The person behind Trade Forge Network. And why it matters.
I'm Lex, founder of Trade Forge Network. I'm based in Bracknell, Berkshire, and I work with trade and service businesses across the UK.
Good work. Happy customers. Then nothing.
That pattern is what pulled me in. Across 17 years I've run my own service business and spent several years inside my partner's commercial multi-trade business - lending a hand on the tools, and building the systems, admin and accounts behind it all.
And the same thing stood out every time: the hardest part - winning the customer - was already done. The work that should come round again just didn't, because nothing was bringing it back. That's the gap Trade Forge Network is built to close.
Why I know this works.
Before Trade Forge Network, I spent over 7 years at Alexander Mann Solutions - one of the world's leading recruitment and workforce management firms - working on process improvement, systems optimisation, and operational compliance across global programmes. That work taught me how to take complex operations, strip them back to what actually matters, and build processes that people can follow consistently without it feeling like extra work.
I then spent seven years running the full operations of a domestic and commercial cleaning business - bookings, scheduling, client communication, invoicing, team coordination, customer retention. That's where the repeat revenue insight came from. Not from a course or a book. From running it myself and seeing, first hand, what happens when you build a simple follow-up system versus when you don't. The difference in repeat customers coming back was significant. The effort required was not.
After that I spent three years working directly with trades and service business owners, building automated systems, follow-up pipelines, and customer re-engagement processes for their specific businesses. By the time I launched Trade Forge Network, I had a very clear picture of what works and what doesn't for this type of business.
Years corporate process improvement
Years running a service business
Years trades and service business systems
Practical and process-first.
No software you don't need. No system you'll never use.
Everything starts with understanding your business - how you work, who your customers are, what you're already doing. Then we build around that. Simple, repeatable, and built for days where you're flat-out on the tools and don't have time to manage a complicated system.
I mainly work with Google Sheets, email and, where relevant, SMS - tools that work on any device and don't need a monthly or annual subscription. Most of the day-to-day runs on your phone.
There's a reason for that. Most CRMs ask for a big upfront commitment - hours of setup, all your data migrated across, another monthly fee - and with a dozen to choose from, no real way to know it fits until you've already sunk the time in. I've lost count of the half-built, abandoned CRMs I've seen: bought with good intentions, never quite finished, still charging a subscription every month. A Google Sheet skips the gamble. There's nothing new to learn, so it actually gets used; it's shaped around your business instead of the other way round; and it's a file you own outright - no lock-in, no meter running.
That's a deliberate choice, not a limitation. Over the years I've worked with a wide range of systems and technology, from enterprise workforce platforms to CRMs, scheduling tools and custom automation. For a trade or service business, the simplest tool that actually gets used beats the most sophisticated one that doesn't - but if your business calls for something more, that experience is there too.
Any business whose customers have a reason to come back.
That reason takes different shapes - regular service visits, certificates, maintenance agreements, repeat call-outs, and plenty more. The frequency varies, but the opportunity is the same: a customer list full of people who'd book again and have never been asked. Most of the businesses I work with are sole traders or small teams, but size isn't what matters here. Here's where I've gone deepest so far:
Trade & Service Businesses
Suitable for any business with repeat service potential - customisable to your business.
Gas & Heating Engineers
Built around the annual certificate cycle - boiler services, CP12s, repeat call-outs, and more.
Electricians
Built around inspection schedules - EICRs, PAT testing, periodic renewals, and more.
Plumbers
Built around maintenance work - cylinder checks, servicing, drainage, and more.
Each one is built around the way your work naturally repeats - whatever your trade, and whether you're on that list or any other service business with repeat customers. A gas engineer's annual certificate cycle isn't an electrician's inspection schedule or a plumber's maintenance run, and yours won't be either - so the tracker at the heart of it is yours to shape around your own customers. That fit is what makes it work in practice, not just in theory. Between doing great work and staying on top of the next job, though, the follow-up rarely gets built - and that gap is where the revenue goes.
For most owners, closing it means having me build and run the system for you, done-for-you. Prefer to set it up yourself? Explore the toolkit for your trade. Not sure what fits? Get in touch and we'll talk it through.
Find out how much repeat revenue you're leaving on the table.
The Revenue Leak Report takes 15 minutes and costs £49.
You may find the number bigger than expected.
Book your Revenue Leak Report - £49Or get in touch directly - email lex@tradeforgenet.com or message on WhatsApp, or connect on LinkedIn.