Merry Maids honors Donna Partin with award of excellence
ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. (January 3, 2011) – Merry Maids knows how difficult it is for busy families to keep their homes clean and just as important, how hard it can be to find cleaning help they can trust. Every year, the company honors a limited number of franchisees who embody Merry Maids values and go above and beyond the call of duty to give their clients the best in housecleaning, with the Dallen Peterson Award of Excellence.
The company is proud to announce that Donna Partin of Mechanicsburg is one of this year’s recipients. The award was recently presented at the Merry Maids annual convention held in Memphis earlier this winter.
This award is one of the highest distinctions a Merry Maids franchisee can earn. Out of more than 600 franchisees, it recognizes just five franchise owners who prove to best exemplify the highest quality in business operations, including customer and employee satisfaction. The award is named for the company’s founder, Dallen Peterson.
Partin started her first Merry Maids in Mechanicsburg 22 years ago and since that time has established operations in both York, Pa. and St. Augustine, Fla. She was attracted to Merry Maids for a number of reasons, namely the growing need for such a service with the number of households with both spouses working outside the home. Also, Donna and her husband, Dwayne, were newlyweds with minimal financial resources. Comparatively speaking, Merry Maids had a low start-up cost which allowed the two to start their own business at a young age. Prior to owning a housecleaning business, Partin was a golf professional at Carlisle and Lancaster Country clubs.
“I have always had the entrepreneurial spirit and was excited at the opportunity to start my own business,” said Partin. “While the golf profession sounds glamorous, it did not deliver the type of fulfillment I was looking for. I wanted to be the coach of my own team and build a successful franchise. Merry Maids provided me with the opportunity to do just that.”
Partin added that not only have her clients and employees been great to her over the years, but she also has never experienced the kind of teamwork she has come to rely on with Merry Maids.
“I am so proud to be a part of such a collegial operation,” she said. “Not only is the support from the home office unparalleled, but the fellowship I enjoy with other Merry Maids owners across the nation is unlike anything you’ll find with other franchise-based organizations. It’s like having 24-hour consultants at your disposal. We’re always happy to share best practices with one another.”
Brent Armstrong, Merry Maids president, contends it is Partin’s people skills that make the businesses so successful.
“Donna truly embraces the brand’s core values, which explains more than 20 years of positive customer experiences in York, Mechanicsburg and St. Augustine,” he said. “She puts her clients before everything else, and that’s the Merry Maids recipe for success. Donna honestly personifies the ideals and vision Dallen Peterson had for Merry Maids when he started it all in 1979.”
About Merry Maids
Merry Maids is the largest home cleaning franchise network in the world, and cleans more than 300,000 homes in North America every month. Merry Maids is a part of the ServiceMaster® family of brands, which serves more than 10.5 million customers through market-leading commercial and residential service brands including Terminix, TruGreen, American Home Shield, AmeriSpec, Furniture Medic and ServiceMaster Clean. For more information on residential cleaning, visit the Merry Maids Web site at www.merrymaids.com or call 1-800-MERRYMAIDS.