Strategies for Success at Marsden Services

Guy Mingo’s success story is the kind of narrative many people dream about, but few ever achieve. The CEO of Marsden Services, St. Paul, Minnesota, started at the bottom of the ladder with a humble attitude and hard work ethic, and climbed to the very top with the help of an influential mentor. There aren’t many executives with the CEO title that can say they entered the ground floor of their companies as teenagers. 

In 1978, Mingo was the night manager of his neighborhood grocery store in Minneapolis. But the appeal of a second job — and the income to pay for a car and rent for him and his then-girlfriend (now longtime wife) — compelled him to walk into the government building where she worked days as a cleaner for Marsden and ask for a job. He was hired on the spot and started work that night. 

Did 17-year-old Mingo know when he started as a part-time janitor cleaning that building for Marsden Services that he’d never work anywhere else? That he would someday be running the company and overseeing $600 million of business? Probably not. But he did have aspirations right away. 

“Working at Marsden was going to work for a company,” Mingo says. It was a chance to do something different and be ambitious — to chart his own path. He was already managing the store, so he came into this new job with expectations that he could become a supervisor. “I knew I would have to prove myself first. I went right to work at it, and whatever they asked me to do, I did it.” 

The following years were, as he describes it, a blur of “shoulder-tap” opportunities and promotions. First, he learned the basics of cleaning; then graduated to hard floor care, metal polishing, and carpet care. Eventually Mingo supervised a team of six at the merchandise mart down the street. After that, he was promoted to account manager for the Munsingwear Manufacturing headquarters. Next, he managed a four-building suburban multi-tenant office complex, and soon enough, he became a district manager in the corporate office. 

In every role, he did whatever was necessary to get the job done — something that did not go unnoticed by managers and leadership. Founder Skip Marsden’s son, Skip Jr., told him he saw something in Mingo that reminded him of his dad’s work ethic. By the time Mingo was 21, he was responsible for about 25 percent of the company’s volume. Within a few years, he was working directly with Skip Sr., and the two hit it off. 

“We had a lot in common, despite a 30-year age difference,” Mingo says. Skip Marsden had left home at 14, joined the Merchant Marines and spent four years on a cargo ship during the war before coming back to St. Paul and taking his first job as a bellhop. “We both kind of grew up on the street and went through the school of hard knocks, so to speak. Neither of us had a formal education. He really took me under his wing and taught me the business. I had a mentor and a father figure, then ultimately, a business partner.” 

In 1995, Skip Marsden made Mingo president and COO of Marsden Building Maintenance, which was bringing in $50 million in revenue annually. In 2002, Skip Marsden sold the company to an investment firm, Encore One. The company was renamed Marsden Services and Mingo became the CEO. 

Recipe for Acquisitions 

At that time, evolutions in the market and cleaning industry were resulting in a shift from personal relationships and handshake deals to cyclical bidding, complicated contracts and the introduction of procurement groups and purchasing departments. 

“The local contact was no longer the only decision maker — and maybe they weren’t the decision maker at all,” Mingo says. 

He saw a few potential paths for the company — to continue focusing on local business, or to start to grow outside the Minneapolis market. He knew in order to do the latter, acquisitions would have to be part of the growth strategy. 

“Our customers were changing, their buying habits were changing, and in order to ensure longevity for our organization, we had to grow,” Mingo says. “Skip and I believe that if you’re not growing, you’re shrinking — you can’t stay in the same place very long.” 

Acquisitions became a key part of that strategy. In the 22 years since Mingo became CEO, the company has completed roughly 45 acquisitions, expanded operations to 47 states, and hit $600 million in revenue. As opportunities presented themselves, Marsden has perfected the recipe for acquisition success. 

“Acquisitions were supposed to be just a third of our growth strategy. But we discovered we were good at it,” he says. 

Expanding not only opened the door to new customers but introduced an opportunity for diversified service offerings. Satisfying these customer challenges remains a core of Marsden’s company philosophy. 

“Skip would always say, ‘I can’t say no.’ If a customer had a need, he’d say, ‘I can figure it out.’ And that’s always been Marsden,” Mingo says. 

Between Skip’s philosophy and the diversification of services offered, Mingo considers Marsden a fully integrated solutions company. They not only offer commercial cleaning, but Marsden has expanded services to include security, window cleaning, HVAC, restoration, facility management, and maintenance, to name a few.  

“The more that we can be a solution-based provider, the stickier and more relevant we are to our clients,” Mingo adds.