An evolving landscape
by Glenn RittMaffei Landscape Contractors was one of 15 businesses awarded Build a Better Mousetrap awards by SCORE and local chambers of commerce.
The indicators are everywhere.
• Finely manicured, flowered grounds.
• A reception area that would make a law firm proud.
• The company mission statement prominently posted for visitors to read.
• A white board listing assignments in as much depth as a general would before battle.
• A warehouse floor spotless enough to host a picnic.
• Dozens of dry-cleaned slacks – all the same tan color – lined up on hangers, along with branded shirts and hats in order of size, ready for employees to don before heading out to jobs across the Cape and Plymouth County.
If ever there was evidence that the landscaping business has graduated to another level, just listen to Robert Maffei – in his early 30s – discuss business models such as E-Myth Revisited or the leadership theories of Jack Welch, former General Electric CEO.
For this Mashpee businessman, it’s not only about the latest insights into irrigation and horticulture, but also the Cape’s fast-changing demographics and the most effective branding practices – not just for his industry, but for any business, anywhere.
His fascination with branding is directly linked to his passion for fastidiousness and those finely pressed pants – along with the uniformly colored, tucked-in shirts and emblazoned company logo.
“To constantly exceed each customer’s expectation while setting the industry example for quality craftsmanship and professionalism.”
That mission statement, said Maffei, must be as evident in the appearance of his employees as it is etched on a plaque in the company’s reception area. “Words are one thing; process and performance are the real test,” he emphasizes.
His model for success – and growth – is McDonald’s.
“It may be the most successful business in world. And they don’t hire from Harvard or the Culinary Institute of America,” he emphasized. “But they assure that franchises everywhere, employees everywhere, know how to make the same Big Mac. The guarantee uniform, quality product and service.
“What a bear it is to get all these different people from different environments and educations and skills to be on the same page – so everyone can recognize quality. It’s all about extraordinary results from ordinary people.”
At 33, he’s been in business half his life
The roots of Maffei’s success were planted more than 15 years ago when he watched the construction business hit hard times with the worst housing downturn in three decades, including the savings and loan failures of the early 1990s.
He had been working in his family’s construction business at the time, but Maffei was now forced to find other work to help pay for college. With a 1986 El Camino and the knowledge learned from his father, he put up a landscaper’s shingle and started mowing grass. He was 17 years old.
“I was a football player on the line, so I had learned how to block and tackle looking straight ahead. I guess I applied that training to my new profession,” said Maffei. He also learned two other valuable lessons: the importance of repetition, so disciplined training takes over in the game; and the need for communication, so everyone on the line gets their assignments clear before the ball is hiked.
Maffei did manage to eventually attend college, but never finished because his company was growing too fast. Today, it generates millions in revenue, employing 80 people.
If there was a single breakthrough, it was his discovery by Willowbend Development Corporation, the luxury Mashpee residential community and golf club owned by the CEO of Reebok.
Having obtained a private residential customer near the golf course, Maffei instructed his employees to constantly smile and wave to passersby. That tactic eventually engaged the interest of a Willowbend executive and led to a large, sustaining contract with the company. In following years, Maffei has signed up Ballymeade Country Club, Wequassett Resort and Golf Club and the Pinehills in Plymouth.
“As we grew, I began to notice the importance of efficiency and training,” said Maffei. Today, his company is broken into three divisions: landscape maintenance, construction (planting, irrigation, drainage and other capital improvements) and snow removal.
One executive oversees the maintenance division and another, the construction operations, which includes landscape architecture. Within each, there are unique managers for operations and customer service/sales. In addition, Maffei employs a controller, a customer service manager, an office manager and an information manager.
Cape Business spent time with Maffei recently to learn more about his business practices. Here are some highlights about the Maffei model:
Core values
Much as a mission statement, Maffei makes sure all employees understand his company’s core values.
• Commitment to Excellence – “We deliver the Maffei standard and exceed our customers’ expectations!”
• Commitment to Personal Growth – “We accept to always be better tomorrow in terms of personal development, business results and career opportunities.”
• Committed Leadership – “Who inspire, coach and engage our employees.”
• Respect – “Mutual regard that plays out in win/win relationships with employees and clients, working in a total collaborative team effort.”
• Integrity – “Display an honest, forthright, polite and professional demeanor and we always do what we say we are going to do.”
Process and procedure
Maffei emphasizes set processes and procedures. “This is how we edge beds. No matter the crew, no matter the year, our edging must have its own signature.” He likens this approach to a Morton’s Steakhouse, which prepares the finest food for discriminating diners – the same way whether they are in Chicago or Washington.
Knowing what is desirable – and undesirable
This is tied totally to Maffei’s commitment to process and procedure. It’s not only establishing desirable standards, but knowing what to do when the result is undesirable – by inspecting procedures to understand precisely “where and how we missed.”
Trust and tidiness
Maffei’s business depends on trust. His employees are working on other people’s property. Tidy dress, washed vehicles and constant cleanup engenders that trust. It goes beyond pressed slacks. He employs black vehicles because they exude luxury, even though it is the hardest color to keep clean. Consequently, they are washed on a regular, scheduled basis.
“We also bring garbage cans up to the house and newspapers to the door. We’ll knock on the door and say, ‘Hello,’ to show off a clean vehicle and two clean-cut employees. It creates the right start and hopefully leads customers to say to themselves, ‘Hey, I like those guys.’”
Training
Maffei builds a hierarchy of skills: apprentice, craftsman and master craftsman. It’s terminology familiar to construction and other trades, but relatively new to the landscape business. He builds training processes and modules to prepare employees to rise through these stages.
Vision along with competence
Maffei, an ardent reader of business books, points to how a successful business owner must be part entrepreneur, part manager and part technician. He encourages his supervisory staff to be a visionary as well as a manager. That means his staff must see the big picture – and not just what they are working on that day.
Be comfortable being uncomfortable
Maffei jokes that nearly two decades after he began his company, he still gets nervous on a job that exceeds $1,000. He constantly tells his managers to be comfortable being uncomfortable. That translates at least two ways. “It prods them to reach for the stars,” and it “encourages them to share mistakes” so the organization can learn without being afraid.
It’s not about you, it’s about them
The “them” is both the customer and the employee. “A manager’s job is to exceed the expectations of staff, so employees go home and say, ‘Wow, I like my job.’”
Maffei considers someone who quits an “unacceptable” result. It means the company did not exceed the employee’s expectations about the future.
Employee manual
Maffei has spent thousands of dollars on his company handbook. “If we don’t use it, then we’re wasting money,” he said. The manual documents the company’s mission and core values and converts them into practices and procedures. He also commits to two employee reviews a year, with performance tied directly to compensation. Every manager shares incentives to retain at least 70 percent of Maffei’s staff at all times – largely because churn and training is so expensive.
Regular meetings and commendations
“In addition to our weekly department meetings, we hold regular meetings every Thursday from 7:20 to 7:35 a.m. with the entire company,” he explained. “We go over safety and other key issues. We share good news from customers. We celebrate an employee of the week, someone who has exceeded expectations of all the people he or she works with.”
Each week, everyone votes for winners by filling out cards and placing them in the box. The announcements come with applause and a thank-you card with a gift certificate. Monthly, they honor the employee of the month with prizes such as a flat-screen television, iPod and an Xbox. And once a year, an employee of the year is rewarded with a trip for two to the Caribbean.
Published in Cape Business Sept/Oct 2007
Glenn Ritt Glenn Ritt is editor and co-publisher of Cape Business Publishing LLC. He is the former publisher of Cape Cod Community Newspapers and editor of The Bergen Record in New Jersey. 
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