Checks and Balances

Customer Feedback
Many times, a company’s definition of consistency may clash with the customers’ ideas of a common message. So as an added check, Western Lawns, Oklahoma City, Okla., distributes 100 customer surveys once a month, eight months a year. The company sends out the surveys with monthly statements and receives about 25 percent back with clients’ payments, stated Lorne Hall, president. “The survey rates us in three areas: sales presentation and services offered, performance of work and administration,” he said.

The survey consists of 20 questions that ask the client to rank the company on a scale of 1 to 10 in each of the three areas. Recent surveys have reinforced the need to focus the company’s services and provide a dependable message to clients, Hall identified.

Last year, survey results indicated a dip in clients’ satisfaction with company performance – specifically, service quality. Consequently, before the company can even think about growth, areas such as these must be investigated and resolved, he added. “We don’t want to make more money by hurrying,” he said. “We need to slow down and polish our services. We want the customer to say, ‘that must be a Western Lawns property.’”

Consequently, Western Lawns must master consistency across customers, procedures and profits before heading on to the next growth spurt, Hall identified. While customer grading scales help level out the client playing field, procedural reform can be more of a challenge, Hall said. A constant company message starts from the moment the sales person begins customer qualification over the phone, he continued. “When the first person on the phone doesn’t take the time and misses something important, that’s when we fall into the category of not doing what we do best,” he said. As a partial solution, Hall utilizes phone scripts so employees communicate a parallel message.

Working for a Living
However, before Western Lawns can consistently maintain a lawn that customers are proud of, employees as well must take pride in their own work. Hall capitalizes on this with the pay for production system, which ensures that when his staff goes the extra mile, they will be compensated for the extra work. “Let’s say an employee is being paid $8 per production hour,” Hall explained. “But, in 40 hours of time the employee did 50 hours of production. Then, he will get paid for the 50 hours of production rather than just the 40 hours of work.”

This system thus offers an incentive for employees who want to feel that they’ve earned their extra cash, even though the process doesn’t force them to overwork, Hall said. “What happened is we found out who were our really good producers and who weren’t,” he admitted. “The guys willing to assume more work each week knew they would get paid for it. We did have some negative fallout because change is difficult, but the ones that weren’t producing ended up being the ones that gradually left.”

In addition, the system avoids skimping on payroll – it automatically prevents workers from dropping below an average of $6.50 per hour, no matter how much they produce, Hall added.

Ultimately, pay for production allows employees to have an impact on the company’s output and then be rewarded directly. “The premise is that if every year guys want to make more, we put it in their hands,” Hall noted. “If they are willing to make more they can produce more.”

The author is Assistant Editor – Internet of Lawn & Landscape magazine.