Setting A Standard: First Look

In less than a year, Walczyk, now owner, Emerald Earth, Middletown, Conn., was promoted to branch manager of Barefoot Grass. But when the company was eventually bought out by TruGreen-ChemLawn, he was turned off by the big-business environment and left shortly thereafter to work for a smaller irrigation and landscape company, he recalled.

By this time, Walczyk knew he wanted to run his own company, so he and his wife Monica, started Emerald Earth out of a U-Haul storage facility in 1997.

Since then, his company has grown into a $500,000 operation, providing residential lawn, tree and shrub care services to central and southern Connecticut.

Having worked for a green industry giant was a tremendous education for Walczyk. "It was like getting an associate’s degree in lawn care," he said, recalling the fast and furious environment where he learned every aspect of the business - from product and equipment costs to sales campaigns and collections.

But, for the most part, working for a large corporate entity where customer quantity is emphasized over quality taught Walczyk how he didn’t want to run his own lawn care operation. "There’s a price to be paid for being super-aggressive," he said, noting that his former employer’s high customer and employee turnover was one aspect he wanted to avoid in his own entrepreneurial endeavor.

CUSTOMER-CENTRIC. Positioning itself as a highly professional operation, Emerald Earth aims to make lawn care an effortless experience for its customers, Walczyk said of his company’s guiding philosophy.

This vision of a kinder, gentler lawn care company is largely in response to Walczyk’s previous work experiences. Being highly aggressive in acquiring customers doesn’t bode well for long-term business, he pointed out. "At the bigger companies, there is a whole different perspective," he described. "There is so much pressure to bring in money," which inevitably results in a high customer turnover rate, he added.

Emerald Earth would rather focus on meeting its revenue goals and constantly stresses this with its four full-time employees, Walczyk noted. "We don’t necessarily want you to make the most sales," he said, reciting what he tells his employees. If the company meets its financial goals, Walczyk is content. "But it doesn’t matter if we get there with 500 or 1,000 customers," he added.

The heart of Emerald Earth’s mission is establishing a good relationship with its customers. To assist with this, employees work with the same accounts from the beginning, "to start cementing that relationship," Walczyk described. Employees are also cross-trained to do everything from estimating to making fertilizer and pesticide applications. Customers appreciate this service consistency and versatility, Walczyk noted.

Constant communication is also part of the company’s service philosophy. For example, when employees get back in the office at the end of the day, their first priority is returning any service calls, Walczyk said. "Even if they can’t get a hold of the customer, they call and leave a message to acknowledge that we got the service call."

All of his employees have mobile phones, so they’re accessible out in the field.

Other customer-oriented details include never upselling over the phone (although Emerald Earth gets 90 percent of its customers through telemarketing) and providing payment flexibility, allowing customers to pay up to 60 days. Walczyk admitted that he hasn’t always been this liberal with past due accounts, but as the company became more established, his philosophy evolved.

To minimize collections problems, the company awards customers who prepay with a 7 to 10 percent discount, Walczyk added.

A CALL FOR PROFESSIONALISM. Like many contractors across the country, Emerald Earth’s greatest challenge is battling unprofessionalism.

"We have a competitor who routinely undercuts everybody by 30 to 40 percent," he described, noting that many of these low-ballers are strictly driven by commission-based sales and are out to rack up the most customers. "The guy with the most customers doesn’t win," Walczyk pointed out, noting that the secret to long-term success is customer service and maintaining a healthy bottom line.

Pressure from contractors undercutting prices has forced others in Emerald Earth’s market to cut prices, which is detrimental when health benefits, fuel and fertilizer costs are skyrocketing, Walczyk added.

Careless contractors pose an especially serious threat in terms of pesticide regulations. Walczyk said he routinely notices off-target applications of pesticides and fertilizers on his competitors’ clients’ properties. Since these irresponsible lawn care operators don’t police their applicators, their carelessness could lead to more regulations, Walczyk predicted. "People are shortsighted, want to turn a buck and won’t clean up," he described. "And when it rains, (fertilizer) washes down the driveway into the sewer."

Unprofessional contractors can only blame themselves for increased regulations, which are looming on the legislative horizon, according to Walczyk. "You brought it on yourself," he commented.

THE GAME PLAN. As with any green industry company in an expansion state, Emerald Earth’s future growth revolves around the labor issue.

"We’d like to grow as long as we have the right people," he said. "We won’t just grow for the sake of growing."

Walczyk is always on the lookout for potential employees, whether he’s at a trade show or driving down the street. He has no qualms about handing out his business cards to another company’s employees.

"Sure it’s ethical," he pointed out, noting that an "every man for himself" approach applies. "Everybody’s advertising for workers."

In terms of future plans, Walczyk would like Emerald Earth to hit the $600,000 to $700,000 mark in 2001 and maintain a minimum of 25 to 30 percent growth annually, indefinitely, he said, adding that his long-term goals include establishing additional branches throughout Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts.

Walczyk wants to devote more energy to tree and shrub care, since that’s an untapped market with huge potential, he described.

Emerald Earth is in a prime position for growth with several employees anxious for advancement, Walczyk explained. "We can’t stay small," he noted. "I have four guys who have the Connecticut supervisory pesticide license and are cross-trained and ready to take on more responsibility - they’re ready to get to the next level."

As a manager, Walczyk is sensitive to the fact that his four employees want to be continually challenged. "Otherwise, people start getting burned out and will leave," he pointed out, adding that this scenario is one way to keep employees happy.

To retain valuable workers, managers of any size company should offer their employees fair compensation, benefits and understanding, Walczyk advised.

Retaining employees is a manager’s responsibility, he added. "If you lose people, it’s your own fault," he noted. "You weren’t minding the store, so to speak."