Yorkshire Lawn Care: Business Consultancy to Boost Turnover 

Fast turnover boost for East Riding based Yorkshire Lawn Care, supported by funding from Calderdale College’s Business Scale Up Programme.

Yorkshire Lawn Care was born out of the pandemic, when a Yorkshire joiner, Karl Fletcher, started looking for new business ventures during lockdown. Unable to work inside people’s houses, he turned to lawn care and completed his first season of work in 2021.

In this new venture as Director of Yorkshire Lawn Care, Karl was keen to improve his business strategy and avoid the common pitfalls of new businesses. He met Hannah Tuckey, Business Engagement Advisor at Business Scale Up, at a networking event and heard about the broad offer available to small-to-medium enterprises in the area. “I admit I was sceptical at first,” said Karl. “You always wonder what hoops you have to jump through or what these programmes want in return. But the link with Calderdale College really convinced me to give it a go.”

The main type of support Karl has accessed since then has been Jane Fisher Associate’s business coaching and consultancy offer. Working with expert consultant Jane Fisher, he has developed a strong business strategy and is receiving continuous support to take ownership of the plan’s delivery. Karl feels that this has helped to provide a focus for the business, highlighting areas of opportunity and improvement.

“It’s helped me recognise that I do have a successful business, which is something I’d disconnected with,” he said. “Jane and I have highlighted the strong unique selling points and values of the business that are now helping me to focus our marketing efforts. Together, we have developed the business’ identity and mission statement and now have a clear vision of where the company is going.”

Consultancy support has also helped Karl to gain confidence in himself. With backing from Jane Fisher Associates, he’s implementing more and more new ideas, one of which helped Yorkshire Lawn Care to deliver more services that customers needed whilst increasing turnover by nearly 5% in the space of just two weeks. This has allowed Karl to build stronger customer relationships which as resulted in building a bank of valuable online reviews.

Karl is also taking advantage of one of the biggest benefits of Business Scale Up: as much support as you need as often as you need it. He has recently completed Alternative Partnership’s ‘Facebook for Businesses’ online course, as well as Pro-Development’s workshop, ‘Being My Best – Exceptional Service’. Karl already has his eye on more Business Scale Up training, and says that Yorkshire Lawn Care will definitely continue to use Scale Up funding and support while it’s still available.

The Business Scale Up Programme is part-funded by the European Social Fund as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020.