Prior to joining Greensleeves in 2004 David Truby worked for a pesticide and fertiliser manufacturer, spending several years dealing with a range of customers from local authorities to some of the UK’s most prestigious golfing venues, as well as many of the premier sporting stadia in the UK, including Manchester United and Liverpool football clubs.
“In the early 2000s I started to become aware of a new sector, lawn care, emerging, with a number of companies starting to enter the market and their appetite for product growing reasonably significantly,” says David, adding, “I tried, without success to persuade my employer, who ran a US lawn care brand, to enter the market.
“Frustrated at their apparent lack of urgency I decided to seek an opportunity elsewhere. That came in the form of Greensleeves Lawn Care, a start-up business looking to grow; and in need of somebody to help the business to move forward,” he further notes.
David joined the business in a dual role – one as a franchisee spending 3 days per week servicing customers’ lawns and learning for the first time what it is to run your own business.
“I spent the rest of my time growing the franchise network and providing support to those new businesses as they joined us. It was and still is very exciting and rewarding to help people start their own business and watch them grow and thrive.
“Over the years I have managed to acquire more shares in the business (to the point of becoming sole owner) and am really excited to take the business forward into the future,” he says.
Being in the lawn treatment industry, the Greensleeves business model unsurprisingly is a simple one based on providing excellent customer service and using professional products to achieve results homeowners wouldn’t be able to get themselves.
“We have a few competitors such as Greenthumb who have been in the market much longer than we have,” says David: “But the reviews we achieve from our customers on Trustpilot confirm we’re able to provide the best service out there.
“The DIY market is a major competitor of ours, but we are able to produce so much better results – and at truly reasonable prices – that as soon as people become aware of our service there really is no going back,” he further adds.
Putting some numbers on it there are an estimated 25 million lawns in the UK with Greensleeves believing it has captured about 10 – 15% of that market where a professional lawn treatment provider is being used, according to David.
Geographically the company currently operates across 103 territories in the UK – ranging from Aberdeen to Cornwall; Belfast to Kent – and while not all of the UK population is covered expectations are 95% will be within the next few years.
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic Greensleeves has overseen impressive growth metrics over the last 18 months with revenues up 63% in H1 2021, compared to an already record-breaking January to June period in 2020.
“We heeded the Prime Minister’s call to stay at home and protect the NHS and so entered a period last spring that saw us in lockdown for a short period of time; but as the information started to become clearer it was evident to us that we were one of the industries able to continue to operate,” says David.
He adds: “People’s gardens have become increasingly important to them during the 18 months we have been living under the various restrictions and so the call for our service has increased significantly. We are gaining the reputation we deserve as the quality provider in our sector and again this is seeing us experience a surge in demand right across the areas we operate.”
Using a bespoke combination of chemical compounds, feeds and specialist techniques to give customers deep-green, weed-free and beautiful lawns, all of the company’s products and techniques are safe for children, pets and plants and incorporate a ‘no scorch’ technology, meaning they don’t need to be watered in.
“The typical job of a Greensleeves franchisee is to analyse, offer advice and treat their customers’ lawns, visiting at least five times a year to ensure the lawns are lush, green and healthy. Unless they buy into an already established territory that is being re-sold, most franchisees start out on their own, running the business from home,” says David.
He notes: “Early on, the franchisee will likely spend most of their time advising customers, delivering the relevant treatments, and doing their own marketing and administration.
“However, as their customer base grows, they are likely to need to employ other operators and will have the opportunity to take on a more managerial role. Our territories are calculated to ensure fantastic potential for growth and some of our franchisees now operate with up to a dozen other vans.”
The initial cost for a franchise is £26,950.00 plus VAT. Once the business is up and running, Greensleeves charges an ongoing franchise fee of 7% of the franchisee’s gross monthly turnover.
There is also a fee of 2% for the company’s national marketing levy. “This goes directly into our marketing efforts to raise and maintain brand awareness on your, and the network’s, behalf,” says David.
Assuming costs aren’t an impediment and the would-be franchisee remains interested, the next stage of the process is straight forward.
“Having had a chance to read any preliminary marketing materials/case studies we invite suitable candidates to meet us for a discovery day,” says David. He’s also quick to point out this isn’t a sales pitch but a case of discovering more about Greensleeves, the team, the system and the opportunities that exist.
“We provide answers to whatever questions any candidates might have along with sharing actual data of our trading history; so confident are we of the strength of our model and brand nothing is off limits, we have no failures,” he is also quick to point out.
Once a candidate has decided they want to proceed and Greensleeves agrees they have the right skills to succeed, the candidate will then be asked to create a limited company – Greensleeves then helping them to produce a business plan, as well as answering any questions they may have relating to the franchise agreement.
“Then we start to agree timings for training, initial marketing and ongoing support. We can help the right candidates source the right vehicle as well as finance if that is needed and really hold their hand through the entire journey to becoming a business owner,” says David.
Forming the base of this is gaining the necessary knowledge of being able to deliver the company’s expert service, including lawn culture & nutrition, weed/disease identification, the different treatments available, and how to handle the relevant equipment.
Franchisees will also be taken through all the day-to-day procedures and operations required for running a franchise, as well as being trained in the use of the company’s bespoke database and booking system.
From a marketing standpoint meanwhile, training will be provided in using the company’s CRM systems, which have been custom designed to streamline enquiries and maximise lead conversion.
There will also be health & safety training, as well as business and financial planning to ensure the franchisee knows how to invoice customers, regulate their accounts, and manage credit control efficiently, thereby freeing them up to spend more time on their core business, according to David.
Ongoing support meanwhile will include help and advice anytime when needed, support in launching the franchise; administration and financial support, as well as regular re-training and updates and marketing optimisation.
“We are constantly reviewing our marketing activities, and researching and testing new products, to determine the most cost-effective method of acquiring new customers,” says David, adding that these results will be communicated to the franchisee on a regular basis.
Given the BEFORE and AFTER services being provided to run a successful lawn care franchise, it is also noteworthy that would-be franchisees don’t need to have any previous experience in lawn care, nor have experience of running their own business, though it would be a big advantage if they had, of course.
For David, though, while running a business may be simple and straightforward, that’s not to say it’s always simple and straight forward.
“If you keep it simple, if you’re organised and do what you say you’ll do when you say you will then you give yourself the best chance of success.
“The wheel was invented a long time ago, we just need to demonstrate how simple it is to turn,” he says.
Taking a five-year view Greensleeves – aside from being a leader in its segment for many years to come – is looking to widen its customer base across the UK through the use of technology to improve its communication.
“There is a lot of ‘smoke and mirrors’ in the whole horticulture sector, so we aim to educate our customers to be able to make better choices; we aim to do this through better-educated franchisees and staff, and we have developed an academy programme to empower people to be better informed about our service, about lawns and about business. There are lots of additional services that we can bring to our customers, we will aim to start introducing these over the coming years,” says David.
In the meantime as he puts it: “We are the most highly rated company in our sector on all the important review sites, which backs up our claims too, these are the real measures of the service a company is providing.”
Not surprisingly, David wants to ensure it stays that way.
