At this point you’ve already completed a lot of the leg work in developing your sales and marketing process:
Now you enter the decision stage of your prospective buyer’s journey, and as a U.S. Lawns owner, you are well positioned as U.S. Lawns’ consultative and relationship driven sales approach, will not only help you close deals, but also set you up for a lasting customer relationship.
We understand that not everyone is comfortable with selling. For that reason, U.S. Lawns has developed the Business Developer program to help you, or a designated member of your team, build the skillset to become the sales engine of your business. Once you’ve secured and started servicing your first group of customers, having someone who is 100 percent dedicated to driving sales is an essential part of reaching the next level in your business.
With radically personalized, hands on sales support, we work together to build a multi-truck operation as quickly as possible. With someone focused on selling on a full-time basis, U.S. Lawns franchisees surpass the ceiling independent operators often hit when they go it alone. By leveraging the collective power of the network, the program cultivates your business developer to be more productive, allowing them to learn from our professional sales coaches and from their peers: business developers who operate in U.S. Lawns territories across the nation. The U.S. Lawns culture of competitive camaraderie motivates them to drive for, and achieve, more.
When you make the decision to hire a Business Developer we will give you the tools to attract and identify quality candidates for the position with detailed job descriptions and digital job postings you can place. For those looking to take a more aggressive approach, we can refer you to a national staffing agency that has shown success in helping many of our franchisees fill key roles in their businesses.
We will provide orientation schedules and an onboarding and training plan that you can execute to help them get up to speed quickly and start selling bringing in business. A shared Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system will allow your business developer to work closely with our sales coaches and call center team to share information and close leads effectively. E-learning modules, weekly sales coaching, huddle calls and boot camps will keep your business developer growing their skill set and monthly networkwide competitions push them to the next level. This all results in more revenue for your business, while at the same time freeing you up as the business owner to manage the business at a higher level.
U.S. Lawns’ processes and systems are comprehensive and designed to help you as your business grows. As you close more deals you will need to also focus on retaining your key customer relationships over the life of your business. In final article in this series, we will discuss our commitment to 100% customer retention and how programs like the U.S. Lawns Account Manager training program will help you develop long lasting relationships with your customers, creating a sustainable business that helps you reach your goals.
America’s crossroads, Indiana, has been identified by U.S. Lawns as a market poised for substantial growth. A business-friendly environment, low cost of doing business and well-built infrastructure make the Hoosier state an ideal place to launch your career in commercial landscape management.
Surrounded by a strong network of successful franchisees, the right entrepreneur can leverage the brand power that comes with joining the nation’s leading commercial landscape maintenance franchise. A comprehensive support system and proven business model provide the opportunity to create personal wealth and stability during these uncertain economic times.
“Indiana represents a great market opportunity for U.S. Lawns and for the right franchise candidate who is ready to take the next step in controlling their careers and future,” says David Wells, U.S. Lawns’ senior director of franchise recruiting, “With strong brand recognition and first-rate territories still available, this is an opportunity for a business minded individual to get into a service-based business with a proven business model that has demonstrated to be both recession and pandemic resistant.”
Currently the Hoosier State has seven U.S. Lawns territories operating. The brand hopes to launch seven additional territories in the next three years in the markets of North Indianapolis, Carmel, Ft. Wayne, Bloomington, Anderson/Muncie, Gary and Valparaiso.
With more and more people turning towards entrepreneurship to create financial growth and a better lifestyle, discerning investors wouldn’t want to miss out on these opportunities. To start on the path to taking control of your career and future in Indiana, start the conversation here. And if you are not in Indiana but would like to see other available opportunities with U.S. Lawns get more information here.
With your marketing plan building awareness amongst your prospective customers, some will begin to advance into the consideration stage of their buyer’s journey. Just as in the awareness stage, U.S. Lawns has designed programs to help you convert those leads into appointments, the next step in securing commercial clients.
U.S. Lawns understands that many business owners, especially those in the start up phase, don’t have the resources to assign a dedicated person to prospecting activities. As such, the Direct Sales Dial-Up (DSDU) team was created to increase the efficiency of your business development efforts by acting as an extension of your operation. The DSDU team makes calls to your prospective customers on your behalf, identifying the decision makers and setting appointments so that you can begin your efforts with a warm lead that is ready to consider your service offering.
