SPEAKER_00 0:00

You can always start an organic conversation with just about anybody, and uh usually one way or another, it's gonna lead to what do you do, you know, where do you do it.

SPEAKER_01 0:14

All right, everybody, welcome back to another episode of Connections That Matter. Today I have an awesome guest, Alex Tanner from AGT Landscape and Design. Uh, he was uh frequent uh previously shouted out as the who's who in birth, and we had a previous episode, Alex uh just Jessica Spears was like, Oh, you got to use Alex from AGT. So uh had to bring you on and uh because a networking landscaper, um, I don't see very many of those, so it's good to meet you.

SPEAKER_00 0:44

Yeah, it's great to be here with you today, Andrew. Um, we are a rare breed I've found over my uh over half a decade of networking now. Um there's lots of people who are good at networking and lots who are good landscapers, but um I try to pride myself on being both of those things.

SPEAKER_01 1:01

Well, uh and talk to me that because uh with somebody in the trades, it's there's always work to do uh that I find. But how do you make time for networking and building the relationships and not just getting the next task complete?

SPEAKER_00 1:15

Oh, it's a good question. It is a daily schedule for me, it's very busy between managing field operations, making sure materials are um going to where they need to for each of our job sites, um you know, dealing with client communication as well as uh making time for networking. Um that's uh what a typical day looks like for me. And uh it hasn't always been the easiest thing for me to manage when you met me. I think it was six or seven years ago. I was just uh infant, so to speak, and and uh prioritizing tasks in the field versus networking. But yeah, it's I found it's a very important uh driver of our business. Um and so I try to make some time, whether it's going to monthly meetings, uh next level networking events, uh one-to-ones. Um I do as many as I can during the summer. I do a lot in the winter time, and I really utilize the off-season, so to speak, um, to focus on sales networking, um, just getting to know other local business owners, um, you know, talking to pretty much any anyone I can. But I have uh sort of built out a leadership team that in the last couple of years that allows me to focus a little more on uh networking and sales and the things that I know to be important drivers to my business besides just productivity in the field.

SPEAKER_01 2:36

Yeah, that's that whole working on your business rather than in your business. Right. Uh who who do you seek out when you're networking um to build relationships with? Is mostly home services, real estate agents, property managers?

SPEAKER_00 2:47

Um, you know, when I first started, that was uh definitely my main focus was uh other business owners in the home service sector. Um, but I found you know good networking and good referral partnership has gone well beyond that for me. Um so obviously, you know, real estate agents, property managers, people on HOA boards, um, developers, those are all really good connections for me. But um I've also you know I've established great relationships with uh people in um other trades, like uh plumbers, electricians, uh roofers, um, people who are in you know business improvement and coaching, um, you know, people like yourself who are involved in networking and help me get my foot in the door, so to speak, with other people that may or may not be um in home services. But pretty much everyone needs a landscaper, and almost everyone knows someone that has a issue or a need with landscaping. So um the broader I can make my um referral network, so to speak, um, the better.

SPEAKER_01 3:50

Yeah, and I see some other companies, they you know, they do the marketing approach, and nothing nothing wrong with that. I remember uh we we we invest in real estate, we bought a new build, but but that's a prime target for a landscaper because they they do the front yard but not the back. But I probably got I don't know, five door hangers a week of people that would come in and knock, hey, we'd love to do your backyard. How do you stand out in that sea of competition when um you know when when you're up against uh that kind of uh people that are wanting those business?

SPEAKER_00 4:22

Um yeah, obviously, you know, new builds, custom homes, that's uh that's a golden ticket, so to speak, for landscapers. So usually when you're in those type of neighborhoods, like you said, you're gonna see two or three people a day coming to put door hangers, put business cards in doors, um, even mailboxes, which um the legality of that when I see it, I know is a gray area, but I choose not to uh say anything about it. But we take a little bit of a different approach. Um I'm not big on the uh sort of cold um cold networking or cold sales. Um I do respect and try to do my best to um reach out directly to other business owners in the birth it area, um, you know, walk in some doors and introduce myself. But um yeah, we focus strongly on uh just relationships with people. Um so whether that's you know being out at uh at the TPC golf course restaurant, um, which I've seen just there almost every time I go. Um, and it's it's always a good group of people there that you can sit at the bar and talk to and have organic conversations with, whether I'm sitting on a chairlift, um, talking to a complete stranger at Eldora or Winter Park or what have you. Um you can always start an organic conversation with just about anybody. And uh usually one way or another, it's gonna lead to what do you do? You know, where do you do it? Uh you're a landscaper. Uh my my mom needs someone like that. Uh my sister had someone start a project last year that they didn't finish. Um so referrals and word of mouth are huge for us. Um I also focus most of my marketing efforts digitally, um social media as well as Google. Um, so we're building our presence all the time, more and more on Facebook, on Instagram, Yelp, um, the Better Business Bureau, um, as well as just always working on optimizing our Google presence. So those are sort of the pillars of uh, I guess, networking and marketing that are important to me.

