Weed Man: Creating Opportunities For Growth

One multiplied quickly, in Weed Man's case.

"From that time to today, we pretty well sold out every corner of Canada," noted Roger Mongeon, chief executive officer, who bought his first Hull, Quebec, franchise in 1986. Today, the company boasts $62.1 million in revenue, with more than 150 North American franchises, and has taken a firm footstep into the United States. "Our goal in the next 10 years is to grow our business in terms of systems and sales to $200 to $250 million, and that will position us as a No. 2 player in the lawn care industry in North America," Mongeon predicted.

Once again, Weed Man is ready to expand.

Roger Mongeon

SUCCESS ISN'T ALL ABOUT NUMBERS, HOWEVER. The first chapters of the Weed Man story are familiar - an independent business tends to details and cares about quality, attracting clients by building a solid reputation and retaining them by keeping its promises.

This philosophy has not changed. Weed Man has outgrown its first office space and acquired a few more trucks, but its standards survived and formed a foundation for a system that caught on. "Now, we have the national brand, but we're still maintaining the local flavor," Mongeon described. "The owner of the Weed Man franchise is still on site, and he has the fire in his eyes that he is going to provide the best service, and we offer him the best tools.

"We built a commercial model so that everyone can be successful," Mongeon added. "We have a partnership with our franchisees, so when they see who is involved in Weed Man, they see the system and it makes sense."

After 31 years of practice, the system Weed Man passes on to its franchisees is time tested and employee approved. Weed Man polished the business tools, from routing to marketing, so that franchisees can start with a "final draft" instead of trying to launch or grow a lawn care segment from scratch. Those who stick to the model can grow healthy, competitive lawn care businesses, like Sam Morgan, president, Weed Man, Wilmington, N.C.

"The system is the backbone of Weed Man," Morgan stressed. "Each step builds on each other, and the plan is all stepped out for you. Without it, we wouldn't have grown our lawn care business - we would've done the same that we did last year."

The first chapters of the Weed Man story are familiar - they trace the steps of an independent company built on solid systems and steady growth.

WEED MAN HAS EXPERIENCE BUILDING BUSINESSES, beginning its first franchise efforts in 1976, when Rice decided to branch out his Canadian offices and formed Turf Management Systems. Soon, franchises dotted Canada, and entrepreneurs like Mongeon bought a piece of the pie.

"Our vision was to grow in Canada and build the best possible system to grow the franchise," Mongeon said. "And while we were doing that, we were developing a lot of systems to operate lawn care."

Developing effective methods, from budgeting and marketing to scheduling and routing, was natural for Mongeon, who has an engineering background. And when he saw the franchises blanket Canada, he researched the United States market, figuring this success could move southward. He was right. "I approached Des Rice to purchase the master franchise rights for the United States and was able to secure that," he said.

From there, Mongeon continued to tweak the systems. This time, his challenge was to sufficiently support large territories. "We wanted to give franchisees a national brand with all the systems attached with the Weed Man name, but also give them the local support," he emphasized. "We divided the United States into 17 geographical

areas and recruited subfranchisors, and our strategy was to recruit the best people we could in the industry to become partners with us to execute our strategy."

These subfranchisors serve as consultants for their territories (see chart on page W4). The "cream of the crop in the industry," they function as team captains, in a sense, offering both the technical systems background and the moral support needed when breaking into a new business sector. Franchisees correspond with their subfranchisors daily over the phone and through e-mail messages. They serve as a crutch for new entrepreneurs and prevent them from "reinventing the wheel," by offering them suggestions to avoid common pitfalls, Mongeon explained. In turn, subfranchisors expand their experience by serving as industry resources.

"This is a way for those who have been in the industry for years to ratchet and leverage their expertise," Mongeon noted. "What they've been doing for 20 years they can teach people and become a consultant, and that is a powerful thing, because now, you have people sitting next door, offering their own franchise area advice and supporting the franchisees locally.

"When you couple that with the systems that we provide and the professionalism, there is no better time to consider a franchise."

NOW, ENTREPRENEURS ARE TAKING ADVANTAGE OF THIS SYSTEM. "We provide the opportunity to have the sophistication that comes with a national brand," Mongeon pointed out. "The marketing techniques, delivery system, computer system - when you provide that local owner with the brand name and the systems, that cannot be duplicated by an independent individual. You retain the local flavor, but we give you the materials to grow."

