Lawn Care Franchise Ownership Tips - Spring-Green

Spring-Green Lawn Care Welcomes Howard Graber

Spring-Green Lawn Care’s newest franchisee opened his business this month in Clarksville, Tenn. Howard Graber is a great addition to the Spring-Green family, and we want to congratulate him on his opening and wish him the best of luck with his new business.

Howard will service middle Tennessee from Clarksville to Hendersonville. He spent the last 12 years as a consultant providing financial management services for companies in industries like technology, apparel, automotive, salvage and security. Howard is excited about this opportunity to leverage his management skills in a business he enjoys. 

Please take a moment to join us in welcoming Howard to the team. You can send him a quick note at hgraber@spring-green.net. 

Success & Growth - Indiana Lawn Care

Based on the success of our existing Indiana franchise owners, we're planning for future growth in the state. There are currently six franchise owners serving the Hoosier State, covering areas in and around Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, Columbus, Madison and South Bend. We have a great mix of franchise owners in Indiana ranging from a new owner who is already succeeding in his first season to an owner who has decades of experience and is continuing to grow. We are specifically targeting the Greenwood, Indiana area (near Indianapolis) and also seeking qualified franchise candidates to expand into Merrillville, Lafayette, Bloomington and Evansville.

Spring-Green’s lawn care franchise owners in Indiana include Tony Schmidt in southeastern Indiana near Madison and Columbus, who is in the middle of his first season and—on the other end of the spectrum—Candy Wolfe, who worked at her Spring-Green franchise for 12 years before purchasing the business from the previous owner. Candy’s franchise services northwestern Indiana including South Bend and Mishawaka. Ryan Meinika in Fort Wayne, Ind., opened his Spring-Green franchise right out of college and has been featured in Lawn & Landscape Magazine. He recently expanded into a second territory to accelerate the growth of his business. In central Indiana, Spring-Green Lawn Care currently has three franchise owners in the greater Indianapolis area covering areas generally north and west of the city including Indianapolis proper.

Spring-Green franchise owners typically come from diverse backgrounds and the Indiana franchise owners are no different. In their previous professional careers, they have worked in the automotive retail industry, as a restaurant manager, a manufacturing engineer and a steel mill worker.

Spring-Green has several ownership options including the new Green Industry Executive Model that targets existing green industry entrepreneurs seeking to diversify and expand their business by adding a Spring-Green franchise. Through the Green Associate Assistance Program, new franchise owners may qualify for up to $10,000 of the initial franchise fee to be used toward initial start-up expenses. There is also a reduced royalty fee for the first 12 months of operation. Are you interested in learning more? Request more information to begin our franchise investigation process.

Spring-Green Participates in Renewal and Remembrance

Spring-Green Lawn Care takes part in the Professional Landcare Network (PLANET)’s Renewal & Remembrance and Legislative Day on the Hill event in Washington, D.C. every year. Spring-Green CEO Ted Hofer and franchise business consultant Aaron Gieser, who is also an Army veteran, attended the Renewal & Remembrance event at Arlington National Cemetery on Monday and discussed our industry’s issues with legislators at Capitol Hill on Tuesday.

Every year hundreds of landscape and lawn care professionals bring crews to Arlington National Cemetery for Renewal & Remembrance to spend the day mulching, upgrading sprinklers, cabling and installing lightening protection for trees, pruning, liming, planting and aerating the soil. The day began with a ceremony featuring a joint color guard and speaker presentations to dedicate the day of work.

“Participation in Renewal & Remembrance by helping to care for the hallowed grounds at Arlington each year has been rewarding for the many Spring-Green employees who have attended this event." said Ted Hofer. "And, the Day on the Hill provides us a great opportunity to communicate our issues, and discuss the benefits of our industry, to our country’s legislators.”

The event is a great opportunity for Spring-Green to give back. It was certainly special for Aaron to attend as a military veteran, and with so many military veterans in our system Renewal & Remembrance is an important annual event that we look forward to every year.

Spring-Green Lawn Care's Support Center Leads To Franchisee Success

As I celebrate my eighth anniversary, it is natural to reflect on the time spent and the evolution of the Spring-Green support team. This special group has really developed into a group of compassionate professionals who take their responsibilities seriously but not themselves too seriously…and it did not happen overnight. 

