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ExperiGreen’s Path to Industry Leadership: A Story of Strategic Growth Through Technology

by | Jan 27, 2025 | Case Studies

ExperiGreen Lawn Care Truck

In 2016, the lawn care industry stood at a crossroads. TruGreen’s acquisition of Scotts LawnService created a moment of significant change—and opportunity. For John Moehn, a veteran who had operated 12 Scotts LawnService franchises, this transition presented a chance to build something new. Moehn saw greater potential: creating a company that could scale regionally and potentially nationwide while maintaining the personal touch of local service.

This vision became ExperiGreen Lawn Care. “I just knew we needed to do something,” says Moehn. “We were at that pivot point, and the industry needed another company that could build something, if not nationally, at least regionally.” Tapping into his network from Scotts, Moehn quickly built an all-star team, including Director of Call Center Operations Andrew Burkey. “I was able to put the band back together—we were able to find some very talented folks that we had great relationships with over the years from the Scotts organization.”

Starting with seven branches in January 2017, the company embarked on an ambitious journey to reshape the lawn care industry landscape. However, building a new company from the ground up brought significant challenges. The team quickly discovered that operating without the established Scotts brand name made customer acquisition more demanding—and considerably more expensive—than anticipated.

The challenges extended beyond brand recognition. As ExperiGreen began to grow, they faced the complex task of managing multiple locations while maintaining consistent service quality. Manual processes consumed valuable staff time. Customer communication, route planning, and payment processing all required streamlining for the company to achieve its growth ambitions.

Rather than viewing these challenges as obstacles, ExperiGreen saw them as opportunities for innovation. The company made a strategic decision to build their operational foundation on Real Green software, creating a unified platform across all locations. According to Moehn, “It was a really easy decision. RealGreen was the only software that I knew would be robust enough. I used it for more than 17 years with Scotts. And during that time, Scotts looked at trying to find a different software partner—at points spending millions of dollars trying to develop software—only to come back to RealGreen.” RealGreen became the backbone of Experigreen’s expansion strategy, enabling standardized operations while maintaining the flexibility to preserve local relationships in acquired businesses.

ExperiGreen partnered with Huron Capital in August 2022, marking the beginning of an intense growth phase. The company embarked on a carefully planned acquisition strategy, completing 19 acquisitions in just over two years. Then, in late December 2024, Huron Capital sold its majority interest in ExperiGreen to Wind Point Partners—another major turning point in ExperiGreen’s growth story. With additional backing from Wind Point Partners, the company is extremely well-positioned to continue their aggressive growth trajectory.

According to Burkey, “The partnership with RealGreen as we’ve grown has been tremendous. Especially as we continue to expand—every time we walk through the doors of a new acquisition, people are blown away by the capability of the software that they’ve never utilized or known about, where previously they might have tried to piecemeal something together.” Continues Moehn, “If it’s a larger acquisition, and they’re not using RealGreen, we’d have to really go back and rethink how to proceed. It’s a huge part of what we’re doing and a huge part of why the private equity world likes this space, too. I think they know that a common CRM has a huge impact on these types of roll-ups.”

The results have been remarkable. ExperiGreen has grown from 20,000 customers in August 2022 to approximately 130,000 customers today. Their modernized operations have transformed efficiency across the organization. Customer service representatives now manage 3,500-3,700 customers each, up from 2,000 previously. The company has dramatically improved its cash flow management, with over 45% of new customers prepaying for services and less than 15% of transactions involving paper checks.

Tech Tree Shrub

Perhaps most importantly, these operational improvements have translated into better customer outcomes. First-year customer retention has increased by 10 percentage points for prepaid customers. Automated communication has enhanced customer satisfaction, while streamlined operations have allowed staff to focus more on service quality and less on administrative tasks. In acquired locations, the daily operations setup time has been reduced from 20 hours to just 1.5 hours, showcasing the power of RealGreen’s integrated systems.

Looking ahead, ExperiGreen’s story is far from complete. The company projects two- to three-fold growth within the next three years, driven by its proven combination of strategic acquisitions and operational excellence. Their leadership emphasizes that technology will continue to play a crucial role in this expansion, enabling them to maintain service quality while scaling operations.

For emerging companies hoping to take the next steps towards acquisition and expansion, Mohen says the time and money investment into RealGreen are well worth it. “You’re making a huge mistake thinking that a decent investment of time isn’t worth what RealGreen can provide for you. Look deeper at what you’re trying to accomplish: 90% of lawn care companies of size are on RealGreen software. There’s a reason for that—that, in and of itself, should tell you that these people know what they’re doing.”

The ExperiGreen journey demonstrates that successful growth in the lawn care industry requires more than just excellent service; it demands a sophisticated approach to technology, strategic planning, and operational efficiency. By building on these foundations, ExperiGreen has positioned itself as a leader in an industry undergoing rapid transformation, proving that with the right tools and vision, it’s possible to achieve remarkable growth while enhancing service quality and customer satisfaction.

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