Steady growth

Emerald Lawns of Austin, Texas, services about 22,000 lawn care customers and is constantly looking to grow. But Owner Luke Hawthorne says that growth is contingent on several factors.

Hawthorne says when he initially started the business in 2006, it was just him and his wife. Nowadays, they have 200 employees and service the Austin, Waco and San Antonio markets.

“We’re a fast-growing company, and I remember when I was first starting out, people would ask me, ‘How big do you want to get?’ and I would say ‘I want to get as big as I possibly can.’ I didn’t even understand how that could be a question,” Hawthorne recalls. “But now I understand. The bigger you get, the more things creep up. Once you get so many people on board, it’s inevitable that things are going to happen.”

Hawthorne says standard HR-related issues has kept him from expanding too fast and really focusing on the inner workings of Emerald Lawns.

But, when it is time to make headway into a new market, Hawthorne says they always look internally for a leader of the newest branch.

“It’s not always about which market is going to make us the most profitable, but it’s really about the people for us. Do we have the right person who’s ready to be a branch manager? Then we’ll find a market to put them in,” he explains. “But we’re growing so fast and expanding and promoting we don’t have anybody in the pipeline just yet.”

There are also a few other things that Hawthorne weighs when reviewing new markets for expansion.

“Growth potential, median income and the water situation all factor in,” he says. “Water’s a big thing and I want to make sure that if I move into an area customers won’t have to cancel their lawn care service because they aren’t allowed to water their lawns.”

Ultimately, Hawthorne says the growth of the town or city is the primary factor.

And having the right people to research that growth is important.

“I have a really good marketing team of three full-time marketers, and they do market analysis and all of that in house,” Hawthorne says.

Weather is just one element of lawn care that will always remain unpredictable. To try and circumvent the effects of drought in his Austin, Texas, market, Luke Hawthorne, owner of Emerald Lawns, added irrigation services to his existing lawn care business.

“It’s not a hugely profitable service line, so I’m hoping to break even, but it’s another added benefit to the customer,” he says. “It’s another layer of customer service and adds to the lawns looking better than their neighbors’. It’s pretty competitive here, so it always boils down to that.”

Despite Austin being a boomtown, Hawthorne says its lack of water has made business more difficult lately.

“Water is a big issue here,” he says. “It’s growing fast. Growth potential is a lot, but the future is a little murky just because we have one prime water source, and we’re very susceptible to droughts here. And they haven’t really done anything to improve the water situation. We have a bunch more people moving in, but the water situation is the same. It’s a little worrisome right now.”

And without being able to rely on steady rain flow, lawns can suffer even if treated. That’s why Hawthorne has made water retention and water conservation a priority.

“We service from San Antonio to Waco, and six years ago we were in the 100-Year Drought,” he says. “And in a lot of our markets, you couldn’t even wash your car in the driveway let alone water your lawn. There were major water restrictions. So, I started to look at what golf courses were doing and how they handled drought and the restrictions.

“We got into the water retention products and also in our top dressing, instead of putting out compost, we also started offering topsoil. There are some parts of town where there’s not much dirt so it’s impossible to keep it properly irrigated. If you offer a top dressing service, it makes the soil better,” Hawthorne adds.

In the three years since Emerald Lawns started offering water retention products and irrigation services, Hawthorne says most of his customers have taken advantage of it for the added benefits to their lawns.

“It’s made us a better company and made us more profitable, because even when we’re not in a drought, these are some things we can include as part of our service line,” he says.

Currently, crews are going out and doing audits on irrigation systems quarterly to adjust to seasonal changes in the weather and to offset any water restrictions. But even with doing this, Hawthorne says there’s still plenty to worry about.

“I can’t budget according to a potential weather pattern or anything,” he says. “I have to go on and keep spending as business as usual, but there’s always this kind of dark cloud that looms over everything.”

While the drought is difficult, Hawthorne says it keeps his team from getting comfortable or just going with the flow. Being able to react quickly and accordingly to change is critical in the lawn care game.

“You budget as if everything is hunky-dory and it’s going to be beautiful weather, and we’ll get enough rain and the lakes will stay up to level, but that’s not always reality,” he says. “And you’ll need to be able to pivot, which is something we’ve always done very well in the past.”

MOORESVILLE, N.C.  - Greenworks Commercial, a provider of battery-operated outdoor power equipment, is announcing the expansion of its 82V line, which made its initial debut at GIE+EXPO last year. With the addition of 26 new product offerings rolling out throughout 2022, the Greenworks family of commercial-grade, battery-powered lawn care equipment continues to grow, providing even more solutions for industry professionals such as stand-on and ride-on zero-turn mowers, and various utility vehicles. Unlike other competitors on the market, Greenworks Commercial offers the most extensive product line-up for professionals with a complete ecosystem of tools that work interchangeably together.

