TruGreen South Bedfordshire Celebrates Fifteen Years of Ownership as a Family Business
Owner Steve Graves reflects on fifteen years of TruGreen South Bedfordshire.
Family business TruGreen South Bedfordshire is celebrating its 15th birthday this year.
We sat down with owner Steve Graves to look back at the history of the business and see how he’s planning for the future.
Getting started
TruGreen South Bedfordshire was purchased by Steve’s father in 2010 during the height of the credit crunch.
Although he had no formal business experience, he had a working history of farming as a young man and a background in manufacturing management. However, the business developed, and Steve joined his dad in 2012.
Steve had spent the previous fifteen years working for Tesco in numerous roles managing departments, which helped him develop skills like customer service and commercial awareness, aiding greatly with managing his TruGreen business.
Though the credit crunch provided challenges in the fledgling stages, an early win came in the form of a key marketing partnership conceptualised by Steve.
“I had the idea of pitching our business at a garden centre in the run-up to and after Easter,” Steve says.
“The benefit to us was to raise awareness of our brand, and for the garden centre, it was to offer their customers expertise and advice to their customers.”
“This proved a real step changer in the number of customers we were winning, and we have tried not to look back from there.”
“These days, I market our business mainly online. Half of our new customers are referred to us by others. We started the business with no customers, and we currently have 470. I expect to break the 500-customer barrier this year.”
Experience as a TruGreen owner
Steve says his experience as a TruGreen business owner has allowed him to overcome early challenges and learn a lot about business and himself.
“I now have a well-established business, and this has been made much easier with the help and support of staff in the franchise office and the expertise of associated businesses like ICL and Live BIG. I have found the network of business owners a good source of support as well. Having many other business owners all going in one direction with the same challenges makes running my business feel less isolating.”
It’s also allowed him to be an active family man, with the career flexibility to see his daughters and be present for them.
His successes and development through key wins like the garden centre initiative have been pivotal to both professional and personal growth and satisfaction for Steve, and have seen great feedback from his customers.
“The feedback received from customers via Google reviews is a great affirmation of how I run my business.”
“I meet some amazing people in this role,” he adds. “All of my customers are friendly and many enjoy a chat.”
Aspirations and goals
Looking to the future, Steve says they have grown to a new stage of development where his business can scale beyond his expectations as a one-man van operation.
“I am excited at the prospect of growing it beyond what we ever anticipated to the size of a multi-van business,” he says.
Want to live life outside?
If you’re in South Bedfordshire and would benefit from professional lawn care services from your local expert, contact Steve on 078462 18504 or nationwide find your nearest TruGreen business today.
