Opportunities At The Heart Of New Zealand

South Island Ecomist franchises are available, and the timing is excellent

If you’re searching for a franchise business that performs essential services; offers multiple income streams; has strong customer loyalty; is simple to operate; and comes with excellent support systems, then an Ecomist franchise ticks all the boxes. The problem is, as you’d expect with a highly successful franchise, most of them were snapped up long ago.

As fortune would have it, though, two Ecomist territories in the South Island have just come on the market. One covers the beautiful MidCanterbury and South Canterbury region; the other covers the even more beautiful Otago-Southland region. The territories could be sold separately, or together to the right person.

Ecomist General Manager Ian Robertson says that the timing couldn’t be better for investing in these franchises. ‘Summer is always our busiest season, both areas offer excellent prospects for growth, and with New Zealanders rediscovering the glory of our own backyard it’s a great opportunity for new franchisees to escape city life and live the dream.’

Ecomist provides pest and rodent control services for commercial and domestic customers. Its familiar automatic aerosol dispensers are a fixture in homes and businesses throughout the country with insect repellents using chrysanthemum daisy-based natural pyrethrum. They also offer surface barrier sprays, odour bombs, insect grenades and fragrancers. ‘It makes for a huge market,’ says Ian.

Multiple income streams

Ecomist is a division of Rotorua-based Damar Industries – a wholly New Zealand-owned company that manufactures its products here. ‘That’s enabled us to develop a hand sanitiser and aerosol surface sanitiser range under the ArmiSan brand, which is another range of products franchisees can offer,’ says Ian.

‘The commercial side of the business sees franchisees provide a regular service to commercial customers such as cafés, restaurants and fast food outlets; rest homes; schools; health centres; offices and shops. Franchisees visit premises and install our dispensers, which are programmable to maximise efficiency and economy. After installation, they are serviced on a monthly basis, with franchisees checking for battery life, contents and insect activity. Franchisees can also offer complete pest control programmes for rodents and other unwanted guests.

‘Ecomist provides fully-programmable dispensers to the customer and charges a monthly fee for servicing them. These regular monthly service calls are the main reason why the franchisees build such amazing relationships with their clients, and this can lead to add-on pest control services.

‘The domestic side is serviced mostly through our website, where customers place and pay for orders which are then sent to the franchisee to fulfil via courier or hand delivery. It means the franchisee gets the benefit of every sale in their territory, and starts to build a relationship with clients via installation if required and after-sales service. That leads to more sales and more referrals to grow the business'.

Ecomist franchisee, Dave Gerrie

World-class reputation

Ecomist services are held in high regard by their customers – and this is backed up by a recent survey asking the question: ‘Would you recommend us to family and friends?’ to determine the company’s Net Promoter Score (NPS). ‘It’s an international concept,’ Ian explains. ‘Anything above 40 is deemed outstanding, 70 or better is World Class. Our score was 70 first time out! ‘It shows how good our franchisees are, and how much they are valued.’

The franchise also proved its value during the Covid-19 Level 4 lockdown, both for the 18 franchisees around the country and their customers. ‘As pest control specialists, franchisees were deemed essential service providers so they did have some emergency work to keep them going,’ recalls Ian. ‘But we also saw a rise in website sales of 300 percent in April, which provided critical revenue to help them through – and they have enjoyed significant year-on-year increases each month since then.’

Full training provided

Ecomist franchisees come from diverse backgrounds. ‘So far they include a qualified nurse, someone from the radio industry, and an ex-real estate and vehicle salesperson,’ Ian smiles. ‘In every case they have grown their Ecomist businesses year-on-year, and the future is looking positive. ‘What they have in common is energy and drive, self-motivation and sound business acumen,’ he says. Full training is provided – mostly onthe-job in your own territory – plus external training to receive a Level 3 qualification in urban pest management.

‘Established Ecomist franchises are solid and profitable businesses. One of the major strengths of the opportunity is the fact that our franchisees have exclusive territories and are therefore not competing against each other for business. We recently completed our national conference and enjoyed some stimulating workshop sessions all about helping everyone grow and succeed. At times like these, especially, it’s great to be part of a family.

‘So if you’re looking for a business with a great reputation, a strong business model and a product that’s always in demand, take a look at Ecomist. Then take a look at that wonderful South Island scenery and give me a call – we have customers waiting!’

Advertiser Info

Ecomist Systems

Contact: Ian Robertson

M 0274 334 513

ian.robertson@ecomist.co.nz

www.ecomist.co.nz

Ecomist General Manager, Ian Robertson