Read U.S. Lawns Vice President Mike Fitzpatrick’s article on Mower Fleet Management: Streamlining the Specification and Purchasing Process published by Facility Maintenance Decisions. View full article.
September 2014 - Entrepreneur Magazine featured U.S. Lawns franchisee Steve Ferguson for their Franchise Players series. Steve gave his insight into franchising, including why to buy a franchise, why choose U.S. Lawns, and what advise he would give to individuals who want to own their own franchise. Steve and his wife Teana were inducted into the U.S. Lawns Hall of Fame in 2014 and are members of the U.S. Lawns Million Dollar Club.
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September 2014 - Retail Facility Business magazine recently published on their website an article by U.S. Lawns President Ken Hutcheson about Rapid Response. It includes information about proper awareness and planning that will help speed the recovery and lessen the extent of long term damage to a retail property. For instance, preventative measures, including identifying landscape elements susceptible to damage, can be key for a property’s storm readiness. Additionally, noting and monitoring vulnerable features such as trees, branches, shrubs and power lines, can help to map out more dangerous areas of a property.
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Septenber 2014 - Hotel Executive has published U.S. Lawns President Ken Hutcheson’s article on his insights into landscaping for ponds and pools, including top considerations, harmonizing with nature, plants & trees and more.
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August 2014 - Facilities Maintenance Decisions magazine posted a two-part article about our insights on maintaining, repairing and/or replacing irrigation systems, which includes evaluating the system and smart technologies.
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We’re not commercial realtors, but our clients come to us to help “sell” to prospective tenants. As a property manager, you can probably relate. Sales are an ongoing part of your job, from securing new contracts to retaining the lessees you currently have.
At U.S. Lawns, we use landscaping to attract commercial tenants. Actually, it’s one of the few variables you can control. That all-important location is something you’re stuck with, good or bad. But changing the appearance of your grounds is easy. And since 1986, we’ve been helping some of the nation’s most successful companies leverage their “curb appeal” to drive their sales.
Here are a few hints from the grounds care experts at U.S. Lawns, to help you make your grounds an attractive asset to prospective tenants.
• Create an experience. When businesses look for a space, they’ve probably got a certain experience in mind. After all, they’re looking to create an environment that will appeal to their customers, too. Even if a location offers all the right amenities, you may not close the deal if it fails to really draw people in. Of course, every business is looking for something different, especially depending on what industry they’re in. But taking that extra time to make a property neat, a lawn glowing and healthy, adding the right flowers and plants—anything that adds beauty and ambience will go a long way in “selling” your building, facility or space. Consult with your owner, and with a landscape expert like a U.S. Lawns. Determine the feeling you want to create, and then let your grounds experts cultivate it. It may sound like a little thing, but it’s what will ultimately set your property apart.
• Be consistent. Once you’ve created your experience—or physical brand—keep it consistent across all your locations. This is particularly important if you’re managing a corporate chain of any kind, be it a restaurant group or a collection of retail stores. Every time you add a location, it needs to be some place the consumer feels at home. Even if you’re trying to attract different kinds of businesses, consistency is still important. You’re building a reputation, and companies need to know they’ll get the same experience anytime they rent from you. Quality cannot be compromised. When it comes to your grounds, we suggest working with a company that can replicate the same level of work across all your locations. With U.S. Lawns, you’ll get a dedicated Account Manager for your entire portfolio, to make sure this happens.
• Keep it safe. A business’s biggest nightmare is property liability. And it’s your job to make sure your tenants never have to worry. Your grounds can be a major safety hazard, if not properly maintained. It’s crucial to hire a landscaper who knows what the issues are and how to avoid them. At U.S. Lawns, we work only with commercial real estate, and we’ve been doing so since 1986. We have extensive safety checklists, which our crews can review with you personally at the beginning of every job. Our owners train their crews with an OSHA approved safety program, and we make safety a number one priority on the job site, too. Plus, if you’ve got property in a cold weather climate, we take extra precautions during snow and ice season to reduce your liability and prevent accidents before they occur.
Your landscape is a direct expression of your brand—your company, its values, and the kind of tenants you want to attract. It’s also a great opportunity to embellish your property, increase its value, and create a beautiful environment for people to work in. We believe that commercial landscaping is its own art, and we’ve spent 38 years helping businesses make their properties more aesthetic and marketable. Need a little help selling your property? Try giving us a call.
“The bigger a company gets, the smaller it has to act.”
That’s a quote from John Moore, author of the book Tribal Wisdom and former marketing director at Starbucks. And it’s pretty relevant to a national grounds care company whose lifeblood is local franchisees. We think there’s something to be learned there.
