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Growth creates opportunities for everyone

Sometimes in life, the earliest lessons are the ones that stay embedded the longest. This is true for Jeff Sebert, president of Sebert Landscaping, Inc., located in Bartlett, Illinois. He started working for a full-service landscape contractor in 1979 with all intentions of growing with the company and being in its employ for several years. It didn’t happen. After five years, Sebert had gone as far as he could go. Four of the owner’s relatives occupied top management slots, and the company wasn’t growing fast enough to create additional management positions. What did he do then? He took a risk and formed his own company.

     “I started Sebert Landscaping in 1985,” he recalls. “I never had a burning desire to be an entrepreneur, and I didn’t know anything about developing a business plan. What I did know, however, was that if I was going to do one thing right it would be to create opportunities for the people who were going to work for me. I didn’t want what happened to me to happen to my employees — leaving for the want of growth opportunities and a stronger career path.”

     No truer words have been spoken. After more than two decades in business, Sebert Landscaping has grown into a $22 million full-service landscape management company that generates approximately 60 percent of its revenue from landscape management and 40 percent from landscape construction projects. It employs 60 full-time people, but the number swells to 280 individuals during the busy ­season.

     In addition to its headquarters in Bartlett, the company has branch locations in nearby Elk Grove, Romeoville, Naperville, and Marengo. The branches are self-reliant, having a branch manager, account managers, and a crew supervisor. Each branch is equipped to handle somewhere between $2 million and $4 million in revenue.

     “We’ve done a variety of work over the years in several different markets,” Sebert relates. “We’ve done both large and small design/build and maintenance projects for commercial establishments and homeowners. We’ve developed a relationship with area developers, and our company has provided a wide range of services for municipal clients. Overall, though, we are best known for our work in the commercial marketplace.”

People power

     When asked what he attributes his company’s growth and success to, Sebert points to his people. “I’m only a small part of the big picture,” he emphasizes. “I attribute our company’s success to our employees. It’s truly about them.

     “I believe that if you want to grow your business and create opportunities, you have to entrust your employees and give them the freedom and the tools they need to make it happen. People make mistakes. We all do, but if owners and managers take time to coach and mentor, employees will learn more readily from their mistakes and make fewer of them over time.”

     Sebert’s company has 10 managers, including the four branch managers. All branch managers have been promoted to their positions having worked previously as account managers for Sebert. They’ve also worked as crew members, either for Sebert or another company, meaning they know how to provide exemplary service and interact with the clients.

     The managers get together monthly to review financial and other company performance figures and weekly, in smaller groups, to discuss more timely issues. The company also holds yearly off-site, strategic planning meetings, where managers are asked to come up with four or five new ideas for increasing company profitability and growth.

     The branch and corporate managers are held accountable for their performance figures, and their pay is based in large part on meeting goals. Account managers and foremen have similar incentives, with an added emphasis on safety, to help grow the company.

     Sebert emphasizes that taking on new challenges — getting out of one’s comfort zone — is one of the main ingredients to fuel growth, and he continually encourages employees to take on new projects. “I want to be excited about coming to work in the morning, and I want my employees to feel the same way,” Sebert relates. “I’m not saying that trying something different is for everyone, but giving everyone an opportunity to grow internally will help the company grow.”

New growth opportunities

     Last year, Sebert Landscaping purchased Great Impressions, a design/build and landscape management business that caters primarily to the needs of high-end residential customers. It also operates a nursery, Grace Nursery, located in Marengo, to supply plant material for its installation jobs.

     This year Sebert is also unveiling a new Web site, landscapeservices.com. Designed specifically for residential customers, the site gives homeowners the opportunity to shop for a broad selection of landscape services directly over the Internet. Sebert is partnering with a couple of other green industry companies to provide services that range from tree care and landscape management, design, and installation to installing lights and holiday decorations. “The new Web site is one more tool to bring in the consumer on the residential side,” Sebert explains.

     Only time will tell how successful the new venture will be. In the meantime, it appears that after 22 years in business, Sebert continues to take his own advice to heart. He keeps stretching his comfort zone and looking for new opportunities for himself and his employees.