The following is an excerpt from our Februray Cover Story:
On April 1, 1998, after a quick 30 days of planning, Chris Phillips launched Phillips Environmental Services. In three short years, the full-service company, headquartered in Clearwater, Fla., grew to $5 million in revenue. And with an owner who’s now in a position to work on his business instead of in it, growth should continue.
To ensure clients are aware of Phillips specialty focus, marketing is essential. The company spends about 2 percent of its budget on marketing, and Phillips calls this one of the biggest contributors to the company’s success.
To create the right advertising message, Phillips Environmental interviewed several marketing agencies. One stood out in terms of its out-of-the-box creativity. “They offered something different and really caught us by surprise with their initial presentation, which was great but wasn’t what we wanted,” Phillips said. “We thought we’d take a shot at them anyway.”
Since the company wants to reach affluent homeowners and builders, its print ads play on how the landscape work feels and how Phillips can create a resort-like atmosphere in clients’ backyards. Ads titled “LandEscapes” use hardscape-filled images and phrases like, “At long last, paradise found … and it’s home” and “Landscaping so beautiful, you may opt to live outside.”
The ads continue to pay off, Phillips said. “We constantly get comments from customers who see our ads and tell us they are beautiful and wonderful,” he said. “And we get a lot of results for our dollar. We realized that for the same amount of money we could do something that’s more eye-catching and different – something that establishes our credibility.”
Keeping up quality during a time of speedy growth was challenging, so quality control mechanisms needed to be put in place. Account managers do monthly property inspections with clients, compiling a written inspection report that details instructions to the crew and the special project coordinator, customers' requests and complaints. The survey rates 20 items, including overall health of the turf, trees, palms, annuals, shrubs and beds, and the presence of pavement weeds and site debris and litter. The account manager is solely responsible for his or her crews and sites, and has the responsibility to correct any problems.
Phillips maintains that the company’s strengths lie in its infrastructure, including its management team, facility and reputation. As far as current challenges are concerned, Phillips said that he’s remaining hopeful that the local economy stays strong and his customer base continues to grow. - Nicole Wisniewski