Environmental Leadership Awards 1999: Phil Fogarty

When Phil Fogarty was a young boy, he was allergic to grass.

"So my allergies made taking care of my mother’s lawn my least favorite thing to do," pointed out Fogarty, who is now president of the same company his mother hired in 1981 to service her lawn after young Fogarty had done everything he possibly could to ruin it – Crowley’s Vegetation Control, Cleveland, Ohio.

Afterwards, Fogarty and his mother developed a friendship with the owner of Crowley’s. Because of this relationship, when Tom Crowley needed someone to join the company and learn the business years later while he worked on developing a piece of new lawn care equipment, Fogarty was his man. Once Crowley received the patent for the equipment, he sold the company to Fogarty.

"A few years after I started there, Tom got the patent and I bought the company on a long-term buyout in the fall of 1985," Fogarty noted. "I bought a couple of smaller companies in the area, so I purchased four companies all together and tripled the size of the business."

Soon after Fogarty bought the business, he lost one of his favorite female customers – but it wasn’t due to competition. Fogarty and this woman got married. "I always say it’s a really unique way to lose a good customer," he said.

Environmental Energy. "Being an environmental steward means you have to think outside of the box," Fogarty stressed. "I’ve always fulfilled the role for my customers as the community turf doctor. When they have any kind of problem, I try to diagnose it and find out how I can treat the symptoms in order to make the property easier to maintain."

Because of the environmentally oriented approach he takes to lawn care, Fogarty takes issue with the "environmentalist" individuals who often accuse lawn care professionals of ignoring the environment.

"Now, we have to work harder at proving we have good practices and good products, and that we provide a real value to our customers and the world in general," Fogarty maintained, adding that fighting emotional environmentalists with sound science is difficult, so emotion has to be fought with emotion.

"We are the people out here every day doing something to promote the environment," Fogarty reasoned. "Promoting the environment is a challenge that makes us stronger."

Project Importance. Fogarty doesn’t just talk the talk about the significance of the environment – he walks the walk. Because of his dedication to bettering the environment and the society, he believes that children, especially those who live in urban environments, should learn about the environment. As a result, he teaches at the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority in Cleveland to educate children to care for the environment around their homes.

"We have to create an environment around children that makes them feel good," Fogarty explained. "If the lawns, shrubs and trees around these kids are maintained, then I think that is going to raise their level of esteem in themselves and their homes."

In addition, Fogarty appears at a host of student career days where he teaches junior high and elementary school students about the opportunities they have to take care of the environment. He also co-hosts a Saturday morning call-in radio show to educate people on how to be better gardeners and environmental stewards.

"We know we have to be entertaining to keep people listening," Fogarty noted. "We try to keep the format as light as possible so if we reach people who aren’t that interested in lawn and garden topics, we can get them to listen in, too. They are the ones who need it most."

Fogarty has also volunteered at the Professional Lawn Care Association of America’s Renewal and Remembrance Project at Arlington National Cemetery for the past four years, where he assists other contractors renovating the turf in the ares. As soon as he saw how well the event was received, he decided to participate annually because he feels the project is an example of some of the great things the lawn care industry is doing to improve the environment.

"Every participant comes away from Arlington with a tremendous sense of pride in our industry, our environment and our country," Fogarty noted. "The event is a great experience and puts forth a great image of this industry."

Organizational Opportunity. Amidst all of this activity, does Fogarty actually have time to run a business? Amazingly, the answer is yes.

When recommending a new program to a client, Fogarty offers them an individualized evaluation. He explained that it is important from a sales standpoint to make customers feel unique.

"Customers are much more sophisticated now," Fogarty said. "These customers now require that details be managed much better now than ever before."

Handling these now sophisticated customers requires great customer service skills. "When I receive a customer complaint, I look at it as a phenomenal opportunity to strengthen my relationship with that client," Fogarty noted. "It’s a great way to re-sell yourself as the right company to be dealing with."

Fogarty said a successful business with a good work atmosphere needs three essential qualities: a good customer experience, a good employee experience and good business practices.

"I feel like somehow I got into this industry by accident," Fogarty enthused. "I just tripped into this as I was struggling to find my niche. The lawn and landscape industry has been a tremendous one for so many people in leadership positions. Lawn care demands a lot, and my success has come from conquering these challenges."