Spring-Green cashing in on lawn care

Ask Tom Hofer, CEO of Spring-Green Lawn Care Corp., why he thinks his Plainfield franchising business is so successful, and he'll tell you, "Chicago is just the best lawn-care market in the world. We just happened to land here by luck 30 years ago."

Hofer is partly right.

The Chicago area, with its affluent residents and expansive, sweeping lawns, is undeniably a great market for lawn-care businesses.

But rather than luck, it is Spring-Green's willingness to innovate and its dedication to local service that has led to the success represented by the $26 million in revenues the company generated in 2006.

At the core of the Spring-Green business is a franchising model that combines the security of a large company with the local focus of a small one.

"We believe lawn care is bought and sold locally," said James Young, president of Spring-Green. "The best opportunity to differentiate our brand from our competitors is to have that local presence."

That presence is provided by four company-owned local operations and 70 independent franchises in 25 states, all supported by the Spring-Green home office.

They provide only services that don't require a large amount of manpower or investment in equipment. This includes weeding, fertilizing, tree care, insect control and aeration. Surprisingly, it does not include lawn mowing.

"We get this all the time; 'Why don't you do this, why don't you do that?,' " Hofer said. "We do what we do by design. First of all, it's got to be a high-margin service. It's got to be high margin, low labor cost. You look at what we do, the natural thing people say is mowing lawns, you would think it would be similar. It's not. It's very different."

The Spring-Green business model allows the local managers to be flexible. The company typically doesn't schedule appointments with customers. It promises only to visit a certain number of times within a certain period.

"Our guys work hard," Hofer said, "but they have a little better control of their life than somebody in a storefront business. If he wants to go watch his kid's soccer game, he can do that."

New franchises are often operated out of the franchise owner's garage to cut down on overhead.

A few years ago, the company began what it calls a "flex-start program." Under the program, a new franchise owner will spend the first season working part-time and building up a customer base. At the start of the second season, the franchise owner already has clients and experience, and is able to work full time. The program has increased average first-year franchise performances by 20 percent to 30 percent.

"Our franchise owner really cares," Hofer said. "It's his pocketbook. He really cares about every customer and it shows. That's the benefit of local business."

The company's attention to its customers brings repeat business. Four out of every five customers stay with Spring-Green from season to season.

Dennis Huffmon, who works in sales management in Oswego, is one of them. He has been a Spring-Green customer for three years.

"The level of service has been outstanding." Huffmon said. "If a weed is not dead, they fix it. They do what they say they're going to do."

Franchise owners are free to be as ambitious as they want to be.

One example is Rick Hoover, who owns a Spring-Green franchise in Yorkville. It was started by his father in 1981. At the time, Hoover was working a factory job. His father wanted to retire, so Hoover bought the franchise in December 1984.

Now he operates the largest Spring-Green franchise.

To explain his success, Hoover likes to quote racecar legend Roger Penske: "You hire good people and you let them do their job."

Hoover also said the one-on-one interaction with customers is invaluable.

A poodle owner, Hoover once visited the home of a woman who owned standard poodles to discuss her lawn. He left his own, smaller poodle in the car, but when the woman heard yelping, she insisted on carrying his dog around while they talked about lawn care.

"I'm thinking, 'I've got it made,' " Hoover said. "There's a relationship there more than just business."

Lawn care may not have appeared to change much during the 30 years Spring-Green has been in business, but the company has recently adopted a number of innovations.

Customers can now order Spring-Green services online without having someone first come to their house.

"Most service-based companies, whether you're franchised or not, they need to get in the home, do an estimate. In our business we just need to know your lawn size," Young said.

Spring-Green uses a sophisticated marketing service that personalizes mailings for individual households and directs them to the Web site.

There is even a podcast put out by the company that provides lawn care tips and instructions.

Another innovation the company has introduced in recent years is a centralized call center to which franchise owners can forward calls when they are out on jobs. This allows franchise owners to provide customer support and sign up more customers while still being out in the community.

"Five to six years ago we set out to rebuild a world-class franchising operation, and technology is a big part of that," Hofer said.

"There's no substitute for customer service," Young added, "but there's great opportunity to improve your back end support and allow the owner to stay focused on serving the customer."

Business profile

Business: Spring-Green Lawn Care Corp.

Operations: Lawn-care franchising

CEO: Tom Hofer

Location: Plainfield

2006 revenues: $26 million

Employees: 260

Web site: www.spring-green.com