Landscape Management, October 2010

Richard Bare president of Arbor nomics is a voracious reader At the top of his list these days and in the hands of his management team is Dale Carnegies How to Win Friends and Infl uence People This book is like the Bible he says If everyone followed its precepts there would be no wars divorce discord nothing It is the fi nal say on how to treat people and it was written in 1936 and still applies today WEB EXTRA For more from Arbor Nomics visit www landscapemanagement net arbor nomics LAWNCAREPRO LMS OPERATOR OF THE MONTH BY RON HALL LANDSCAPEMANAGEMENT NET OCTOBER 2010 32 AT A GLANCE COMPANY Arbor nomics TITLE President and CEO LOCATIONS Headquartered in Norcross GA three Atlanta branches and one Nashville branch EMPLOYEES 50 SERVICES Lawn care tree and shrub care grassy weed treatment fl ea and tick control overseeding aeration fi re ant control mosquito treatment vegetation control perimeter pest control INDUSTRY INVOLVEMENT Founding member of the Metro Atlanta Landscape Trade Association past president of the Georgia Turfgrass Association frequent speaker at industry conferences HOBBIES Walking hiking in the mountains watch clock and knife shows reading opera and going to German car races at Road Atlanta FAMILY Wife Sharon fi ve children and seven grandchildren WEBSITE www arbornomics com mowing maintenance services and sprinkler systems so that makes it easier on us What lessons did you take from Carnegies book Dont criticize condemn or complain Make people feel important Give people what they want Become genuinely interested in other people Give honest and sincere appreciation Smile Remember peoples names Be a good listener In other words be like your dog Youre regarded as a marketer and salesman par excellence Please tell us how you keep your message in front of clients The trick to coming up with successful ideas is to test a few new ones every year One of the ideas that has been the most successful for us has been SEO search engine optimization We urge customers to pay online which gets people to our website We highlight and ask them whether they would like other services such as seasonal services All they have to do is click on a box and get an estimate Weve increased our add ons with virtually no investment What marketing programs have been duds Id have to say subdivision directory ads just about any kind of print ad and TV didnt work for us Whats your secret to increased growth during a downtime Our service We interviewed 100 customers recently about why they liked us and it came down to our great customer service Not only does this encompass our customer service department but its also about our technicians They each have their own route and treat it like their own business They are knowledgeable and accountable Some have been with us 15 years We answer the phones in person and we do more than the customer expects Its simple we underpromise and over deliver its gotten us on the Inc 5000 list four years in a row Whats the biggest change you have seen in the lawn care business since you founded your company 30 years ago In Atlanta in 1980 95 of the lawns were fescue now fescue is 40 Bermuda and zoysia are more prominent We still have the basic components fertilizer and weed control but were more sophisticated Were able to respond to customers within 24 hours because of our computer systems We dont get lost with our GPS systems We can print invoices from air conditioned trucks and we can even type out notes when we are there so they can read our handwriting We automatically have a record of every speck of it Another big change from 30 years ago is that almost all of our clients now have OUR TECHNICIANS EACH HAVE THEIR OWN ROUTE AND TREAT IT LIKE THEIR OWN BUSINESS THEY ARE KNOWLEDGEABLE AND ACCOUNTABLE RICHARD BARE ARBOR NOMICS