People first

The marketing strategy at Ryan Lawn & Tree is all about the people. President Larry Ryan focuses on recruiting motivated workers – the company is 70-percent employee owned, so for the right people, there’s opportunity to grow and prosper. He commits to employees’ success and encourages them to grow their own routes. Each employee sets a goal at the beginning of the season and bonuses are awarded to those who meet their growth targets.

This is marketing. And though it’s warmer and fuzzier than a splashy billboard ad or catchy radio spot, Ryan says a focus on people is how business expands – the ultimate goal of any marketing campaign.

Ryan, a forester by trade, recalls 10 years he spent in the restaurant business before launching his company in 1987. “We spent 5 percent of our total gross dollar volume on marketing,” he relates. “I thought, you spend this much money on TV and coupons to get people to come into your restaurant to try you out. But you don’t spend anything on your people, so when customers do come into your store, your people disappoint them with the experience. It seemed backwards.”

That’s why Ryan focuses on giving customers strong, personal experiences, and he does this by encouraging employees to engage with clients – smile and say “hi” to the neighbors (a sales lead), make suggestions to improve a property’s appearance, simply show up on time in a clean truck with a positive attitude.

Charged to grow their routes, Ryan’s employees go out of their way to market the business in a grassroots way. They are prepared with yard signs to let neighbors know who performed the work. But aside from the trucks and signs, they let the work they do speak for the company.

Meanwhile, Ryan says community involvement positions Ryan Lawn & Tree as a trusted organization. For 20 years, the company has donated a weed-and-feed service to a school auction. “Years of doing that has cemented our reputation as a company that is committed to the community,” he says.

That worked more effectively than the $20,000 Ryan spent on a radio advertising some years ago when he was breaking into a new market. “We got almost no phone calls,” he says, quickly adding that he knows radio works. “But it sure didn’t work in a new market for us. I thought we’ve got to try it – maybe we can blow the doors off. Radio seems to work better when people already sort of know about you.”

Another popular method larger firms use to market to new customers is to pay customers for referrals. Ryan Lawn & Tree began doing this, figuring they’d bring in even more referrals than they already did. They dole out $25 for each referral, but Ryan says fewer people pass referrals to the company now.

“You almost create a mind-set where a person thinks the only reason a friend referred them is for the bonus money,” he says, relating to Time Warner’s customer referral deal and an office manager that wanted everyone to sign up with the cable provider. “Once we figured out there was a bonus, then the service wasn’t attractive to us.”

Direct mail has also not been nearly as effective for Ryan Lawn & Tree as sticking to the basics of people and giving back. However, one campaign that did work was last year, when the company sent out an evaluation with a $10 gas card incentive. Ryan estimates 30,000 to 40,000 people responded to that survey, costing the business upward of $400,000. Because the company isn’t running this campaign in 2010, the marketing budget will decrease about 20 percent. Currently, the company dedicates about 1 percent of the budget toward marketing efforts.

In the end, Ryan prefers to go back to the basics, and this method has proved itself through the company’s aggressive growth.

“We try to be visible, proactive and help people out,” Ryan says, noting employees speak at garden club meetings, they are involved with their churches and other civic groups. “You can’t help enough. If you give without the attitude, you’ll get something back.”
 

The author is a freelance writer based in Bay Village, Ohio.