When I arrived Spring-Green was a first generation led, 28 year old company. The notion of getting the right people into the right seats on the bus was very appealing but it was not something that was going to happen overnight. (Yes, my vision of that bus was slightly enhanced). After all, I had accepted the responsibility of not only preserving the CEO’s long established culture but also of moving the organization forward. In some cases, as you can imagine, that provided a direct conflict of interest. Fortunately for me, like with many things, growth can help foster change.

This will be the first in a 3 part blog series about the areas that have resulted from our success:

1)  The structure that allows team members the opportunity to become specialized.  

2)  Having the first hand experience in growing an organization through a recession.  

3)  Having a strong culture.

Creating a Specialized Franchise Support Team

I had read a few books on organizational development and respectfully took a few naps while trying to get through these often lengthy and complicated scribes. Many of these books were not written for small businesses but they were helpful to me in crafting my own vision for what our organizational structure needed to become. I knew that I wanted to create an environment where we could continue to invest in our people driving a positive work environment but also creating ROI for the organization. We broke our support focus into six main areas. These are the same six I referenced in an earlier post referencing our Wheel of Support and National Advisory Committees on going involvement. For this discussion I will only focus on Franchise Relations, Training & Support and Environmental. Interestingly we had one specialist already on staff that helped influence my thinking. 

Gary Yunker - now a 30 year veteran to Spring-Green, is our equipment specialist. Gary handles all of our equipment testing and outfits all new franchise owners’ first vehicles. Because of his experience he actively is solicited by vendors to help shape improvements that will benefit not just our organization but the lawn care industry. Gary spends the majority of his day fielding questions from franchise owners in the field who are trouble shooting equipment or considering purchasing new or replacement equipment.

Brian Kish - now a 30 year veteran, was the stereotypical generalist. Everyone could count on Brian as he had seen and done it all. He was reliable, well liked and stretched way too thin to be effective in any one area. What an asset - but where could his greatest long term return come from? In Brian’s case it was an easy decision. We knew we were going to make a sizable investment to centralize our data and that technology was going to be a big part of our road to providing franchise owners with industry leading business and marketing intelligence. 

Ted Hofer - Before Ted Hofer took over as CEO in 2010, he spent 5 years preparing for his leadership role. Ted spent time in the field working on lawns and interacting with customers. He worked to help build our national call center and has served in various positions over the years. Ted also owned and operated a successful full-service shipping franchise. Ted’s experience has made him a great CEO since he took over for his father, who remains company chairman.

This specialized staff is able to advise Spring-Green franchise owners on a variety of aspects of the business including operations, marketing and more. Several franchise owners have taken advantage of the corporate staff’s expertise during business planning sessions. We hope to see more franchise owners for business planning next year!

Spring-Green Lawn Care Celebrates St. Patrick's Day with Green Initiatives

Many people across the country will celebrate St. Patrick’s Day by wearing green. Spring-Green will be displaying its green colors all year through its commitment to environmental stewardship.  

Spring-Green has always offered customers the highest quality service performed in an environmentally responsible manner by trained and licensed technicians. We’re utilizing organic-based fertilizer to improve soil structure, turf health and sustainability. We also continually test alternative products to meet the expectations of our customers and reduce our impact on the environment.

Healthy, green lawns do so many wonderful things like absorb carbon dioxide, ozone, and other atmospheric pollutants. A turf area of just 50 feet by 50 feet releases enough oxygen to meet the needs of a family of four. Turf grass also helps purify water as its root mass and soil microbes act as a filter to capture and breakdown many types of pollutants.

A big part of Spring-Green’s mission reflects the needs to always to do right, to strive for better and to move forward, always innovating to improve.  One example of that commitment has led us to making pesticide reduction a continuous priority.  We have improved our liquid application equipment to help us in this initiative by introducing a dual line house and a multi trigger spray gun implemented which allows us to apply fertilizer to the entire lawn but only spot treat the needed area for weeds.  Similar technology had been adopted on all of our push and ride on equipment many years ago but recently we made the substantial investment to upgrade our liquid application equipment and for pesticides so they are only used as needed. By the end of 2013, 250 Spring-Green trucks will have the new system, and it will be mandatory for all lawn care franchise owners that use liquid applications to have at least one vehicle with the updated system by the end of this year.

International Franchise Association Convention Highlights Key Concerns of Industry

 The International Franchise Association (IFA) held its 52nd annual convention last week in Orlando. The convention always covers a variety of topics that each of the hundreds of franchisors are facing. It is always nice to have Spring-Green lawn care team members in attendance, listening, learning and establishing a peer network. This year our CEO, Ted Hofer, attended and brought back information to share with the team. 

