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One service leads to another. That is one way to describe the evolution of Farmside Landscape & Design, located in Wantage, New Jersey. Owner and founder Miles Kuperus, Jr., CLP, started the company in 1986 as a spin-off from his brother’s garden center. After first specializing in design/build, he launched a maintenance service, a snow removal service, a turf care division, and later acquired a Plant Health Care Company –- all in the name of responding to customer needs and providing an even higher level of service.

“From the very beginning, we realized that to be the best company we could be required providing better customer service,” says Kuperus. “One way to improve was to provide as many services as we could in-house.” The new services –– maintenance, turf care, and plant health care –– eventually developed their own book of business, expanding the company portfolio, reputation, and market penetration. Becoming the best service provider also created a synergy that continues to fuel company growth.

Harness the drive

Today, design/build and maintenance customers account for more than 80 percent of the company’s annual revenue. The other three departments –– turf care, plant health care, and snow removal, are near equal contributors to the remaining 20 percent. The company has also added athletic fields to its primarily commercial/residential customer mix.

The above services and subsequent growth are the end products of a company culture that motivates employees through training, incentive programs, and family values, says Kuperus, who spent two years at Rutgers University studying to be a landscape architect. “Our primary focus, now, is to build a strong training company. We train at every opportunity we can and offer financial rewards to employees who complete their training. One of our immediate goals is that all our foremen become certified landscape technicians, and we are only one person shy of that goal. We expect that individual to receive his certification this fall.”

He continues, “This past winter, 10 members of our team spent 480 hours collectively designing and writing a company training manual. They incorporated information that PLANET provided and developed some of their own material from the ground up. The manual is comprised of several components for each of our five divisions.”

Effective training is also a requisite for motivating people and promoting them within a timely fashion, Kuperus adds. Developing a manual is good training by itself, and the information inside facilitates organization and the standardizing of processes and services.

A company bonus system works in tandem with training to help motivate employees. But, as Kuperus points out, it is not your typical incentive program because it is based as much on customer service as it is on profitability. He explains, “We felt that structuring an incentive program exclusively around productivity or profits was taking a short-term view. The long view is to think about customers first and structure a program that emphasizes service. Our program then takes into consideration safety, quality, customer satisfaction, and continuing education as well as a department’s productivity or profitability. There are several ways to motivate employees. The key, I believe, is to find a way to harness that drive.”

Five-course dinner

Kuperus and his wife Lisa have five children. They understand family values and the important role a family plays in any work environment. Every summer, their company sponsors a picnic where families are not only invited, but become the focus of attention. A buffet replete with a variety of Mexican and American food helps everyone feel at home, including younger family members who also are indulged with a bounce house, water slide, and a variety of games.

Later in the year, employees and spouses attend a dinner in their honor. Says Kuperus, “When our company was smaller, Lisa and I used to hold the dinner at our house. Our motto at the time was ‘providing a five-star service deserves a five-course dinner.’ The motto still prevails, but the courses are offered up at a banquet facility. After the dinner, we recognize employees and the great work they perform in a PowerPoint presentation.”

Farmside customers are made to feel part of the family, as well. During the holiday season, each of 900 customers receives a Kuperus family photo and a personal letter detailing some of the company’s highlights for the year. Says Kuperus, “The manager at the place where we have the photos developed always gives me a quizzical look when I ask for 900 of them.”

As he emphasizes, though, it does not make any difference how many customers a company has. Making all of them feel like they are part of an extended family closes the loop and helps round out a business built around service, motivating employees, and family values.

09/05

by Rod Dickens, PLANET Contributing Writer