Interview: Black Dawg Franchise Group

When you're in the market for a franchise, it is nice to know the company you commit to will grow with you. That is what makes the series of franchises available from the Black Dawg Franchise Group so successful.

As a potential franchisee, you can choose to take on just one opportunity, like their Black Dawg Sealcoat business, or you could choose to combine all four available franchises into one. There are not many franchises that offer opportunities that are this interconnected. The ability to expand as a franchisee is there, you just need to determine how far you would like to go.

I recently had the chance to speak with Jack Child about his network of franchises and what they can offer you.

Tell us a little about each of your Black Dawg franchises.

BLACK DAWG FRANCHISE GROUP offers four franchise concepts � BLACK DAWG SEALCOAT, YELLOW DAWG STRIPING, BLUE DAWG POWER WASH and RED DAWG INFRARED.

What does each one do? BLACK DAWG SEALCOAT offers asphalt maintenance services such as driveway and parking lot sealcoating and hot rubber crack sealing � launched in 2005.

YELLOW DAWG STRIPING offers pavement marking services � Parking Lot Line Striping and Pavement Markings � launched as franchise in 2009.

BLUE DAWG POWER WASH offers residential and commercial pressure washing services � launched in 2010.

RED DAWG INFRARED offers infrared repairs for asphalt parking lots and roadways � launch in progress.

What inspired it? I'm a former Air Force pilot and commercial airline pilot and I lost my medical certificate for flying; hence, I was in search of Plan B. I researched any number of businesses and franchise opportunities, but couldn't find a good fit for me. Some franchises caught my eye, but the Franchise Fees and Royalties seemed too high. I knew I wanted a service-oriented business. I didn't want to compete against big box stores or the Internet. I stumbled upon the driveway sealing business in the course of having my own asphalt driveway sealed several years before. It was hard to find an asphalt contractor I felt I could trust as I'd read warnings each year about ripoffs and scams.

As I began searching for a sealcoat company to seal my driveway, I realized there was a huge untapped market for a professional sealcoating operation. Most significantly, no company embraced branding properly. From there, I set about researching the overall industry, the equipment, the sealer products, etc.. While trying to come up with a company name, my little black lab puppy, Olive, curled up at my feet. Thus, BLACK DAWG was born. Little did I know how wildly popular the name and logo would be. Once I placed my first ad, the phone started ringing�a lot. By offering competent, professional services with state-of-the-art equipment, uniformed technicians, a friendly voice to answer the phone and clean 20′ box trucks with our logo plastered on the sides, our customers have the confidence they need to hire us to seal and protect their driveways and parking lots and, most importantly, treat them with respect.

When did you begin franchising? I knew early on I was onto something with the brand and logo. We were having a lot of fun using Olive (the Boss) in our ads and PR and it's crazy how excited some of our customers get when they see her. What initially spawned the franchise idea was the frequent inquiry as to whether it was a franchise by some of my customers.

That first winter I put together a franchise system (a grueling experience � the paperwork is overwhelming) and sold my first franchise in 2006. We sold two in 2007 and none in 2008. We had a hard time convincing the caliber of people we are looking for that they need to separate themselves from the work being done with their role as an owner of the business. 2009 was a breakthrough for us as a large competitor acquired my own territory, converting his brand to ours and freeing me to focus on franchising. We also launched the YELLOW DAWG STRIPING franchise in 2009 to handle the pavement marking side of the business and sold six YELLOW DAWGs in 2010. We added six BLACK DAWGs in 2010 and four BLUE DAWG POWER WASH units as well. For 2011, we are adding RED DAWG INFRARED to our portfolio. Infrared repairs for roads and parking lots have been around for a while, but no one has tackled this segment using the franchise model. We feel we can grow each of the brands independently or jointly and view each brand as a pipeline to another one of our brands.

Tell us a little about each franchise opportunity.

[The financial requirements are:] BLACK DAWG $62K to $106K, YELLOW DAWG $26K to $61k, BLUE DAWG $36k to $74K, RED DAWG $225k to $250K. The bulk of the costs are in the equipment and vehicles needed to provide our services. These are very conservative numbers and include everything else needed as well such as insurance, ad budgets, operating capital, etc� We have placed prospects in each brand for less. Our Franchise Fees are quite modest. They start at just $7500. The RED DAWG Franchise Fee will start at $25,000 as there is substantially more training and consulting required with this type of business.

Our royalties are just 6% � industry norm is 8% (and the other guys don't answer the phones for their franchisees the way we do with our Toll Free Call Center).

Can your franchises be run as a combined business? We require the franchisee to purchase the other brand(s) if we offer that other service. Example � BLACK DAWG SEALCOAT franchise owner wishes to offer line striping. They must acquire the YELLOW DAWG STRIPING franchise. At first blush, this may seem a bit too demanding, but there's a method to the madness here and it's threefold � 1. We use the multi-brand strategy to dominate search results on Google and other search engines � frankly, no one can compete with this Internet strategy the way we're positioning our brands and co-marketing. 2. We establish credibility in the market with the consumer as we specialize in each service rather than appearing as a jack-of-all-trades and master of none. 3. I'm a big believer in having an exit strategy established from the very beginning. We foster an enhanced exit strategy through having multiple channels of revenue to exploit for the franchisees. They could sell one or more units down the road. And, we make it easy for them to add additional brands by offering a 50% discount on Franchise Fees for subsequent franchises.

What separates your business from the competition? In terms of our franchise system? We have one of the lowest cost franchise systems around, but heavy on the value side � an 800 Call Center that handles incoming calls for the franchise owners (this is one of the most important benefits our franchise owners couldn't be without), growth opportunities through our affiliate brands and advanced technology suites to help our franchise owners run their businesses more effectively.

Each of our franchise service brands separates themselves by the same attributes � neat, uniformed technicians, clean trucks, state-of-the-art equipment, 800 Call Center, dynamic website and a friendly staff to answer the phones. Every "touch" with the customer is designed to instill confidence in our team and inspire trust. Trust, in fact, is our unique selling proposition as each of our industries suffers from a very poor reputation. We also encourage our franchise owners to support their local communities through charitable giving of their time or services.

Do you have any goals that you'd like to accomplish in the next year or so? We have 20 franchises system-wide among all our brands and we expect to add 10 YELLOW DAWGs, five BLACK DAWGs, three BLUE DAWGs and two RED DAWGs IN 2011.

What are some lessons your businesses have taught you? Failure is always an option and the easy way out. You must have a single-minded focus on success.

Is there anything else you'd like to add? We are an innovative company; always seeking new ways to streamline operations, improve the customer experience and help our franchise owners improve sales and grow their brand(s).

Do you have any advice you'd like to share with potential franchisees? Business ownership is not for the faint of heart. You must have the courage and staying power to overcome the many obstacles you'll face in starting any business � franchised or not. I would also caution against embracing the latest fad for a business concept to launch. Our franchise brands are not "sexy" or "glamorous", but they are real � with real customers. We can be reached at 1-800-998-3294.

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