Thanks to you, 2018 was a great year. Our team at Plants Creative continues to cross paths with amazing people who allow us to create and care for some truly unique outdoor spaces. We believe we’re improving the quality of lives. To be able to do this work every day is a gift that we are grateful for.
There have been a lot of changes — a lot of “wins” — over the past year. Some of the highlights include opening a second location to create more space for our Property Care and Design-Build teams, being featured in a video that highlights our team-centered approach in everything we do, winning Jeffrey Scott’s Mighty Oak Award and adding new positions and people who want to be a part of our uniquely positive team. All of these “wins” combine to give us great momentum heading into 2019.
We’re excited about the many plans we have this year. We are always working on ways to provide the highest level of value and service to our customers and the following initiatives have developed through the feedback you’ve given us through surveys, calls and emails.
An Even Better Customer Experience
We love creating amazing experiences for our customers! It inspires us in our work every day. This year, we are focusing on three key areas: human resources, improved service offerings and technology.
Matt Brown and Justin Alderman are the two most recent additions to our Property Care team. While Matt is leading the daily operations, Justin is 100% focused on serving our customers in an account management role. Both of these guys elevate our Property Care division through great experience and strong customer service backgrounds. We’re excited to have them on board.
With the goal of being more available to you, and being able to manage properties at the consistently high level expected by our customers, we have eliminated every other week service offerings. Our minimum package of 36-annual visits provides weekly service spring through summer and we have been hard at work restructuring our remaining contracts into this new level. A description of our simplified package offerings can be found here.
We’ve also launched a Customer Relationship Management program that automates more of our correspondence with you. Don’t worry, we’re still engaged and listening! And we still have humans in place! However, having a system that organizes and supports a deeper understanding of your needs definitely aligns with our goal of providing proactive care to our customers.
A Reduced Environmental Footprint
As part of our commitment to care for communities, we are moving away from gas-powered maintenance equipment, replacing it with more environmentally-friendly models powered by clean energy. Be on the lookout for our trucks with solar panels: these panels are providing power for the equipment that services your property!
Also this spring, we’re thrilled to launch an exciting new initiative: an automower service. We surveyed a few of you last summer to gauge interest in robotic lawn mowers and it was an enthusiastic “yes!” There were also lots of great questions that we are excited to answer! Educational resources are being developed that will answer your questions and provide more information about the amazing impact autonomous mowers can make on your lawn and the environment.
A Growing Team
We’re thrilled to announce growth in other departments. Over the last decade, many of you have gotten to know LeAnn, our Financial Manager. As LeAnn moves to a supportive role that’s more behind-the-scenes, we welcome Tameka Craddick as our new Cashflow Controller.
We’re also adding an in-house Social Media Specialist. This is in alignment with our commitment to engage more with you and show you that we care — and are listening to you!
And while she’s not new, I’d like to give a special shout-out to Hope Smith, our People Experience Manager. She is truly the glue that holds our team together and is key in bringing to life so many of these progressive initiatives that we’re excited about.
Giving Back to Our Community
Lastly, I’d like to cap off this post with a community project we worked on last year: The East Decatur Greenway. This project took the property that an old gas station was on and converted it into a green space for public use. Our team helped design the landscape and planted a rain garden with fields of wildflowers for pollinators. Today, the Greenway is bursting with life — and our pollinator friends couldn’t be happier.
We continue to identify ways that we can have the most meaningful impact on the communities that we serve. We have some other exciting initiatives in progress for 2019 that we can’t wait to share with you!
My business strategy has always been to value relationships above transactions, to guide and empower our team to make the right decisions, no matter what. We truly value our relationships with each one of you and the community we’re all a part of. Here’s to an exciting 2019!
