Franchising USA spoke to Rick Porter, President of Cinch I.T. about its “secret sauce”—a centralized support system, created so franchisees can focus on scaling their business.
How does Cinch I.T. support franchisees?
“Buying a franchise is appealing to many because it allows people to follow their entrepreneurial drive and open their own business, knowing that the franchise already has a proven track record and seamless model. At Cinch I.T., we have made it a priority to provide our franchise partners with the support they need so that they can be successful and confident as a business owner.
“We developed our franchise model specifically to resolve an issue we found within the IT industry. Cinch Central, our corporate tech support helpdesk, handles 80 to 90% of tech support tickets on behalf of our franchisees’ customers so that our franchisees only have to get involved a small fraction of the time. This allows them to dedicate the majority of their time as a business owner to bringing in new customers and scaling their business. Since we handle most of the tech support, we do not need any of our franchisees to have a background in IT.
“We have changed what it means to be a franchisee: as a small business owner, you have the ability to offer your customers the support of a largescale IT team.”
How is your model helping franchisees bring in customers?
“After the abrupt shift to remote work, demand for remote tech support skyrocketed. Our support calls tripled as businesses adapted to working from home and found that they needed quick solutions to help their employees work efficiently at home. During times like these, where demand for tech support is high, our model ensured that there was minimal impact on the individual franchisee – and has actually even helped them bring in new customers!
“Many small-to-midsize businesses are not satisfied with their IT support for one main reason: they are not getting the quick and friendly support they need because their one to two in-house technicians do not have the bandwidth to support the entire company in an efficient manner. Businesses with in-house technicians have to pay to train and manage their employees, pay for additional software, and allocate time and resources into managing networks. We provide these small businesses with a team of over 40 tech experts at a fixed rate that is more reliable and affordable than hiring in-house.”
How does your corporate support look out for franchisees?
“Not only does our model provide corporate support to each and every customer, but it also helps our franchisees operate seamlessly once their business is up and running. We have a recurring revenue model that gives franchisees guaranteed monthly payments from customers, while our corporate team handles the entire billing process. We provide IT support, proactive maintenance, security, and even personal technology consulting to every customer that our franchisees bring in. No project is too big for our small business owners with the support of our corporate team.”
About Rick Porter
Rick Porter is President of Cinch I.T., a managed computer and I.T. support brand that provides remote and on-site computer support, and services include I.T. support plans, network security, backup/disaster recovery, cloud computing, cybersecurity software, tech consulting, and more. Rick joined the brand in 2010 and eventually bought out and revitalized Cinch I.T. into a growing business that now has eight locations either open or in development.
