This month, our question-and-answer session focuses on Chuck Tindol, vice president, Allgood Pest Solutions, Duluth, Ga. Tindol currently serves as president of the National Pest Management Association (NPMA), a position his father, Rufus “Bubba” Tindol, and his grandfather and Pest Management Professional Hall of Famer (Class of 2000) Rufus “Red” Tindol, also held. In February, Rentokil Steritech acquired Allgood Services of Georgia, which the Allgood and Tindol families founded and owned.
1. How has your workday changed since Allgood Services of Georgia become part of Rentokil?
It really hasn’t. I still come into my office in Knoxville when I’m not traveling for the NPMA. I’m the de facto branch manager here, but I have a great team that has been able to grow this branch every month, with or without me.
Chuck Tindol
2. What advice would you give readers who hope to one day sell their pest management companies?
There are a number of reasons how or why an owner gets to the point of selling. Once you’ve made that decision, and you’ve chosen a good fit for your people, the bigger question is, what happens next? You have to ask yourself: Who am I, if not the owner? Whom can I trust to help me? How do I not spoil my kids? I just read a book called Halftime by Bob Buford. It addresses how, after you have success, you can become significant for others. I recommend this quick read for anyone in their late 30s and on up.
3. How did you and your team arrive at being ready to sell to Rentokil?
One of the main reasons for our success in such a short time is the number of family members/owners involved at Allgood. Most companies start out “mom and pop.” Pop does the service; Mom keeps the office; kids move into the business. For us, we had six equal partners, each successful at running a business in the past, so the synergies of our talents provided for phenomenal growth. As family members moved into retirement age, it became evident we needed an exit strategy or succession plan. Rentokil Steritech President John Myers and his leadership team provided a plan for retirement for some, and growth opportunity for others.
4. Allgood is a family business. What are the biggest benefits — and the biggest challenges — of working with family?
I think that depends on the family. Our family had a great example of leadership and how to work with family in my granddad, Red Tindol. I’ve found that you’re more willing to sacrifice for your partners when they’re family. There’s more than a “brothers in arms” motivation when you share the same last name.
5. Serving the NPMA is a family tradition; your grandfather was president from 1976-1977 and your father was president 1988-1989. As its 2016-2017 president, what would you like your legacy to be?
We started Allgood from scratch, so I know the struggles of starting your own business. Luckily, as I’ve mentioned, I had family and a history of success in this industry. My goals for this year were to make sure every member of our association finds value in membership. I wanted to ramp up our mentoring program to allow access to the wealth of knowledge our industry is willing to share with up-and-coming owners and pest management professionals. Lastly, I wanted to provide an avenue of access for small companies to get involved in the leadership of the NPMA. It’s great that we’ve had multi-generational leaders in our industry, but there are a lot of great minds we need to engage for the future.
Managing Editor Diane Sofranec can be reached at dsofranec@northcoastmedia.net or 216-706-3793.
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