 

The franchise community is a very close group and while it represents hundreds of thousands of franchisees, it is not uncommon for franchisors to share best practices and ask each other for input on problems we may be facing. Some of my closest relationships have been formed at IFA functions or educational events while earning my CFE (Certified Franchise Executive). The accessibility to industry veterans who lead many of the largest franchise systems in the country is well worth the attendance. I am not sure any other trade association can offer such an intimate setting with such a wide variety of leaders. 

Using Local Digital Marketing to Promote Franchises

One topic that was discussed at the convention that really hits home with Spring-Green was local digital marketing. Spring-Green utilizes local marketing through the Internet in a number of ways. Spring-Green helps its franchise owners with their web presence by setting up, maintaining and providing ongoing optimization of their web pages; tracking web analytics like site traffic, click through rates, conversion data and more; sponsorship and management of localized paid advertising campaigns driving leads back to the local market; and management of an online shopping cart where customers who receive an offer in the mail can personalize their programs, sign up and pay online. Oh…and of course social media including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Google+ and blogs. Who would have thought having and online presence was so important for a lawn care service provider? It is!

Fostering the Franchisor-Franchisee Relationship

Relationships with existing and potential franchisees was also discussed at the convention with a focus on franchisee success, workable franchisee-franchisor relationships, trust in recruiting and the use of an Item 19—or earnings claim—in Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD). Spring-Green makes customer satisfaction a priority, which leads to successful franchise owners. The franchise support center offers business planning and intelligence to help each owner, forming a great relationship between the owner and the franchisor. By focusing on profitability at the franchise level, or unit economics which is a term often used to establish a common goal for the business,it helps prioritize the areas of focus and allows for the dismissal of the distractions. Easily said, right? We believe it and live it. With a financial road map and franchise owner buy-in, great things can happen for all parties involved and that includes the customer. 

A Focus on Franchise Development

As with every convention, franchise development is a big part of the focus. The current economy and financial lending environment has not made growth though franchising easy. It does not sound like there were any silver bullets but the theme of getting back to basics was echoed and understood. For potential franchisees, Spring-Green has a comprehensive and award winning franchise opportunities website. Here you will find information about the company’s history, investment opportunities, support and more. Spring-Green also provides an Item 19. This transparency leads to greater respect and trust between potential franchisees and the corporate office.

The IFA convention is a great time to benchmark your franchise system against your peers. Are you experiencing similar or different challenges? Are they the appropriate challenges for an organization of your size? What are the trends in franchising telling us? When do we see improvement in the lending environment?  According to our CEO, Ted Hofer, this year’s convention reaffirmed that Spring-Green’s efforts to drive unit level performance while increasing profitability are on target.

Spring-Green Lawn Care's National Advisory Council

Preamble:  My mantra, which was instilled in me many years ago, is that the strength of franchising is found in the collective knowledge of its franchisees, strategic vendors and staff. It is the responsibility of the franchisor to leverage that knowledge and create an open platform for the exchange of ideas and information.   Therefore it makes sense to have and active franchise advisory council. Spring-Green has taken steps to ensure that active participation and I will share some of that with you today.

Role of the Spring-Green National Advisory Council

Our National Advisory Council is made up of five members. Each member represents a region of the country and each member is elected by their peers. Typically we meet face to face at least two times a year but may schedule conference calls as appropriate. Often we will combine the NAC meeting with another event such as strategic planning, or most recently, a brands strategy session. This allow for some fellowship over at least one evening. We also have a designated private forum within our intranet for updates, sharing of information and discussion topics which can be initiated in either direction. In addition, Spring-Green will often invite our NAC to participate in our strategic planning process. 

Spring-Green chose to structure our NAC agenda around six key areas of focus to increase our productivity as a group. For five of the areas a member volunteers to be active in the support centers action plans and report to the group any updates. Action plans are typically tied to our director and VP level staff so this is a great opportunity for us to solicit real world input while working on improving Spring-Green. The areas of focus include:

Franchise Relations

Marketing

Technology

Training and Support

Profitability

Environmental & Governmental Affairs

 

This month Spring-Green Lawn Care’s National Advisory Council (NAC) met at the Spring-Green Support Center.