With 17 territories, 28 locations and 78 franchise units in the U.S., Weed Man is permeating the market. Already, franchisees note the aggressive growth in their lawn care divisions with the Weed Man system. They attest to the support, their ability to grow a sluggish lawn care department, their success in adding the service to their existing business, and the background they acquired in cases where they entered lawn care from outside the green industry. Their words capture this "local flavor," and their experiences contribute to Weed Man's growth and potential. "We want to grow from the ground up, and we're right at the starting gate," Mongeon added.

From there, anything is possible. After all, it started with just one truck.

LAWN CARE IS MORE THAN A BREAK-EVEN ADD-ON SERVICE FOR LANDSCAPE COMPANIES. Industry market reports reveal that this service fills a growing consumer demand for lush lawns, ranking third in sales volume behind mowing and landscape installation, according to a Research U.S.A. study of the green industry. Combined with industry consolidation, clearly, the market conditions are favorable for fertilization.

"With consolidation in the industry, I think there is a huge vacuum that can be filled," observed Roger Mongeon, chief executive officer, Weed Man.

And clients are not hard to come by, studies show. Nearly 80 percent of lawn care sales stems from single-family residential homes, with 13.6 percent originating from commercial/industrial accounts. Consumers are investing in their properties, and companies find similar value-added results, as integrating lawn care can balance more temperamental services.

A strategy to incorporate this service division creates a smooth transition, as Heather Schuster discovered. "Landscape contracting can be very volatile, whereas with Weed Man, things are much more steady," noted Schuster, who owns a Weed Man franchise and Terra-Firma Landscape in Muskego, Wis.

Named fourth in franchise satisfaction out of 200 top franchisors in SUCCESS magazine's 2001 Franchisee Satisfaction Ranking, Weed Man grasps the market's favorable lawn care conditions and allows those who buy into the model to harness its opportunities.

A lawn care company's average life is 18.3 years, according to the study, proving this market potential is not just a quick bottom-line buffer, but instead, a long-term business venture. In addition, start-up capital is reasonable. With a tightening labor market, owners can't always find reliable, skilled technicians to fill positions, Schuster said, adding that she experienced difficulty hiring workers for her landscape installation crews. Research U.S.A. uncovered that most lawn care companies employ an average of 5.5 year-round employees and 2.4 seasonal employees.

"Human resources isn't getting any easier," Schuster pointed out. "With Weed Man, you need fewer staff people to do that type of work. As a business owner, that is attractive because it is less people to manage."

NED CULTRONA - Business is booming for Ned Cultrona since he and his partner, Jim Freireich, pulled Weed Man into their all-purpose landscape company, which offers the gamut, from mowing to snowplowing. As his Chesterland, Ohio-based business grew, however, he recognized a need to pump up his lawn care division. "I always looked for a way to break into lawn care in a bigger way," he remarked.

Cultrona soon found that "breaking into lawn care" boosted the success of his other services, namely snowplowing, which increased from the 500 driveways he and Freireich plowed their first year in business in 1994 to nearly 2,000 last year. "In the pursuit of lawn care, we also increased our business in regards to lawn mowing," he added. "We had to add an extra truck and we jumped from six employees to nine. We didn't expect that."

Not to mention, the company tripled its fertilization accounts from last year, he added. "It dawned on me at that point, that there is only one aspect of the green industry where you can grow like that - you can't expect to plow 90 percent of a neighborhood," he said.

By applying Weed Man's systems Cultrona fine-tuned his business, from finances to routing, and increased his customer base to sufficiently serve accounts, he said. "I plan on adding at least one production truck per year for lawn care, and growing it in our little backyard neighborhood," he said.

"I've been doing this a long time, but on such a grassroots size and small volume," he described. "My knowledge is increasing on a daily basis."

STEVE RUSSELL - Systems and support go hand in hand, especially when building a business.

Steve Russell, owner of a Weed Man franchise in Farmington Hills, Mich., knew he needed a "detailed roadmap" to refine his internal operations. His $5-million pest control business, Eradico Services, added lawn care in 1981, most of its clients commercial. "We really wanted to expand into residential, and Weed Man gave us a great plan to do that," he noted.

Weed Man supplied the plan to energize Russell's lawn care division, and soon, he was questioning why he hadn't implemented these methods earlier.

"I wish we'd adapted the business planning tools when we first started our lawn care business, because we would have been light years ahead of where we are now," he remarked.

The framework that drives this success outlines specific scheduling and routing procedures, so technicians follow an organized, efficient daily route. Financial planning techniques include a spreadsheet program that allows business owners to base budgets on careful calculations instead of blind guesses, Russell added.

