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A Profile in Partnership
1 Sep, 2008 By: Jamie J. Gooch LivescapesWhen Tracy and Crystal Sides started Landvision Designs in Raleigh, NC, 15 years ago, the husband-and-wife team had a dump truck, some borrowed tools and rented equipment. It was tough going at first.
“My wife drove the dump truck and loader, while I planted the plants,” Sides recalls. “Nights and weekends were devoted to designs and sales meetings.”
But the Sides soon had some extra help in the form of Bill and Joe Stoffregen, the father-and-son team who owned and operated Homewood Nursery & Garden Center.
Crystal worked in the greenhouse at Homewood for a summer. As a result, Bill and Joe began handing out Landvision’s business cards to customers who needed help installing plants or wanted a landscape designed.
“We received good feedback from our customers about their landscape installations,” Joe says.
“One thing led to another and a few years later we decided to move it a step forward,” Sides says.
It was a big step. Landvision moved in next to Homewood’s retail center and became the only landscape company Homewood recommended.
Mutually Beneficial
The biggest benefit to Landvision was obvious: a steady flow of referrals. Clients sent from Homewood were even pre-qualified, in a way. Homewood’s clients’ expectations for quality put them in the right frame of mind for Landvision’s service.
“Certainly the leads are the No. 1 benefit to us,” Sides says. “If we’re referred through Homewood, it’s a slam dunk. The standard for quality is already set.”
An added benefit to Landvision are Homewood’s retail displays. Landvision employees can show clients what various plantings and hardscapes will look like right outside their design center.
“The third benefit is Homewood’s reputation,” Sides says. “Homewood makes a good impression. Everything is first class. Customers assume that our landscape service will provide that same level of service.”
Sides says working closely with Homewood has helped his crew adopt the retail mindset of providing the highest quality service to customers. But Homewood benefits from the arrangement as well.
“Working with Landvision allowed us continue to do what we’re best at — growing and selling — while still providing a service our customers wanted,” Joe says. “We didn’t want to be a landscape company, but we did need to compete with one-stop shops.”
Sides, too, could have tried to turn his company into greenhouse/retail/landscape company. “We live on a farm and people would ask me why I didn’t start a nursery there,” he says. “But we’re not geared for retail. We think of ourselves as artists. We don’t care to do retail or grow plants. If the desire isn’t there, you’re not going to do well. We won’t do something unless we’re going to do it well.”
The Same Team
Though Landvision Designs and Homewood Nursery & Garden Center are two separate companies, they are working toward a common customer service goal. That common goal was spelled out from day one.
“Joe, Bill, my wife and I sat down together at the beginning and wrote down how we think our business arrangement should work,” Sides says.
Joe says clearly communicating what each side expects from one another was, and is, a key to the relationship. “Our company cultures have become aligned,” he says. “Our agreement is based on the relationship being economically viable for both companies. But more than that is the mutual respect we have for one another’s strengths.”
Sides agrees that the business relationship thrives because it’s about more than money. “It’s hard for people to understand because it’s not strictly a business mindset,” he says. “I don’t care if I lose money, if I’m not keeping Homewood’s business concerns ahead of mine, I’m not doing what I set out to do. Joe’s like my brother. We really are like a family.”
One example of this family mindset was recently apparent. As Tropical Storm Hanna threatened the Carolinas, Joe was away from Homewood. But Sides and his team ensured the drains were clear and low-lying areas were sandbagged. Sides says they have Landvision’s equipment standing by to help Homewood weather the storm.
While there have been a few hiccups along the way, such as not parking landscape equipment in front of the retail center, Sides says the arrangement is going strong. His business has expanded by focusing on outdoor living spaces. Twelve years ago almost all of his business came from Homewood referrals. Today, about half of his clients come from outside of Homewood.
But no job is too small, especially if it’s a referral from Homewood. “We have five crews. One of them is a one-man crew,” Sides says. “He handles the small stuff. If a customer buys a flat of pansies at Homewood and wants us to install them around her mailbox, we can do that job cost-effectively because we’re not sending out a dump truck and a five-man crew.”
That’s a perfect example of how Homewood and Landvision make their business arrangement work profitably for everyone involved.
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