Kurt Kane is the president and CEO of TruGreen, a national lawn care company headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee. Kane stepped into this role in 2023 with more than 20 years of experience driving increased employee engagement and customer satisfaction. Prior to joining TruGreen, he served as president, U.S., and Chief Commercial Officer at The Wendy’s Company, where he was responsible for record sales and profit growth while also improving the customer and crew member experience. Kane also served as an air defense artillery officer in the U.S. Army, earned a Bachelor of Science from the United States Military Academy, and received an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin.
What’s been your main takeaway you’ve learned about the lawn care industry so far and what changes would you like to see?
My main takeaway about the lawn care industry so far is that it is filled with passionate and hard-working people who really want to do the right things for their customers. I love the positive spirit and the energy that people bring every day in our company and consider myself fortunate to be a part of it. As for changes, I would love to help more people to realize that hiring professionals to handle their lawn care really is the best way to go. If we do our job right, I’m confident we can accomplish this.
How has your background working with well-known brands, like Wendy’s, Pizza Hut and Frito Lay, helped you in your current role with TruGreen?
All of the companies I have worked for are people-driven and very customer-focused – and that holds true here at TruGreen. We are constantly thinking about our customers as well as our associates in the field — how to improve the service and the experience for both. People are at the heart of all great service industry companies, and that lesson has been taught to me time and time again everywhere I have worked.
Personally, I really value looking at the company as a full picture and understanding the contribution each functional area offers to the company’s success and finding the common ground among them. While I spent a lot of time in my career in marketing, I quickly realized that for any initiative to work, it needed the full support and engagement of every function. Otherwise, it was not going to make it. So that’s why I am passionate about breaking down functional silos and building teams with a common goal in mind.
Leading such a large organization, how do you ensure your culture remains strong and your people feel valued?
This is one of my favorite topics. Culture is so important to how we work as an organization. Our culture operates as One Team Together. This mindset that we all work together to achieve our goals is what will help us win.
Our entire leadership team recognizes and values all our associates, with a special emphasis on the people who work in the field and are truly the face of TruGreen. It’s for this reason that we refer to our “corporate” offices (in Nashville and Memphis) as Support Centers. The role of everyone in those locations is to remain very field-oriented and help offer the support they need to win with customers every day. Having this at the center of our culture is incredibly powerful and unifying.
Recently, we invited 1,200 leaders from across the organization to our Leadership Summit. The goal was to gather as One Team Together and discuss strategy, initiatives and plans for the year. The excitement, goodwill and engagement this one meeting created has everyone thinking about finding ways for their local teams to do the things that drive customer retention and enhance our sales efforts.
What’s a strongly held belief you’ve changed your mind on over the years?
I used to believe that driving sales was the most important lifeblood of a company interested in growth. But I now believe that this is only part of the bigger picture. The reality is that driving customer retention at a very high level, coupled with a powerful sales engine, is really where the magic for our business is at.
What has been your biggest challenge leading TruGreen?
The biggest challenges can often lie in the things we cannot control. Economic downturns, weather and pandemics – just to name a few. That said, it is our job to figure out how we can overcome these obstacles and, at the end of the day, give our customers the best lawn care at the best value that we can. Our company is a growth company. In fact, our mission is to be the best, fastest-growing and most valuable lawn care company in the world.
We need to grow our customer base while retaining the great customers we already have. That’s what keeps us all up at night. The lawn care industry not only competes against itself in terms of market share, but we also need to think about the Do It Yourself (DIY) options. What sets us apart is that we offer our customers time back in their daily lives. And we offer a range of plans to let us help them while they move on to more important things, like spending time with friends and family.
We’re a heavily regulated industry. What are some of the biggest challenges you see the industry facing in the next few years?
We are lucky to have a government affairs team that helps us, along with the NALP, navigate the changing political climate in Washington, D.C. as well as state and local governments, including Canada. Our team ensures we’re aware of what is trending, advances opportunities to shape policy and defends the business interests of our industry from hostile legislation and regulation that impact revenue, earnings, and operations.
We always want to ensure our customers – and all lawn care customers – have product choice when it comes to their lawns. No matter the challenge, we want our customers to know we can solve their lawn care needs with products they can feel great about using.
Regardless of the industry, there are always other challenges that will arise. It is about showing customers value and why TruGreen is the right choice.
People forget TruGreen has franchise businesses as well. What have you learned or put into play from them?
Our franchisees are integral to our success, and we learn from each other. Each year, we have an annual franchise meeting, where our executive leadership team meets with our franchisees to discuss our corporate updates, initiatives and receive feedback from the franchisees on what they would like to see in improvements and changes. We also learn from them about what is working in their local markets and what insights they may have on competition, products, and sales. These branches have the ability to focus on a local area and learn what works and what doesn’t for those customers – often heightening the personal connections and customer service. We all share collective goals in hopes of unified success for TruGreen.
As a West Point graduate and veteran yourself, does your company seek to attract more veterans to the industry?
Yes, definitely. We’re always looking to hire veterans; we currently have around 5% of our current active employees have military backgrounds. Additionally, 17% of our current customer base identifies as veterans. We hope to grow both of those numbers. This past year, we launched our military discount, offering 50% off your first service and 10% off for services to follow for all active, reservist, veteran, and retired U.S. military personnel.
Regardless of my background, it’s important to TruGreen, as an organization, and honors those who have served our country.
Where do you see TruGreen headed in the next five years?
If we stay true to our growth mission, I think the next five years are going to be very exciting for TruGreen. Our primary focus is on driving organic customer growth, and that comes from increasing customer retention and enhancing our sales efforts. Focusing on those things has already proven powerful for us as a team, and I think the upside over a five-year period is tremendous.
What advice would you give to others trying to grow a successful business?
I don’t know if there is one simple formula for growing a successful business. I wish there was one! In fact, I recently gave a talk about this exact subject at the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce, where I spoke to how everyone would benefit from a “Complete Leadership Instruction Book” focused on driving growth.
What I do know is that there are five key tools that I have relied on to help me grow as a leader while also driving business results:
- Believe in yourself.
- Find great people to work for (and with) who challenge and support you.
- Recognize that your job is growth and results matter.
- Get comfortable being uncomfortable – growth requires change and that is always hard.
- Simplify to unify.
This article was published in the March/April issue of the magazine. To read more stories from The Edge magazine, click here to subscribe to the digital edition.
