Meet a PIRTEK Multi-Unit B2B Franchise Owner

Learn About a Houston-Area Franchisee’s Path to Investment and Lessons Learned

To shed light on the experience of investing in a PIRTEK B2B franchise, we recently sat down with Steven Marullo, owner of three Houston-area PIRTEK territories. We know that the decision to invest in a franchise comes with a lot of questions and considerations, so we hope this information is useful as you think about your opportunity to invest in our mobile franchise! 

Prior to making his investment in PIRTEK franchises, Steve spent 25 years in chemical sales, where he honed his skills in product knowledge, customer service, and maintaining and growing his increasingly large territory. The company he worked for had been entirely employee-owned, and he respected the values that come with that: everyone working together for a common goal with transparency but a feeling of an ownership stake. 

When the company changed hands, he soon decided that the time was right to make a change. He took some time to take stock of what he had learned and how he wanted to apply that to his future, along with seeking out career coaches and other valuable resources.

Taking Stock and Doing Research: The Entrepreneurial Franchising Path

Steve’s background and experience had collectively formed the basis of a truly entrepreneurial spirit, and he decided to focus on buying a business and going into business for himself. He knew, however, that he did not want to start anything from scratch – he wasn’t going to invent a product or a service (or, in this particular case, build a territory). But rather, he could apply his sales and marketing background, his passion for leadership, and his dedication to delivering excellent customer service and experience to his next move. These leadership skills lend themselves to his being confident in selling products and services, building a well-crafted strategy – and ensuring buy-in – and identifying the skills and talent needed to hire great managers and staff. 

After discussing all of this with his family – which is always the #1 priority – one of the first things Steve did was to think about defining his priorities in terms of what kind of business he wanted to own. “I didn’t have any interest in inventing a new product or building a company from the ground up, but I knew with my sales, leadership, and relationship-building experience that investing in an established business opportunity would be the path forward.”

Steve decided to follow five rules to help him winnow down his options. Any business venture that he would seriously consider would need to check the boxes and adhere to the following criteria:

1. Heavily focused on sales and marketing
2. Service-oriented 
3. Built for high gross margins
4. Not price-competitive 
5. Features and benefits that are exclusive and unique
   

Finding an opportunity that checked all of these boxes was the next important step.

Identifying PIRTEK as the Right B2B Franchise Partner

Not long after doing the soul-searching above, Steve discovered the PIRTEK franchising opportunity on BizBuySell. Steve was attracted by the B2B industrial supply nature of the business and the business model (#1-4 on his list of five criteria) and, most important, the differentiation of being a mobile franchise (#5).

Steve began his research into the brand in earnest, looking through the PIRTEK annual report and entering into the discovery process that PIRTEK, as a franchisor, has established and honed over decades of experience. An important next step was having several in-depth conversations with the seller of the existing territories he was interested in purchasing, including making a point of asking an exhaustive list of questions to make sure it felt like a good fit. From there, he went to his Discovery Day, reviewed the FDD, and his decision was all but made. “The key here was feeling like this would be a set of territories I could work within and grow – that the customers would be there and that we could reach them. The other element was brand consistency – which PIRTEK has in spades – I wanted to be confident that when a customer called and said they needed help fixing or replacing a hose that we’d have everything in place, and the people in place, to service that need consistently and profitably.”

Franchisee Success Bolstered by Training and Support

Steve is proud of the business he’s built in his Houston territories, building a team and working with other franchisees in the local area to continue to drive brand consistency and take innovative approaches to marketing. He highlighted a couple of key drivers in terms of overall company training and support that he would encourage other potential franchisees to consider:

• “PIRTEK and its leadership are a perfect fit for someone with my particular background – the sales, marketing, and leadership skills I already have and wanted to continue to grow to go hand in hand with how PIRTEK values its franchisees.”
• “The back-end support is excellent – my questions are always answered, franchisees can bring ideas to the table, and the technology in particular is a standout feature.”
• “In all things, preparation is key, and PIRTEK was there to help from the very beginning. I knew I was working with an organization that had its act together – thorough operational processes and troubleshooting from day one through opening day and beyond.”
• “The initial training, reinforced through ongoing support, covered a ton of basic but important elements in detail: sales and operations, product training, marketing, and administrative support, to name a few.”

How This PIRTEK B2B Franchise Owner Operates His Day-to-Day Business

As a business owner – whether a multi-unit franchisee or any other kind – Steve has been able to continue to build on the brand consistency that PIRTEK is known for and to grow his hydraulic hose business through an excellent reputation for quality products and service. At the same time, this partnership has also meant that he has been able to develop his own skills — something he knew he wanted to strive for but couldn’t necessarily define or predict. 

In his role as a franchise owner, he isn’t required to repair hydraulic hoses, and he doesn’t need to spend a lot of time on the product details – he’s built himself a solid team and hired dependable staff to execute. Instead, his role is to:

• • Set the vision for how to grow his business and remove obstacles along the way.
    • “So much of leadership is building a great team — and a great team is made up of people I value as employees and as individuals.”
  • Create a culture that aligns with the PIRTEK brand and complements his personal values.
    • “This is a service business, and service is not limited to our customers. We have a duty of service to God, our community, our customers, and our team. Service is one of the five core values of our business, including honesty/integrity, kindness, transparency, and fiscal responsibility.”
  • Establish solid, actionable goals for the business and the individuals executing the vision.

• “Fiscal responsibility is fundamental — and we need to all have clear goals to grow the bottom line and ensure we’re not draining internal resources or cutting costs.”

PIRTEK is well known for being one of the best and most reliable companies in the industrial B2B franchise — and mobile franchise — sector, thanks to its long-term presence and outstanding reputation in this field. To learn more about our franchise opportunities, contact us today!