Understanding the importance of building a sales focused culture from the start, we are happy to offer our Accelerated Territory Management (ATM) program to new franchisees who join the U.S. Lawns network. The ATM program is an enhanced service offering by the DSDU team under which a dedicated agent will make hundreds of monthly calls on your behalf, setting as many appointments as possible to create a surge of sales activity in a short period of time. Daily reporting and a shared CRM platform will offer valuable reconnaissance on opportunities to help you effectively penetrate your market. This frees you up to focus on building relationships and helping clients with their individual needs.
Three months of the ATM program is covered as part of the initial prospecting fee that is included in your startup expenses. At the end of the three month period, you can invest in more time with the ATM program, transition into a lead nurturing program, or scale down to the standard DSDU service offering.
The lead nurturing program is designed to be a “set it and forget it” lead nurturing campaign to continue to develop the opportunities identified in the ATM program. The team will continue to set appointments on your behalf, as they develop the opportunities identified in your market through follow-up calls and email marketing campaigns that allow you to stay in front or your prospective clients.
Under the standard DSDU service offering, which is currently provided to franchisees as part of their monthly marketing fund contribution, a DSDU agent makes calls to the top 75 targeted customers in each territory on a monthly basis.
The various DSDU service levels are part of U.S. Lawns’ personalized and comprehensive approach to support that is designed to help you reach your goals at every stage of your development at a pace that is right for you. This means you can invest in more time with the ATM program at any time should you feel it necessary. This option is ideal for any business owner who would like to pursue a focused growth phase and is available as a supplemental program to all of our franchisees at any time.
Where many independent landscape business owners struggle to grow past a certain level, U.S. Lawns has developed the programs, systems and processes to help its franchisees grow a large, sustainable commercial landscaping business. The DSDU team, along with the ATM and lead nurturing programs, are examples of the tools we offer that allow our franchisees to leverage our national resources and support to help them grow their business and build their client list at a faster pace.
Up next in the blog series, we’ll take a look at the U.S. Lawns’ Business Developer program and how a relationship driven sale can not only help you win in the decision stage, but also set you up for a lasting customer relationship.
Now that we have identified commercial customer opportunities in your market, the U.S. Lawns team will help you formulate a customized action plan to reach those prospective customers. By developing materials, strategies and campaigns targeted toward building brand awareness amongst your market’s gatekeepers and decision makers, you will be better positioned to secure more accounts.
As a recap, in the awareness stage potential customers are already aware of their need for service and you are working to make them aware that U.S. Lawns can fill that need. More than anything else, when selecting a service provider for landscape maintenance services, commercial property decision makers need confidence that the provider is capable of completing the required service while making them look good in the process. Confidence is established through a professional image that includes:
While the market reputation and resources are conveyed through the U.S. Lawns brand name, U.S. Lawns also helps its franchisees establish a professional image through a suite of physical and digital branding elements that are covered by your monthly marketing fund contribution. These elements include:
By leveraging the U.S. Lawns brand and the marketing materials outlined above, our franchisees are able to quickly establish the confidence and credibility their customers require with a level of professionalism that is often lacking in the industry.
In the next article in this series, we will discuss how U.S. Lawns gives our franchisees an edge in the consideration stage with programs like the Direct Sales Dial-Up and Accelerated Territory Management.
As mentioned in the introduction to this series, before you can begin to market to your target customers, you must have a clear vision of who your target customers are. One of the reasons that U.S. Lawns has been a leader in its industry for more than three decades is that we have clearly defined our niche. By focusing exclusively on the commercial side of the larger landscaping industry, we are able to effectively target commercial property owners and professional property managers in our messaging.
Why do we focus on commercial properties?
By focusing on commercial properties, U.S. Lawns offers a business model that gives franchisees a roadmap to maximize their revenue potential and create their own sustainable and recession resistant businesses. Here are a few of the things that differentiate the commercial sector and make it the ideal niche of the discerning business owner:
How do we target the right customers?
U.S. Lawns’ sales and marketing support helps you develop a clear understanding of who your target customers are. We have developed detailed customer personas that help you understand and solve the problems faced by key decision makers in multiple market verticals when it comes to their landscape maintenance needs.
Using state-of-the-art commercial real estate and business performance data and analytics platforms, our team generates a detailed customer list and market vertical analysis. These lists are inclusive of the number and size of properties in key commercial market verticals such as multi-family housing, retail, office, healthcare, hospitality, and industrial.
