Knowledge Centre - Case Study

Lawn service company looks to grow revenue

Greenthumb is the largest lawn care company in the UK with more than 450,000 customers and 208 franchises throughout the country. The company wanted to offer customers the option to pay by Direct Debit. David Griffiths, Finance Director at Greenthumb, says: "People want to pay by Direct Debit. They don't want to write a cheque or put cash on the windowsill. Direct Debit is a lot easier for customers." Greenthumb also recognised that Direct Debit offered the company and its franchisees a number of benefits. "Direct Debit helps us up sell," says Griffiths. "Most customers have around five treatments a year from us. We used to invoice them for this and they paid every 10 weeks. But if you offer people the option to pay monthly by Direct Debit, it makes their bill more manageable, which means they're more likely to buy additional services."

Bank recommends Direct Debit experts

Once Greenthumb gained sponsorship from its bank, NatWest, to collect by Direct Debit it decided to look for a system to help it process Direct Debits efficiently. With the potential for 450,000 customers to pay by Direct Debit, the company needed a scalable system. Griffiths says: "We wanted something robust that we could understand and that was guaranteed to work." NatWest recommended global payments specialists Direct Debit Limited and the company's payments-management platform, PayCentre®. "We have an excellent working relationship with our bank, so it was very important to us that it recommended Direct Debit Limited," says Griffiths. As a result, Greenthumb implemented a hosted version of PayCentre®, which its corporate branches and franchisees access through a web interface.

Increases revenue by 56%

Greenthumb has seen a significant increase in revenue from customers that choose to pay by Direct Debit. Griffiths says: "We've seen an average increase in revenue of 56% at our corporate branches because Direct Debit helps us up sell treatments." In addition, because PayCentre® scales to support high volumes of transactions, Greenthumb can process Direct Debits on behalf of its franchisees. Greenthumb's ability to collect Direct Debits for its franchisees sets it apart from competitors. "It takes us leaps and bounds ahead of our competitors," says Griffiths. "We don’t believe any of our competitors offer Direct Debit. It's a key differentiator that helps us sell to prospective franchisees."

Simplifies Direct Debit collections

PayCentre® automates Greenthumb's Direct Debit collections and ensures it complies with the Direct Debit scheme rules. Griffiths says: "Direct Debit is not the simplest of things to set up. Consequently, we wanted a system that would simplify Direct Debit and we wanted to work with a company that could offer us the backup we needed." Ann Jones, Direct Debit Project Manager at Greenthumb, uses the system on a daily basis. "I find PayCentre®simple and easy to use, especially when setting up customers, changing payment plans and sending out letters. It's easy to relay it to our franchisees too," she says.

Improves cash flow

Direct Debit has helped Greenthumb improve its cash flow. Instead of waiting for customers to pay invoices and for cheques to clear, the company gets regular scheduled payments. What's more, the reports in PayCentre®show the amounts that are coming in and when they're expected. "These days, we sell lots of franchises to businesspeople. These people fully understand the benefits of Direct Debit and the implications for their cash flow," says Griffiths. The company has also adopted the Faster Payments module in PayCentre®, so that it can pay the Direct Debits it's collected to franchisees on the same day.