D. Foley Landscape is heading back to school to build its business – literally. With plans to expand into college and private high school campus maintenance, the Walpole, Mass.-based company recently launched “CampusCare,” its specialized turf management division, and plans to sell the service to a multitude of area institutions.
Bob Miller, the company’s director of sales, said this academic realm is an “untapped market,” and a business move that’s been simmering on the back burner at D. Foley Landscape for nearly ten years. The venture became reality three years ago when Dean College in Franklin, Mass, called the company two weeks before its graduation. They were in a pinch, and needed D. Foley’s extra man-power and landscape expertise to add to their 12-person, full-time grounds crew. After all, the even was creeping up sooner than the college could prepare for it.
This project turned into a long-term relationship and an opportunity to get the CampusCare program off the ground. Now, D. Foley Landscape manages 95 percent of the campus’ grounds work and the college only employs three full-time grounds maintenance employees. Now, the company is ready to acquire another account like Dean College, and hopes its measures to grow their new trademarked department will serve as selling tools when working with the area institutions, Miller noted.
But getting an ‘A’ in academic turf care requires a little homework. Selling services to campus clients requires a different approach than pitching numbers to property managers or commercial clients, Miller identified. “They have their guard up – it’s a huge relationship game,” he noted. “You have to do your background work on the university and you need to learn their political realm – are they union or non-union?”
Besides politics there are usually different departments involved in the sales meeting – residential life, athletics and grounds maintenance, for example. There are several decision makers and a board of inquisitive potential customers to please. “For example, we had a meeting with Stonehill College in Easton, Mass., and they wanted the specifics,” Miller said. “They wanted to target their program for heavy traffic areas, so it was mostly sod work we would be dealing with. We knew there was a political situation and it was union.”
D. Foley Landscape must win the trust of a veteran facilities manager and “keep him in the loop” on all communication between the company and the college, Miller said. Furthermore, selling campus accounts takes more time, for not only research, but discussion and addressing questions. Miller said he spends time “reading the room,” and feeling out the atmosphere when approaching a campus potential. “I let them lead the meeting,” he remarked.
More than market research, the CampusCare department will demand more capital – more labor, equipment and training. Also, Miller said pesticide application licenses and personable, responsible employees are a must for this service. New trucks with the “CampusCare” logo, along with larger mowers to handle these institutional jobs, are some investments D. Foley is making in its school-bound adventure.
The company hopes to gain one more account like Dean College this year – and adding an additional two to three private high schools to this mix would also be nice, Miller said. The company sees potential in the campus market, with nearly 20 colleges and 30 private high schools in the area. “These clients already have set budgets,” he added. “Their revenue streams are more consistent than a vulnerable high-tech industry.”
Employees also see potential in the service – they look at CampusCare as the “place to be,” and the department is creating an incentive for continuing education and earning licenses, Miller pointed out. Investments might be costly and overnight growth is unlikely, but D. Foley thinks campuses will be receptive to their services. And in the meantime, the company will continue to strengthen and grow its core business: commercial landscape maintenance and installation.
“We are taking the time now to get the department up and running without getting away from the areas of our business where we’ve succeeded,” Miller stressed.
The author is Managing Editor – Special Projects for Lawn & Landscape magazine.