Briefcase-Small: Steely Resolve

Last October, TIME magazine reported that the city of Pittsburgh was ideally positioned to withstand America’s economic downturn.

This past month, The New York Times followed suit, confirming the former steel town (with a below-average 5.5 percent unemployment rate, rising home values and low foreclosure rate) indeed serves as a model of financial stability and revitalization.

“If people are looking for hope, it’s here,” urban studies expert Sabina Deitrick told the Times.

With so much optimism in southwest Pennsylvania’s air, one might assume that local, advantageous LCOs have launched full-scale marketing assaults in hopes of landing new contracts.

But as Brian Allsopp would attest, that’s not how growing companies operate near the ‘Burgh – or at least not his.
“We don’t really advertise,” says Allsopp, who owns Allsopp’s Lawn Service in Pittsburgh’s Bethel Park suburb. “We rely mostly on word-of-mouth and the name on our truck.”

Since 1989, Allsopp has been building his small lawn business by using an equally small-town approach. He promotes his company by donating to sports and charity events. Occasionally, he’ll purchase an ad in the community newspaper. And he always buys from the local hardware store.

“My theory is the small business next to me will support me,” Allsopp reasons.

However, Allsopp has ambitions of making 2009 his best year on record, and the lifetime Bethel Park resident refuses to use gimmicks or ploys to reach that goal. Instead, Allsopp says he’ll simply continue guiding his ship under the principles that he and his neighbors value most: hometown loyalty, absolute honesty and superior service.

PEOPLE FIRST
Customers can get lost trying to find Allsopp’s Lawn Service headquarters. It’s located near the end of a long, gray road, and there are no Allsopp’s signs on the building’s exterior. In fact, Allsopp doesn’t even work inside the building – he runs his company from its windowless, lower-level garage.

How can this be the image of a business making upwards of $300,000 annual revenue?

“We’re a pretty well-known community name,” Allsopp says. “And we’re in an industrial park where businesses are located, so we have a lot of contractors around who will come to us and say, ‘Hey, I have this job for you or I know a plumber who needs a ditch.’”

There are other reasons Bethel Park business owners and residents call Allsopp with lawn care, hardscape and snow-removal requests. This part-time volunteer firefighter has been servicing the same area since high school, and employs three experienced workers – all of which enjoy 100-percent paid health insurance and benefits for themselves and their families.

But above everything else, Allsopp says customer service is what makes his business truly unique.

“I’m there for you,” he explains. “If customers ever have a problem, they can call me on my cell phone. I’ll answer 24/7.”

Furthermore, Allsopp maintains his integrity, letting clients know the exact costs and problems associated with each of his company’s projects.

“(Contractors) should stick to their bid prices the best they can so they don’t deprive people,” he advises. “Just be honest with people. If you’re doing a job and you run into a boulder that you have to remove with specialized equipment, go up and tell them. But first make sure you have an alternative to offer them in case they don’t want to do that.”

Allsopp had a golden opportunity to practice what he preaches this past fall.

Because salt prices in Pennsylvania jumped by 100 percent, he was forced to raise his service prices accordingly. Yet before doing so, Allsopp showed each customer his company’s exact salt costs and sent them letters of explanation. That way, clients were aware he wasn’t trying to boost his margins.

“I think that helped them understand,” Allsopp says. “We only lost one customer because of the price increase.”
Still, Allsopp’s openness, honesty and generosity haven’t always worked in his favor. During his first few years in business, Allsopp says he went through roughly 40 employees – many of which were friends that were looking for seasonal work.

“I always give everybody a shot to come work for me,” he explains. “Whether it works out or not, I can’t really say. At that time though, everybody was doing different things in college and we were maintaining 200 properties a week.”
He’s also learned that once he finds an employee that he likes (and one that likes working for his company), Allsopp will reward that employee so that they can determine if Allsopp’s Lawn Service will be their permanent career choice.

“We pay pretty much a top-dollar price for our guys.”

PROFITS LATER
As the owner of a relatively modest business, Allsopp is able to afford first-rate talent because of a historic commitment to fiscal responsibility.

When he opened the doors to Allsopp’s Lawn Service 20 years ago, he did so with a motley fleet of one “junker” truck (that he spent a year piecing together), one “circus” truck (appropriately named because each body panel was a different color) and a dump truck that his parents helped him purchase.

“Starting out working with my own money and not taking a line of credit was probably a mistake,” Allsopp laughs. “(Credit) would have let me have a bit more of a life those first five years. But that’s probably one of the biggest reasons I was really involved with the fire department, because I didn’t have any money. It worked out though.”

Knowing what it takes to plow through tough financial times certainly helped Allsopp this past year. While national publications may portray Pittsburgh as a city in fantastic economic shape, that doesn’t mean Allsopp isn’t encountering challenges.

“Money is always an issue,” he says. “Sometimes it’s tough to get the commercial money in after the 60-day period. We’ve been stuck a couple of times, but most often we work it out. I think we only had one business go under on us, and we’ve only lost a handful of customers.”

To ensure his business continues to get paid, Allsopp says he is trying to “bill as he goes,” and with some maintenance contracts, he has now begun billing weekly instead of monthly. As for his company’s future work, fuel prices and unpredictable weather have made it difficult to accurately predict where revenue will come from.

“About two years ago, it was very slow from October to December,” Allsopp explains. “We had no snow and no work lined up. It’s tough to go through a few periods of that, but as soon as we get worried, we’ll start getting calls.”

Allsopp says he already has hardscape jobs scheduled for this spring (including a few that were postponed due to the economy). Yet for the rest of 2009, he has good reason for wanting to focus on clients with necessary maintenance work.

“The Pittsburgh area hasn’t really felt the full effect of the economic downturn yet, but I think it’s coming,” Allsopp warns. “We’re usually about two years behind everybody else, and they’re still laying people off at the bigger companies and stuff like that. You just never know.”