We here at Lawn & Landscape are thrilled to once again partner with the Harvest Group’s Bill Arman and Ed Laflamme to bring you the Turnaround Tour.

This project allows us to dig in with companies just like yours, that have problems just like yours. Throughout the year, we’ll be able to document the solutions Bill and Ed suggest and watch as the companies implement those suggestions.

After combing through applications solicited last year for the 2018 tour, we chose companies in Florida, Pennsylvania and Arizona, that displayed strong characteristics of a growing company – a willingness to learn, listen and take chances.

Bill, Ed and myself were able to spend a few days with these companies in November and December, and that wouldn’t have been possible without the help of our sponsors.

We are thrilled to have Fleetmatics, a Verizon company, once again be the Platinum sponsor for this project.

“As the sponsor of last year’s Turnaround Tour, it was truly fulfilling to see the participants improve their businesses by adopting best practices and making better decisions based on data,” says Todd Ewing, director of product marketing at Fleetmatics, a Verizon Company. “As a company that’s dedicated to delivering vehicle and workforce data that drives that type of insight, Fleetmatics again is proud to sponsor this new group of growth-oriented landscapers on their journey to success.”

In addition to Fleetmatics’ support, we are excited to welcome Greenius and Exmark as gold level sponsors.

I know all of our sponsors are looking forward to watching these companies achieve their goals for 2018.

Throughout 2018, Lawn & Landscape will chronicle the participants’ ups, downs and everything in between through our different multimedia platforms. 

We hope you can pull tips from here that will help you turn a problem you have into an opportunity to grow your business.

Brian Horn, editor, Lawn & Landscape

As a child, Laurie Broccolo never dreamed of starting her own lawn care business or becoming the go-to environmental consultant in Rochester, New York. She just knew she wanted to be outside.

Her passion for nature led her to study ornamental horticulture at nearby Finger Lakes Community College. After graduation, she was recruited by a local company, Ted Collins Tree & Landscape, as a tree and shrub technician. As lawn care companies sprouted up during the ’70s, Broccolo spotted opportunity in lawn care and worked with Collins to launch a program.

“I not only started the lawn care program, but I also changed the attitudes of customers and the sales staff by only doing integrated pest management,” Broccolo says. “It was perfect timing, because there was an explosion about pesticide concerns in the mid-80s.”

Broccolo began establishing her reputation around IPM, which her website defines as “combining chemical treatments, cultural practices, and biological controls to manage pests.” She got involved in what was then the Professional Lawn Care Association of America and served as the first president of the New York State Lawn Care Association. As she worked her way up the company to vice president, she leveraged her position in the industry to educate people about more sustainable ways of managing lawns and landscapes.

When Collins sold the business, Broccolo decided to apply what he taught her by starting her own company, Broccolo Tree and Lawn Care, in 1990. With IPM lawn and tree care as its focus, the company added new staff and capabilities as clients requested more services. As environmental consciousness has continued expanding, so has Broccolo’s business.

Rise of environmental work.

Stormwater management regulations drive Broccolo’s environmental work. It started in 2005 when a local developer, who knew about the firm’s environmental focus through the Chamber of Commerce, asked Broccolo to bid on a wetland protection project that involved the Army Corps of Engineers and the Department of Environmental Conservation. The development required moving a DEC-protected creek to carry stormwater off-placement from the construction site.

“They chose us because we were the only ones that were passionately concerned about the environment and had already taught DEC classes for IPM and pesticide certification,” Broccolo says.

Broccolo worked with a civil engineer, who designed multiple storm check dams with jute mesh – items she had never installed before.

“Everything was going really well – and then, Hurricane Katrina came through,” she says. “The stormwater surge was so intense that it blew out every single check dam, and got to the last line of defense of silt fence. Because of the way we had installed all the storm detention dams and plantings, no silt from the construction site ended up in the protected wetlands.”

That project established Broccolo’s reputation for wetland installations and other stormwater management projects like swales, rain gardens and green roofs. The first company in Rochester to become certified green roof installers, Broccolo held green roof workshops at her home to educate architects and engineers – which helped build more relationships, resulting in more work.

Environmental projects still represent a huge growth opportunity for Broccolo – not just on the commercial side, but also for residential clients, who account for 80 percent of the business. Though “residential lawn care is still our bread and butter,” Broccolo says, “we’re not seeing big growth in that area. We are seeing big growth, though, in the design and installation of pollinator gardens, rain gardens, meadows and residential landscaping projects with an environmental focus.”

Retail destination.

The more environmental projects that Broccolo bid on, and the more plantings that were involved, the less competitive and less profitable the company became – especially when bidding against larger landscapers with access to cheaper materials.

