ServiceMaster Facilities Maintenance
Troy Watson has always been a go-getter. That rang true when he played football as a wide receiver, it rang true when he first got into the sanitation business with a few friends, and it’s especially applicable now in his role as president and CEO of ServiceMaster Facilities Maintenance, the largest Black-owned business in Memphis. And while the Covid-19 pandemic has thrust businesses like his onto the main stage over the past couple of years, Watson has always had a knack for keeping workspaces clean and safe for employees all over Memphis and beyond.
Watson founded ServiceMaster Facilities Maintenance in 2005 alongside partners André Coleman, Laurence Plummer Sr., and the late Vincent B. Lee. The group brought decades of sanitation experience to the business, and quickly went about building the company up to become one of the largest players in town. “We’ve just been blessed to be able to get into a good situation,” says Watson, “and to have people that believe in us. That’s what really helps you grow at first.”
The business operates as a franchise of ServiceMaster — it bears the corporate name but is run autonomously — and provides specialty janitorial cleaning, commercial project cleaning, and facilities management. Only a limited number of available licenses are available per region, and they can only be obtained if someone decides to sell or retire. Watson was able to secure one from another business owner who planned to retire. But he sees a key difference in the way their business operates as opposed to other franchises.
“A lot of people in this position will wait for people to come to them,” he explains. “We don’t operate that way. We started out immediately going into the mainstream, passing out cards, telling our story, making sure our name was out there and we could organically grow relationships.”
That approach has paid dividends for Watson and company, who have grown ServiceMaster Facilities Maintenance into an entity that oversees hundreds of employees and has a presence in 14 states. “Typically we could run anywhere from 700 to 1,000 employees overall,” he says. “It depends on seasonal work, but on average I’d say we usually have around 600 local employees.”
And keeping that labor force intact has been one of the most important tasks for Watson over the past couple of years. The onset of Covid-19, along with newer strains like Omicron, meant that there would be an increased demand for cleaning and sanitation. ServiceMaster Facilities Maintenance scaled up its business to meet increased demand from big clients like FedEx, International Paper, and local schools, while simultaneously taking on new clients.
“It’s important to remember we’re all working towards the same goal. It’s important to have compassion and empathy during these tough times.” – W. Troy Watson
“We got into a lot more sanitizing and disinfecting with our current customers because they’ve had buildings shut down,” he says. “But there were still a lot of employees who had to go into an office, which meant that we kept working as well.”
Empty office buildings meant there were more opportunities to perform deep-cleaning procedures, something Watson says companies usually only commission on a monthly or even quarterly basis. And in a time where it’s becoming tough to find available workers, Watson has deftly balanced all the demands he faces. “We don’t want to let down anybody that we have a contract with,” he says. “We need to make sure we don’t stretch ourselves too thin, and there’s also the possibility that people can get sick and we wouldn’t have enough workers. But it’s important to remember we’re all working towards the same goal. It’s important to have compassion and empathy during these tough times.”
So far, that hasn’t been much of an issue. Watson says that most of his employees have been able to remain healthy, despite working in a higher-risk environment. The ServiceMaster parent company keeps all of its franchisees up to date on the latest CDC regulations and guidelines, and Watson and his team in turn make sure that their employees know all of the proper health and safety protocols. And as long as Covid is around, there will always be an increased demand for businesses like Watson’s.
“As long as this thing continues to mutate and grow, we’ll have to be in the business of recruiting, training, and making sure we stay on top of what’s going on,” he says. “Because we can’t afford to get sick. A lot of my employees are on the front lines of this too and are ready to combat it on a daily basis. So we do as much as we can to keep our people healthy, and I hope others understand what we go through to keep them safe, keep them healthy. Because at the end of the day, our number-one goal isn’t money, it’s value. We really value what we do, and we know our customers count on us for that.”
