Having traveled the globe with his wife and best friend, A Step Above owner Bobby Harlow has settled in Nashville. Between riding his bike around Franklin and having one of the top-rated floor care companies in the area, Harlow stays very busy. But busy is good when it is your goal to create a happy customer, one Nashville home at a time.

Where did you grow up?

I was born in Tokyo, Japan, raised in Montgomery, AL, spent the greater part of my young adult life in Birmingham, AL, and have been in Nashville since 2007. I moved to Nashville when I was still in corporate America as an AT&T Sales Manager. Shanda, my wife, and I love Nashville. The music, professional sports, tons of outdoor activities, and a great business climate with personal and professional growth opportunities have made the city a destination point. Nashville is home!

Tell us about your family.

I’m lucky enough to have married my best friend, Shanda Harlow. We live in the Franklin area with our two little kittens, Ace & Stella, a brother/sister pair Shanda rescued from the Williamson County Animal Shelter. Shanda and I love to travel, experience different cultures, and see historical sites. We’ve had dinner at St. Peter Stiftskulinarim in Salzburg, Austria, which was founded in 803, making it Europe’s oldest restaurant. We’ve toured the Pyramids of Giza, experienced the Walk to the Cross in Jerusalem and the birthplace of Jesus Christ in Bethlehem. We’ve traveled to Italy multiple times and love the history of Rome, The Vatican, and the Coliseum. We are big fans of the Tennessee Titans, Nashville Predators, and college football. I’m a bit of a fitness nut, and if you see an old guy in Franklin on a black bike struggling on an uphill climb, please don’t hit me! I’m going as fast as I can to get out of the way! We love the Franklin area, its history, and how the city preserves the old-world charm as it grows.

Tell us about the events that led up to where you are now:

I spent 35+ years in telecommunications and 30 years with AT&T. I know what it’s like to have one choice in telecommunications during my early days at AT&T. I experienced the phone companies’ break up and the beginnings of Sprint, MCI, Verizon, and BellSouth. I saw the consolidation of the current telecommunications landscape with AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile/Sprint, and all sorts of niche companies like Microsoft, Cisco, Zoom, and Slack, giving customers more choices for cellular, voice, data/IP, video conferencing, and collaboration tools. The constant was change, learning to adapt, and embracing new opportunities. The similarities today are omnipresent with covid concerns, covid mutations, inflation, supply chain issues, global tension, and an ever-changing social/political environment. At the end of the day, regardless of the issues, we have a responsibility to take care of the customer if at all possible!

Please tell us about your business:

A Step Above is a full-service floor care company serving middle Tennessee’s commercial and residential customers. A Step Above Carpet and Flooring Care is just that, a step above. We pride ourselves on exceptional customer service and want to treat your home as if it is our own. We will call you after the completion of our work to ensure your satisfaction. If you are unsatisfied with anything we’ll be happy to come back out and take care of it for you. We are the top-rated carpet cleaning company on Angie’s List with over 630 reviews, a 95% A Rating, and 6 consecutive years as an Angie’s List Super Service Award Winner, including the 2020 SSA. A Step Above was awarded
2021 Best of Franklin award in the Carpet & Upholstery Cleaners category as well as Expertise Best Carpet Cleaners in Nashville for 2021!

Summary of Services

A Step Above distinguishes itself in the following ways: We are process-oriented in our workflow to understand what the customer’s needs are, execute the service plan with a goal of exceeding the customer’s expectations and we follow up on our commitments and work to ensure 100% customer satisfaction. We leverage almost 50 years of industry experience, industry certifications, and the latest, state-of-the-art cleaning equipment. A Step Above has well over 750 public customer reviews, and 95% of our customers give us a top satisfaction rate of 5 stars! Nashville has a ton of floor cleaning companies to choose from, and we continuously work to deliver the best service and value. The three most important items in our value equation are customer satisfaction, delivering exceptional cleaning results, and a team of technicians that care about their customers and take pride in their work. Our goal is to make a happy customer one Nashville home at a time, so we have much work to do!

Given your business expertise and the nature of what you do, what advice can you offer to the residents?

Follow these simple tips to keep your carpet’s color and texture looking fresh.

  • Vacuum your carpet regularly to prevent soil from embedding itself in the pile. Depending on the type of carpet you have,you’ll want to use a vacuum with a rotating brush, a beater bar, or suction only.
  • Keeping traffc and other use factors in mind, consider professional cleaning every 12 months.
  • Use scissors to clip sprouts and snags. Don’t pull on them—you might damage the carpet.
  • If your carpet is burned, simply remove the tops of the dark, burnt fibers with curved fingernail scissors. If the burn is extensive, you may need to patch or replace it.