Resources such as these tend to cost prohibitive for the typical small landscape business owner, but with the power of the U.S. Lawns network, we are able to leverage platforms such as these for the benefit of our franchisees.
Once the market vertical analysis has been completed our team will work with you to build a plan of attack, focused on developing route density and a well-diversified customer portfolio that will help you avoid becoming overly dependent on any single market vertical. This plan will be monitored and developed over time as it may make sense to adjust focus at different times in your business development.
Because U.S. Lawns is committed to your success, we have a dedicated and experienced team that will leverage the resources that come with our national brand to help you build a sustainable business. This starts with clearly defining your target customers to make your marketing efforts more efficient.
In Part III we will discuss how the U.S. Lawns team helps you develop a multi-channel marketing plan to reach your prospective customers in the awareness stage of their buyer’s journey.
U.S. Lawns understands its franchisees typically didn’t get into the landscaping business to become salespeople, but rather to build a sustainable business. But the truth is, to build this sustainable business, you first have to know how to market it. For this reason, we work hard to make marketing your services as simple as possible
The U.S. Lawns franchise support team is a group of sales, marketing and operational professionals who intimately understand the landscaping industry and function as an extension of your business. This built in sales support is dedicated to helping you find and secure commercial landscaping accounts with a strategic and highly personalized, expert approach.
With U.S. Lawns by your side, you don’t need to have any marketing experience.
“I don’t even know what an effective marketing campaign looks like.”
An effective marketing campaign engages the prospective buyer at three primary stages in their journey: awareness, consideration, decision.
Leveraging the knowledge and expertise of U.S. Lawns’ franchise support team, you will be able to efficiently reach your prospective buyers at each stage of the buyer’s journey.
“But wait, before I launch a marketing campaign, I need to know who I should market to.”
U.S. Lawns has put together comprehensive sales support programs that first help you identify the potential customers in your designated territory and then addresses the customer’s needs in each of these primary stages and helps to develop loyal, life-long customer relationships.
“How does U.S. Lawns help me find and secure commercial customers?”
This is one of the most important questions we receive from discerning candidates yourself. Because it is such an important question, and because U.S. Lawns support programs are so multi-faceted and comprehensive, we can’t possibly address it adequately in a single blog post. As such, this will be part I of a six-part blog series that will answer the question in detail over the coming weeks. Specifically, here is what you can expect:
Our hope is that after we explore this topic, you will have a better understanding of the U.S. Lawns sales and marketing support structure and the advantage it will give you as you leverage it to build a sustainable landscaping business.
The green industry is enormous, generating over $99 billion in annual revenue and comprised of many different segments. Each summer, national trade publication Landscape Management releases its list of the top 150 green industry companies ranked by annual revenue. This prestigious list represents the best of the best in the highly fragmented green industry.
With the recent release of the 2020 rankings we thought it would be a good time to put our performance in perspective to help you understand where U.S. Lawns falls in the larger green industry as a whole.
This rankings begin with a broad ranking of the entire industry. This includes a wide array of service offerings like landscape construction, hardscape installation, chemical application, and maintenance services (among others) in both commercial and residential settings. In this ranking U.S. Lawns claimed the number 12 spot with $178,520,000 in annual revenue.
When the rankings are narrowed to focus on the $70 billion commercial segment that we operate in, U.S. Lawns comes in at number eight. When the rankings are further narrowed to focus on our core service offering of commercial landscape maintenance services, U.S. Lawns jumps all the way up to number three! This clearly shows that we understand our niche in the industry and that we perform very well inside of it.
Still, it is important to note that the top 150 companies combined account for only slightly more than 12% of overall green industry revenues. Why is that important? Because it means that there is more than enough room for small business operators to grab a piece of the market and find success in the industry. And while the U.S. Lawns brand as a whole is represented very well on this list, each of our 250 franchised branches are owned by individual small business operators who have been able to carve out their own piece of the market by leveraging the support, systems and tools that come along with being a part of the U.S. Lawns network.
This is truly what we mean when we talk about national strength and local commitment: a strong, nationally recognized brand combined with a small business mindset that can provide an individualized focus on the needs of each commercial customer.
