Last time we checked in with Bobby and Lauren White, they were working on a 2@200 campaign. This process, per the suggestion of the Harvesters, required Bobby to formulate a list of 200 ideal commercial clients who aren’t theirs yet but one day could be. The idea is to be front-of-mind next time they’re unhappy with their current landscaping provider or their contract is up for renewal.
While Bobby has still worked on this initiative, it’s actually worked out that some ideal clients are reaching out to him instead. One client in particular just signed on for 2019 winter services and 2020 grounds maintenance and will pay enough that Bobby says it’s a “game-changer.”
“It’s going to be pushing the $200,000 mark for (maintenance),” Bobby says. “When I asked the management office what made them reach out to us, they simply said they saw us in passing.”
Of course, much of that has to do with the company’s branding. During their first visit, the Harvesters praised their prominent and crisp logo design on the Maple Hill trucks and signage. That has evidently proven to be a success, one that Lauren says they’ll continue to build upon. During the winter, she plans on revisiting the company’s website to make sure it’s attractive to the clients they’re starting to target. They stumbled into their last game-changer by happenstance, but they want to be able to really sell to more of those similar commercial clients in the future.
Both Bobby and Lauren praised their new batch of employees, who they’re rewarding frequently. Bobby boosted the recruiting bonuses for his current employees to $350, and he has shown commitment to his longest-standing employees with Visa gift cards.
One incredible employee has essentially turned into four more great employees because he was trying to make some extra cash.
Granted, Bobby wishes they could’ve started in April rather than August, but he knows that beggars can’t be choosers. He says they seem like long-term employees, which is partially what he told the Harvesters he wanted out of employees in their first conference call before the Turnaround Tour experience began.
“I said honestly, I put zero weight in experience,” Bobby says. “I really want to know what’s between the guy’s two ears. We can teach this work to anyone – it’s labor-intensive, but it’s not that hard to learn. If you’ve got the integrity and the burning desire to be proud of your own work, anybody who’s got it can do (landscaping).”
Lauren plans to spend the rest of the season cleaning up some of the books and reorganizing the company’s financials. She wants a clean slate for the start of next year in terms of budgeting clearly, so the Harvesters tasked her with completing a mini budget.
“In the past, it’s just been, ‘You pay your bills, you pay your people, you pay yourselves,’ and then you just figure it out and hope for the best,” Lauren says. “This year has really been focused on putting dollars where they need to go and focusing on what areas are actually making money.”
Harvesters’ Take.
It looks like Bobby and Lauren at Maple Hill Lawn & Garden will meet and perhaps exceed the financial goals we agreed on this past winter. Their gross margins and net profit are well above our forecast.
We feel this is happening as a result of some large jobs they have been able to subcontract and by visiting all of their accounts with the goal of producing at least one proposal per client. These additional enhancement sales are driving up their gross margins as we predicted and this explains their growing net profits.
Like most companies their biggest problem is with people. Harvester Bill gave them his, “Keep the Keepers” program and offered some constructive advice to foster a more loyal workforce.
All in all, they are doing awesome and they are very optimistic about the future of their company.