A Breakdown of the National Advisory Council’s Areas of Focus

Franchise Relations – Everyone on the NAC along with the executive team is accountable for this area. Agenda items may include system performance updates, strategic planning, franchise owner concerns, support center communication, franchise agreement updates, operating manual changes, franchise owner survey information, re-sale’s, franchise expansion and development updates. 

Marketing – Jim Bernier franchise owner in Charlotte, NC leads this area of focus and is also the chairman of the marketing committee. Being such an important topic for our organization, it requires its own subcommittee. Much of the detail is left to the subcommittee and action plan updates are provided to the NAC. Action plans are typically assigned around Acquisition, Additional Services, and Loyalty & Retention. Current action plans have to do with our vision of how Spring-Green franchise owners will interact with customers in the future. Past action plans centered on our expansion of services for our national call center, national direct mail campaign, pay per click, search engine optimization and more. It is common for us to ask the marketing committee members to help test new ideas. 

Technology – Ken Brown franchise owner in Rochester, MN leads this area of focus. Ken was a long time employee of IBM before purchasing his franchise which includes two locations, one which his son Ryan operates.  Many action plans that involve technology naturally bleed into marketing so often Ken is asked for his input in this area as well. Spring-Green continues to invest heavily in technology and has undertaken the centralization of all of its data. This allows for the creation of proprietary tools that create highly personalized marketing campaigns and can measure performance across all changes in real time. Current action plans center around offsite backups and tech support for franchise owners. It seems with the advent of tablets and smart phones more and more tech support is required. 

Training & Support – Training and Support are the backbone of a franchise system. A wise man told me that we can never lose sight of what business we are really in and for Spring-Green that is enriching the lives our customers through beautiful lawns. Jeff Anderson, franchise owner in the Oklahoma City area, participates in this area of focus. Current action plans involve improvements to our online learning center, national meeting planning and front line training for field level employees at the franchisee level. 

Profitability – In our business model, a marketing reinvestment is needed each year. Our recurring customer base helps fund much of that marketing investment but if the expenses are not managed the franchise owner will have limited funds available to reinvest in growth the following year. The Spring-Green support center recognized the importance of a strong financial road map years ago but with the advent of some helpful technology we believe we are now providing even more relevant and valued support in this area. Our proprietary platform allows for peer to peer comparison and rankings based on several key areas of the business including expenses. Most franchise owners like to compete for top line growth in their building years but as a business matures it is very helpful to compare expense with other franchise owners of a similar size.   In 2012, Roger Grose is the franchise owner participating in this area of focus. Action plans for this year revolve around our franchisee lead peer groups. The support center provides data and mentorship to a defined peer group. This data then becomes the foundation for discussions on material cost and labor, but can stretch to phone expenses and of course marketing.   

Environmental & Governmental Affairs – Like in every business, there are outside influences that need to be monitored so that you are always aware of any potential impact that they may have to your business. Things as broad as changes in our governments administration, healthcare reform, tax regulations, credit card compliance, economic outlook, green industry legislation and more. Spring-Green’s CEO Ted Hofer actively participates on the government affairs committee for PLANET which is our one of our industry associations.  

Spring-Green Lawn Care Celebrates 35th Anniversary

Today we are celebrating Spring-Green’s 35^th birthday and I have never been more proud to lead this organization. Spring-Green has always taken great pride in its history, the contributions made by its long line of successful franchise owners and tenured staff.  Early this year we lost a senior staff member, Kent Sutton and it reminded me of how special it is to work with good people sharing in their lives as we work toward common goals.   Over the last eight years I have been fortunate to lead an organization of good people and one that that had already built a strong foundation of moral code and who put our franchise owners success first. I have worked to follow that road map as we extend our journey for what I expect will be another 35 years.  Happy Birthday Spring-Green!

Company remains committed to future, poised for further growth and innovation

When Spring-Green Lawn Care was founded in 1977, the lawn care industry was in its infancy. Today, Spring-Green is a leading company in a $45 billion industry. Over the last 35 years, Spring-Green has seen growth of all kinds, which is a testament to the franchise model and the high level of customer service provided by each locally owned and operated franchise. Spring-Green is committed to continuing this growth for the next 35 years and beyond and their strategic partners (franchise owners) are a big reason for their success.  Maybe that attitude is the secret formula to their success and why in a recent independent survey 90% of franchise owners said “My Franchisor and I are committed to positive, long term relationship.” FranSurvey, Dec 2011

  

The company has thrived throughout three recessions, proving it a recession-proof business. Revenue has grown every decade for the last 35 years, and Spring-Green’s revenue was over $36 million in 2011. Spring-Green saw 30 percent growth in revenue from 1990 to 2000, and 90 percent from 2000 to 2010. Spring-Green has also experienced consistent customer growth, with a 19 percent increase from 1990 to 2000, and 43 percent increase from 2000 to 2010. Average revenue per customer has increased by 72 percent from 1990 until today.

