In the green industry, there is a lesson to be learned every day, according to Frank Mariani, CEO of Mariani Landscape based in Lake Bluff, Ill. And to make the most of these lessons, landscape contractors need to apply them in ways that work for their businesses. Mariani shared his business philosophy at the Oct. 19 meeting of the Ohio Landscape Association held at Southwest Landscape Management and Land Creations Landscaping in Columbia Station, Ohio.
"But don’t follow everything I say like the gospel,” Mariani says. “You have to do what works for you.”
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In 1973 Mariani became president of Mariani Landscape, a company his father, Vito Mariani Sr., founded as a small residential landscape firm in 1958. Today, Mariani employs more than 300, specializing in high-end residential landscape design, construction and maintenance. Mariani Landscape appears at No. 31 on Lawn & Landscape’s Top 100 list with 2005 revenue of more than $30 million.
Mariani also owns a 450-acre wholesale nursery and 120-acre container/propagation facility, which produces flowering shrubs, evergreens and container-grown perennials and groundcover. These facilities fill Mariani’s clients’ needs, supply other contractors and even consumers with plants. Under the Hampshire Farms brand, Mariani sells perennials at Home Depot stores throughout the Midwest.
To grow his business from “a group of nine to a team of 350,” Mariani followed five basic strategies. The first is to understand and market to your specific client base. According to Mariani, you can’t please clients unless you understand who they are and what they want.
“You have to make your clients happy, even if it means doing things that may be inconvenient to you and your team,” Mariani says. “If they want their driveway plowed at 4:05 a.m., be there at 4:05 a.m.”
Mariani’s second philosophy is to staff a consistent and motivated team of associates. Treat your employees with respect, pay them wages that compensate the quality of their work and make everyone feel like part of the team.
“Motivation starts from the top and works its way down” Mariani says. “You need to look for the right people and then keep them happy and motivated to work for you.”
Mariani takes the time to celebrate the successes of his employees through monthly recognition and annual blow-outs. He rewards those responsible for award-winning landscapes with letters home, plaques and general recognition. “In the end, it’s the work of the foreman and his crew that make an award-winning landscape,” Mariani says. “Share the glory and have fun with your staff.”
A third idea Mariani incorporates into his business is to have clear goals for your team, and establishing and sticking to a strategic plan and mission statement is a good place to start. "I couldn't get here without a map, and yet people run their businesses with out a map," he says. “At Mariani Landscape, our mission is to do whatever it takes for beautiful landscapes and happy clients,” Mariani says. “This idea acts as a map we follow to complete each job.”
Providing career paths for your associates to grow is another way to retain employees; Mariani recommends you present them with new challenges and healthy competition. “Give your employees the opportunity to move around within the company,” Mariani says. “During my years in the business, I’ve found that some people strive to move up the corporate ladder, some are content to stay where they are and others are happier leaving the company all together. But they like knowing they have that flexibility.”
Mariani’s last strategy is simply to offer quality products and services that compliment your business’ pricing structure. “In this day and age, value is everything,” Mariani says. “Whether your clients are high-end or not, no one likes to feel taken advantage of and everyone wants the best deal they can get.” Mariani suggests actions like client discounts, incentives for customer referrals and other various promotions to make customers feel they are getting the most for their money. "We have customers that are billionaires -- that's billion, with a 'B'," he says. "And yet they get excited about a $250 recognition for a referral, so that's what we give them. It just comes right off their bill, but these people just love it."
Vertical integration, or incorporating related ideas into new facets of a business, is a concept Mariani stressed frequently during his lecture. By adding services and products, tweaking practices and merging them together, Mariani has created his landscaping empire, which includes design, construction, maintenance and nursery operations. In his company, vertical integration has played out in company’s two nurseries, which are located in Kenosha, Wis., and Garden Prairie, Ill.
Marketing, not only external but internal, is an important part of a successful business, Mariani says. Newsletters, internal Web sites, message boards and other forms of communication are good ways to keep your staff up-to-date on what’s going on. Joining committee boards, contributing to charity groups and holding fund-raisers for worthy causes are proactive ways to keep your business in the limelight in the community. “Your image is something that you have to check every single day,” Mariani says. “You should always be thinking of ways to improve every aspect of your business.”
A SHARED FACILITY. Before Mariani’s talk, about 160 landscape contractors from all over Ohio packed the house at a unique landscape facility shared by Southwest Landscape Management and Land Creations Landscaping in Columbia Station, Ohio. Attendees toured the building and learned how three green industry businesses function independently under one roof.
Southwest, primarily a residential maintenance and enhancements business, and Land Creations, a design/build firm, are “brother” companies that co-own and operate from this 8,000 square-foot facility.
Twenty years ago, Steve Rak Sr., president of Southwest, retired from United Airlines. With an interest and background in the green industry (he has a degree in horticulture from Ohio State University), Rak started a landscape maintenance company out of his garage. Rak’s company grew fast, and he eventually relocated his business to an old barn in Brunswick Hills, Ohio. In 1989, his son Jeff graduated from Ohio State’s Agricultural Technical Institute, also with a degree in horticulture. Jeff pursued the design/build aspect of the industry, and started a business that also operated from the barn.
In 2000, the businesses began searching for new space for their growing firms. With Steve Sr. and Steve Jr. at the helm of Southwest and Jeff leading Land Creations, “the Rak Group” decided to co-locate once again, and two years later found a three acre property on which to build.
Today, both businesses operate from the facility along with Alpha Lawn Care – an independent lawn care company that rents the third bay from the Rak family’s facility.
Family businesses can be challenge, Steve Rak Sr., concedes, and keeping Southwest and Land Creations as separate entities is one way the owners keep their sanity and foster cooperation. “A lot of handshakes go back and forth between the company,” explains Southwest salesman Drew Krage, noting that the companies often supply each other with referrals, but that’s about it. The two businesses do not share employees, equipment or even office staff.
Southwest Landscape Management, which targets commercial maintenance of cluster homes and health-care facilities, operates four maintenance crews and one enhancement crew. The company provides maintenance for select residential clients (typically hold-overs from the days when the company was all residential) and snow removal for its commercial contracts. The company employs 17, eight of whom are H-2B workers.
Land Creations, with a 90/10 residential to commercial mix, operates four crews (three construction and one bed maintenance) and has a staff of 12 employees, including four H-2B workers. Land Creations, which has grown 10 percent a year, is priming for fast-growth since it hired Production Manager Mike Baran from outside the company. The move caused some company turmoil, and even resulted with the loss of some employees who were upset about an outside hire, but Jeff Rak says it was the right decision. “We want to grow fast to get up to about five residential and two commercial crews, and keep one bed maintenance crew,” he says.