How Franchisee Alan Phillips Found Professional Success and Personal Fulfillment with a CertaPro Painters® Franchise

How Franchisee Alan Phillips Found Professional Success and Personal Fulfillment with CertaPro Painters® Franchise

Initially drawn in by CertaPro Painters® high-caliber franchisees, Phillips found a values-driven brand with a strong culture that equips him with a roadmap for success.

When it came time to make a career change and start a painting franchise, northeast Wisconsin native and medical device sales professional Alan Phillips knew he wanted to join a franchise system that worked with only the highest-caliber franchisees and which was truly the best painting franchise to buy. When the franchise consultant with whom he was working introduced him to CertaPro Painters®, Phillips knew his search was complete.

“I had looked at over seven different concepts,” shared Phillips, “Everything from Dunkin’ to wealth management concepts to frozen yogurt. When I was introduced to CertaPro Painters®, and saw who they had in their system and what they were doing, I was sold.”

Among those that piqued Phillips’ interest was a Coca-Cola-executive-turned-CertaPro Painters®-franchisee who was a previous professional connection with whom Phillips had worked in Boston. Seeing that he had chosen CertaPro Painters® as his painting franchise of choice made a big impact on Phillips.

CertaPro Painters®' commitment to delivering an extraordinary customer experience in commercial and residential painting also demonstrated to Phillips the strength of the model.

Asked why he feels he is a good fit for the brand, Phillips shared that he has long seen the benefits to franchising.

“When I was a junior in college, I had the opportunity to buy the first Culver’s in Minnesota,” Phillips said. “I was still in school so I held off, but the opportunity planted the seed. I earned my B.S. in Business Management and at the time, I had some experience in sales—which I’ve now deepened—but there will always be more to learn. The great thing about buying a franchise is that you’re really buying a roadmap. If you work hard and are committed to following the roadmap, you’ll be positioned to have success.”

Phillips not only has the professional experience and faith in his franchisor necessary to grow his business, but he also espouses the values and commitment to exceptional customer service that define CertaPro Painters®' approach to business.

“I’m about integrity and doing the right thing by the customer,” Phillips emphasized. “In my previous career, we never sold a medical device just to make the sale. One of the things I learned early was to always do the right thing by the customer, even if it means you don't make the sale.”

That belief in doing the right thing pervades Phillips’ team, as the franchisee sets the tone and builds a values-driven culture.

Vice President of Franchise Development for Certa ProPainters, Ltd, Jeff Bien, shared that the integrity-focused mission embodied by Phillips and his team is indeed the core of CertaPro Painters® as a brand.

“CertaPro Painters®, as well as other members of the FirstService Brands portfolio, operates around four key values that define what happens at every level of the system: ‘Deliver what you promise; practice continuous improvement; respect the individual; and have pride in what you do.’ That means we are not only skilled when it comes to commercial and residential painting; we excel in truly listening to—and doing right by—our customers.”

Given this, it’s not surprising that Phillips is also taking care to align his CertaPro Painters® business with the needs of his local community.

“We support the figure skating club and hockey teams in town through annual fundraisers,” said Phillips. “Last winter, one of our employees came up with the idea for a Give One, Get One Coat Drive. We ran a marketing campaign on social media and if customers donated, we took $100 off their services. We took the coats to Freedom House, a local homeless shelter that houses families.”

Phillips’ independently owned and operated CertaPro Painters® franchise location also teamed up with Saint John’s, another local homeless shelter. “We had some Girl Scouts ask us to help them paint a women’s sobriety room at Saint John’s, so we got a bunch of our guys to volunteer and prep the floors and ceilings. The Girl Scouts came in and helped paint for their service badge, then our guys polished it off after they finished,” said Phillips.

Phillips’ integrity-grounded business approach has certainly paid off so far. “We are growing rapidly; we already hit last year’s numbers and 2018 was a record year for us,” said Phillips. “We've hired additional staff we didn’t plan on, to keep up with demand. We’re currently looking for a new office building because we’re outgrowing our current one.”

Impressive year-over-year growth is part of the equation, but not ultimately how Phillips defines success, however.

“It’s all about running a business in such a way that you can sleep at night. It’s about being able to give back to the community,” said Phillips. “That’s my definition of success."