Feb. Issue Extra: Plugging in People

Beginning with dirt plugs and dethathching, ProGreen Lawn Care, Austell, Ga., branched its start-up aeration business into a $500,000 lawn care operation – but not without the help of valuable employees. President Scott Brown learned that people matter when it comes to building profit. Without reliable, skilled workers, quality drops off, and so do account renewals.

However, like many landscape professionals, the finding people – the right people – creates a growth barrier at first.

“Our biggest challenge is finding quality people to fill positions,” Brown said, noting that during his growing pains when he started ProGreen in 2000, insufficient labor caused a few crinkles with his clients. “One to 2 percent of our accounts were complaining each month – that ranges from 20 to 30 calls and we were servicing around 300 to 400 accounts per month. To go out and reservice the account was a nightmare.”

Brown was short on employees to do the “cleanup work,” answer complaint calls and address problems. Furthermore, training new employees added another headache. But since then, Brown has learned that labor will drive his growth – and the more time he spends teaching that quantity never makes up for quality, the better.

With twenty-two employees on staff during peak season and nine during the winter, the company is more equipped to handle customer service calls and crews run more efficiently, Brown pointed out. Those complaint calls have whittled away, and an employee with the title “customer service guarantee” is on-call full-time, checking properties for inconsistencies.

In turn, ProGreen’s application schedules are designed to meet its high standards. Clients sign up for fertilization service that includes nine visits – seven for applications and two built in for quality check-ups. “Our customer service has greatly increased because there are people and resources in place to handle it more efficiently,” Brown added. 

Investing in employees also requires looking forward – searching for talent to constantly filter into the organization to keep the company’s labor pool healthy. So, Brown emphasizes recruitment, brainstorming different methods of attracting potential employees.

Networking with current employees for future workers is one hiring method Brown plans to implement, and a full-time training coach will flatten the learning curve, he added. In addition, motivating employees to earn certification by paying for classes and tests and rewarding them with their new titles on business cards and invoices will continue to raise the bar for quality service.

And for Brown, quality is what will keep customers coming back. He’s quite frank when he says he’ll pay more to make sure the properties he services make the grade. “We will put more money in our spray tanks to get better results,” he emphasized, noting that alternative fertilization formulas that mix nitrogen stabilizers and humic acids keep clients’ properties green.

This visual message beats any marketing strategy – handbills, radio spots or newspaper advertisements, he remarked. “Quality works and caring about what you do will drive more customers to your door than all the marketing in the world.”
 
The author is Managing Editor – Special Projects for Lawn & Landscape magazine.