I want that recurring revenue, I want that success,’ but consultants also know that many of their client’s value low investment, low overhead and want the best possible territory,” said Martin. “And that’s a prime Mosquito Hunters Candidate; someone who wants get the first pick of territory, take advantage of in-house financing and corporate-directed marketing programs, along with getting into a business that’s not inventory-heavy or brick-and-mortar based. That’s Mosquito Hunters. And what’s more, because it’s not a brick-and-mortar Franchise, it takes significantly less capital to get off the ground so it’s lower risk investment.

Martin explained that Mosquito Hunter’s model is just one piece of the equation—a Consultant’s trust in the track record of partner-brand Lawn Doctor, plus prospective Franchisees’ trust in their Consultant’s due diligence, all combine for a high-value relationship across channels.

Mike Carnahan, Director of Franchise Development, elaborated on the dynamic driving Mosquito Hunters’ growth:

“Many consultants work in territories or have local connections, which is great for the client because they can target a prospective franchisees area to be first to market,” Carnahan said. He explained that this opportunity is exceedingly rare in franchising, saying, “Usually, a candidate hears about a valuable opportunity only once the story has already gone public, at which point the best markets are sold out and it’s too late.” But that’s not so thanks to the Consultant-Mosquito Hunters relationship. “Here, the consultant has gone out on the Candidate’s behalf to align opportunities to specific parameters, to target those opportunities, which in turn opens the door for Clients to be first to market,” Carnahan explained.

Franchise Development Manager Ron Ens elaborated, “Part of a Consultant’s role is that they need to trust in the franchise opportunity that they’re recommending. Another big part is the team that they’re working with—do they trust that the team will handle that Candidate properly and make sure that Candidate can make an informed decision?”

And from that high-value relationship comes significant franchise development. In 2019, over 40 new owners are expected to join the Mosquito Hunters franchise translating to multiple territories in diverse areas of the country. Over the past few months alone, newly signed for territory locations include those in Texas, Georgia, New York, New Hampshire, Missouri, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Kentucky, North Carolina, Louisiana, Ohio, Florida, Arizona, Virginia and Alaska.

“It’s a coast-to-coast issue and there is real need and real demand,” said Ens. “This is fragmented space and an industry in its infancy stages. The untapped market means that franchisees get an opportunity to grab market share rapidly.”

Given the momentum of this high-value consulting constellation, the Mosquito Hunters’ leadership team is planning for a monumental start to the season this Spring.

“First mover advantage,” Martin concluded, referring to the prospect of being first to market. “That’s what Mosquito Hunters is right now, and will continue to be, for maybe the next two to three years."