After just five years, Ken Beasley has purchased three U.S. Lawns locations. His annual revenues exceed seven figures. And it’s no surprise that he’s recently won a third honor: a Customer Hero Award for one of the highest client satisfaction scores among franchises.

Are all these achievements coincidence? Not according to Ken. Before buying a U.S. Lawns franchise, he spent 15 years at Walmart Corporation. He says it taught him the importance of service when building a profitable business. Here’s a brief profile of Ken and his advice for managers in any industry.

• Be the Best Place to Work

“At Walmart, we did a lot of silly chants,” Ken admits. He doesn’t do that now, but he has worked hard to create a family culture.

Ken owns U.S. Lawns locations in Louisiana and Mississippi—places known for their Southern hospitality. For his employees, he provides daily coffee and donuts, health insurance, 401K matching, and plenty of incentives like laptops for perfect attendance. Crew members get a new pair of boots on their birthday, and he’s taken another page out of Walmart’s book: a high hourly wage. The result? “I don’t worry about recruiting,” Ken says. “Good people come to me, because it spreads in the community that we treat our employees well.”

• Quality + Service = Satisfaction

As Ken’s customer satisfaction scores seem to prove, well-treated employees lead to happy customers. “Nobody wants to come to work every day, but our people do know they’re valued,” Ken reflects. In addition, they’re taught to be the best at their job, with weekly internal videos and training. The result? Competent employees who like their work. No wonder they’re rated so highly.

• The Customer Is Always Right

“This is a philosophy I learned at Walmart, and I still believe it’s true,” Ken declares. “If a customer has a problem, you always listen.”

Ken’s clients, like his employees, feel cared about. He admits he “makes a big deal” about trying to fix things if an issue ever arises. No matter how small, he takes complaints seriously. And he won’t quit until his customers feel the problems are resolved.

Caring may not seem like a cut-throat business model, but it’s hard to argue against a multi-million dollar growth trend in just five years. U.S. Lawns is proud to salute Customer Hero Ken Beasley for his outstanding commitment to service.