5 Questions: Joe Majerus

Photo: Charles Fett, World’s Best Operator

Joe Majerus

Owner, Landmark Landscapes, Sheboygan Falls, Wis.

1. What would you like us to know about Landmark Landscapes?

We are building the best team in the industry. My brother and I bought it six years ago with a clear vision to grow the business, be leaders in our market and exceed the expectations of our clients and community. We’ve grown the business revenue by 600 percent by building a team focused on that same vision. Today we are focusing on revolutionizing the client experience of contracting and we are consistently producing nationally award-winning work through this process. We are so proud of the incredible group of individuals that come to work with us every day.

2. What were some of the changes implemented when you and your brother took over?

We realized we wanted to grow the business so we could offer more opportunities for our team and clients better service. We also knew that if we were going to grow, we had to get everyone on the same page. We developed a mission, vision, values statement and we relate every single thing we do in the business day-to-day back to those values. We also focused on implementing a business operating system, which helps us to standardize roles and responsibilities.

3. The people I’ve met from your team have diverse work experience. How have you gotten them to come together successfully?

It comes down to our culture. We work hard every single day to make sure that we have a place where people can take pride in their working environment. I think our team genuinely enjoys coming to work. In fact, ‘have fun’ is one of our core values, and we take it very seriously. Our fast growth means we are always recruiting so we can keep up with the demand. The magic of Landmark seems to be that every time we need somebody to fill a role, the perfect candidate happens to come along. We focus on only hiring people with the right attitude who be a good fit for our team. Then we train them for the role and make sure they understand how they fit into the team and the company goals.

4. How do you show your appreciation for your employees?

It’s an attitude of gratitude that we try to show each person each day. Every month we get together for a company-wide meeting where we share how we are doing against the budget and goals. If we beat our goals, we bring a food truck in for breakfast. Each summer, the first day it’s forecast to be over 90 degrees, we have a beach party where we grill out and host our annual cornhole tournament. We do great Christmas parties and even Santa comes with presents for our team’s children. We do an employee enrichment day where we focus on building camaraderie, teamwork and passion for the industry. We’ll tour a botanical garden or garden space in the morning, do a workshop over lunch and then a team-building activity in the afternoon. We also have the basics, a comprehensive benefits program with matched 401K, health insurance with 70 percent paid by the company, paid vacation, paid sick days, holidays, uniforms and tuition reimbursement.

5. Do you have any days at work that are especially memorable?

I had just gotten done with a potential sales call with the general contractor and the client and we were talking about a big project and its associated budget. The contractor said to me, ‘why would they spend that much money on the landscape?’ I walked out of the meeting and felt like no one cared about landscaping and our mission was failing. I sat in my truck, opened my email and saw that we won a national award from the NALP. That gave me a spark. By the way, we ended up getting that job, which turned into another award of excellence at this year’s NALP awards!