If you’re ready to explore the possibility of joining the top ranked franchise in the commercial landscape services industry and grab your piece of the burgeoning market, click here.
This week, U.S. Lawns is excited to announce the launch of their newly redesigned uslawns.com website and local team pages. These enhanced pages are designed with our franchisee’s local digital presence in mind, serving as a sales engine to drive growth across the network.
With its streamlined and action-oriented format, customers will be able to find more information about individual services and be directed to their local team faster. The expanded key word focused services tab boosts search engine optimization (SEO) rankings, driving more traffic to the site and making it easier for potential customers to find the service they are looking for. A focus on mobile responsiveness improves user experience and provides greater accessibility and visibility for the website.
In addition to its focus on optimization and creating a strong digital presence, the new website is highly customizable and tailored to each team. Features such as the owner information page, reviews and the ability to upload videos and photos allows franchisees to personalize their team page and tell their own story, while still staying compliant with brand standards.
Strategic updates to the team pages add additional value for U.S. Lawns franchisees. Area specific information, such as location-based services help drive local SEO, creating a more robust local digital presence. Increasing your visibility within your community in turn drives more sales.
One new feature of the team page is the reviews section. Here teams can ask for and respond to reviews. It was designed to give you greater control over reviews, making it easier for you to manage your online reputation while also helping web search rankings.
U.S. Lawns partnered with digital marketing industry leaders, Integrated Digital Strategies (IDS) to create this new sales-focused website. When you sign on with U.S. Lawns, you get the power of this full-service marketing company to power your local marketing program. Services include:
By leveraging IDS’ expertise and best practices, U.S. Lawns is making digital marketing accessible to all of its franchisees as part of its core package of marketing support services.
To take a look at the new uslawns.com website, click here.
Intentionally cultivated and fostered, the U.S. Lawns’ culture is what has propelled the brand forward to lead its industry and set the foundation for growth. Ken Hutcheson, president of U.S. Lawns breaks down the culture into four principles. These principles are what help the brand change the lives of their franchisees, helping them build sustainable businesses that improves their individual communities.
“National strength, local commitment. Think globally, act locally. That’s been our model since 1986 and it has served us well.” Hutcheson says “It was important for us to build an organization with a culture that is aware of the impact our personal actions have on the community as a whole -- from the families of our employees, to the customers, to the vendors, to the entire landscaping industry. We need to be respectful of the interconnectedness of the personal and business universe.”
This holistic focus on culture has been a driving force behind the brand as it has expanded into new markets over the years, keeping pace as the needs of their commercial customers has changed and grown. “As we scaled and continue to scale, we are committed to never compromising on the responsiveness and service excellence our customers have come to expect from U.S. Lawns,” says Hutcheson.
“U.S. Lawns provides the systems and support to the franchisees, who then in turn provide a hometown service. There is a relationship there that in the absence of a strong culture will not work. We are not just one business, but more than 250 independently owned businesses operating together under one brand.” He explains, “The difference between a successful franchise and an unsuccessful one is the people, the team and the culture. The business model is proven, success comes down to having the right people with a shared set of values and mission to execute it.”
Defining a brand’s mission and values is the first step to intentionally building a positive and growth-oriented culture. Once defined, it sets expectations for how the brand will conduct itself in its relationship with its franchisees and in turn their customers. In his own words, Hutcheson breaks down U.S. Lawns’ culture into four principles.
To quote Simon Mainwaring. ‘The keys to brand success are self-definition, transparency, authenticity and accountability.’ Great companies have brands that others want to follow. These are not built from the outside but expressed from within; it’s in their DNA. Our brand is not a logo. It is our way of life. What lies in the DNA of our company sets us apart and might truly inspire others to follow our example. Franchisees need to more than just lease the brand; they need to buy into the DNA of the brand.”
When I think of interdependence, I think of the Gandhi quote, ‘Interdependence is and ought to be as much the ideal of man as self-sufficiency.’ In the franchisee and franchisor relationship, as well as in the business owner and customer relationship, each party needs the other to be successful. The more collaborative you can be with everyone who does business with you, the more you are creating a relationship of mutual respect rather than a top-down relationship. By emphasizing collaboration with our business partners, we create a more inclusive relationship that increases our bottom line.