SPEAKER_01 6:25

So well, and then it's like the the networking within the neighborhoods, and every HOA has got some different guidelines and our review process. Um, you know, how do you how do you break in uh with with these things that are setting up and getting to be known as like the trusted source in a given neighborhood?

SPEAKER_00 6:43

Um so yeah, I've got a pretty good uh strategy for that now. Um I do utilize yard signs, so not a big door hanger guy, but you know, when we're doing a nice project or we've just done a big cleanup or something that's impactful and noticeable. Um I'll put yard signs out that just have our information, QR codes, phone numbers that people can uh, you know, passerby is whether it's people walking their dogs or people driving or you know, the uh the morning uh walking club that maybe uh a lot of the wives in the community may be a part of. So that's helpful for us. And we get a bit of a you know sort of residual business just from people seeing our good work in the neighborhoods. Um and I also am highly focused on uh making sure that our customers are satisfied before, during, and after the process of working with AGT. Um and that's gonna come in the form of checking in with them throughout as well as at the end of the proje uh project and uh you know making sure that I get a gauge of their satisfaction, that I'm asking them to provide a review based on their experience with our business. And uh I can take that a step further, especially in some of the uh HOA and subdivision communities in uh our region. Um usually there's Facebook groups for individual communities, and I'll uh ask our satisfied clients if they wouldn't mind not only giving us a review, but maybe just giving us a shout-out on those individual community groups. Um, and that's hugely impactful and helpful for our sales process and um building trust among an individual neighborhood, um, not only from a larger scale and from seeing signs and from seeing guys working, but you know, then you take the next step to actually get recommended within a smaller group, and that really gives people the confidence to know that they're working with a highly rated, highly regarded business.

SPEAKER_01 8:30

Sure. Well definitely seems to be picking up. Uh, you know, I follow some of those community groups and people ask for recommendations to a landscaper, and I see multiple people tagging AGT. Uh, how do you how do you cultivate that level of loyalty and trust? And so where somebody takes time out of their scroll to actually tag you and bring you uh or give you a big shout out on social media?

SPEAKER_00 8:52

Um well it's uh I mean I definitely pride the the our business and myself on uh being the sole point of communication um throughout the process. So from the first time people reach out to me, whether it's email, phone call, Facebook message, um you name it. Um and I sort of I guess I want to establish a level of trust and a level of you know friendliness and comfort comfortability um with my clients, really before we've even stepped foot on their property with a tool, um, or we before we've started a job with them. So I'm uh I have a sort of three-step sales process which includes multiple touch points to build familiarity, build trust with my clients. Um I'm always gonna start with uh responding to them myself, whether it's an email, phone, or text, um setting an initial onboarding call. Um so that's a time for for me to get comfortable and get familiar with my clients as well as for them to get a feel for me, my style of communication, my personality, um, a little bit of my expertise. Um it's not necessarily a time to offer everything in the world to our clients and throw numbers at them, but I want them to feel comfortable with me before I even step foot on their property. Um so typically after that, we're building your baseline level of trust. Um, always set a follow-up meeting on our first onboarding call, usually within two to four days. So you want to stay front of mind with your clients. I found that's a great way to not only build trust, but to win jobs. So I'm walking, you know, personally one-on-one on site with people on their properties, sort of letting them communicate to me what their priorities are, their goals are, things that uh have gone right, things that haven't gone so great for them with their landscape. Um again, more of an opportunity to build trust, to uh establish a solid relationship with this person. Um so that way by the time the third meeting comes around, it's time to review an estimate, it's time to uh talk numbers, it's time to talk contracts. You know, people don't feel like they're being hustled or they're they're being swindled or you know, they're working with a uh fast talking car salesman, like they feel like they've gotten to know me. They've uh and no offense to car salesmen who are listening to this podcast, because I love you guys. But um yeah, they they feel comfortable with me, I feel comfortable with them. It's not there's not a level of nervousness, there's not uh any awkward like first impression stuff. We've gotten through all that. Um and so that's my process and how I, you know, make sure that I can find clients that are serious that trust me, I trust them, and uh how we move forward with most of our uh prospective jobs.