“Greenworks is proud to transform the landscaping industry and provide a full ecosystem of solutions to improve the productivity of work.” said Klaus Hahn, Greenworks president. “With high performing machines for enhanced workflow, top-of-the line materials and innovative technology, Greenworks Commercial is made to be reliable for everyday landscapers.”      

The Greenworks Commercial 82V line consists of products that can withstand the toughest jobs while providing power, performance and runtime without the noise, hassle or harmful emissions of traditional gas counterparts.

Right now, landscapers can get their hands on a wide assortment of the new Greenworks Commercial 82V line including a variety of edgers, trimmers, blowers, chainsaws and power cutters. Additional new products from the 82V expansion will be rolling out in both fall and winter of 2022, including the Greenworks Commercial 30” Walk-Behind Mower and the 24” Dual Stage Snow Blower utilizing a Trubrushless motor that auto-adapts to any condition for best performance every time.

To check out the Greenworks Commercial 82V line visit www.greenworkscommercial.com.

Tracking leads goes beyond knowing what to track. You need to know why that information is important and what it contributes to your long-term growth.

Accurate lead-tracking data can help you:• Determine which marketing channels are driving low-cost, qualified leads• Identify channels that top customers are coming from, and the ones that aren't profitable• Track paid ad spend and calculate CPL in real-time• See if overall lead performance has you on track to hit your annual goal

In our webinar Wednesday, industry experts Katie McCaskill and Frank Andolina will take a look at what the industry “norm” is when it comes to digital marketing spend and will explain what you should be monitoring to appropriately gauge the success of your marketing efforts.

The webinar starts Wednesday, June 8 at 1 p.m. EST. To register for free, click here.

SEATTLE — SirionLabs has announced STIHL as its newest client. The multi-year engagement begins immediately and will focus on STIHL’s standardization, digitization and optimization goals, with an eye toward future scalability. SirionLabs’ end-to-end contract management solution will help STIHL harmonize their processes while getting a single source of truth from their data across multiple contracts.

With operations in 41 markets and a network of more than 54,000 dealers, family-owned STIHL was looking for a contract lifecycle management system to meet the needs of the 4,000 employees – nearly 20% of the organization – who would work with the system. Therefore, STIHL was looking to create flexible processes to comply with local laws while also working with a standardized data model.

“Our collaboration with SirionLabs is geared towards integrating our contract system with all the business modules. During the first phase, we will focus on building three blueprints for the different levels of complexities we see in our global organization. These blueprints can be applied easily, quickly and with very limited customizations to our regional markets. We look forward to a great association with SirionLabs,” said Hannes Krauss, project lead of STIHL’s legal department.

Additionally, STIHL wanted the contract management system to support ONE STIHL, a company-wide initiative to harmonize all business processes from an end-to-end perspective covering their entire system landscape to prepare STIHL for the future.

“While SAP S4/Hana is the backbone of our IT landscape, CLM is the frontend, acting as connector between different worlds,” said Phillip Keupp, IT expert and Co-Project Lead for STIHL in the purchasing excellence department. “SirionLabs was a clear choice in our CLM decision owing to its unique approach to not only streamline processes but also analyze data, providing us the flexibility and agility to react to market challenges and leverage savings opportunities, while keeping us consistent across all contracts.”

Over the past few years, there has been a greater demand for STIHL products due to increased investments in home and garden do-it-yourself (DIY) projects, power tools needed for wildfire fighting, and more. Utilizing SirionLabs is seen as a key component for success as STIHL expands production, leading to a greater need for contract efficiency, regulatory compliance, and data transparency.

SirionLabs’ smarter contracting solution, SirionOne, provides the data competency, contract transparency, and process efficiency throughout the whole contract lifecycle that helps STIHL extract the maximum value from their contracts. SirionOne instantaneously highlights the most essential parts of thousands of contracts, saving STIHL time and money, apart from providing lots of business intelligence.

“The myriad challenges confronting a global industry leader require a contract management platform that is flexible, robust, and scalable. With the right contract management solution, companies can get real-time intelligence, streamline their operations, collaborate with business functions, and create stronger, more compliant contracts that help them succeed,” said Ajay Agrawal, founder and CEO of SirionLabs. “We’re pleased to be a part of STIHL’s growth and look forward to witnessing how our system helps it realize its ambitious ONE CLM initiative.”

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