Plodding the Path

Slow and steady wins the race, so the grade-school fable goes.

This is why Michael Neese doesn’t mind moving at tortoise speed, especially if gradual growth allows him time to deliver consistent quality service to clients and establish stable systems – a hard shell to withstand tough economic times. When it comes to building his business, the owner of Grayson South, Charlotte, N.C., won’t hurry like Aesop’s Hare.

“A lot of people go in with the goal to hit $1 million as soon as possible, or they want 25 people working for them,” he noted. “I sat down and said, ‘Here is my game plan and here is how we’re going to accomplish it.’ We set realistic expectations based on what I thought we could manage.”

Don’t mistake this mindset for a half-hearted or hesitant approach – Neese’s method is slow, but not pokey. He’s running the same course and hitting the same speed bumps as his competitors, but his sure-footed gait secures his bottom line in the end. “I wanted to set up the company so it would be profitable,” he reasoned. “The way you do that is by creating an atmosphere that is enjoyable to work in and training employees, which in turn leads to greater customer service. Everything revolves around the other.”

SERVICE SEQUELS. Neese’s financial background working as an investment planner for eight years molded his panoramic outlook on business development. Before starting Grayson South in 1999, he realized that running a landscape company required not only green knowledge, but numbers know-how.

“A lot of people can go out and know what needs to be done in the yard, but when you are managing people, financials, budgets and man-hours, there is more that goes into that than horticulture,” he related.

Small steps build successful businesses, and he sticks to this mantra in each facet of growth, from adding services to training employees. “You have to go in with a detailed plan and follow it from start to finish,” he identified. Neese’s primary goal – profitability – is more than a lofty idea, as the company increased revenue 16½ percent in 2001 and plans to hike up this number another 15 percent this year, further stabilizing the company’s position in the $250,000 to $500,000 revenue bracket.

How did Grayson South manage this healthy boost? An emphasis on cash-flow friendly services like maintenance anchors the company during an economically stressful time. Also, Neese added departments to the mix, filling out the service circle. Now, the company offers irrigation, lawn care, basic pruning, and landscape design and installation along with its maintenance services.

“Parts of the business are more profitable than others,” he noted. “Irrigation has higher margins than maintenance, but I wanted to start a company where I could hire people to work full-time and I didn’t have to worry about drumming up business.

“I built the business on a maintenance base first, and once I had that core built, I added the niche services to compliment that base,” he added. Since Charlotte weather allows for 12-month maintenance contracts, his seven full-time, cross-trained employees work in the field all year, so maintenance constitutes nearly 60 percent of Grayson South’s business, 10 percent of which is commercial work. And Neese plans to keep it this way.

“People tightened up their pocketbooks, but at the same time, we were comfortable that we would still have the regular, monthly business,” he said. “We built it on the defensive mix to grow it from there. If you’re in a recession, people aren’t going to write a check for a $10,000 landscape, but they will pay for basic maintenance.”

INCHING AHEAD. This gradual method of integrating new services extends into training and hiring practices. Call it tortoise training – a thorough orientation that includes spending significant in-field time with Neese and Maintenance Manager, Spencer Jordan.

“The crews never go by themselves until they’ve had time working with a manger or another employee that has been with the company for a long time,” Neese explained, adding that he trains himself by picking up tips from peers and working beside his subcontractors on technical jobs.

And before employees even make it to “basic training,” Neese tests them with a few hiring tricks to determine their dedication to the job. He requests all applicants meet him at 6:45 or 7 a.m. This early interview time weeds out those not motivated to rise and shine for the opportunity, he pointed out.

“My time is valuable, and if you’re going to work for me, you need to respect time,” he said, placing tardiness atop his pet peeve list. “It shows hunger. It shows if they want to work or if they just want a paycheck.”

This is especially important since Neese doesn’t want to run his business – he wants to share it. “The company is a bigger organization than just me – it’s Grayson South where everyone has a part,” he stressed.

But even the cautious – the slow and steady – find surprises along the way. Like any emerging company, Grayson South struggles with managing growth, recruiting talent to add to his crews and communications issues. He will continue to stick to his core maintenance focus no matter the success of other divisions, and he’ll manage the jobs that end up on the work schedule. Most of all, he’ll stick to what the old tale’s Tortoise advised: “Plodding wins the race.”

Or, perhaps Neese puts it better. “On day one we wanted to get our name out in the marketplace and we had a small focus,” he remembered. “Now, we can do much larger jobs, bid on larger work as well as be a one-stop shop for our customers. They call us, and they know we can handle the majority of their needs.”

The author is Managing Editor – Special Projects for Lawn & Landscape magazine.