|
|
Though the hub of Yardmaster, a $9.5-million a year, full-service landscape firm is in a renovated farmhouse, there is nothing small-time about the way its business is run. Yardmaster President Kurt Kluznik and his team kicked off the 2002 Lawn & Landscape Business Strategies Conference with a tour of the Painesville, Ohio, facility where it became quite apparent how much hard work – and paperwork – goes into maintaining a strong landscape contracting company.
Of all the services Yardmaster provides from commercial maintenance to snow removal, its most compelling work is in the design/build field. Kathy Moran, senior landscape architect for the firm, explained just how intense the design/sales side of the company really is.
Sales representatives begin by going through an eight-week sales training program called Best Seller, during which they learn how to make the most of their position as Yardmaster’s public face. Focusing on making sure that everyone on the sales side of the business has the information and problem-solving skills clients need, as well as the customer service they deserve is the program’s main goal. As its employee handbook reads, “a customer is the most important person in our business,” and naturally, excellent customer service is the way to keep and gain clients.
Of course, as a commercial and high-end residential design/build firm, Yardmaster does everything it can to gain clients who appreciate the effort that goes into a quality landscaping job. To this end, potential clients who request a design from Yardmaster are charged a design fee before any work is actually done.
These individuals are invited to sit down at the design room at the main office to choose the elements of their new landscaping design. As Moran explained, this technique puts clients on Yardmaster’s own turf, maximizing both the amount of one-on-one time they have with the design team, as well as the customer service they receive. From this point, detailed outlines of the property’s assets and liabilities are created, culminating in a final design plan that includes all of the elements being installed on the property, as well as detailed designs of particular pieces such as a gazebo.
Moran emphasized that, rather than just showing clients a final design, all the less-than-ideal and unfinished ideas should be included in the presentation as well. “You have to make [the customer] think, ‘These people really worked hard at this,’” she said. By creating the idea that an extraordinary amount of time and effort was put into the design process, potential clients are far more likely to move forward and accept a bid.
As in most businesses, selling a design moves smoothly into construction, where Yardmaster also has an organized system. But even with everything from schedules to payroll managed on computers, Yardmaster’s construction, estimation, design and maintenance sales information is constantly backed up by a paper trail. Forms that range from production timesheets to quality inspection forms make their way through the ranks until everything is accounted for.
This, in addition to a detailed chain of command from division managers to foremen gives Yardmaster a significant series of checks and balances that keep all aspects of the company running at the top of its form.