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LEXINGTON, Ky. – After three years of being nominated for the prestigious Small Business of the Year Award, the Lexington Chamber of Commerce has finally let Roscoe Klausing and his staff drop “It’s an honor just to be nominated,” from their vocabularies.
As owner of Lexington-based Klausing Group, Klausing had the privilege of accepting the Small Business of the Year Award during a presentation made by the Chamber of Commerce at the end of June. Klausing and his staff couldn’t be more excited. “There were a lot of larger companies that were nominated, as well, so we’re thrilled that we’re being recognized among a lot of other big players,” Klausing says.
In 1992, Roscoe and his brother Brook turned their mutual desire to buy a car into a fledgling business known as Klausing Lawn Mowing. Since then, the company, which incorporated in 1997, has grown to a projected $1.1 million in revenue for 2004 as a full service commercial landscape management contractor.
How has Klausing Group been able to grow so successfully? Klausing says much of the company’s success comes from a having a “business-first” focus. “Whenever I look at the company, I see a business first and the fact that we’re specifically a landscaping business comes next,” he says. “A lot of business owners in our industry are really focused on being landscape professionals, and they’re great at what they do, but there’s a lot more education available for business owners to take advantage of when it comes to the business administration aspect. We’ve approached it differently by building a company with systems and solid accounting practices so that the administrative side can really run smoothly and that lets us put our full attention on our customers and giving them great service.”\Additionally, Klausing notes that employee education and human resources are top priorities within the company. “We pride ourselves on having a knowledgeable, educated staff,” he says of his 15 full-time and 8 seasonal employees. “We have certified landscape professionals and certified arborists on staff and we really encourage our employees to go after their certifications and be experts at what they do. That kind of support promotes a great atmosphere for our employees because it shows them that we’re not just a stagnant company – they have opportunities to move forward in their careers and we want to help them do that as much as we can.”
Additionally, Klausing notes that much of his own education – both in landscaping and in business came from participating in the Associated Landscape Contractors of America (ALCA). “We joined ALCA in 1999 and the amount of knowledge and ideas that you can get into one room at an ALCA event is enormous,” he says. “We’ve really learned a lot about how to operate a successful business and by becoming an ALCA Mentor we’re able to give some of that back to other companies who are starting out.”
As a team, Klausing Group is motivated by the award and is looking forward to building on its achievement. “We’re a small company in a market that has a lot of big players, so taking home the award this year is really exciting for us,” Klausing says. “We’re committed to offering high-quality service to our customers and this will show people throughout our market that we’re serious about the work we do.”
The author is associate editor of Lawn & Landscape magazine and can be reached at lspiers@gie.net.