"With this, you have a proven model, a proven system and you follow it," he said simply. "We've retained our individuality and autonomy, but we are part of a huge support system where you don't feel like you're alone out there. You're working with other people that have the same goal."

HEATHER SCHUSTER - Landscape and lawn care can form a perfect union.

"The two really complement each other nicely," noticed Heather Schuster, after incorporating Weed Man into her landscape business, Terra-Firma Landscape, Muskego, Wis.

"We finally found a system that would help us with lawn care," she explained. "I could never understand how you could make a profit on a $40 application." Schuster's high dollar volume landscape accounts generated up to $50,000 per job, so adopting a mindset that a less expensive service could create profit was boggling, she admitted. "But when we looked at how Weed Man perfected the details as far as routing and customer service, it began to make sense to me."

The time-tested techniques created a foundation for Schuster's lawn care division, and like turning to an old friend for advice, she felt secure in implementing systems that others trusted.

While the lawn care division established solid roots for future growth, it also presented cross-marketing opportunities. "We always referred our landscape design/build customers to other companies for lawn care. I think it helps our design/build clients feel comfortable that when their new installations are in, we can take care of the lawns from there."

SAM MORGAN - Sam Morgan is determined to be Weed Man's "Rookie of the Year." He diligently sticks to the specific budgeting strategy, determined to follow the system from A to Z so he can secure his goal.

"I figured Weed Man would be a good way to grow our business - I just didn't know how good it would be."

Morgan describes his old budgeting process - little more than pencil, paper and "random pricing." "Things would slip through the cracks," he explained. "We were definitely ready for some help."

Morgan turned a one-man lawn care department, run by his partner, Coley Maynard, into an organized, money-making facet of the company. Details drove the budgeting process, with specific spreadsheets that identify expenses all the way down to the number of envelopes ordered each year, Morgan pointed out. "Now, I know what I'll have in the bank at the end of the year," he said.

With a two-step budgeting procedure, franchisees figure their finances at the beginning of the year and then make adjustments after six months. A custom-designed software program unique to Weed Man allows business owners to access support while online. Subfranchisors can tap into the system and move around numbers as the franchisee learns and makes adjustments on his or her own screen.

In addition, the system offers the ability to efficiently route and sets up a strategy to make applications in a timely fashion, Morgan said. "The system that they gave us did something right."

PHIL FOGARTY - Phil Fogarty was no industry novice when he invested in Weed Man one year ago. He helped build a $1-million lawn care company through networking and client relationships, but when he sold this business and reentered the field, he knew he needed to rework his marketing tactics.

"I had no formula to help me go out and get the residential clients that had avoided me for so long - the sort of cookie-cutter, regular guy who just needs a lawn care program," he noted.

Fogarty started from scratch, without an existing customer base from which to draw customers since he signed a non-compete contract when he turned over his business to another owner. "I went out and got more new customers this past spring than I ever did before when I was a million-dollar company," he noted.

He formed these new relationships by following a strict telemarketing campaign, which identifies a methodical approach to gaining new clients "that just rolls." Fogarty was closing sales and matching progress predictions.

"Starting up a new system, you have a big lump in your throat and you hope that you won't do something wrong," he admitted. "When you see things fall into place as planned it's a huge relief. I never had the right formula or the support of a group of people to make that happen. Now, I know what I spent on my marketing campaign, so I know what it costs me to get a new customer.

"I really felt like they brought to an old dog like me, a new trick to go to market in a much bigger way than I ever did before," he said.

DAVE THOMPSON - When Dave Thompson left his 25-year law career, he didn't look back.

After negotiating a franchise purchase from Turf Management at his firm, he was intrigued by the lawn care business. "I had been toiling for a long time in law, and it was time for me to try something different," said the owner of six franchises in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Thompson tried Weed Man in 1992, and since then has acquired other branches and is looking to expand his Canadian roots into a United States territory.

"With us, opposed to a newcomer, we're tried and true in the business - we've experienced it all," he said.

After Weed Man's training, Thompson said he felt secure in his lawn care knowledge, and this base created a solid foundation for his business. "I think there is always an opportunity and a niche, especially in the large, American market," he noted.

Now, Thompson employs a management team to run daily operations while he oversees his franchises. He serves as the support system, interacting with managers and answering questions like "How should I do it? How should I grow?" The U.S. subfranchisor set-up will foster conversations like this, he added. "You have the flexibility to grow and innovate."

"My partners in my law firm used to look at me like I had three heads when I told them I was getting out of the practice," he said, laughing. "Now they don't. I look forward to the time when I can let someone else run the business and make a good living at it as I have."