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April 19, 2001 Going digitalBy TERRY STEPHENS
Special to the Journal The versatility of digital photography is helping TruGreen LandCare build and retain its client roster in the Puget Sound area. That roster includes a who’s-who list of local developers, municipalities and companies. Digital photography enables people with average camera skills to take sharp color photos, review them on the spot and load them into a computer. They can drop them into a Web site, e-mail them to clients, brighten a brochure or dress up a PowerPoint presentation. Many of the company’s offices have found that high-tech digital imaging is helping them build down-to-earth service performance at the grass roots level. “Site photos, for instance, can be incorporated in a contract proposal, creating great visual impact,” said Tom Burgess, business development manager for TruGreen’s Everett office. “We find this new medium invaluable in our presentations to prospective customers.” The technology also benefits clients who are based out of the state, and those in the state who find it difficult to visit all of their properties regularly.
“They get excited about it when they receive an e-mail photo showing them what we’re doing for their properties,” Burgess said, pointing to pictures on his laptop computer showing TruGreen’s progress on a $350,000 landscaping enhancement at the Schnitzer North Creek Business Campus near Bothell. “When we prepare a PowerPoint presentation for a client, a proposal on annual planting, for example, we include views of their site and photos of similar landscape themes we’ve used elsewhere. We show them everything graphically on a laptop screen,” he said. TruGreen’s clients include property managers for office parks, retail centers, hotels, resorts, municipalities, high-tech campuses and large residential developments, providing them with landscape design, installation, maintenance, renovation and repairs. The company also works with landscape architects in the area. Customer response to the visual impact of digital photos has been so strong that Burgess said each of the company’s Northwest offices is building its own library of pictures, including before-and-after photos of developed sites. The pictures are readily available for dropping into colorful marketing brochures, impressive bid proposals and the company’s Web site. “It’s a great way to help property managers think of landscaping as marketing instead of just maintenance. In the last five to 10 years people have begun realizing how much landscaping can impact their lease rate. More property managers are now budgeting for landscaping to create curb appeal, rather than suddenly realizing, ‘My God, we’ve got to get someone to mow the bloody grass,’” Burgess said, his native England accent showing through. Another aspect of the company’s business is helping clients to plan ahead for their landscape needs, according to Greg McDonald, TruGreen’s Everett branch manager. “We want to help property managers protect their investment so we send what we call ‘budget letters’ to clients, with photos, to remind them toward the end of the year about next year’s work. It’s kind of a proactive property review. We use our photos to identify problem areas, drainage issues, the kind of work that is separate from regular maintenance. Property managers like it because they don’t want to get into the new year and find they haven’t budgeted for these items because they weren’t aware of them,” he said. TruGreen’s approach to creating proposals and presentations is attracting more and more attention, Burgess said. “In our industry, it’s more common for clients to get a single-page proposal. For our larger accounts, we present several pages, plus a contract page. It’s amazing to see people’s reactions. We provide them with photos and a description of our proposal, along with sheets on safety precautions, company information and a contact list of branch managers and the supervisor who will be working on their project,” Burgess said. Burgess also takes a laptop computer with him to show photos of a client’s property and examples of similar projects TruGreen has done. “We can bring a powerful vision impact to our presentations, gathered around the laptop, without having to go into the field for site visits,” he said. “For larger customers with $40,000 to $50,000 a year contracts, a level we bid at, we can distance ourselves from our competitors. Professionally it puts us on a different level.”
Terry Stephens is a freelance writer based in Arlington. He can be reached by e-mail at features@gte.net.
Terry Stephens is a freelance writer based in Arlington. He can be reached by e-mail at features@gte.net.
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