BEST OF THE WEB: Standing Out

In lawn care, everyone knows about the big boys. They’re the massive operations with household names that everyone immediately recognizes when their trucks pass through the neighborhood. So what can smaller companies do to separate themselves from all the others? Robert Shauger, owner of Deerfield, N.Y.-based Advanced Applications, posed this question to fellow Lawn & Landscape Online Message Board participants.

Participant suggestions varied from advertising more to targeting more full-service clients. Others recommended offering personalized services that larger companies are unable to provide. Smaller lawn care companies should emphasize to their current customers the added value they can realize by purchasing lawn care services from their operations, says Ken Reis, owner, Turf & Shrub Management, Dartmouth, Mass. “Chances are your best source of new business is your existing accounts, so with that in mind what are the biggest complaints you hear folks telling you about the larger companies?” Reis says.

Reis points out that his clients say higher-revenue companies often don’t return all phone calls in a timely fashion and that they tend to be less personable in written and vocal communications. “Return all calls ASAP,” he recommends. “Personalize – this could be as simple as a note on your invoice that says something specific to that property. For example, ‘I really like that new planting bed you installed. Good Job!’ People love being noticed. I believe those simple things will get you more referrals and help you keep existing customers for a long time.”

MARKETING MANIA. It’s tough to find work in lawn care if existing or potential new clients don’t know you provide the service. An aggressive advertising campaign and competitive pricing can help smaller companies compete with the larger ones, says James Cormier, owner, Old Stone Lawn Care, West Boylston, Mass. “Let’s face it, people usually go with the larger companies because they’re cheaper or they get hammered with their postcards, mailers and phone calls,” Cormier says. “So to stand out and separate yourself from the big-boy approach. I think the simple answer is just to advertise more than your competition and be price competitive. Now smaller companies like you and me can charge more because there is a customer base out there willing to do this for better results. But I think this way limits your growth. This is where it’s harder to separate yourself from the competition simply because there really isn’t much that separates the two.”

But Reis says advertising can only do so much to increase revenue. “Sure you can add to your customer base that way,” he says. “But as far as I’m concerned advertising is another word for gambling. You have no idea what return you will get. You also don’t know how qualified the leads you get will be. Who has the time to waste on tire kickers? The large companies, well that’s different. They have larger budgets and more manpower. They try to dominate a market, which helps us smaller guys. They do a pretty fine job of marketing, and they know they have to because they don’t hold on to a customer for too long.”

But Cormier points out that the market leaders realize that if they mail thousands of brochures, they’re bound to snag some profitable accounts. “I think in our business you can plan on a certain percentage sold by the number of pieces mailed or houses called or whatever advertising you’re doing,” he says. “I do think those numbers are true across the country.”

But Reis stresses that quality service can act as an advertising avenue by developing referrals. “I run my business old school – free service calls, every phone call gets returned before anybody goes home for the night, follow-up phone calls for service calls performed seven to 10 days ago, personalized notes handwritten on every invoice,” he says, adding that he used to work for a nationally recognized company that did the same thing.

“Hey, I’m not the king of lawn care,” he continues. “As a matter of fact we currently have a 15.5 percent cancellation rate, but we still have 12.5 percent growth over the last season. We don’t do much advertising. We did hire an outside telemarketing agency in spring 2004, which did very little for us except add to the cancellation rate. If you want to stand out from your competition, go the extra yard for existing customers. They will work as salespeople for you and send you referrals.”

Larger companies have actually helped Danville, Ill.-based Emerald Landscape Management generate new business, according to company Owner Matthew Morgan. When a larger company’s performance falls short of expectations, that’s when Morgan steps in. “I am there to pick them up with personalized, quality service at a slightly higher price,” he says. “My referrals justify the higher price, and after poor service from others, they start to get the feeling that they get what they pay for, so the higher price is of no concern to them. Once they instill the ‘I want a green, weed-free lawn’ into the client’ and then fall short, you should be there to pick up the pieces.”

Morgan adds that smaller lawn care companies should find out where the larger companies are doing high volumes of work and then target those clients with specific mailers. “With this service, half the battle is creating a client,” he says. “Let someone else with a large war chest do that. You just need to be able to provide the quality service that they deserve.”
 
THE FULL DEAL. If increased marketing isn’t cutting it, companies specialized in only lawn care may want to consider expanding their services, several Message Board participants recommend. “If you want to stand out, I suggest you expand your horizons to complete full-service, high-end residential and commercial grounds maintenance work,” says Lawrence Stone, owner, Lawrence Stone, Wilkes Barre, Pa. “Fertilization customers are just too low end and will cancel just to save $1. You will have very little, if any, turnover with estate maintenance, and great referrals and very low advertising costs with direct mail.”

Shauger has actually considered changing to full service to increase business but he thinks most of his clients already hire maintenance companies. Stone responds by suggesting that Shauger submit a full-service proposal to his current clients. He also offers Shauger advice on how to get started. Contractors should have one truck set up for lawn care applications and an enclosed trailer for maintenance equipment so they can mow and make applications at the same time, Stone says. “A four-wheel drive pickup with a plow and dump insert makes a good crew truck for mowing and light landscaping,” he says. “Try to build enough work over winter to add one employee next April to run the mowing route. So instead of making $500 a year per customer you will make $5,000.”

But Cormier disagrees, saying he also considered offering full-service landscape and lawn care but thinks lawn care alone is more profitable. “Stone, you say it’s better to make $5,000 per customer than $500, but you can only do so many $5,000 customers in a year,” he says. “Right now, I average $542 per year for my customers. I have 348 customers. Now that’s one guy doing $180,000 a year with a pickup truck, trailer and a ride-on spreader.”

Another Message Board participant suggested that Shauger connect with maintenance contractors who would subcontract lawn care services to his company. But some maintenance operations don’t pay in a timely fashion and will request that lawn care companies perform the services at a discounted rate, Cormier says. “I really think there are far too many people out there who just want a fertilization company,” he says. “Plus, it’s how you sell yourself. When I meet with a new client who’s thinking of hiring one company to do it all, I always point out that most companies out there mowing either don’t have a license to apply and do it anyways or sub out someone like me to do it. And why have a middleman? Just hire me; it’s all I do.”