Case Studies
Issue No. 4 - February/March 2002
Changing Gardens
service for a change
Avoiding the problems of others is an essential quality of a successful business—and sometimes, thereby lies an opportunity.
Working in the garden maintenance field since the late 1970s, Changing Gardens chief, Leon Whitehead has grown his new venture out of his existing corporate structure by responding to customer dissatisfaction in an entirely new market.
Moving into new, dedicated premises on Glynburn Road, St Morris this month, the Changing Gardens division brings Leon’s corporate empire to 35 staff deployed at St Morris and the Beverley depot that is home to SA Parks and Gardens and SA Weed Control, the two older divisions.
The client base for the older businesses is public sector/commercial while Changing Gardens serves homeowners, but Leon’s approach doesn’t discriminate. Being a customer service evangelist, he discerned the opportunity for Changing Gardens in the number of calls SA Parks and Gardens was getting from frustrated residential landscaping customers.
Leon commissioned a market survey in the early days of Changing Gardens operations.
“Our garden consultants were giving people a firm appointment time and a number of clients said to us, ‘Are you definitely coming? We’ve contacted five contractors and so far none of them has turned up’,“ Leon says.
He notes that most contractors in the garden and landscaping industry are small operators whose very limited resources simply don’t allow flawless service. No-shows, failure to deliver quotes on jobs and failure to do work on schedule are chronic problems, but one of consumers’ greatest irritants is that too often they can’t speak directly to the contractor. Leaving telephone messages makes them angry.
The group’s existing, methodical customer-service approach applies to Changing Gardens in a step-by-step approach.
A receptionist answers all calls and the firm operates a team of garden-design cons...