“The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision.” - Helen Keller. A company without a sincere mission will fail; and you cannot fake a sincere mission. Choose goals that inspire participation from others who do business with you. U.S. Lawns’ brand vision is 100% franchisee satisfaction and 100% client retention. Our franchisees and clients can expect actions from us that strive to achieve that vision. When the customer knows how much they’re valued, they’re going to value that relationship in return. When your vendors know how much you value your customers, they’re going to step up and deliver as well.
The concept of getting “buy-in” from employees or customers is important, because it reaffirms that people have a choice. It reminds us to respect the freedom and autonomy of all human beings. Respecting others who don’t go along with your business model actually helps strengthen your culture. Franchisees have some autonomy, they aren’t employees, they make their own choices. A Madaleine L’Engle quote comes to mind, “Because to take away a man's freedom of choice, even his freedom to make the wrong choice, is to manipulate him as though he were a puppet and not a person.”
With these four principles as the benchmarks to guide the brand’s culture, U.S. Lawns’ has positioned itself as an industry leader. Keeping in mind there is an interconnectedness between the individual franchisee and the franchise as a whole, has allowed U.S. Lawns to build a culture people want to be a part of. Hutcheson sums it up this way, ““When your vendors buy in, when your customers buy in, when the community buys in, that is when you win. That is when good becomes great.”
For U.S. Lawns, great is the standard. 100% franchisee satisfaction and 100% client retention is more than a motto, it is what drives the culture.
After years of working in real estate development and management, Tommy Kilbride decided it was time to build something for himself. “I wanted the pride of being able to put my name on something of my own. I wanted to be able to say to my girls that their dad runs his own business,” says Kilbride.
With three small daughters at home, family was a driving factor for pursuing business ownership. “Having control over my own schedule would allow me to spend more time with my daughters and be more available for them. As they grow, I wanted more flexibility in my business and be able to do things like take them to school in the morning,” explains Kilbride, “When you are in the middle of a development project, it takes up all your time and energy to make sure you meet your deadlines. It took me away from my family. I was looking for a business that could eventually sustain itself, as well as being scalable.”
Kilbride’s real estate development partner, Tait Coates, felt the same way. “We both had a bug for small business and would talk about different ideas on long car rides,” recalls Kilbride. After Coates became a U.S. Lawns franchisee, Kilbride knew the business model was what he was looking for. “Once Tait started talking about U.S. Lawns, I saw how the business checked so many of the boxes we had discussed years earlier. Tait and I both have a similar work mindset and partnering up with him fit what I wanted my next step to be,” Kilbride says.
For Kilbride, the investment cost to become a franchisee was right, saying, “The low barrier of entry appealed to me. It was normal to put up earnest money for that same amount in real estate development. I felt the cost was reasonable, it didn’t feel like a risk, especially when you factor in the brand’s systems and support.”
Speaking of the systems and support, Kilbride says, “While I had experience in the commercial landscape operational side, I didn’t have the structures needed to run the business. U.S. Lawns helped me learn how to do things like quoting jobs and bookkeeping. The systems are simple, and when you follow the program laid out for you, you will be successful.”
He adds, “Being business minded will take you far in this business. Understanding the bottom line and budgets is helpful. The brand’s robust support and training will fill in the gaps. I like to put it this way: experience need not apply when it comes to U.S. Lawns. It takes an entrepreneurial spirit and hustle. Those are two things you can’t teach. The rest you can learn.”
Another asset Kilbride saw in joining U.S. Lawns was being able to leverage the brand’s recognition and reputation. “While I am new to the business, when I talk to potential clients, I have the 30 plus years of expertise behind me to help me get it right. It goes a long way,” says Kilbride.
Since launching his business in February, Kilbride has found satisfaction in building his team, saying,” It is rewarding to be able to provide my team with growth opportunities and a slice of ownership for themselves. I believe strongly in the Richard Branson quote: ‘Train people well enough so they can leave, treat them well enough so they don’t want to.’ This is ingrained in the U.S. Lawns culture, and it provides a strong foundation for the culture in my own business.”
Kilbride concludes with this, “Starting your own business takes a lot of work upfront, but as my U.S. Lawns business grows it will create more freedom and flexibility in my life. Having a built-in recurring and self-sustaining revenue from a business that I am proud to put my name on is something I am excited to be building.”
To learn more about U.S. Lawns can help you create more freedom and flexibility in your life, click here.
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