Franchisee Profile: Steve Hassall

Hassall currently lives in Kennett Square, PA. — the mushroom capital of the world — and has purchased a significant territory to develop the Monster Tree brand in two adjoining states.

Hassall grew up in Philadelphia where he received his MBA from LaSalle College. The entrepreneur’s background in business is extensive, as he has worked in various positions spanning marketing, sales, merchandising and business development. Most recently, Hassall served as Vice-President of marketing, business development and sales at Agincourt Development Partners, a full-service business development company serving B2C and B2B channels. Prior to forming Agincourt, Hassall was the director of marketing and business development at Foamex Innovations — a producer of polyurethane foam products worldwide. It was here that Hassall led development efforts to grow a variety of business segments with retailers such as Costco, Wal-Mart, QVC, and others, as well as developing partnerships with key consumer good companies such as Procter & Gamble, Crayola, and Clorox.

After 25 years in the corporate environment, and based on his entrepreneurial experiences of strategizing, launching, and growing a variety of businesses within the corporate framework, Hassall began looking for opportunities that would combine his previous successes along with his desire to take on a completely new challenge. Gravitating toward franchise businesses, the soon-to-be franchisee worked with several brokers (The Entrepreneur’s Source & FranNet) and extensively researched over 30 companies in the franchise space before deciding to sign with Monster Tree.

Monster Tree fit a number of criteria Hassall had in mind — the first was the desire to build a team and drive the marketing and operations from the ground-up; second, he wanted to grow a new and relatively-unknown brand to a national platform; and third, the business had to provide the appropriate financial return.

Why did you choose an opportunity with Monster Tree?

Monster Tree is an interesting franchise from a strategic standpoint. I believe we will consolidate this industry segment over the next 5 years, and create a nationally-recognized, branded Tree Care service business. The current landscape is highly-fragmented and populated primarily with independent, “mom & pop” operators, so this fragmentation works to our advantage since no one brand is controlling a significant share of the industry. The brand is a key player in the regional Philadelphia market with the ability to create a national brand platform.

Monster Tree presented national pricing on capital equipment, a well-thought out marketing system, backed by solid training, low startup costs and high financial return. Applying traditional professional business practices to a very informal industry also presents significant opportunities to differentiate ourselves in this space. Our motto “Estimates in Hours, Not Days” captures how we can best serve our new customers. And this complete system provides us with a huge opportunity to elevate Monster Tree as the de facto brand name in the residential Tree Care service category.

It was also important to me to find an “E-Myth” business. For those not completely familiar, in the long-term, best-selling business book - “E-Myth” -  the author proposes that to be truly successful in an entrepreneurial venture (the “E”), you need to work “on” the business, not “in” it. So, I won’t be climbing any trees, but building a team and a system to succeed will be critical, and that’s where my previous experience can best serve the new business.

What challenges have you overcome to get to where you are now?

The biggest challenge was deciding to take on the risk of entrepreneurship. It wasn’t easy to move away from the comfort of a corporate role, but it was the right move. Next, it was a huge challenge to find just the right franchise. There are a lot of great franchise companies out there, and many more who are not as viable, all competing for attention.  Monster Tree Service is a pioneer franchise; it has top of mind awareness in areas of the Philadelphia market, but is relatively unknown elsewhere. Building our brand value proposition will take money, time and laser-focused customer service.

Throughout my career, I’ve focused on Customer Experience and have worked with a variety of companies who saw this as a key differentiator. Customer Service is at the core of the Monster Tree philosophy. Josh Skolnick, our Founder & CEO, has a vision and a sound strategy to grow Monster Tree to a national brand, and his execution thus far has been thorough.

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