Q: My company has had successful growth in the past, but lately it seems like we have reached a plateau. How do I overcome this and take my business to the next level?
A: In 1980, Dick Bare started his small turf maintenance company, Arbor-Nomics, Inc., with a single truck and a spray rig. During the day, he would spray fertilizer and insecticides on his customers' lawns. Between jobs, he would go door to door seeking new customers. After three long years of doing this by himself, he finally hired his first employee. This gave Bare more time to focus on customer service, sales and growing the business.
His drive and attention to customers helped his company grow over the next five years. He continually trained his small crew and made sure they provided excellent customer care. After 10 years in business, his company grew to five employees, five trucks and a sales volume of $750,000 per year.
Once Bare reached this level, his business growth came to a halt. He could not take on anymore customers because he already worked 15-hour days. He managed everything in the business including scheduling crews, ordering materials, invoicing, paying bills, handling customer issues, doing the banking and selling.
For the next 10 years, Bare kept his stressful business at this same level. He made just enough money to keep the business going. But the stress was almost too much for him to handle.
After 16 years in business, Bare decided to do something about his future. His passion had always been serving, marketing and selling to his customers. But his company became stuck when he had to spend most of his time taking care of all the other details involved with running a business.
The Big Decision
Successful business owners should only focus on what they do best and hire skilled people to manage other areas of the business. Hiring managers is a big decision but is necessary for growth, and Bare finally made this important decision.
When a competitor's general manager became available, Bare knew he needed to hire him. This person wanted double what Bare was willing to pay, plus a car and gas card. After many sleepless nights, Bare bit the bullet and hired his first general manager. It paid off.
The Result
Arbor-Nomics Turf, Inc. increased in sales by 33 percent within the next twelve months. Bare focused on finding customers, and his general manager focused on getting the work done professionally. The company continues to grow steadily at 12 to 20 percent every year and is now approaching $6 million in annual sales.
ly targets and goals for income, jobs, dollars per day per crew, average income per crew, production rates, referrals, leads and sales, which are all posted and tracked on a board for everyone to see and compare. Everyone must hit a minimum target.
8 Secrets to Success From One Construction Business OwnerDick Bare, founder and owner of Arbor-Nomics, Inc., shares his strategies for pushing beyond the plateau. |
One tactic that has helped is distributing more than 500,000 creative marketing flyers every year. We also send a newsletter to customers with their invoices. The newsletter offers a $25 to $50 referral reward, uses lots of humor and includes my column called "Bare In Mind" that discusses things in my life. This personal touch gets lots of responses and keeps the customers reading it. I even publish my cell phone number for frustrated customers to call.
As part of our branding effort, workers wear uniforms and keep trucks clean and freshly painted at least every year.
To reach more customers, the company is listed in several home services directories. And we are investing heavily in our website, concentrating on search engine optimization and pay per click marketing campaigns. To make sure our marketing program is working, we track everything, including how many responses we receive from our newsletters, flyers and mailings.
2. Surround yourself with great people.
I learned quickly that a business needs to be made up of three types of people. Technicians are hard workers. They are task-oriented and try to do things perfectly, but they tend to not focus on the big picture or take many risks.
Sales people are very necessary to have on a team, but they often need tight management and require rigid structure and accountability.
Managers make sure all of the work gets done, hire great people, fire employees when necessary and avoid getting too personal with their staff.
Finding the right people must be a priority to grow a successful business. Always look for new employees everywhere you go including industry meetings and networking groups.
Always check references, use a tough interview process, and ask someone with great instincts about people to sit in on the interviews. Look carefully to eliminate the know-it-alls with big personalities- these people tend to make excuses for poor performances and only blame others.
3. Meet every week with the team.
To keep our company moving in a positive direction, every employee and manager meets weekly to plan, train and prepare for profitability. The owner and managers also meet weekly to discuss current priorities and monthly to discuss the numbers, strategies and company issues. In addition, the work crew goes through a 52-week training program.
4. Make sure all employees know their numbers.
All employees have weekly targets and goals for income, jobs, dollars per day per crew, average income per crew, production rates, referrals, leads and sales, which are all posted and tracked on a board for everyone to see and compare. Everyone must hit a minimum target.
5. Surround yourself with experts in your field.
Make it a priority to get into roundtable peer groups that meet weekly or monthly. Learn from industry leaders. Find out what they have done to be successful, and ask for advice. When necessary, hire the right consultants and coaches- it has made a huge difference in growing my company.
6. Continue personal development.
I read one or two business books monthly, attend several conventions yearly and subscribe to over 20 magazines. I make learning new and innovative ways to manage people, money and customers a priority. Also, I ask my management team to read a business book together every month and then discuss what they learned.
7. Give back to society.
Successful people are givers, not takers. Look for ways to give back to make the world a better place by donating time and money to charities and people in need. Arbor-Nomics offers free services to needy organizations in our community. By following these values, our customers trust us and know we stand for honesty and have a business built on faith and solid principles.
8. Have lots of fun.
I always try to keep things fun. I often hold cookouts for employees and other family-style events. A fun atmosphere helps create a positive, productive workforce.
Construction Business Owner, June 2011
