Pool Scouts has major plans to expand throughout the Midwest and is actively seeking business-savvy franchisees who are interested in providing a high level of customer service and taking the pool-cleaning industry to the next level.
“We’re looking for passionate, hungry and driven people,” Pool Scouts President and Scout Master Michael Wagner said. “I also like to find folks who understand numbers because ultimately we are a service business and driving efficiency requires assessment of numbers.”
The pool-cleaning franchise is specifically looking to open franchises in Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri and Ohio.
“When we look for a good market for our business, we check to see whether the area has a high concentration of single-family homes and families with an income of more than $75,000,” Wagner said.
Based on this criteria, the brand has 30 to 40 available territories in the Midwest, which calls for anywhere between 10 and 20 franchisees. Each location will create at least five jobs when established, so Wagner estimates the Midwest expansion will generate at least 100 jobs.
More specifically, the brand has nine territories to offer in Chicago, Illinois, six in Dayton, Ohio, four in Indianapolis, Indiana, seven in Cleveland, Ohio, six in Detroit, Michigan and three in St. Louis, Missouri. There are some pockets around the Minneapolis and St. Paul areas in Minnesota that can be good for business, and the brand also wants to expand in Kansas City, Kansas and Kansas City, Missouri, Wagner said.
The brand experienced a major growth boom in 2018 with 18 franchisees and 43 territories. Pool Scouts most recently signed a franchise agreement in the Northern Virginia city of Manassas and opened locations in Naples, Florida and on New York’s Long Island. In addition to its New York location, the brand has a presence in New Jersey, Tennessee, Texas, Florida and North Carolina, all of which are seasonal markets.
“We’ve demonstrated the ability to attract customers very well in seasonal markets, especially in the opening season of a business,” Wagner said. “We’ve had tons of demand there and lots of customer acquisition. This is especially true of New York and New Jersey, which are similar to what you’d see in the Midwest.”
In terms of franchisee requirements, Pool Scouts does not require prior pool experience. The brand currently has 18 franchisees, only one of which already had pool experience when they started, according to Wagner. The brand is also part of the VetFran Program and provides veterans with a discount of $2,500 off of the franchise fee for their first territory.
Since the brand does “a lot of the heavy lifting on the marketing side” and provides franchisees with backend support and systems and training to make them successful, Pool Scouts is looking for franchisees who are savvy in local marketing efforts.
“From a skill set perspective, we are looking for diligent professionals who can follow a model yet be creative locally,” Wagner said. “They need to be able to represent their brand and their company really well and that can translate to the ability to recruit customers.”
Wagner also wants prospective franchisees to know that Pool Scouts takes a more professional approach to the pool-cleaning industry.
“We guarantee all of our work and we back it up with systems and training,” he said. “We provide best-in-class systems and support to franchisees that enable them to scale quickly, and that’s a very big differentiator.”
The startup costs for a Pool Scouts franchise range from $54,500 to $105,000. The franchise fee is $12,500. To learn more about franchising with Pool Scouts, visit https://poolscoutsfranchise.com/.