Because, if there’s any big company that’s learned to “act small,” it’s Starbucks. Back in the 90s, the chain grew so quickly that it began to overrun small coffee shops in local communities. People started joking about seeing a Starbucks on every corner, and in some cases, it wasn’t a joke. Quality declined, consistency wavered, and service no longer claimed top priority. In fact, Starbucks didn’t have a very good relationship with customers, who saw them as the embodiment of corporate culture.
Luckily, a phenomenal leadership team saw the downward trend, and had the vision to turn it around. Starbucks started acting like a small coffee shop, instead of competing with small coffee shops. Today, there aren’t as many retail locations, but profits are much higher. Ask any coffee drinker, and they’ll tell you why.
Starbucks has good coffee, but more importantly, they have excellent service.
Last year before the conference, a Home Office employee stopped at her usual Starbucks, grumbling about having to catch a very early flight to Baltimore. The barista bought her latte and thanked her for being a good customer.
That’s a big company acting small. It’s a national chain providing local service. (Sound familiar?) When Starbucks baristas deliver that kind of service, they create brand loyalty—otherwise known as 100% Client Retention. They make 100% Customer Satisfaction look easy… and certainly attainable.
Starbucks isn’t the only big company who dominates the market by “acting small.” Retailers like Amazon and Zappos are not only huge companies, but they’re completely online. Customers don’t even have a brick-and-mortar location in which to have personal encounters with employees; and yet, people continually rave about the service. Amazon has disrupted the market so much that big booksellers like Borders have been forced to shut their doors. DVD rental stores like Blockbuster are a thing of the past. Like Starbucks, Amazon has found a way to dominate the market by acting like a small retailer. (A small retailer that just happens to have everything you might every want to purchase, that is.)
U.S. Lawns needs to remember that we, too, can dominate the market. And we don’t have to be anything other than who we are: a big company who acts small. “National strength, local commitment, and the power of the network,” as we say. Nobody else in the industry can deliver that.
100% Customer Satisfaction is so crucial because that’s what “acting small” means. It’s what local commitment means. And that’s the piece that gives us our competitive advantage. What’s more, if we take our cue from businesses like Starbucks, we’ll see that this kind of radical personalization of an industry that has previously acted highly impersonal can allow us to change the marketplace in ways that are revolutionary. It will put us on top, in a really big way.
As we ramp up to this year’s conference, we’d like to challenge all of you to consider this radical personalization. 100% Client Retention is a part of that. 100% Customer Satisfaction is a part of that. All the other things we’ve blogged about in connection with that initiative are a part of that. The Customer Connection is just another way of saying it.
Right now, commercial grounds care is undergoing some changes as an industry. These changes will make things more impersonal, not less. This is our chance to leverage our service excellence to completely change the game. Because it’s not how big you are that matters; it’s how small you act.
June 12, 2014 - Ken Hutcheson gives insight on keeping properties looking their best this time of the year. View full article
“I was recently the victim of the recent tornados that swept through Arkansas. Actually, victim is the word everyone else is using; I don’t feel like a victim. I feel very fortunate.”
So begin the remarkable words in which Billy Stain, U.S. Lawns franchise owner in Little Rock and The Ozarks, tells his story. About a month ago, Billy and his wife lost numerous possessions and sustained $150,000 in damages to their Arkansas home. But to hear Billy tell it, all that mattered was the support he received.
“It’s hard to have a very large ego when such graciousness is all around. There was a charity baseball game to help raise money for the communities affected.” When strangers found out Billy and his family lived in the neighborhood most badly damaged, they reached out to see how they, personally, could help.
Of course, the offers of help that mattered most to Billy came from his fellow U.S. Lawns franchisees. “There really wasn’t much to do,” Billy admits. “We were fortunate to have good insurance, and that no one was hurt. We lost some of our possessions, but we didn’t lose any of the memories of our lives and the children.”
Nevertheless, the outpouring of support from other U.S. Lawns franchise owners meant the world to Billy.
“The camaraderie among franchisees is the best part of this organization. I’m so thankful for everyone checking on me and making sure my needs were met. I believe if you’re at all running your life and business correctly, that should be the way.”
Billy’s dedication to his community and the Power of the Network has made him a rising star since he joined U.S. Lawns in 2005. His Little Rock territory has become extremely successful, and in early 2013 he purchased a second location in Springfield, Mo. Although he humbly credits his success to his staff and a supportive network, Billy’s principles directly align with the U.S. Lawns brand.
“Calling when you know something has happened in their lives, good or bad, finding out the needs of the potential customer before writing a proposal, and just plain caring about the person across the table should be a staple.”
When asked what he’s learned the most from being part of the U.S. Lawns family, Billy’s reply resonates with all aspects of our business:
“Take care of the needs of others, and they’ll take care of yours.”
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