Talking Turnaround

The Harvest Group’s Bill Arman and Ed Laflamme gave a presentation and Q&A with the three winners of Lawn & Landscapes Turnaround Tour during the GIE+EXPO and LANDSCAPES 2017. The Turnaround Tour was a year-long program where Arman and Laflamme made an initial two-day visit, analyzed the companies and then did advised the company throughout 2017. For more on the tour visit www.lawnandlandscape.com/page/turnaround-tour and check out our December issue for a final report. Here’s a summary of what the three companies learned from the experience so far.

Freedom Lawn & Landscapes: Heather and Jeremy Dirksen were working too much in the field at their Oklahoma City-based company and had too many jobs that weren’t making a profit. They promoted someone within to take over operations in the field, so the Dirksens could focus more on the big picture of the company. They also dropped the jobs that were unprofitable. To make up for that lost revenue, they pinpointed properties near their shop, called and visited them, and let those property owners know that if they ever are unhappy with their current landscaper, to call them. Laflamme refers to it as “being #2 for 200.” The approach helped them get more profitable jobs, and though they still decreased in revenue, the company increased in profit margin.

Vineland Landscaping was focused too much on construction, and diversified more to attract more commercial maintenance. The company, led by Will Gruccio and his partner Michael D’Orazio, has several construction jobs coming up, so they will continue to monitor the balance between the two services.  The company also made a point to focus more on safety. They didn’t have a problem with safety violations, but still integrated the National Association of Landscape Professional’s safety program. They also had safety meetings more often in the morning, which paid off in the long run by saving on injuries and the meetings also elevated morale by showing employees you care about their safety. Vineland also has a worn-down work truck they are using this season but will replace when the season is over. Arman suggest that owners take a different work truck home on occasion to get a feel what their crew must drive every day.

Ira, Deborah and Darris Wade had a goal of generating an extra $100,000 for Wade’s Lawn Service in Goodlettsville, Tennessee, and are on pace for $80,000 as of late October. They’ve focused strongly on enhancements and add-on sales. “Our guys have gotten excited about upselling services like leaf clean up because they are getting a lot of the work they offer,” Deborah said. The Wade’s are developing a program to reward the employees for those sales, which is helping to add to the bottom line. They also focused on something the Harvester’s always drive home: Know your cost. They had some idea what they were spending on a job, but made it a point to become more knowledgeable on their cost calculations. “It really set the standard to know which job to do,” Deborah said.