“I wasn’t getting projects because, with my plant costs, I could not compete with landscape contractors that had their own nurseries,” Broccolo says.

So, in 2011, she decided to purchase a garden center to supply her plant needs. She’d been buying materials there for years when the owners asked her to be their exit plan from the business, agreeing to stay on board for a year to teach her retail.

Initially, the biggest perk of owning a garden center was “being able to sell wholesale to ourselves,” she says. Within a year of opening Broccolo Garden Center, Broccolo became more competitive and profitable with commercial installations.

Now, Broccolo is focusing more on the retail potential of the garden center, with the goal of making it an educational eco-agritourism destination with classes and events. The garden center sits on a 40-acre farm, with about three acres dedicated to growing nursery stock, surrounded by woods and farmland.

Last year Broccolo enhanced the landscaping around the barn (which was built in 1900) and added a screened-in butterfly garden, green roof and chicken coop. A local beekeeper also maintains hives on the property, where pollinators thrive in a half-acre of wildflower meadows. At a grand opening last August, Broccolo invited people to explore the gardens via walkways made of recycled tires and permeable turf stone pathways – showcasing Broccolo Tree and Lawn Care’s sustainable landscape installations. Next, the company is installing small orchards as examples of edible plantings that customers can replicate at home.

Broccolo hosts engineers, architects and other local businesses at the farm. The local Chamber of Commerce holds a tour and luncheon there every summer. Groups from schools, clubs and other organizations are also coming out to learn about stormwater management, pollinators and other aspects of sustainable landscaping.

These classes, luncheons and events are “what’s really bringing in retail customers,” Broccolo says. “We want people to be immersed in the gardens and displays and, obviously, buy something on their way out.”

Retail customers directly benefit the other side of the business, too. Last year, “garden center leads brought in $60,000 worth of lawn care programs and landscape projects,” Broccolo says. “That, by itself, is worth it.”

Broccolo’s gross revenue exceeds $3.5 million – including $1.5 million in IPM lawn and tree care, $1.8 million in landscaping construction and maintenance, and half a million from the garden center. As she shifts more attention toward retail, Broccolo predicts even more growth.

“I’m doing more within the garden center and having fun with the community outreach. What a great way to blend learning about the environment and socializing with my customers,” Broccolo says. “As the business continues to grow in all the other areas, it’s allowing me to continue to learn and be challenged in different ways – always with that environmental focus.”

If you invested in a new marketing initiative or rebrand this year, did you include a parallel plan to align your organization with your strategy? If not, your business and your brand may be working at cross-purposes. Here’s why:

Transforming your logo, truck wraps, website, customer materials and messaging to drive new performance goals requires the support of everyone in your company to walk the talk. Based on our years of experience helping companies accelerate growth, we’ve learned that owners often underestimate the many moving parts that are needed to deliver new brand value propositions.

Tom Oyler, my partner at Wilson-Oyler Group, and I stressed the concept of “think to link” – that means systems, processes, organizational structures, job roles, and critical functions such as marketing/sales and operations must be linked at the hip. Operations must be built to execute what marketing is driving and what sales is selling.

Here’s how to achieve the “think to link” concept:

Leadership:

Involve your executive team in the creation of your new brand so they can better inspire your team to become invested in the process and have a stake in the result.

Brand behaviors:

Make on-brand behaviors part of your culture’s desired norms by defining expectations for performance and measure accordingly. For example, if your brand promise is “customer first,” then behaviors that drive this message become individual performance metrics. Identifying desired behaviors will help maintain internal alignment through all levels of your company.

Implement training:

Provide training around your new brand messaging and positioning goals. Cover the key components of your strategy and help your employees understand the role they play in your brand story. Provide cross-functional training to ensure that sales, operations and production teams are aligned with new ways of selling and delivering.

Research:

Gather customer intelligence through surveys to better understand your customer. This has two advantages: 1) you can use the data to close the gap between your customers’ expectations and the reality of what you deliver, and 2) it will make your brand customer-centric. Find out what your customers think of you, what they want and what their industry trends and needs are. Then, build your brand and your services to meet those needs.

From the front desk to the back office, everyone should know your new brand story and be able to give the same elevator speech.

Sales strategy:

Create an actionable sales plan to move your brand forward. Engage, empower and train your account managers and business developers to promote your new marketing and brand goals. From the front desk to the back office, everyone should know your new brand story and be able to give the same elevator speech.

Systems/processes:

Make sure your company can support your new goals by auditing and updating your systems, processes and your organization’s ability to deliver, track and manage customer experience. If as part of your new branding you consolidate your service lines to eliminate ambiguity, then you need to reorganize and sync internal systems to manage the consolidation in the delivery channel.