SPEAKER_01 11:40

So that's cool. I mean, uh you know, to network with a landscaper or somebody who holds that in high regard, we just had uh Ann Coughlin with Peppy's Pets and Cliff Colen from uh the Longmont Humane Society. But your backyard is a big top big part of how you live. And um when when people are sending design and and dreaming of like how their kids are gonna play in the backyard or the dogs gonna be out there, um what what do people really want? You know, because they might say they want something. What do they really want? What do you see that's in right now?

SPEAKER_00 12:11

So yeah, I guess it's a combination of what people want. What I've found is uh people want their problems solved first and foremost. Um whether it's uh if you've got a a yard that uh your grass has sort of gotten a little unhealthy and it's gotten thin and it's gotten patchy, and uh, you know, throughout our winters we can go through periods that are wetter, that are are uh more overcast, cooler. And uh if you combine all that on a yard that's has issues with grass, then you got mud. So I mean that's a big one that I find that in a lot of my meetings I take, people are uh will mention three, four, or five times that they've dealt with muddy dog paws, muddy shoes, muddy, you know, kids coming in with mud on their knees and their hands, and they have to spend more time bathing, and um, they've they've put down straw and they've tried all these different solutions to fix the underlying problem, which is the mud, and it usually has something to do with drainage or there's not a lot of root uh structure in the area. Um so we have solutions for people like that. Um but ultimately, yeah, it's everyone has a problem that stems from their landscape and uh whether it's brand new or whether it's been established for many years. So my job is to come in, isolate those problems, help people uh not only come up with solutions for those problems, but uh help them imagine a future where they don't have those problems. Sure. And uh to be able to sort of take people from like a present moment into a future space where they've worked with you and they're uh you know, seeing the results and the benefits of choosing to work with you, and their life is now less stressful and therefore they can come home and spend less time pulling weeds or wiping their dogs' dirty paws or um what have you. You know, that's uh to I guess to me that's uh what almost everyone's looking for when they're calling a service person or even, you know, translates through multiple industries and networking. You know, most people are starting from a place of uh some of discomfort or a problematic, challenging place. And to feel uh like they've had that put at ease just by choosing to work with you, that's uh I think uh a key underlying point to why we see success and why we uh continue to grow and do well. Awesome.

SPEAKER_01 14:32

Well, I'm I'm curious on the seasonal business, uh, because sprinkler blood season it it's really busy or uh when people are doing the aeration and getting the lawn started up, but then there's this period over the winter where there's I I can't imagine there's a lot of work to do. Um so what how do you manage cash flow with those big highs and lows and then also staffing um to keep your employees uh working? Or how does that how does that any tips on that for somebody else?

SPEAKER_00 14:59

That is a really great question. Um, you know, it's sort of a blessing and a curse having an off season. Um for the burnout factor is very real. So by the time we've put in, you know, eight, nine months of just of moving from project to project, you know, maintenance to installations to designs to irrigation. I mean, me and my me and my guys are tired. Um, that doesn't that doesn't ever uh affect the quality or the I guess efforts and confidence that I put forward into running this business, but it is a real thing. So it's nice to have a little bit of a break um for those winter months, you know, December, January, February, um, where you can bank on it at least being cold enough, occasionally snowy enough to uh not have too too much as far as big installs go. Um but yeah, it is uh managing cash flow and making sure my guys uh have consistent hours and work is always top of mind for me. Um so I sort of I could I like to come into the off season in a strong uh place financially as far as having reserves to back up my business, pay my guys, pay my overhead expenses, um, as well as maybe a few payrolls um to cover those three sh slower months. Um we do offer maintenance, uh commercial and residential, so that gets us through a little bit with the spring and fall cleanups, uh, like you mentioned, a lot of the preconditioning uh for lawns in the spring, as well as snow removal. Um we offer all those services and I do offer my guys year-round work um with a slightly reduced guarantee for hours um for the winter season. But I found that uh for them it works out pretty much the best. Um with snow removal can be inconsistent, but we have that built into our contracts, so our guys are gonna be paid either way. Um and they oftentimes will pick up a part-time job for two or three months just to sort of make sure that that income is still matching what they make during the summer. But I do uh make sure that my employees being paid, being well taken care of, their benefits uh carrying through. It's always top of mind, and that's they're the backbone of my business. I know that and I respect that, and I do everything I can to make sure that we're not only financially sound, but my employees are well taken care of.