As a founding member of the Professional Lawn Care Association of America (PLCAA), known today as the Professional Land Care Network (PLANET), Spring-Green has been a leader in the green industry since the association’s origin in 1982, promoting education, certification programs and industry standards. Spring-Green has been listed on the Lawn & Landscape Top 100 for nearly two decades.

Spring-Green Lawn Care focuses on innovation and reinvesting in its franchisees. One way the company does this is by providing industry-leading business and marketing intelligence. They have a centralized database with relevant and timely data, which allows their lawn care franchise owners to monitor their business intelligence in areas like production and sales. Spring-Green also offers proprietary tools for marketing selection and analysis so franchise owners can view and analyze all of their current and prospective customer demographics, select their mailing lists and promotional offers and send this information directly to the printer for timed- or event-driven distribution. A national call center supports both inbound and outbound calling services during peak times of the year. This gives franchisees the opportunity to focus on their team and customer experiences. James Young, President of Spring-Green said, “It’s important for us to drive sales for our franchise owners so they can be focused on servicing the customer. Our national marketing programs influence over 70% of the total sales for our franchise owners.”

Spring-Green’s corporate employees have an average tenure of 13 years. Led by Chairman Tom Hofer, CEO Ted Hofer and President James Young, the team provides a strategic blend of experience including lawn and tree care knowledge. The staff also has specialists who can provide assistance to franchisees in specific areas ranging from marketing to equipment and more.

“We are thrilled to celebrate 35 years in business and are excited to continue our growth and innovation for the next 35. Recently a succession plan was implemented when Ted Hofer took over for his father, Tom, as CEO. Tom remains as chairman and Ted’s youthful leadership will take the company into the future,” said Young. “Each franchise has a local owner who is the face of the business in his or her community. We also operate 26 company-owned franchises that are very successful. Franchise owned, single-territory franchises average over $261,000 in revenue, while multi-territory franchises are averaging over $787,000 annually. At the Spring-Green franchise support center, we are maintaining focus on providing the best service to our customers, which generates customer retention and greater profitability for owners. We remain steadfast on our vision of helping our franchise owners to build large scale, highly profitable businesses.”

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Spring-Green Franchise Owner Renews Franchise Agreement

It is always nice when the entire Spring-Green Support Center staff has the opportunity to meet with franchise owners who are renewing their franchise agreement.  A few years ago we developed a renewal process that invites our strategic partners to come back for a two day “re-acclimation and celebration”.  In the case of Jim and Christine Pijan who reside in Poulsbo, WA, they do regularly participate and attend national and regional meetings but they had not been to the corporate offices in almost 10 years! 

Congratulations to Jim and Christine Pijan on renewing their Spring-Green franchise for another 10 year term. Jim and Christine visited the Support Center on January 19 & 20 for their renewal day. Jim serves the area west of Seattle, Washington including Bainbridge Island, Bremerton, Port Orchard, Silverdale and Poulsbo. Jim has established the Spring-Green brand as a leader in the lawn care market in the Pacific Northwest, serving both residential and commercial customers.

            Jim purchased his Spring-Green franchise in 1992 and has grown it steadily over the last 20 years. Congratulations Jim and Christine.  Thank you for being a special part of the history and future of Spring-Green. 

 

The Spring-Green Support Center Volunteers at Local Food Bank

The Holiday season is a wonderful time for giving back to you community, helping others in need and of course reflecting on our own good fortune.   The Spring-Green Support Center has a rich history of giving back and I am proud to report that this year was no different.
This year it was offered that employees who wanted to volunteer at the Northern Illinois Food Bank in Geneva, could do so during company business hours.  The Support Center team took advantage of the opportunity and worked in shifts over a two day period sorting apples, canned goods and making Christmas boxes that would be distributed to shelters and churches throughout the area.    

The entire event made for a rewarding experience and allowed everyone to share their time giving back for a worthwhile cause.   

I know we have franchise owners that volunteer their time.  Please join me in sharing other noteworthy causes that our organization gets involved with. 

Merry Christmas!