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What is success? Some entrepreneurs measure success from the bottom line up. Others measure it in calendar years and define it as “overall stability.” Others still determine that their level of success is in direct proportion to their overall happiness. For Susan and Chris Sadler, owners of Waco-based Plantscapers, success is measured as much by the process of achieving it as by the end results.    

“I feel I am a success when I find a good balance between being a businessperson and a mom,” relates Susan. “Success is hiring the right people and training them so everything runs as smoothly as possible. Success is having systems in place to monitor their activities and others that affect the overall health of our business. Success is being able to network with peers and to find ways to effectively and continually market our services.”

    

Work at Success Every Day

 

She emphasizes the word, “continually.” “No matter what business you are in, it is all too easy to become complacent,” says this former community college teacher who, with husband Chris, purchased Plantscapers in 1999. “We believe success is something owners like ourselves have to work at every day. In life, tomorrow is guaranteed to no one; in business, tomorrow’s customers are guaranteed to no one.”

    

Plantscapers provides interior landscaping services to banks, hospitals, educational institutions, restaurants, hotels, and other commercial customers in central Texas. The company employs four people, two full-time technicians and two people who share the administrative responsibilities. Susan says that because of occasional absences or vacations, there has been some cross training among the staff. The move creates a team spirit and allows the company to provide consistent service to its customers.  

    

When the Sadlers purchased the company four years ago, the couple was business smart but lacked many of the horticulture skills necessary to become successful interior landscape contractors. Susan made up the difference in a hurry. She joined ALCA and, within four months, passed her Certified Landscape Technician exam. The new owners quickly tackled other challenges — including learning how to effectively manage people — coming up with processes that would allow for future growth and learning how to effectively promote their new business.

     

They honed in on each challenge with equal vigor, never forgetting that their ultimate success would depend on how well they managed the individual parts of their business. Susan drew on her teaching background to develop an effective training program for employees, one that emphasized both the technical and personal side of the business. Employees were taught to be proactive in two key areas — to communicate with customers and to identify potential plant problems before they become problems.

 

Forms, processes, and checklists were developed to help employees be more productive on the job site, and newly created systems tracked company performance. By talking with other ALCA members as well as community leaders, Susan learned how to promote their business. She made personal contact with potential customers and then educated them about the services Plantscapers provides. As she explains, “What I’ve discovered in the four plus years we have been in business is that the challenge in our industry is not making contact with customers but in educating them about what we do and the value it provides.”

    

She continues, “Education, like everything else in the business, is an ongoing process, and it has always been one of our main keys to success. Whether it is hands-on education, reading materials to acquire book knowledge, or verbally communicating with team members, we are always leaning. Our emphasis on education allows us to deliver more value to our customers, and it gives us a competitive advantage.”

     

Plantscapers team members are working toward various levels of certification that are appropriate to their job responsibilities, Susan notes, adding that she recently passed her CLP exam. Says Susan, “We have adopted, and are committed to, ALCA’s slogan, Certification is good business.”

 

Today’s Efforts

    

“I tell our technicians if they do really good work today, they can depend on having a good visit the next time they see the customer,” Susan emphasizes. “The same holds true with every aspect of our business. Owners truly cannot afford to rest on their individual success and laurels.” In other words, she adds, one or two good years do not automatically imply a third or fourth good year will follow.

    

Plantscapers has had four good years. The company recently moved to a new location that provides more space for employees and plants. “Our customers are comfortable with us and we want our team to be comfortable with us, too,” Susan notes. 

    

“Tomorrow’s success is today’s effort,” she reemphasizes. “I believe that if we train and take care of our employees, provide excellent service to our customers, and continually monitor our operation, success will follow. But every day is a new day and we have to repeat the process … every day.”

 

9/03

 

By Rod Dickens, ALCA Contributing Writer