SPEAKER_01 17:19

I don't well how do you I mean sometimes more business, especially for trades, there's only so many hours in the days, you have so many crews, but how do you maintain the level of quality as you've grown and expanded where people I mean every time I call you, Alex, like I get you. Uh, you know, I you're you're coordinating on the different parts of it. Um how do you how do you keep that up and scale?

SPEAKER_00 17:39

Oh, well, it's basically uh I've got a pretty good system and it's highly reliant on uh making sure that my employees come back year after year. So I have several employees that are in their third year with me. Um and I've been telling them since you know pretty much day one that we're uh we operate like a small business no matter how large we get or how many crews we have in the field. Um always I I always encourage open communication with my employees, and that goes both ways. And uh they know that my ultimate goal is to promote from within, to train them on best practices the way I've been landscaping and the uh sort of skills I've built over my 15 years in this field. Um, you know, there's a lot of right ways and wrong ways to landscape, so to speak. So I make sure that I drill those uh best practices into my employees every day through supervision in the field, through through, you know, teaching them um my own methods with the tools I would use, the equipment I would use, and I go over it with them. I mean, some things I might tell them 20 or 25 times a year until it's you know they when they're doing something, whether it's putting in edging or laying down sod or trenching an irrigation system, they see me in their head and they say they see me saying it needs to be 10 inches deep, you know, this needs to be trenched in, um, this needs to be tighter on the seams, um, you know, what have you with patios. I mean, that's always an ongoing thing with all my guys with leveling and some of the um more specialized uh technical qualifications and s and skill sets that come with that. But um ultimately I train all my guys. I don't uh I mean I don't subcontract my work unless it's slightly specialized, like uh big concrete demos or um big concrete pours. We're not I have a good uh company I work with for concrete work, but I've established a standard that I maintain and I check in and I continue to reinforce learning, um teaching, as well as uh open communication with my employees, as well as incentivized uh you know, uh incentives in the form of uh raises, um extra benefits, extra paid time off, um, bigger bonuses for returning year after year. So everything that I can put back into my employees I do. And in return, they uh, you know, meet my standards that I set for them. They work really hard, they show up every day, they show up with great attitudes. My uh clients always have raving reviews about how polite and knowledgeable uh my employees are. And uh I take pride in that. You know, that's a system that I've built and that I continue to hone in. And uh I believe that you know, you you get out what you put in as in regards to treating your employees well.

SPEAKER_01 20:35

Right on. Well, in connections that matter, we love. I mean, people watch the Some of Business Owners, uh, they would love to connect with you. Is there any specific connections that you're looking for? Any any types of businesses that you would love to network with additionally?

SPEAKER_00 20:46

Yeah, always uh real estate agents, you know. The I know uh uh several great ones, um, but it doesn't hurt to have a bigger uh referral network in real estate. Um, people on HOA boards, just uh that really helps uh get familiarity and you know, maybe get a little deeper connection within that community. Um you know, pretty much anyone who's who's interested in buying a home, has just bought a home, maybe building a home, um, custom builders we really like to work with. Um even people who you know just need a small landscape addition. Um there's not really a limit of of good people to refer to me or people that I'm looking to network with. Um just sort of anyone who's wants to have a genuine, friendly conversation. If they need a landscape out of it, that's a bonus for me.

SPEAKER_01 21:39

Sure. Well, Alex, whether uh small job or big job, I I know you'll take you'll take them all. So if you have a landscaping need, uh, how do they get a hold of you?

SPEAKER_00 21:48

Um yeah, I try to have most people contact us through our website, through our contact form. It's uh www.agtlandscape.com. Um always feel free to you know. Call me or message me directly. Uh, my phone number, which is listed on our website, 720-568-0721. Um, and yeah, besides that, I mean, we get Facebook messages, we get sort of contacts from lots of different parts of the internet, and I try to stay on top of all of them as best I can. So you can usually expect to hear back from me within uh 12 to 24 hours, no matter how you contact us.

SPEAKER_01 22:25

So right on it. Well, Alex, thanks so much for coming on the show. I look forward to watching you do great work and just being that recommended landscaper in Berthead.

SPEAKER_00 22:33

Yeah, thanks for having me. Uh a lot of fun. Look forward to seeing what you do next. All right on.

SPEAKER_01 22:40

Hey all, thanks for watching. I love networking and building relationships with other Northern Colorado business leaders. So if you want to come meet some of these podcast guests, meet me or meet some other amazing entrepreneurs in Northern Colorado. I would love to have you attend one of our next events. Uh, go in the podcast description. There's a way so that you can see our upcoming schedule. And maybe you could be a future podcast guest as well. Thanks.