Culture:

Implement a plan to manage change. This includes getting your whole organization excited about your new direction. Operations must be able to adapt to new promises. Sales must be fluent in your new messaging. If not, your customers will let you know that your service isn’t living up to what you’re promoting.

Whether you are pursuing a comprehensive rebrand or continuous improvement in brand messaging, getting your team involved in the process will drive ownership. When the whole organization is aligned, briefed and trained to support your growth goals, everyone benefits from its success. The confidence of your sales people and account managers grows, and the customer retains confidence in your credibility.

In other words, new brand, old culture is just window dressing. New brand, new culture will bring your values to life.

Bruce Wilson is principal of green industry consulting firm Bruce Wilson & Company.

They’re called hoagies in Pennsylvania and are usually filled with sliced country-cured ham, cheese, fresh shredded lettuce, tomatoes, onions and mayo. In Massachusetts, they’re called grinders. The meatball with marinara sauce is perhaps the most popular. My favorite, however, is the Italian sandwich from Maine. It’s loaded with ham, provolone cheese, onions, black olives, dill pickles and tomatoes, smothered in olive oil and sprinkled with salt and pepper – all on a delicious freshly baked foot-long roll.

Whenever I drive across the Piscataqua River Bridge from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, into Kittery, Maine, the only items on my menu are Italian sandwiches (and Maine lobster). While the name and inside ingredients might vary around the country, the sub sandwich is an enduring American tradition. The fresher the contents the better – no stale bologna in these delicatessen delights.

Like the sub sandwich, the name of your subs and their contents may vary (plumbing, irrigation, electrical, fencing, pools, etc.). However, by any other name, a sub is a sub.

How it works in the field.

Mike called from Pennsylvania, asking how much he should mark up the subcontractor costs on one of his projects. The sub was going to clear and grub a property, then soil prep and seed it. Finally, he was going to cover it with jute netting. The cost for the sub to do this was $100,000.

I asked Mike how much he was thinking of marking up the cost of the subcontractor. He had been taught the multiple overhead recovery estimating system (MORS) and to mark up subcontractor costs by adding 5 percent to cover general and administrative overhead costs and 10 percent for net profit. He replied 15 percent. I asked him how involved he’d be supervising the subcontractor. He replied that he had worked with this very good sub on many occasions and that all he’d have to do was to make a phone call to tell the sub when to start and send an invoice to the client when the work was done.

Me: “So you want to charge $15,000 to make a phone call and send an invoice?”

Mike: “Well, I guess so.”

Me: “How about if I either make the call or send the invoice and we split the $15,000?

Mike: “Chuckles.”

Me: “If you can get it, by all means charge $15,000 to make a phone call and send an invoice. However, would you be willing to take $5,000 for doing so?”

If the market would allow him to charge $15,000 (15 percent), by all means do so. He might want to lower the net profit percentage. He should also lower the 5 percent ($5,000) to cover G&A overhead costs.

Industry pricing benchmarks.

The market will usually allow you to apply an all-inclusive 10 to 20 percent margin to subcontractor costs. Occasionally, a higher figure is used and in extremely competitive situations, subcontractor costs are simply passed through, not marked up at all. The 15 percent margin is intended to cover some G&A overhead costs and net profit, but not necessarily costs associated with direct supervision of and coordination with the subcontractor. These costs are often added to the cost of the sub.

Just as a supplier gives you a discounted “re-wholesale” price for the materials you buy, so should a subcontractor give you a discounted re-wholesale price for the work that he does for you. A subcontractor should give the homeowner a retail price and you a lower price.

Think of it like a nursery or supplier that buys plants at a wholesale price, sells them to the homeowner at a retail price but sells them to the contractor for a discounted re-wholesale one. The contractor usually brings much more business to the supplier than does a single homeowner. Also, the contractor does the selling for and requires less advertising from the supplier. Viewed from the subcontractor’s perspective, he should give you a re-wholesale price because you are doing the selling. Similarly, the sub should pay you an 8-10 percent commission for selling the jobs in the form of a discount. An additional 5-10 percent discount is warranted to help cover some of your G&A costs.

Remember these pricing levels:

• Retail (or list): The price paid by the homeowner to the supplier.
• Re-wholesale: The discounted price the contractor pays the supplier.
• Wholesale: The price the supplier pays to the grower.

Baloney detector.

When you work with your next subcontractor, get out your baloney detector. Show him this article if you have to. But don’t allow your subs to feed you a bunch of baloney in the form of an inflated price.

Jim Huston runs J.R. Huston Consulting, a green industry consulting firm.